# Owen's DIYSG HTM-12 build



## Owen Bartley

With our basement renovation finally making some progress, and the design of the theatre taking shape, it was finally time to decide what speakers to use in the new space. Since I will be putting them behind the AT screen, I knew I wanted three identical speakers up front. I have been planning this project for so long that I've had a lot of different speakers in mind over the years (yes, years)... NatP, Modula MTM, Dayton RS-P WWMTM, Mini Statement... I liked aspects of all of those (and many other) options, but none of them really firmly established themselves as a clear, definitive choice. At least until I discovered DIY Sound Group.

Reading about the SEOS speakers, I knew that this was going to be it. The question was "what flavour of SEOS?" I started out thinking the Fusion 6 would be the one, then moved on to basically consider nearly every model in the Fusion and Cinema lines. Some were easy to eliminate due to their large size. Then I learned that the larger SEOS horns were generally more desirable, and started to focus on that, which led me to the 88 Special. This speaker was shallow, wall mountable, praised for its clarity and output, and it used the big SEOS-15 waveguide. It seemed perfect, and I was just waiting until we got closer to starting the full project before ordering. And then I was pointed to the HTM line, which made me start all over again.

The things that I was looking for in the front stage were: first and foremost, clear and clean dialogue, good output to match a pair of 18" subs, and a depth that would fit behind a shallow 1' false wall in the screen area. The reviews of the 88 Special suggested that it was fantastic for dialogue, and speaking with Erich about my goals and needs reassured me that they would shine in my setup. Once I had checked out the HTM line a bit, which wasn't easy because they were so new that there was barely any information out on them, I became convinced that they might be a little bit better than the 88 Special, and Erich assured me that I would be happy either way. In the end I decided that I have room for the HTM-12, so I'd go for the big woofer and SEOS-15 to make sure I didn't leave any performance on the table. Once I discovered a review of a newly built HTM-10 build online, I was 100% convinced that I was making the right choice. If the 10s impressed that much, the 12s must be spectacular.

I have received my kits, and I'll try to move these along reasonably quickly, but with a 1 year old and a 3 year old at home, there isn't much time for projects. I'm very excited about these, so I'll do my best to put in build time whenever I can, and I ordered the flat packs with them so that will help immensely.

Erich and Matt have been extremely patient and helpful throughout my search, and always took time to answer my questions quickly and thoroughly. If the speakers end up half as good as the customer service experience has been, I'm in for a treat. Thanks again guys.

Here are a few pics... the 5 boxes (I also ordered eight Volt-6 speakers for surround and ceiling duty) going into my car for the drive across the border, Erich's legendary packing, and a baby for scale of the HTM-12 baffle.


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## Prof.

Should be an awesome setup Owen!..Best of luck with the build and I look forward to hearing your results..


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## Owen Bartley

Thanks Prof! It's slow going chipping away each night... but I'll just call it a "relaxing pace".

Last night I got some good crossover work in, and have most of the components glued down to the boards. I think everything looks right (minus the missing 2 caps per board), but I want to look at it with fresh eyes before I start to solder. All these little jobs really add up to take a lot of time! I still have to zip tie the larger components, then solder, and then the boards will basically be done, and I can move on to cabinet assembly.

If anyone sees a major red flag, let me know before it's too late!


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## Tonto

Looks like it's coming together nicely. Keep up with the picture taking!


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## Prof.

When I was physically capable of wiring up printed circuit boards, I used to find it almost therapeutical!..provided nothing went wrong! :bigsmile:


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## Owen Bartley

Thanks Tonto! No pics today, I didn't get enough done!

Prof, I kind of know what you mean. Working with the printed boards from mtg90 was a downright pleasure. I haven't soldered them yet, but it looks like it will be a snap.

Baby steps last night and a little bit of progress. I got the bracing glued into 2 of the 3 speakers, but had to stop before I got to the third. Hopefully I'll get that together tonight, even though we have kids activities and then I have an appointment later in the evening. Then I hope to get the top/bottom/sides on all the enclosures over the weekend.


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## Tonto

No problemo, that's why we call this an addiction...I mean a hobby, yeah, that's it, a hobby! Just post pics as they come, we'll still be here waiting. Can't wait to hear your impressions.


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## Owen Bartley

A little bit of weekend progress. With pics for Tonto! 

