Howard Ferstler

The two shots shown here (with and without the grill screen) are of a big center-channel speaker that I built for my very large main AV system. (I am a retired audio writer, so guys like us have to have installations like this, and I have two, actually.) The side, top, and bottom are solid pine and the front and back are MDF. The drivers are all vintage Allison Acoustics units, and the passive crossover network that I built is based upon several different Allison designs. This system is biamped by two 130-watt amplifiers, and it weighs about 80 pounds.

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Howard Ferstler

This is the full installation with the home-built center speaker discussed in my first submission situated between two Allison IC-20 left and right main speakers. The long black thing above the window is a pull-down screen that is 8 feet wide. A ceiling-mounted projector at the back of the room provides the image for the screen. This system also has two large subwoofers (by Velodyne and SVS) to handle the low bass. Power and control comes from an 8-channel Yamaha receiver in conjunction with a 500-watt per channel Carver amp for the left and right channel speakers. My backyard woodworking shop can be seen through the window.

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Daren

Cool.

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http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/ ...Urban logging/tool sharpening

Howard Ferstler

One of the shots here shows the back of that room, with one of the Allison surround-duty speakers on the left side wall, fairly high up and the ceiling-mounted TV projector on the right. (Two back-surround speakers are on the wall behind the projector.) The opening to the dining room area to the left used to hold a sliding-glass door, but when we built the new room I eventually removed it and a window to the right (out of sight), and did the finish-molding work. The dining-room table was a mess when we got it (antique), but I rebuilt the frame underneath and refinished the top, rustic style to match my wife's taste. Hey, that last interjection was a joke.

Also shown is a shot of the front of the room with the big TV screen pulled down into position. I had to install reinforcement sections in the attic above the screen to make sure the area could hold the weight. The geezer in the photo is me.

Howard Ferstler

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aclose

very cool. i've been tempted to build my own speakers for my entertainment center. i think the cabinetry would be fun/interesting, but have very little understanding about how to size things or deal with the electronics that may go inside. maybe once i get a bit further along in my WW'ing hobby i'll look into it again. :)

Howard Ferstler

There is a book by Vance Dickason (who designed many, if not most, of the Atlantic Technology speaker line) that you might read in order to get you prepped for the electronics part of the project. Its title is appropriately named "The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook." The book has gone through several editions, and should be available via Amazon. I think that even those who would only care to purchase frinished loudspeakers would learn some important things from it.

Parts supplier Parts Express sells virtually all of the non-wood hardware you would need, and I think they even sell the book. You can probably get information about the company via Google. The Parts Express catalog even has a chart to help you select the capacitors and chokes needed to build crossover networks, although they really are only a rough guide, because the electro-mechanical behavior of supposedly similarly specificationed drivers varies so much. Another good parts supplier is Madisound.

Howard Ferstler

GROOVY

I like it ALOT!
Have been thinking of doing something like that ... DLP projector sound system...ahhhh

Howard Ferstler

The weak point in the installation actually is my projector. It is a several years old Sharp LCD unit that is not HDTV. (It has adjustable, electronic shadow masks that allow wide-screen images to look wide screen, but a true HD set would put more scan lines on the screen than what I get now, instead of just masking the lines at the top and bottom.) I would be hot to replace it, for sure, except that the new 56 inch RPTV that I now have in my smaller system works very well. Of course, even that 56 incher does not have the big-screen impact of the Sharp unit, and so even though it does not have the detail of the new set, it is still an impressive viewing experience with the right source materials.

Front projectors are fun as can be, but you have to remember that the room they are working in has to be very near totally dark. Remember, projectors cannot project black, so the only way dark or black scenes can look properly dark is for the room to be dark enough for a white screen to loo, well, black.

Consequently, setting up to view a movie on that bigger system of mine is kind of tedious. In my other room, I can quickly close the blinds and the RPTV can do a good job of delivering proper dark-area performance. One reason is that the screen itself with RPTV sets is already pretty dark. Certainly darker than the white screen required for front-projection images.

Note the rolled-up shades over the entrance and window at the back. The drapes behind the screen in the front are also hiding pull-down shades over the window, and the french door at the left side of the room also has both a shade and drapes to cut off the light. Even so, on sunny days more light leaks around the sealed openings than I wouild like. Even the lights from my equipment rack gear generate too much illumination once my eyes get used to the darkness.

Howard Ferstler