DIY 4520 bass horn build

[intercity125]

Hey Willy,

I got a porter cable saw. A 5600rpm one with a mag housing and a cast shoe. Its a nice saw. First one I've ever bought. Figured its more of a need owning a house and all. I put together the rip cut. Its pretty simple. Doesn't cost that much either. 36 bucks at Lowe's. I didn't have a chance to test it though. Its a little tricky getting it on my saw. I imagine it would have been easier with a stamped shoe saw. I have my fathers old saw so maybe I'll make it a dedicated saw for it. Its an old craftsman 7" heavy but good. That is if it hasn't been thrown out.

Anyway I brought down one of my 2380's with a 2445 on it down and hooked it up with a cross over off a 4638th. Played all sorts of stuff through it. I was getting SPL levels of a little over 120 db and it sounded amazing. Didn't have a tweeter one it but I could hardly tell. I don't think I ever maxed out the amp. Didn't hear any signs of distress. Well at least from the speakers. The house was a rock'en though. Now I'm prepping it for paint. Don't think I'm putting a toe kick on it.

I'm very happy with those parts express woofers though. For being 75 a pop you can't beat them.

Nick

Hey Nick,

Yeah, I went out and bought me a new DeWalt circular saw from Lowe's, too. Like you I wanted a table saw, but the offerings at Home Depot and Lowe's were just not that great. Sure, they were good enough for simple cuts, but were just not capable of handeling sheet goods. For that you'd need a big Delta industrial size table saw with a 6-foot top, but I'm not about to throw down $2K plus for something like that, as much as I'd love to have one. No, a good circular saw, square, and guide rail will have to suffice.

Glad to hear the system is sounding so good. That is some incredible SPL. What is the model number of the PE woofers you have?

Willy

[more10]

I like your build Nick

With a Makita SP6000K and guide rail you can do pretty much:



I tried the Metabo plunge saw but it wasn´t any good. The Makita is almost as good as a Festool.

The guide rail can be used with a router using and adaptor.

[NickH]

I like your build Nick

With a Makita SP6000K and guide rail you can do pretty much:



I tried the Metabo plunge saw but it wasn´t any good. The Makita is almost as good as a Festool.

The guide rail can be used with a router using and adaptor.

I've been thinking about the sheppach plunge saw. Ifs affordable. Haven't looked at the Makita. The thing that's stopped me it, what the difference between that and using a guide rail.

I just can't get why there so expensive. And the cost of the festool is insane.

Hey Willy,

I looked at a dewalt but I've just never liked them. Can't say why. Maybe its the safety yellow,lol. I was looking at two table saws. A Rockwell or ryobi. They both had table extensions. The Rockwell was 430 and the ryobi was 200 and 300. If I was to buy a big one it was I would probably buy a grizzly.

The woofer is a pa380-8. I can't recommend the enough. I love them. They have a low fs, of 22.9. The cone weight is a little high but that's expected with the fs.

I was worried about using these above 150hz since its a direct radiator. But I'm very happy with them. But I'll definitely be going active for the 800hz point. Running the woofers with individual amps. Tubes for the tops.

Nick

[intercity125]

I've been thinking about the sheppach plunge saw. Ifs affordable. Haven't looked at the Makita. The thing that's stopped me it, what the difference between that and using a guide rail.

I just can't get why there so expensive. And the cost of the festool is insane.

Hey Willy,

I looked at a dewalt but I've just never liked them. Can't say why. Maybe its the safety yellow,lol. I was looking at two table saws. A Rockwell or ryobi. They both had table extensions. The Rockwell was 430 and the ryobi was 200 and 300. If I was to buy a big one it was I would probably buy a grizzly.

The woofer is a pa380-8. I can't recommend the enough. I love them. They have a low fs, of 22.9. The cone weight is a little high but that's expected with the fs.

I was worried about using these above 150hz since its a direct radiator. But I'm very happy with them. But I'll definitely be going active for the 800hz point. Running the woofers with individual amps. Tubes for the tops.

Nick

Hey Nick,

Thanks for the PN on those woofers. Great specs, and you cannot beat the price. Yeah, some of those guide-rail systems are a bit over priced. Still, I would love to have one. One company I have had my eye on for a while is EurakaZone. They make the "EZ" system of guide-rail products. They'll still cost a bit, but the quality is very high. If I were to go all out I'd get their EZ-One bench set-up. It's all one would need to knock down sheet goods quickly and easily; however, it costs $1100.00!!! The Makita that More10 linked in his post looks promising, and not a bad price considering.

I see a lot of guide-rail set-ups but few of them have extensions that allow stops for multiple cross or rip-cuts in large panels (48-inches). There's a few out there, alright, but they're gonna cost you. That's the most important thing for me, right now, as I have to make many cuts the same dimension. It doesn't matter how many times I measure, square, or set up a guide-rail, I can never get two boards to be cut the exact same length. I may only be off by fractions but it's not as precise as a mechanical devise would allow. I suppose this is why we end up paying out for one of those systems mentioned above. Maybe someday.

How's the painting coming along?

