# EL70PLUSERT26 Kit build



## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

I decided to jump into the world of DIY speakers and start with something from CSS. I am using the kit mentioned above, which you can kind here:

http://www.creativesound.ca/details.php?model=EL70PLUSERT26

I'm going for something that will look similar to what I have now, which are more or less identical to these. The design is as you can see in the images attached. I'll get some pics up as the build goes, and post a review once I get them up and running.

The design is a slimline tower speaker. 10 Litres which can run ported or sealed. The port will tune to 40hz, mainly so I get a response I like the look of, I dont expect good extension down to 40 hz, but 60 should be realistic. As surrounds I will seal them, if ported I will run them full range. I can test the kit out a bit more this way.










Any questions or thoughts, fire away :T

Build will begin as soon as it warms up a little.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

I have a question on speaker connection here. Is it generally considered best to wire both the main and tweeter to the speaker terminals, or should I simply wire the tweeter to the main driver?


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## 1Michael (Nov 2, 2006)

Wire each to the terminal.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

Right, bit of an update. I got the MDF all delivered and I have cut the driver holes in the baffles. I have taken pics and will upload soon (having trouble uploading for the minute) so welcome critisisms once they are live.

I have been considering putting the port to the top firing up. This will make it easier to construct but also remove the need for any bends in the port as well. Has anyone got any thoughts on that?


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## 1Michael (Nov 2, 2006)

That will work fine. Are you going to double up the baffle? You knew I was going to ask that didn't you:innocent:


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

Ive actually decided against doubling the baffle, and instead I will just use 1" MDF all round. The drivers arent that powerful and dont have a massive amount of excursion so the MDF should be ok. I did route the MDF so the driver would flush fit, which slightly weakens the baffle a touch. If needs be, I may look into some way of fixing the driver to the rear of the cabinet as well, negating the need for any further strengthening. I also plan to make the baffle removable for now, which will give me some licence to experiment if I want.

As long as all goes well, I can fix the baffle fully before trying to get to work on the finish. It will also make it very easy to adjust the cabinet volume should I want to experiment.


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## Mike P. (Apr 6, 2007)

Top port will be fine.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

Heres the redesign:


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## Binary (Nov 23, 2009)

Subscribed!

I wanna know how this turns out. Im using 4 EL 70's in my center channel, with an active crossover.

The top port is an awesome idea, except that i feel like someones gonna drop change/garbage down it over time.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

I should have updated this as I have started the cabinets. I actually changed to the top port to ensure as clean air flow as possible. I also had to extend the port to maintain the tune because I increased the port with to 18mm, so . . . . . . . . . a gold moonfly star goes to the first person that can figure out why I changed to that width.

The cabinet build was going great till I ran out of material due to changing the port and needing a new piece of MDF. I then used up all my screws on the sub build I recently did, so its on hold now as I have run out of cash till I can find some more work, and get paid for the last one I did.

I had an issue uploading the pictures a couple weeks back, I'll re-try tomorrow to keep the thread upto date.

How is your centre channel, what do you think the sound quality is like.


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## Binary (Nov 23, 2009)

The 4 el70 center channel is well, a center channel. its not heavy on bass, even though its tuned for about 45hz, but it does have enough output to sound decent by itself. I notice that at my listening position, because of the Center-to-center spacing of the drivers, I tend to lose a bit of info above 10khz. This has been measured, but even without eq, doesn't affect the sound enough to warrant a tweeter. I Tried by going actively crossed over, with a decent tweeter loaded top middle, and crossed the EL70's at 2500hz, it didn't make any noticeable difference in sound quality, and in fact, i liked the sound of it without the tweeter better!

The main reason i built the center like this was for speech intelligibility. I love not having to turn my entire system up to hear the words that so often get drowned out in the soundtrack. The EL70 is a very natural, smooth sounding driver throughout the spectrum. And they are quite nice as single units. I'm curious as to what youre system will sound like, as i rarely hear a fully matching system.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

I now have a second system in another room that I will try them on. Initially I wont have a crossover for these but my aim was to use these as a test bed for learning crossover design etc. I'm interested in how they will sound too, so will put my thoughts in here when I eventually get them running.

Pictures now added. Ive actually got a little further than this, so will update the images soon.


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## Binary (Nov 23, 2009)

If you're going crossover-less with these, you might want to wait to connect the tweeter. The EL70 is great accross the board, but that ERT won't like playing under 2k. I mean, install it all, just don't run the wires for the tweeter.


Also i find that if you can afford it, a multi-channel amp, and a digital crossover are 1000x more powerful than any standard electronic crossover. as well as have the advantage of being phase neutral.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

I was planning on running both the main driver and tweeter to a Bi-wire terminal. I can easily have the tweeter on and off that way. I can then make any crossover externally and experiment. 

The kit does come with some basic resistors, which I assumed were there so you can use the tweeter immediately. Any ideas on that, speaker design is still all new to me and the economic down turn has put some strain on funding for hobbies, so there is likely plenty of time yet.


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## Binary (Nov 23, 2009)

yeah, bi-wiring terminals are a great way to deal with it, if you've got extra amp channels free, you should really consider a mini-dsp for what theyre worth. cheap, programmable, and incredibly powerful, plus less time mucking around with expensive components that cause problems anyways. Since i've gone active, i can't stress how much better it is. lol.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

I actually have a BFD 2496 lying around and wandered if I could just use that. My thinking was I could use that to at least design the crossover to some degree, before finally diving in and trying to make one.


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## Binary (Nov 23, 2009)

i still think youre going to be very impressed with the EL70's. I don't regret purchasing mine. i even dabbled with the idea of doing EL70's all the way around. But i have this fascination with really high volume levels... and so i started the conquest of building a CBT array. 
The ones im working on should cap out at about 118db at about 80w/rms. But this is a long-term project that is only very slowly being put together. 
I got my hands on some 5.25" full range underhung NRT motor drivers that have about 4mm 1way useable xmax for a rediculous price, and im going to mate that to 54 Hivi B1S drivers per side. 15 5.25"s per side.
The 5.25's will be able to handle a rediculous 300w rms, or when EQ'd about 200w rms. The Hivi's will cap out at about 150w rms.
I've got a 12 channel amp, and a DCX2496 waiting to connect to this setup. 40w/rms at 8ohm doesnt seem like much power, but when i bridge it and take 8 channels, it will get 80wrms at 8ohm. x 2 per speaker because its actively crossed over.
I'm also going to get an optical to AES/EBU transformer so i can use the digital input of the DCX, i heard it is much cleaner than the analog side.

I'm familiar with seeing the BFD used for subwoofers, i bet it could work for full range, as long as it has the resolution.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

The BFD is designed for use in full range speakers so I figured it should at least be a start point.

The EL70's are a good price and if the final SQ is pretty good they will basically be a bargain. I could actually get one of the speakers running, but dont have enough kit to finish them both or have any wadding to put inside them yet either. These are intended to be my spring board into DIY speakers, but as ever funding dictates all. I really need to read up proper digital active crossovers etc, they would certainly make life easier than trying to build a passive crossover, and I like the idea of being able to tweak the design etc.

Having them 3/4's built and not being able to get them running is a killer. Do you have a thread up for your build?


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## Binary (Nov 23, 2009)

Unfortunately all the pictures from the build process were lost in a computer crash. I did not do the wood-work for the center. Mwmkravchenko did. i wish i did have a build log for it, i'll have to get all the dimensions and details again and post one just for you


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it. I modelled the EL70 in sketchup, so if you like modelling, have no pictures for your thread, and was thinking of doing that, I can add the driver to our sketchup database for you if you want.


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