So. What to give a dear friend as a Christmas gift?
She just bought a new house, invested in a 65" TV, and plays her music on a 20 year old, white plastic, Pioneer sound system...
Let's build her a soundbar?
She's allergic to boxes and wires, so it has to be discrete, how small can I get it, with a built in subwoofer?
Trying to limit the depth, I search long and well, until I found a 5-1/4 Peerless woofer, with a truncated frame, making it only 135mm wide on the narrow, this allows me to work with a depth of just 16cm for the cabinet.
Keeping it simple, my next search would be full ranges, reaching 20.000Hz, to avoid crossovers and tweeters, and ended up with a set of decent Dayton 3" drivers.
After a few weeks waiting, (and playing around in WinISD, starting building the cabinet, playing more with WinISD, I surrendered, accepting that I would have to omit any bass below 50Hz) the drivers arrived and I could start testing. The full-range drivers were quite easy, ended up with a sealed box of 3l on each side, the woofer a 6l, ported cabinet, tuned at 58Hz.
To make the (otherwise boring) cabinet slightly interesting, I decided to make the port part of the design, a standing "full height" slot port, located according to the to one side according to the ancient Greek "golden ratio", and I actually think it worked quite well
The back wall of the whole bar is made as a "French cleat", this helps me save about 1cm in depth, as I do not need any fasteners/brackets, but lead to a challenge of sealing all internal walls towards the back with a gasket. Think it worked out OK, using the same foam tape as around the speakers... but suspect a slight leakage at high volumes... better tell her to keep the neighbours happy, and not krank up too much.
This was the first time I made speaker grilles. 3mm MDF, magnets to hold it in place and contact adhesive for the cloth... Does not look too bad when fitted, but the backside is awful can someone teach me how to do this properly?
Used the same amplifier board, as I did with my own living room setup, a 2.1 channel amp from Arylic.
This card is awesome for its size, with line in for the TV, bluetooth, and also built-in Spotify connect and Internet radio.
And with the built-in DSP, I was actually able to get the soundbars response within +/- 2 dB from 100 to 16.000Hz, and a small step down above, to make it less fatiguing. With appx 50W for the 4 ohm woofer, and 25-30W for each of the fullrange pairs, it is slightly too powerful for this setup, but I'm still very pleased with the result.
The bass plays well from about 50Hz, but maxes out at about 95dB, but I'd say that is adequate for a soundbar...
Parts list:
4x Dayton PC83-4 (each side coupled in series to 8ohm)
1x Peerless SDS-135F25CP02-04
1x Arylic Up2Stream AMP 2.1
10x 10mm neodymium magnets
12mm MDF
3mm MDS
Self adhesive felt/sound absorbant mat
Speaker cloth
A short timelapse, for those interested.
And the final result, mounted.
(you actually see the original Pioneer system... which is now removed ;o)
She just bought a new house, invested in a 65" TV, and plays her music on a 20 year old, white plastic, Pioneer sound system...
Let's build her a soundbar?
She's allergic to boxes and wires, so it has to be discrete, how small can I get it, with a built in subwoofer?
Trying to limit the depth, I search long and well, until I found a 5-1/4 Peerless woofer, with a truncated frame, making it only 135mm wide on the narrow, this allows me to work with a depth of just 16cm for the cabinet.
Keeping it simple, my next search would be full ranges, reaching 20.000Hz, to avoid crossovers and tweeters, and ended up with a set of decent Dayton 3" drivers.
After a few weeks waiting, (and playing around in WinISD, starting building the cabinet, playing more with WinISD, I surrendered, accepting that I would have to omit any bass below 50Hz) the drivers arrived and I could start testing. The full-range drivers were quite easy, ended up with a sealed box of 3l on each side, the woofer a 6l, ported cabinet, tuned at 58Hz.
To make the (otherwise boring) cabinet slightly interesting, I decided to make the port part of the design, a standing "full height" slot port, located according to the to one side according to the ancient Greek "golden ratio", and I actually think it worked quite well
The back wall of the whole bar is made as a "French cleat", this helps me save about 1cm in depth, as I do not need any fasteners/brackets, but lead to a challenge of sealing all internal walls towards the back with a gasket. Think it worked out OK, using the same foam tape as around the speakers... but suspect a slight leakage at high volumes... better tell her to keep the neighbours happy, and not krank up too much.
