# 'Jubilo' 3 way active loudspeakers, construction diary



## Zeverin

Hello everybody.

I plan to share with you the construction of my new loudspeakers called 'Jubilo'.

Some time ago, I asked for some advices and opinions, which you can see here:

http://www.hometheatershack.com/for...ice-needed-build-new-3-way-active-system.html

Please forget the cabinet model presented there.

I started the construction of the loudspeakers back in January so in the first posts I will update the construction progress up to is current status. After that you might expect slow updates.


The drivers are:
Tweeter: Seas 27TBFC/G
Mid: 18Sound 6ND430
Woofer: Dayton RS270

The loudspeaker will be made of to separate cabinets. One with to woofers, and another on top in MTM configuration. The cabinets will be placed very closed together, so that the final format will be WWMTM.

Why two cabinets? well, first it will allow to place the mids and tweeters in a less smaller baffle, reducing baffle difraction. Second in the future I will be able to change the cabinets indenpendently of each others.

The crossovers remains the DCX2496. The amplifiers maybe A500 also from behringer. I still don't have one solution for the 6-ch volume controller


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## Zeverin

Since I wanted the cabinets to be curved, I needed to use a CNC that I was able to find neer the place I live. This pictures were taken in 2009-12-28.








































In the last two pictures is possible to understand the final shape of the enclousure.


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## Zeverin

It took a few days after to bought the adicional wood. I needed wood for the internal bracing, for the front baffles and back of the box, soo I used 19 mm MDF (3/4"). I also needed to create that curved side wall of the loudspeaker. Insted of cutting lots of pieces with the shape wanted with the CNC and stack all them on top of each other, i.e., several layers ($$$ being the reason not to do it), I used MDF with 3 mm (1/8") in the side walls, using 6 layers. Pictures will show better this technique.

First the pieces of the internal bracing (2010-01-17):


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## Zeverin

I just love to cut wood :bigsmile:
2010-01-23


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## Zeverin

First pieces put together:

(2010-01-25)


















(2010-01-27)


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## robbo266317

You are lucky to have access to a cnc machine. I had to make up jigs for my router when I built mine. 
It's looking good so far, will you be using ply for the sides?


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## ironglen

I think he's going to using multiple layers of thin wood glued on top of one another so he can curve each one. Definitely shows the beginnings of a nice cabinet.


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## Zeverin

Hi. Iroglen is correct. I'm going to use 6 layers of thin MDF 1/8" (3 mm) to be exact, so no ply here. I will post some photos soon.

It is nice to have access to a CNC, but that ain't cheap. I had paid 125€ just to cut the curved pieces in the first photos. But it was worth it.


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## Zeverin

Internal bracing of the bottom boxes completed in 2010-02-01


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## Zeverin

A month latter I finished the internal bracing of the top box, I had been busy with other stuff. 2010-04-14


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## Zeverin

Here you can see the side wall 1/8" MDF pieces (3mm). A lot of them :yikes::dumbcrazy:
48 pieces to be exact. 2010-04-17


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## Zeverin

2010-04-18 was a great day. It was the day that I had glued the first side wall piece to the internal structure. I was very anxious to see how it would work.
I had glued the first pieces with a friend of mine. It took one 1:15h to get the first piece glued. :flex:

But when I looked how it resulted, I was very pleased. After that we got more confident in our work and managed to glue the pieces faster.

























































































Some mistakes occured also. To tight :yikes::doh:









We learn from the mistakes, right?

But we moved on...:sweat:


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## Zeverin

Some more fotos of the gluing process. 2010-04-25


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## terry j

seem to be a lot of bees in your area:rofl:

keep the pics coming, nice


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## Zeverin

terry j said:


> seem to be a lot of bees in your area:rofl:


ROTFL. :rofl:

Great joke terry :laugh:

More photos coming soon


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## robbo266317

They are really taking shape now, I love those tie-down straps!
Is the glue you are using the same as what we call "Aquadhere"? here in Oz.

