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First crack at DIY Tower speakers...they turned out great!

 
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onomado
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PostPosted: Sep 10, 2005 2:40 pm    Post subject: First crack at DIY Tower speakers...they turned out great! Reply with quote

Hi all, just wanted to post up my pics of my recently built cans for my tower. Including speakers ($135 at best buy), I have a total of $160 in the pair of them. Everyone here that I talked to was very helpful when i was trial and error'ing through building mine, so I wanted to offer up any thoughts from my experience to anyone who may need advice. Thank you to all who sent me advice!
onomado


Last edited by onomado on Sep 14, 2005 9:32 am; edited 2 times in total
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Wallrat
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PostPosted: Sep 10, 2005 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks very nice. Good job on the attention to detail.
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QNev
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PostPosted: Sep 10, 2005 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry but:

1. What kind of speakers did you use?
2. How do you use the U Hooks to mount to the tower?
3. Where'd you find 6.5" PVC?

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Vampyre
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PostPosted: Sep 13, 2005 5:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Those are probably just U bolts from any hardware store.
Very nice work!

1. Have you thought of putting some kind of rubber tubing around the U bolts, so your tower won't get scratched?
2. Did you use a PVC end cap to close the back, or what?
3. Did you use the Fusion paint to paint the PVC?
4. Do you have binding posts, or are you just soldering the speaker wire straight from the tower to the speaker?

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guedo8
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PostPosted: Sep 13, 2005 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Those are nice but are you able to mount those with the speakers already installed in the cans or do you have to take the speakers out of the can if you want to take the cans off the tower. Also what kind of paint did you use?
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onomado
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PostPosted: Sep 13, 2005 10:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Qnev...it is 6" schedule 40 sewer pipe with the couplings to join it (i used ABS insteadof pvc for strength), the U bolts go around the cross members of my tower which are a little bit over 1 5/8" OD, and you can get the pipe, etc. at a plumbing supply house...it cost me about 35$. Any other ?'s let me know...
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onomado
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PostPosted: Sep 13, 2005 10:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vampyre...I have clear plastic tubing over the U bolts in the pics, i used rust oleum on ABS after scotch briting (scuffing pad) the outside surface of the whole enclosure to ensure adhesion, I have banana clip terminals on top of the cans now, (not pictured), and I did use an ABS schedule 40 cap for the ends. Hope this answers all your ?s....thanks!
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onomado
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PostPosted: Sep 13, 2005 10:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

quedo8...I have to remove the speakers from the front to mount them to the tower, then screw tehm back to the front after the cans are mounted.
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onomado
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PostPosted: Sep 13, 2005 10:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

FYI...anybody who is an audiophile like I am should take note to fill up about half the can with expandable insulation foam to take up the extra space inside the can...a 6.5" speaker doesnt need that kind of air space to operate, and in a sealed box it actually will play quite flat and hollow. After I filled up the dead air space, they sounded MUCH better! I am still not all that wow'ed by the Rockford Fosgate speakers I chose to put in there initially, but after some tuning on the amps and a new head unit, I can live with it until i decide what I am giong to use permanently in the tower. I am going to start on a new set that will be the same length, but they will have two peakers each, for a total of 6 on the tower. I have a 4 channel Alpine to power them, and another two channel Alpine that I can dedicate to the tower also...maybe one day it will get loud? Rolling Eyes
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extremeisaac
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PostPosted: Sep 26, 2005 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

would you be interested in selling the enclosures that you have now?
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onomado
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PostPosted: Sep 27, 2005 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I will sell them for $80 if you are interested. This is the cost of better materials, attention to detail on my part, and a little bit of labor....especially since i kept my wife up half the night sawing the pvc. Laughing
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QNev
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PostPosted: Sep 27, 2005 6:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay, I really want to make some cans, and I really need to know, where I can find 6" Speakers. I found 6.5"s and it's almost impossible to find 6.5" PVC. How did you attach the speaker to the pipe?
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extremeisaac
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PostPosted: Sep 27, 2005 11:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ok, Ill take them, can you email me at

extremeisaac@yahoo.com

Thanks!