This was the first time I made speaker grilles. 3mm MDF, magnets to hold it in place and contact adhesive for the cloth... Does not look too bad when fitted, but the backside is awful can someone teach me how to do this properly?
Used the same amplifier board, as I did with my own living room setup, a 2.1 channel amp from Arylic.
This card is awesome for its size, with line in for the TV, bluetooth, and also built-in Spotify connect and Internet radio.
And with the built-in DSP, I was actually able to get the soundbars response within +/- 2 dB from 100 to 16.000Hz, and a small step down above, to make it less fatiguing. With appx 50W for the 4 ohm woofer, and 25-30W for each of the fullrange pairs, it is slightly too powerful for this setup, but I'm still very pleased with the result.
The bass plays well from about 50Hz, but maxes out at about 95dB, but I'd say that is adequate for a soundbar...
Parts list:
4x Dayton PC83-4 (each side coupled in series to 8ohm)
1x Peerless SDS-135F25CP02-04
1x Arylic Up2Stream AMP 2.1
10x 10mm neodymium magnets
12mm MDF
3mm MDS
Self adhesive felt/sound absorbant mat
Speaker cloth
A short timelapse, for those interested.
And the final result, mounted.
(you actually see the original Pioneer system... which is now removed ;o)
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So. What could I have done different? Any suggestions?
This project was (in my own opinion) 90% success... It sounds good, but could probably be improved.
The Up2Stream AMP can handle a 2 ohm woofer... instead of going 4 ohm for the woofer and 8 for the stereo, should I have opted for a lower sensitivity/2 ohm woofer, with higher XMAX and used more power? Still keeping the full range sets at 8 ohm.
Like Visaton W130X
Should I have added a tweeter on each side? Measurements looks OK...
This project was (in my own opinion) 90% success... It sounds good, but could probably be improved.
The Up2Stream AMP can handle a 2 ohm woofer... instead of going 4 ohm for the woofer and 8 for the stereo, should I have opted for a lower sensitivity/2 ohm woofer, with higher XMAX and used more power? Still keeping the full range sets at 8 ohm.
Like Visaton W130X
Should I have added a tweeter on each side? Measurements looks OK...
Hello
I checked this product Arylic Up2Stream AMP 2.1 on their website, so this is a product that can drive a subwoofer?
I checked this product Arylic Up2Stream AMP 2.1 on their website, so this is a product that can drive a subwoofer?
very inspiring project, rtrinte!
I am planning something very similar.
the assymetrical division of the front and the proportions are very pleasing!
depending on the response your could bypass one with a cap to avoid this.
I am planning something very similar.
the assymetrical division of the front and the proportions are very pleasing!
the two fullrange drivers next to eachother may create interferences at high frequencies.
depending on the response your could bypass one with a cap to avoid this.
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I've used it for two projects, both of them stereo+subwoofer.
This is my first, subwoofer and the Up2Stream built into my TV bench, also driving bookshelf speakers:
Not the nicest subwoofer box, but you have to lie on the floor, looking up under the bench to see it... so I really do not care.
The amplifier and power supply is hidden inside a drawer.
Out of the box the Up2Stream 2.1 is 2x50W (4ohm) with a 100W (2ohm) subwoofer output.
There is built-in DSP, so with additional PC software (ACP-Workbench), you can make various filter, change it to a 3-channel mono setup with active crossover etc.
If you ONLY want a subwoofer amp, they have a card with only the 100W amp and a low pass filter also, called the Up2stream AMP SUB.
RogerT
This is my first, subwoofer and the Up2Stream built into my TV bench, also driving bookshelf speakers:
Not the nicest subwoofer box, but you have to lie on the floor, looking up under the bench to see it... so I really do not care.
The amplifier and power supply is hidden inside a drawer.
Out of the box the Up2Stream 2.1 is 2x50W (4ohm) with a 100W (2ohm) subwoofer output.
There is built-in DSP, so with additional PC software (ACP-Workbench), you can make various filter, change it to a 3-channel mono setup with active crossover etc.
If you ONLY want a subwoofer amp, they have a card with only the 100W amp and a low pass filter also, called the Up2stream AMP SUB.
RogerT
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