The cabinets are now fully assembled, except for the front baffles. It was a bit of a grind, starting with tops and bottoms, and doing one speaker at a time due to lack of a decent workspace, and lack of clamps. I know I have more, but I have to collect some I had loaned out. It can't be said enough... you can NEVER have too many clamps. So, first was tops and bottoms for 1, 2, 3. Then on Sunday I managed to get the sides on all of them too. 

I don't think my method or technique was too bad, but they all have a bit of a lip here and there, with some panel overlap. Nothing serious, and I think I have good solid glue joints, so it will just mean a little bit of cleanup sanding before the baffle goes on, and then some good filling and sanding before finishing, as usual. 

You can see in a couple of the pics that I reversed a clamp to use as a spreader across the vertical centerline of the enclosure. I might have clamped a bit too hard when doing the tops and bottoms, which forced those panels a bit out of true. Just enough that it would make more work in the finishing stage, so I applied a tiny bit of spreading pressure on the centre brace and it came back in line nicely with the sides when I got them all clamped up.

I ran out of glue pretty early on, so I made a quick run out to Canadian Tire and thought I'd give this stuff a try. Elmer's Pro Bond Max. It goes on nice, and has a good amount of working time before it starts to set. Which is handy when I'm doing 2 panels at a time before I can tighten all the clamps. It looks/feels almost a bit like a glue with some MDF particles suspended in it. Not gritty at all, but a bit different than the Titebond / Gorilla / Straight Elmer's wood glue I had used before. So far I like it.

So next up for this week is to sand the edges flat for the bezel, finish crossovers, finalize a mounting location, and then I guess wait for my eBay binding posts. I forgot to add them to my order from Erich. I'm proud of myself for at least putting a little time in just about every day so far. Gotta keep up the momentum.


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## Prof.

Looking good Owen..:T What other fixings will you be using on the cabinets?


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## Owen Bartley

Thanks Prof! The cabinets will be super plain as far as finish goes. They'll be behind the screen so they don't have to be beautiful. I have a new gallon of flat black paint ready to go after filling, sanding, and priming. I'm not going to spend a ton of time on them, but I do want to get a good clean finish at least for the paint. Here's a link to a pic of the binding posts from the eBay seller. I hope they'll work out OK.










More small steps done. All I had time to do lately was clean up the boxes with a little sanding. The edges on the face of the enclosure where the front baffle will attach were off by little bits on most of the joints, so I wanted to get a nice flat surface for gluing. I couldn't find my random orbital, so I went old school. 

I tried to be careful when taking the lips off not to round the edges over too much but there was definitely a little bit of that in areas where I had to do heavy sanding, which shows in the closeup. While I was at it, I also cleaned up the outside corners and edges so there will be less filler involved in the final product. I started in the garage which was a terrible idea, before I moved out to my "mobile sanding base" a.k.a. the folding work table on the sidewalk.


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## Prof.

I did the same with my speakers since they would be behind the screen..One coat of flat black and that was it!

The binding posts look neat..


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## Owen Bartley

I have now completed the crossovers, except for the wiring which I'll do tonight. I won't show pics of my soldering, because it started out pretty ugly, and only got marginally better by the end. I'm fairly confident that it will work, but it is far from pretty. I was used to doing much smaller connections, and was having trouble getting the little solder mounds to keep from "collapsing" in on themselves around the stems. By the end I mostly figured out the technique, but it was pretty fiddly.

I couldn't mount the boards yet, because I couldn't find my small zip ties, but I think I have a good location for them. I started to cut and lay out the Ultratouch, which is pretty nice to work with. It turns out one bag is just about the exact right amount for an HTM-12 cabinet, so the 3 bags I have will be perfect. I plan to mount the crossovers on the side of the enclosure, and basically line the inner cabinet with the insulation. I think I remember reading that it was OK to run a layer of it right over the crossover, but I wanted to make sure. I played around a bit with the lining, and have a few options below. the last piece will either go up and over the crossover and line the full side, (pretend the crossover is mounted in that last pic) or along the bottom under the ports and just up to the crossover on the side. I wasn't sure if the lining on the bottom might help to minimize any resonance in the ports, since it would be fairly snug under them.

Hopefully tonight I'll be able to...
- install the crossover wires
- do a quick sound check on each board
- mount the boards
- line all 3 cabinets
- glue and clamp the front baffles

I'm eager to start finishing these, and am still on pace for having them done by Christmas if I don't run into many delays. I did a test fit of the waveguide last night, and it is TIGHT. I'll have to sand a little bit of material out of the inner recessed area before finishing.