Willy

[NickH]

Hey Willy,

ya they arent bad. The only thing that could make them better is a cast basket. But I'm not trying to put them into geo synchronous orbit so they should be good. I think they sound really nice to boot.

I'll stick with my extruded aluminum guide rail/ fence. Its a lot cheaper then one of those saw and much easier to store. I have other thing I want to spend money on then another saw. I bought 2 of them last weekend so that's enough.


Ya I got the first coat of hammer tone paint on tonight. That stuff doesn't go on easy. It seems to go on thick and its very sticky. Bit of the roller kept getting stuck to the surface of the cabinet too. The mdf just sucks it up too. Well see how it looks after the second coat. Kinda wish I would have not gotten fancy with it and just used latex paint. But no, just had to get fancy. Spraying it on would probably be a better way but I don't want to deal with the mess. Plus I'd need to buy a gun and a respirator. I had one but I can't seem to find it now. But that's what happens when you move across the country again.

Hey Nick,

Thanks for the PN on those woofers. Great specs, and you cannot beat the price. Yeah, some of those guide-rail systems are a bit over priced. Still, I would love to have one. One company I have had my eye on for a while is EurakaZone. They make the "EZ" system of guide-rail products. They'll still cost a bit, but the quality is very high. If I were to go all out I'd get their EZ-One bench set-up. It's all one would need to knock down sheet goods quickly and easily; however, it costs $1100.00!!! The Makita that More10 linked in his post looks promising, and not a bad price considering.

I see a lot of guide-rail set-ups but few of them have extensions that allow stops for multiple cross or rip-cuts in large panels (48-inches). There's a few out there, alright, but they're gonna cost you. That's the most important thing for me, right now, as I have to make many cuts the same dimension. It doesn't matter how many times I measure, square, or set up a guide-rail, I can never get two boards to be cut the exact same length. I may only be off by fractions but it's not as precise as a mechanical devise would allow. I suppose this is why we end up paying out for one of those systems mentioned above. Maybe someday.

How's the painting coming along?

Willy

[NickH]

Just an fyi, never use a nap roller with hammer tone paint. Use a foam one. Just trust me on this one.

[more10]

I can never get two boards to be cut the exact same length.

I use a flush trim bit on a router to make one piece exactly the same as another.

I love this tool :-)

Mårten

[NickH]

I use a flush trim bit on a router to make one piece exactly the same as another.

I love this tool :-)

Mårten

Hey Marten,

I actually have that bit in my router. Well close to it. The guide bearing is on the shaft end though. I havent used a router free hand yet. My issue with board not being exact is just not measureing the kerf of the blade perfectly. But im improving. I havent really done much of this stuff before so Im learning as I go. And then there the whole tast of fractional measuring. I do tons of measurements at work but its not fractional. I use calipers and micrometers so all me work stuff is to the thousands decimal place. I work with metals. Machined components and stuff.

Painted last night when I got home from work. Just a little more to do tonight. I havent taken a new picture yet though. This one is when I was testing them out last tuesday.

[more10]

The guide bearing is on the shaft end though. I havent used a router free hand yet.

With the bearing on the other end you can flush trim a cabinet. You don't need to cut all pieces exactly.

If you buy a router, go for a light with weak motor. If you fail using a strong motor you can hurt yourself seriously. Get some practice with a small one before getting a big one.

[intercity125]

I use a flush trim bit on a router to make one piece exactly the same as another.

I love this tool :-)

Mårten

Hey Marten,

That's a very good idea! I have a flush mount bit for my laminate trimmer, but now I am going to have to get me a larger bit to go with my big router. Thanks!

Willy

[NickH]

I needed a reason to buy a trim router, LOL.

Ive just got a big one. But it lives in my route table at the moment. Not that its real hard to take out.

The last time I used it free hand was when I was building the plinth for my turntable. I bought it just for that. Ive been using it more recently to cut pieces for a diy multicell horn. Its turned into a multi year project.


Nick

[NickH]

Here's 2 photos with paint on them.


Nick

[NickH]

I think I did something stupid last night. I was using a program on the laptop to create test tones. The audio dac in the laptop is by no means perfect. I had the 2445's hooked up to it when I was doing this. This was some high frequencies in the tone. I didnt think anything of it at the time. But afterwards I was playing some tunes through it and was noticing some really nasty distortion from the 2445's. These have 375 diaphragms in them. Im thinking the voice coil got a little warm and swelled.

Ill take the diaphragm out tonight and see if I can repair my stupidity. Because I know these are very hard to replace.



Nick

[more10]

Cab looks really nice!

Too bad about the diaphragms. You didn't have a highpass filter on them? I always put a capacitor in series to protect from over excursion if my active filter fails.

[NickH]

Cab looks really nice!

Too bad about the diaphragms. You didn't have a highpass filter on them? I always put a capacitor in series to protect from over excursion if my active filter fails.

There was. I think there was a higher component produced by the dac on the computer. Ill know more tonight when I take them off. Im hoping its fixable.

Thanks. There not perfect. I will never try to roll on hammer tone paint after this project though.

Nick