Ebay has some cheap bee suits available if you need them.


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## Zeverin

Finally in 2010-06-27 I was able to glue the last side wall piece. It was a long way... :rubeyes:

















I believe the glues are very similar. I use the glue from UHU, a German company, very easy to work with and astonishing strength.



Better checkout those suits at Ebay, never know if the bees are coming back again. :neener:


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## robbo266317

Zeverin said:


> Finally in 2010-06-27 I was able to glue the last side wall piece. It was a long way... :rubeyes:
> 
> I believe the glues are very similar. I use the glue from UHU, a German company, very easy to work with and astonishing strength.
> 
> 
> 
> Better checkout those suits at Ebay, never know if the bees are coming back again. :neener:


Don't worry about the bees... I'd be more worried about the black hole forming near his face. :rofl:


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## Zeverin

robbo266317 said:


> Don't worry about the bees... I'd be more worried about the black hole forming near his face. :rofl:


:rofl::rofl:You made my day. By the way that is me in the picture.


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## Zeverin

2010-07-11. Preparing to cut the holes in the front baffle, and started to round the edges in the back panel.


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## Zeverin

2010-08-02

Cuts in the front baffle









Bought the binding posts 









Started to sand the excess of wood and glue in the top and bottom of the cabinets with a belt sander and a final touch by hand.









After applied some betumen to get a smother surface.









Some more sanding by hand

















And the tweeters arrived also  Excellent packaging by Europe-Audio


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## Moonfly

What a fantastic looking project, I'll keep watching this one now. Keep up the good work :T


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## Zeverin

Thanks Dan :heehee:


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## Zeverin

Hi all. Some more photos of the front baffles preparation (2010-08-11)









Experimenting some proprietary tools :neener:

































When using the jigsaw to make round cuts in the wood it is very important to use the correct blade. In the pictures bellow I'm showing one blade to make cuts in a straight line, while the smaller blade is more appropriate to make "curved" cuts, especially if they are very sharp, this is because the dents in the blade make a larger cut in the wood than the overall thickness of the blade allowing it to turn inside the cut. Using the wrong blade may ruin your work.


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## robbo266317

When you build your next set of speakers I would recommend buying a router, it is much more versatile than a jigsaw and gives a lot better finish. 

Still, with the tools you have, you are doing a magnificent job and I look forward to the completed project.

Cheers,
Bill.

P.S. Note that I didn't say "if you build your next set of speakers" :innocent:


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## bambino

Gonna be a nice looking set of speakers when done, very nice job!:T


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## Zeverin

bambino said:


> Gonna be a nice looking set of speakers when done, very nice job!:T


I hope soo. Thanks for the compliment Babino


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## Zeverin

More photos (2010-08-13)

















































Managed to get a very tight fit for the tweeter


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## lsiberian

That's a really nice build. Are you gonna roundover the corners?


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## Zeverin

Thanks lsiberian. Yes I'm, around 1/2" roundover diameter, in every corner. Take a closer look at post #20. That is already showing some of the roundover process. Will show that better in future posts.

I was looking at your profile and found that I got married one day after you :bigsmile: Congratulations BTW
I also got a High School degre in Computer Science :T :wave:


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## gperkins_1973

WOW! Nuff said! 

Keep the pics coming

cheers

Graham


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## Moonfly

Agreed Graham, this is coming along nicely.