_** Shoot, I just remembered that I still have to wait for the binding posts to arrive. I guess I could go ahead with finishing and sort of wing it when they arrive... we'll see. **_


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## Owen Bartley

Well, turns out my list above was a bit ambitious. Lol. That night I got the zip ties done on all boards, and I think I did the wires on one. Last night I was able to buckle down a bit more, and get a few other things checked off the list.

I added all wires. I would have preferred to use nice black/red wires, but this was what I had on hand. Still easy to identify. Then it was time to get excited, because I could hook up the guts and give them a first test listen. At first I just connected everything on the bench. (NOTE: please ignore my current disaster zone work area. This is in the basement which we're currently trying to empty out to get ready for construction. Which means there's junk everywhere as we sort through it all.) The first pic shows that setup, and everything seemed to work properly but it was pretty tough to get an idea of the actual sound. Free air woofers definitely leave some to be desired, so I figured I'd pop a baffle on and test them in place. They definitely sounded better, but I wasn't able to go too loud since it was coming up on 11:00 and everyone else was in bed.

Once I was sure everything sounded right, I did a full layout with the ultratouch, found the best spot for the crossover, taking into consideration the ports and the binding posts I'll need to add, and then marked for pre-drilling. I decided to use Kreg pocket hole screws to mount the boards, because of the large flat head. But I only had 1 1/4" screws, which would have poked out the side of the box, so I added a rubber washer on top of the board and standoffs, which I think will work great. I didn't have time to cut and staple all the insulation in the other boxes, but all crossovers are mounted, and I'm ready to finish that up tonight.

I'm pretty sure I can attach the front baffles after that, and manage the binding post installation through the woofer cutout. I think they're pretty standard binding posts, but I haven't installed anything but terminal cups before. With the ones from my pic a few posts back is there any reason not to go ahead and close up the fronts? I'll still have a good amount of room to work, and I'll be that much closer to filling, sanding, priming, and painting.


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## Prof.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on that horn..What is the crossover frequency?


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## Owen Bartley

Thanks Prof, I'm interested to see what the sound is like for me too. I've had a pair of Paradigm towers for over 10 years now tht I'm very used to, and these will sound very different, I can tell just from the test.

The HTM-12 crosses over from the Eminence Deltalite 12" woofer to the Denovo DNA-325 compression driver at 1,400Hz. It's higher than the 88 Specials I was originally looking at (which cross at 950Hz!), which was said to be a big asset for dialogue. I don't know much about crossover design, so I'm trusting the experts on this one, and I'm sure they'll also shine in that application.


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## Owen Bartley

We're picking up steam now! Last night I continued with insulation which went very smoothly. I have to say again how nice the Ultratouch is to work with, it made things easy. So, all 3 cabinets lined, with the rear panel on the crossover side just tacked into place at one end. This way I can flip it up to do the binding posts and then pop a few more staples in when that's done.

I figured I might as well go ahead with the baffles, even though my Christmas deadline is basically impossible now. That's OK, it was just a "loose" deadline. Since I had 7 clamps on hand at the moment, it meant I could only do one at a time, so I put one together last night, and then snuck down this morning before showering and heading to work to glue up a second while everyone else was asleep. 2 of 3 cabinets are done, and I'll get the 3rd baffle glued early this afternoon, since I'm in for a half day.

They will all need a preliminary sanding, then a cleanup and treatment with some filler, which I hope to tackle tomorrow. Things are going to be tight because we're having people over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day, and I will have a lot of household work and prep to help out with too. I'll try to get a little done each day, and I think it will be reasonable to say I can have these all finished up by New Year's Day.


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## Owen Bartley

Let's just ignore all my previous schedules and timelines, OK? Turns out getting work done over the holidays was pretty much impossible, so I just got a chance to do a little bit last night. I got a nice little cordless sander for Christmas, which was great because I have no idea where my old corded one was. What was less great was the fact that the 2 batteries I had were maybe half charged at best, so I had just enough juice to get all the edges done on one speaker before they both gave up on me. It could have been worse. 

The edges on this one are all nice and clean now, so I slopped some filler along the joints. This stuff isn't very happy working out in the cold garage, but I made do and got a coat all around. Between the pallet of flooring for the basement and the pile of Christmas recycling that keeps growing, there isn't much room to work in my little single car these days, but it will be my new base of operations to get the speakers finished.

