Hi all, it's been a while but I'm about ready to redo my custom ZD-007 speakers that Zilch help be make back in 2007. Some of you may remember these from the eWave threads here and on Audiokarma. They are in Barzilay cabinets that I've modified with battens and bracing to help reduce the resonance from the cabinets. I never felt the cabinets were doing the components justice and I've wanted to make new cabinets from the beginning but never had the time or skills to do so. I recently retired and a good friend of mine also recently retired and now we both have the time and he has the skills to make the cabinets. I'm using a custom crossover that Zilch designed based on the 4430 and made changes as he typically did. I don't specifically remember what the changes were.
For the new cabinets I have several questions that I'm sure the vast knowledge here can help me with. The reasons for building new cabinets are to tighten up the bass and improve imaging and sound stage with a properly designed cabinet. While bass is very important I'm willing to give up some lower extension for tight bass. I listen to mostly rock and pop music that has a lot of guitars and string instruments. My system is in a relatively small room that's 11'x12'. For the design I'm using my 4425's for inspiration along with 1400 Array's. Here are my initial questions:
1. The initial design has interior dimensions of 33" high, 16" deep and 13" wide yielding just under 4 cu ft of volume. What is a good volume for LE14H-3?
2. The cabinets will be made of MDF. What is a good thickness? I was originally thinking of 1.5" thick but maybe that's overkill?
3. For whatever thickness I make the cabinets should they be braced? See initial brace design.
4. In the initial design I have the waveguide mounted on a 3/4" plate similar to 4425/4430. The guide will be recessed in the plate and exposed. This could change depending on the answer to this question. How close should the waveguide be to the woofer frame. Zilch wanted them as close as possible.
5. What's the ideal depth between the woofer and CD? (time alignment) Is flush mounting them fine or should I try and optimize the depth between the two? See above about moving the waveguide further forward with a plate.
6. I'm planning on using two 3" ports. I could use one lager port but using two allows me to fine tune the bass as needed. Thoughts?
7. While I'd like to use the same components I have is there a better waveguide or CD for this application? I could add a UHF driver but that will be for another day.
Thanks in advance for any answers comments or suggestions you may have.
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