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## gperkins_1973

I would love to build my own speakers but the knowledge that is required is far more extensive than subwoofers and that is something I don't have. :hissyfit:

More learning.

cheers

Graham


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## bambino

gperkins_1973 said:


> I would love to build my own speakers but the knowledge that is required is far more extensive than subwoofers and that is something I don't have. :hissyfit:
> 
> More learning.
> 
> cheers
> 
> Graham


What about WinIsd? then the crossover calulater at PE? That might net good results, sure would be fun to do an entire from scratch speaker build, all i've ever done is drivers and an over the counter crossover.:T


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## gperkins_1973

Bambino

I currently have monitor audio RS6 floorstanders for my fronts, RS5's for my rears and the RS centre. It would be interesting to know how they compare to diy speakers and at what level so I would know where the start point would be to better what I have.

cheers

Graham


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## bambino

gperkins_1973 said:


> Bambino
> 
> I currently have monitor audio RS6 floorstanders for my fronts, RS5's for my rears and the RS centre. It would be interesting to know how they compare to diy speakers and at what level so I would know where the start point would be to better what I have.
> 
> cheers
> 
> Graham


Those are such nice speakers it might be a tough act to follow but i know it could be done with the know how and alot cheaper.:T


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## 1Michael

bambino said:


> What about WinIsd? then the crossover calulater at PE? That might net good results, sure would be fun to do an entire from scratch speaker build, all i've ever done is drivers and an over the counter crossover.:T


It is a little more complicated than that:dumbcrazy:
Here is a somewhat simplified way to get your feet wet. https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/simulated-measurements


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## Zeverin

Thanks to all for the nice compliments 

Graham, Why don't you try to build some of the simplier Zaph Audio design and than move to something more challenging?

The link provided by Michael is also a very good starting point.


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## Zeverin

And how about some more photos??








Front baffle and back wall

















Putting everything together in the top enclosure.

















The dark colors are from the removed glue in excess after tightened all the pieces


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## Yad

Good job! How do those speakes sound ?


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## Zeverin

Hi Yad. Its too early to answer that. I'm still waiting for the woofers and CAPs to protect the tweeters. But I will keep all of you informed as soon as possible.

Can wait to put everything together :foottap::crying:


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## mayhem13

Excellent Job! Nice choice of midwoofers. I'm curious why you didn't choose higher eff. tweeter to match the capabilities of the dual 18Sound mids? SBAcoustics SB29 Neo( small faceplate=close C to C spacing) 

I'll be watching this one closely.....thanx


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## Zeverin

Hi Anthony. Thank you for your kind words.
I can tell you that I had spent soo many hours trying to figure out wich tweeter to use. I have looked into that same tweeter you mencioned, and also at the SB Acoustics SB29RDC. The SBAcoustics SB29 Neo was a very attractive choice because of the shorter C-T-C distance, allowing me to cross a little lower to the tweeter improving off-axis response. But after looked soo many times to the distortion plot, I didn't liked the rising the the 2nd order distortion in the Neo below 2Kz. Take a look at Zaph measurements in his blog. Maybe I had overlooked that point. Its was a very hard choice, believe me, that took away some hours of sleep. At this point there is no turning back. Feel free to make further comments.


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## mayhem13

That's the hardest part of the design process, accepting the performance limitations of the performance gains of another. i spend more time considering these things than actually building anything? I feel your pain.

I have not used the neo but have worked with the full size version. An excellent tweeter all around BUT admitedly for low level, near field listening, there's other options with a bit more definition for lack of a better word. Looking forward to your progress.


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## peterselby7

I read all the way through your beginning post when you were considering this project. It was interesting to see the thought process of how you landed on your design. 

Now that we can see what you are doing with it I'm really glad you chose to go all active. I have little doubts about how they will sound.

A couple questions: 

when you get them done; you may want to experiment with no protection on the tweeters. I use active speakers too and no longer use caps for the tweeters to protect them. I think they sound better naked and as long as you are careful when making crossover changes, you won't blow them. 

As another poster mentioned you may want to experiment with a slightly higher quality tweet to go with those mids.

How did you come to discover the 18 sound drivers? They are really fantastic units..

I'm really curious what your thoughts are on their completion. Please let us know how this story ends.


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## WmAx

If not too late, I recommend Owen-Corning 703 or 705, or high density rockwool board, Roxul #4-#8 value. It will serve far better to prevent acoustic reflection(s) and internal standing wave resonance(s).