I'll go at it again tonight hopefully, with 2 fully charged batteries and see if I can get both remaining cabinets sanded and filled. We'll see how the batteries last, I did read some comments that the sander chews through them quickly.


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## Prof.

Stick with it Owen! :T


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## Owen Bartley

I'm chipping away, Prof... one little bit at a time!

Last night was sanding and filling part 2 (of 3). Got a little more done, but even with 2 full batteries I didn't get completely finished. I was able to get most of the baffle lip off, and I even went at it with the sandpaper to get the rest of it close after my batteries died. Now I just need to give the 3rd speaker a final once-over, and some light fill. 

I should be good to at least get them primed this weekend. We have zero New Years Eve plans, and we're keeping it that way. If things go smoothly I might even get to put a coat of paint on. I'll probably do 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint and call them done. Still waiting on binding posts, but those can be added after the finish dries.


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## Owen Bartley

Happy New Year, everyone!

Basically a "nothing" update today, because I took a break from building over the holiday and either spent time with the boys, or relaxing with my wife instead of freezing my fingers off in the garage. I finished filling and sanding, and it seems like the enclosures came out pretty clean. I had a few small low spots filled in (from over- or under-sanding) and most of the filler left is just sitting in the little pits where I didn't have 100% fill in the glue joints at the outside edge. They might look a bit ugly still, but they're generally baby's-butt smooth. And not caked with filler either, which I like.

I did manage to get a coat of primer on all 3 enclosures, but didn't move on to either a second coat or actual paint. I think I'll skip the 2nd coat of primer and just go straight to paint, and do either 2 or 3 coats if required.

I'll get back to work this week and start painting for real. I'm thinking a small foam roller to minimize texture, we'll see how that works out. Still waiting on binding posts, so I don't feel like I have to push. (also, I don't really have anywhere to put these till the theatre is built in like a year... but you know, priorities.)


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## McCool

Owen,

I thought you should know there are people out there following your thread with great excitement. I'm in a similar position as yourself, building a dedicated home theater in a house I just bought. Like yours, my home theater probably wont be done for about another year or so, but I'm already looking into my speaker options. I want to upgrade to ATMOS and since I love building speakers, I thought I'd do that rather than buy. I've been looking for the perfect DIY option and ran across the HTM-12's. I'm very used to standard home theater Hi-Fi. I have an older, Kenwood THX 5.1 system (LS-X1F LCR's and a matching pair of SW-X1 subs.) They're fantastic, but they feel strained in a larger theater while playing at reference level and the bass pretty much drops to nothing bellow 25hz. Regardless, they are very pretty to listen to, have wonderful detail and flat, non-fatiguing, theater-like sound - just no real dynamics, intensity and pizzazz that I like to hear when I go to the local IMAX. I can't imagine what horn loaded compression tweeters and 12 inch mid drivers sound like in a residential environment but I'm hoping it creates that dynamic punch I'm looking for. I'm just worried about the ear-bleeding, honking fatigue and piercingly uncontrolled mid-range that is usually associated with horns and cheep PA speakers. Since there's not really any reviews out yet on the HTM-12's, I'm excited to read yours. I'm loving your detailed building posts and I'm on pins and needles to read your listening review! Thanks for taking the time to keep us all up to date on this new DIY speaker!


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## Prof.

Owen Bartley said:


> Happy New Year, everyone!
> 
> Basically a "nothing" update today, because I took a break from building over the holiday and either spent time with the boys, or relaxing with my wife instead of freezing my fingers off in the garage. I finished filling and sanding, and it seems like the enclosures came out pretty clean. I had a few small low spots filled in (from over- or under-sanding) and most of the filler left is just sitting in the little pits where I didn't have 100% fill in the glue joints at the outside edge. They might look a bit ugly still, but they're generally baby's-butt smooth. And not caked with filler either, which I like.
> 
> I did manage to get a coat of primer on all 3 enclosures, but didn't move on to either a second coat or actual paint. I think I'll skip the 2nd coat of primer and just go straight to paint, and do either 2 or 3 coats if required.
> 
> I'll get back to work this week and start painting for real. I'm thinking a small foam roller to minimize texture, we'll see how that works out. Still waiting on binding posts, so I don't feel like I have to push. (also, I don't really have anywhere to put these till the theatre is built in like a year... but you know, priorities.)