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Buergday
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PostPosted: Sep 28, 2005 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:

I found 6.5"s and it's almost impossible to find 6.5" PVC.

The PVC that you use for the cans is actually 6". The diameter is closer to 6.5" on the end caps, which is what you use.
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PostPosted: Sep 28, 2005 8:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So, what? Do you just use the end caps? How long do they have to be? If I had a 6.5" speaker, would that mount just fine on the PVC?
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Buergday
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PostPosted: Sep 29, 2005 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yep - The speaker should fit perfectly into a 6" PVC end cap and/or coupler (if it's the standard 6.5" speaker size).
As far as can size goes, I just used the end caps and a coupler together at full size. The silver pinstripe covers the seam, while adding some flair.
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QNev
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PostPosted: Sep 29, 2005 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Buergday, Nice work... Uh I'm going to buy a 200x2 watt amplifier to power the speakers I'm going to make.

If you can, can you send an email (crazy_quintan@msn.com), or post something please? I just need to know how you wired your speakers (diagram?) and how they were connected to the amplifier.

Another thing... We have a 4x45 watt amp in the boat already, which runs our speakers under the dash, and in the near future to run the bow's speakers. Is there any way to use the 2x200 along with the 4x45?

there's the amp-> http://www.carstereo-online.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=27_53&products_id=46

I had a picture of ours somewhere on here.

Sorry about the long questions haha... Just in desperate need of expertise Razz

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PostPosted: Sep 30, 2005 11:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got a 2-channel amp going to those - 75 watts each. The wiring was pretty much straight forward. Check out this website for wiring info and a bunch of other important stuff:
http://www.bcae1.com/
For the speaker inputs, I just went down to Radio Shack and bought male and female RCA plugs and wired them with standard speaker wire. Works well.
Sorry, but I don't have any diagrams.
Here's another link to a site that describes the speaker can building process:
http://www.bierbower.net/diytower/Dans%20Speaker%20Cans.htm
or here:
http://www.bierbower.net/diytower/
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QNev
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PostPosted: Sep 30, 2005 10:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So with 75 watts each, can you hear it fairly well, while riding behind?
(Sorry, the amp I was looking at was 2 x 85 watts... 2x200 max.)

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PostPosted: Oct 03, 2005 3:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yeah I can hear it just fine. Thats RMS wattage
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PostPosted: Oct 09, 2005 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay.. The 2x85w one wasn't available, so we found this 2x60w. Would that be fine as far as the ability to hear them while riding go? Our boat isn't too loud, and we ride at 60ft of line.
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PostPosted: Oct 10, 2005 8:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

QNEv... the link to the amp that was not availble actually was 60W.. at 4 ohms, which is what most speakers are.
The 2 X 85W was at 2 Ohms, which would occur typically if you are running subs together, or are running speakers in parrallel.
See this link for any other questions on speaker wiring and ratings
http://www.lalena.com/audio/faq/wiring/

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onomado
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PostPosted: Oct 18, 2005 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Two things...I have a couple of BRAND NEW Alpine V series amps that I am going to sell out of my boat cheap! QNEV, if you want them, they are nice, and they wont break the bank for putting them in the boat. You can have the pair of them for $225. One is the 40x2 and the other is the 75x4. I am going to build a two sub cabinet under my dash, and use much more powerful speakers throughout my boat, so these amps wont push what I am going to do this winter. If money is not a problem, then stay away from Bazooka and go with a better brand, like hifonics, fosgate, or even MTX...they all have some big power amps for just a few hundred bucks...amps are not really the place to cut corners...most companies lie about what kind of power the amp makes, and if it does make half what it says it makes, then it has a terrible signal out to the speakers, and they sound shitty anyway. FYI
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QNev
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PostPosted: Oct 18, 2005 9:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

K.. Awesome... We decided not to worry about amp until next spring when we get our boat back from storage. As for this winter, we're just building the tubes.

What I'm thinking of doing is running in mono on a 1-channel amp to save some cash, because you can't really hear the separation that far back, and in the boat it's right above us, and sound probably wouldn't be a huge issue.

Anyone have a diagram as to how we'd prewire for mono down the tower and to the amp from the tubes and also in the tubes?

Thanks so much.

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