Chris


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## Zeverin

Hi Pete. I will try without the caps. The use of the caps is to protect the tweeters from uncontrolled signals when turning on and off the amplifiers and in case of electricity fault.

I discovered the 18sound from the Zaph Audio site.

More news comming soon


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## Zeverin

WmAx said:


> If not too late, I recommend Owen-Corning 703 or 705, or high density rockwool board, Roxul #4-#8 value. It will serve far better to prevent acoustic reflection(s) and internal standing wave resonance(s).
> 
> Chris


Not too late for the bottom enclosure Chris. Thanks for the suggestion.


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## Owen Bartley

Great looking project, Zeverin! I like that more people are daring to build something a little different these days. Can't wait to see more progress and eventually the finished speakers. Loving the curved walls!


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## BuddahX

Those cabinets look amazing.. Keep up the good work.


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## ojojunkie

Wish I also have your talent and skills in woodwork!... :clap: :clap: :clap: :T


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## Zeverin

Hi all. Thank you for the compliments.


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## Zeverin

Some more photos.


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## Zeverin

With the prime coat applied

View attachment 25907


View attachment 25908


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## Moonfly

I love this part where it all starts to finally come together :T

Looking good Zeverin.


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## bambino

I cannot wait untill the final seen, those things are spectacular.:sn:


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## speedie

how have your speakers turned out
it has been some time since i posted here so it would be good if you can share some snaps of your labour


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## Zeverin

Hi speedie, hi everyone.

Sorry being away for soo long. Life got very busy meanwhile. I had made some renovations at home. I built a new WC and changed the floor and ceiling of two rooms :spend:. One of them will be a leisure room, and in a few months I plan to move my sound system over there. I also needed to remodel and repaint another room for my first kid that will be born in December :bigsmile:

Given all this work, I had made little progress in the loudspeakers, in fact less than I expected. but it's time to show their current state.

First I going to repeat the prime coat applied in the top enclousures because the image doesn't show.


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## Zeverin

Initially I wanted to paint the speakers in a colour that could mimic wood. The front and top surfaces would be in black.
Here they are.























My wife doesn't like the final results, and to be honest I'm not happy too. So we decided that we should explore something diferent, something more exotic, but more of that latter.

After this I started to apply the prime coat to the bottom enclousures.


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## StereoClarity

Nice work thus far!

One question though. If you planned to paint them and had access to a CNC why didn't you just have them cut a ton of curved pieces like the braces except have them the full width with bracing throughout? That would have saved you months.


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## bambino

Lookin good! Can't wait for the final.:sn:


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## Zeverin

StereoClarity said:


> Nice work thus far!
> 
> One question though. If you planned to paint them and had access to a CNC why didn't you just have them cut a ton of curved pieces like the braces except have them the full width with bracing throughout? That would have saved you months.


You are right StereoClarity. Having the pieces cutted by a CNC would have saved some time building the enclousures, but at greater cost. To cut the pieces at the last photo in post #2 costed 125€. The remaining wood (lateral panels, back and front baffle) cost another 120€. If it was today I would have done things differently, just like you mencioned, but I would cut the pieces at home with a router or a jigsaw :T. That would allow to create thicker panel and a irregular shape inside the cabinet with the additional control over standing waves.

Tomorow I will update with some more photos. Stay tuned


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## Zeverin

Hello again!

I want to share some more photos. This time with the drivers in place. Please note that this is not the actual finish. That will be handled in a few weeks, I hope :blink:. The front baffle will remain black, but the side panels will the painted in metallic purple :yikes: :bigsmile:.

A few more notes, the spearks aren't correctly placed, the bottom enclouse must be inclined back in order to be time aligned with the top enclousers.


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## Zeverin

Temporary setup and room.


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## Moonfly

They're really starting to look like a serious speaker now. Cant wait to see these finished, keep up the good work, nearly there now:T


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## mayhem13

Nice Job!


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## jeremy7

Wow! very nice job. they look great


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## Wooderson

All this thread and never any listening impressions?


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