Owen..A small foam roller is perfect for the job.. Painting a smooth surface requires no nap..


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## Owen Bartley

McCool said:


> Owen,
> 
> I thought you should know there are people out there following your thread with great excitement. I'm in a similar position as yourself, building a dedicated home theater in a house I just bought. Like yours, my home theater probably wont be done for about another year or so, but I'm already looking into my speaker options. I want to upgrade to ATMOS and since I love building speakers, I thought I'd do that rather than buy. I've been looking for the perfect DIY option and ran across the HTM-12's. I'm very used to standard home theater Hi-Fi. I have an older, Kenwood THX 5.1 system (LS-X1F LCR's and a matching pair of SW-X1 subs.) They're fantastic, but they feel strained in a larger theater while playing at reference level and the bass pretty much drops to nothing bellow 25hz. Regardless, they are very pretty to listen to, have wonderful detail and flat, non-fatiguing, theater-like sound - just no real dynamics, intensity and pizzazz that I like to hear when I go to the local IMAX. I can't imagine what horn loaded compression tweeters and 12 inch mid drivers sound like in a residential environment but I'm hoping it creates that dynamic punch I'm looking for. I'm just worried about the ear-bleeding, honking fatigue and piercingly uncontrolled mid-range that is usually associated with horns and cheep PA speakers. Since there's not really any reviews out yet on the HTM-12's, I'm excited to read yours. I'm loving your detailed building posts and I'm on pins and needles to read your listening review! Thanks for taking the time to keep us all up to date on this new DIY speaker!


Thanks for the kind words, McCool, I'll try not to let you down! lol

I think we're in a great place/time to be starting a theatre build, being able to build with Atmos, 4k, etc. in mind. I know there is always a new thing on the horizon, but I don't think that there will be a significant change in speaker layout required (unless switching to an Auro 3D setup) for a long time. I'll try to make sure all the cables I run are HDCP 2.2 compliant, which should last a little while at least, and high enough bandwidth to pass whatever the latest version of HDMI is capable of, and UHD specs require. What else can happen after 4K and HDR? I don't know, but since I won't even have a full 4K display any time soon, I think I'll be fairly "future-proof" for a while at least. With that in mind, I'll try to run conduit for cables/wires where possible, to make replacement years from now a little easier, and that's about as safe as it can get I think.

I'm really looking forward to experiencing the SEOS speakers, especially with cinematic material. I have a Paradigm setup now, and there's nothing WRONG with them really, but the one big complaint I have is with dialogue clarity and coherence. My hope is that moving to 3 identical speakers, ditching the horizontal centre, and placing them in a more optimal location behind an AT screen will make big strides forward in that area. The SEOS horns have been praised for their clarity and dialogue rendering, and I can't wait to see how they work out. From my initial "drop in test" there wasn't a lot of bass from the 12, but that is by design. In my setup they'll be crossed over to a pair of UXL-18s, so they won't need to handle anything below 60Hz at the most (I'll play with crossover points from around 60Hz to 100Hz or above, since the UXLs are supposed to do well up that high). Are you thinking about replacing the SW-X1s as well? Any early candidates?



Prof. said:


> Owen..A small foam roller is perfect for the job.. Painting a smooth surface requires no nap..


Thanks Prof! I thought I remembered reading that somewhere. Now I'll have the confidence to try it. I was going to make a joke about ME needing a nap, but couldn't pull it together. I'm too tired. :rofl:


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## McCool

Owen Bartley said:


> I'm really looking forward to experiencing the SEOS speakers, especially with cinematic material. I have a Paradigm setup now, and there's nothing WRONG with them really, but the one big complaint I have is with dialogue clarity and coherence. My hope is that moving to 3 identical speakers, ditching the horizontal centre, and placing them in a more optimal location behind an AT screen will make big strides forward in that area. The SEOS horns have been praised for their clarity and dialogue rendering, and I can't wait to see how they work out. From my initial "drop in test" there wasn't a lot of bass from the 12, but that is by design. In my setup they'll be crossed over to a pair of UXL-18s, so they won't need to handle anything below 60Hz at the most (I'll play with crossover points from around 60Hz to 100Hz or above, since the UXLs are supposed to do well up that high). Are you thinking about replacing the SW-X1s as well? Any early candidates?


Owen, I've read the same thing about the SEOS horns and the clear dialogue they're acclaimed to produce is definitely one of the things drawing me to them. I'm not concerned about the lack of bass in the LCR's, that's what the subs are for. I may keep the SW-X1's to help even out bass gaps in my room - I'm not ruling anything out at this point. I have A TON of space behind my AT screen, so I have the option to do whatever I want. It looks like most guys are drawn to the Full Marty Sub with the Inuke amp. I'm very intrigued by the idea of flat bass response down to 17hz and a pair of those looks like it would definitely do the trick. But, at the same time, I don't know if I can expect tight, musical precision out of an 18in DIY sub. I already feel my 12inch SW-X1's are too muddy. The truth is, I want the best of both worlds. I obviously want my dedicated theater to be a crushing, powerhouse of awesomeness, but at the same time, I want to install a turntable and use it as a place where I can enjoy musical nirvana - not the band, but the state of mind.  Obviously I can't have both, I get it, properly calibrated movie theater sound systems don't create the best in music listening capability, but that's what I intend to do with my room. I want a speaker system that functions best as a theater monitor and yet also performs beautifully as a two channel stereo system, with a subwoofer that nails people to the wall during film screenings and yet tight and musical on jazz night. I'm open for suggestions...


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## Owen Bartley

It sounds like a pair of subs and maybe a pair of midbass modules, or perhaps additional nearfield subs might work for you. Those seem to be the currently en vogue methods of increasing your tactile bass response, after you've got a capable "standard" sub. If you have lots of space in your room either behind or beside the seats, nearfield subs might be fun. Otherwise if you want a monster stack all tucked away behind the screen (where you've said you have lots of room) then maybe a pair of midbass modules are the way to go. Either way, you have options, and a lot of fun reading ahead.


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## Prof.

Owen Bartley said:


> Thanks Prof! I thought I remembered reading that somewhere. Now I'll have the confidence to try it. I was going to make a joke about ME needing a nap, but couldn't pull it together. I'm too tired. :rofl:


Lol!.I was thinking the same thing when I wrote it!..I didn't mean there was no need for you to take a nap!! :heehee:


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## Tonto

Wow, you have really done a nice job Owen. I bet you are going to love them!


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## Owen Bartley

After a bit of a slowdown with minimal progress in tiny steps (kids sick, us sick, frigid garage temps, busy schedules), I finally have a step worth showing.

The cabinets are finished with paint. Most surfaces got 3 coats, except the back and bottoms, which got 2 each due to flipping around while painting. The paint is Sherwin Williams Quali-Kote "Blacktop" in a flat finish. To be honest, it has a little more grey/green in it than I would like, but since they'll be behind the screen anyway I settled for "just OK" because it was a gallon of good quality flat almost-black paint from the mistint section and it only cost me $10.00. I have a ton left to do the subs, screen frame, anything else that needs to suck up light and won't be obviously visible in the room. If they were going to be visible, I think I would have tried laminate... that WilsonArt _Asian Night_ is great looking stuff.

I thought I had a foam roller to use, but when I was ready to go it turned out that the roller I had didn't fit the handle I had, so I just uses a regular short nap roller. Again, they'll be behind the screen, so this is more about performance than looks. They really don't look bad, and the paint went on nice and covered well. It has the usual tendency of "flat" paints to show every little mark and finger smudge, so it will be interesting to see how these hold up through the rest of the build. I'll likely have to do some touchup eventually. The green was much more pronounced when the paint was wet, as you can see in the wet/dry comparison below (those closeups were after the first coat). 

I'm still waiting for my binding posts. But the cabinets are otherwise ready for them so when they arrive I can get them all assembled and test out some music and movies. I'm excited to see how much of an improvement I get with dialogue. We watched Civil War last night and I have both the "dialogue" setting and the centre channel level cranked up to get intelligible voices in quiet passages. When we watch with the kids in bed I usually turn on the dynamic compression, but I don't think it's actually doing much to help. Anyway, some progress, and I'm just about at the end of this build. Finally.


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## Prof.

Very nice job Owen..:T I'm surprised you had to boost the centre channel to hear voices clearly..I would have thought that those mid horns would have been bright enough!


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## Owen Bartley

Prof. said:


> Very nice job Owen..:T I'm surprised you had to boost the centre channel to hear voices clearly..I would have thought that those mid horns would have been bright enough!


Sorry Prof., that wasn't very clear. The settings were cranked with my current setup (Paradigm CC 370). One of the main things I'm looking for is getting rid of the horizontal Centre for a matching LCR. I fully expect the new speakers to blow this setup out of the water. 

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk


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## Prof.

Aha!..That makes more sense..I would say that it will be like "chalk and cheese" between the two set ups...


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## Owen Bartley

Remember those speakers that I was going to have ready for Boxing Day? Yeah, they're getting close now. LOL.

Binding posts have still not arrived and I'm well past the estimated outside ship date. Time to have the seller ship another set. In the meantime, I decided to go ahead and get as close as I could to "finished", so all I have to do is drill for the posts, attach the leads, and close everything up.

I went ahead with one speaker that I plan to test as the centre channel in my existing setup over the weekend, because I'm dying to hear something from these. I basically drilled 1/8" holes in the locations for the binding posts and squeezed the bare leads out. When the posts arrive, I can drill out the proper size and go ahead.

I started by making a quick cardboard template for drilling the holes for the binding posts. I measured out roughly where I wanted them based on the location of the crossover and length of the leads I left for the input. Each speaker now has a pilot hole ready to finish in the correct diameter for posts. Then I lined up the woofer, marked the holes, pulled the woofer, and drilled the locations for screws. While I was at it, I took a plain old Sharpie to the silver edge of the woofer basket, which worked like a charm. I just did long smooth strokes instead of colouring like my kids do, and it went on fine. I did run around the lip twice, just to get a good coat.

I had my big helper get involved so he can tell his friends one day "I built those speakers". Also he loved the tiny wrench we used to mount the CD to the waveguide. I wasn't sure how tight to attach this, so I went about a 1/2 turn past "snug" without having to really reef on the wrench. I also thought I'd add an extra detail at this point. I read about people using other waveguides and using things like plumber's putty, fiberglass, and modeling clay on the back to to damp it. I don't think it's really necessary for the SEOS, since it is made of much thicker material than I saw others using, but I had some Dynamat lying around and I thought "why not?". So I attached a strip about an inch or so wide on each side of the waveguide. NOTE: Please let me know if this was a bad idea and may cause negative effects - I can't think of why it might, but I don't know how waveguides operate really.

And finally, I connected the woofer and waveguide, and mounted them in the enclosure. I didn't have time to do the ports last night, so I attacked them with an angle grinder and a cutoff disc this morning in between dropping the kids at daycare and running for my train. I'll get them in tonight. I did a quick music test... and it works. I listened for about 1 minute and at low - moderate volume, but they sound nice (even without the port) and even moving around the room the sound was still quite full.

After this weekend I'll have finished this one and hopefully have a few movies worth of listening impressions. And then whenever my posts arrive I'll get the other two stitched up and test the trio together. There WILL be a conclusion to this build eventually! :waiting:


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## Prof.

Good one Owen!..:T The SEOS Waveguides have a very good reputation and shouldn't need any further deadening..I doubt it would make any noticeable difference though even with additional dampening..
Anxiously waiting to hear the final result..


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## Owen Bartley

Thanks Prof, i think you're right... the SEOS waveguides are THICK material. I've seen other waveguides made out of thin plastic or fiberglass, which I'm sure would be more prone to resonate. These really are quite dense and solid. I kind of figured while I have them open, and I have the material, I might as well slap some on. Just to be on the safe side.

As of last night, one speaker is good to go. I can't call it "finished" because I still need binding posts, but it is up and running, and will be tested this weekend. Listening impressions of the single one in centre channel duty to follow.


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## Tonto

Looking good! Can't wait to hear how you like them.


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## Owen Bartley

OK, the slowest build in the world continues!

I spent some time with this single HTM-12 set up as the centre this weekend, and we were able to go through a couple of movies, Star Trek Beyond and Jason Bourne. Now I should say first that I did not rerun Audyssey. I did a quick test with it on and off, and when I turned it off I realized what a difference it is making. So I left it on, as an unscientific first attempt and went ahead.

The existing centre channel (Paradigm CC-370) which is a match to the Monitor 7 towers is set at 0, while the front L/R towers are -3. The "dialogue" setting is turned up to +6. When I swapped in the HTM-12, I had to set the centre level to -1 and bring the L/R up to +1, and bring "dialogue" back to 0 to get a reasonably close match. So the efficiency was immediately evident.

Even with the totally inappropriate Audyssey settings for a vastly different speaker in place, the HTM-12 sounded great. Voices and dialogue were clear and crisp, and we never felt strained when listening to quieter speech. The sound was so clean that I found myself turning things up a few times... not because we couldn't hear it, but because it sounded so good and I wanted more of it! This was just a quick and dirty "make sure it's working" test, but I'd call it a success. I'll probably set up with all 3 when I get the binding posts* and run a new Audyssey setup for them just to get a better idea how they sound, but until the basement gets finished (ahem - started) they'll be hanging out in storage. Here's a quick pic of the test setup. Ignore all the kid junk, there's just not enough places to hide it all until we get the basement done. I'll finish this up with a more detailed review when I get them all running at once, but for now, that's about it. Thanks for your patience while I worked away at a snail's pace here. 

Next frustratingly slow moving project... twin UXL-18s. Stay tuned.

_*Since the binding posts hadn't arrived almost a month after their estimated arrival date, I contacted the seller on eBay and was refunded the full amount. I'll leave them as-is for now, and decide what to do about them later, since they won't be put into regular service for a while._


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## Prof.

It "sounds" (pun intended) very encouraging Owen..


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## Tonto

Great work Owen! You could actually skip the binding posts all together & wire directly to the speaker wire. Somebody remind me of the thread where the sponsor sold a kit to do just that. It's on the tip of my tongue...he used to give speaker's (black speakers in a very fancy black fabric bag) and kit deals all the time??? It had a special, red wire from the crossover to a specialty connector (very thin, hollow tube--male/female) that plugged into the half that the speaker wire was connected. He swore it made a huge difference. If I remember it was like $75.00. More expensive that binding posts for sure! All you did was drill 2 small holes just like you did & hook em up!


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## Owen Bartley

Thanks guys. 

I guess I could always just seal around the exposed wires (which is what I'll be doing for my in wall and in ceiling speakers) but for these I think I want to stick with something a bit nicer. We'll see what I come up with over the next 6 months. 

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk


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## Owen Bartley

OK, I realize I am past overdue with some proper listening impressions. Binding posts were installed and all is good to go. These have been resting in the basement since completion, which is going to be their future home whenever we get around to building the theatre. In the meantime, while I have still not given them some dedicated space and full setup for listening, I have hooked them up in a temporary location in the basement which will allow me to put some hours on them and get a better feel for how they sound. I can have them on for background music when I'm ironing shirts or when we actually take some time to work on de-cluttering the basement - the first step before construction.

I put in a little bit of listening time over the last week, both in the background at low and high volumes, and sitting on the floor so my head is level with the tweeters, and listening more critically. Initially, I had an old (hard drive style!) iPod hooked up to my retired receiver and was experiencing some odd distortion and artifacts. I think that was due to a) using really old low bitrate mp3s, and b) the iPod not having much output voltage. Once I swapped my phone playing some high quality streaming music the quality improved drastically. 

With the better source input, these speakers became clear, articulate, punchy, clean, and dynamic. There's a big change in the sound moving into and out of the waveguide's sweet spot, especially when listening at closer distances. The vertical dispersion seems to be more limited, as you would guess from the shape of the WG, and I am guessing this will make for the more critical aspect of final placement. Having said that, once I moved farther back into the room, even way off axis they still sounded smooth and clear.

The midbass impact was hard for me to really get a good handle on, but I think that is almost all due to placement and room issues. There were places I found listening off axis that had great full midbass, but when I moved back into the sweet spot I lost a lot of it. They are currently on the floor, so I'll make an effort to do some listening with them elevated in the future. Based on what I can piece together from my walking around though, I believe these will have a great "full" midbass sound, and I can feel some of the "punch" that I was hoping for. They will definitely need subs, but listening to some electronic/EDM/house type music without them still sounded really good. Vocals on more subdued material sounded very clean and clear, without sounding too "clinical". In comparison to the Paradigm Monitor 7s that I'm used to, I think they sound a little more "open" and detailed. It's hard to pin down exactly what I'm hearing, but it is an improvement.

I haven't run across any music that didn't agree with these speakers yet, and I doubt that I'm going to. Their primary function will be movies eventually, and I have not had a chance to set up all 3 for a movie test yet. I'm looking forward to that, especially if they can bring the same qualities to the table that they do with music. I'm very happy with the way these turned out, and DIYSG and Matt and Erich have put together a really great L/C/R speaker in my opinion.


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