[ellisr63]

I have been wanting to make a full range horn loaded speaker for a while...so today I picked up 2 4x8' sheets of 3/4 MDF to do some testing. I will be starting with a 40" x 27 1/2" x 26" horn, and then adding some woofers to them after running REW on them. If they sound as good as I have heard they do, I will then make another one that is bigger. Luckily I have 3 spare EV DH1As to use for 3 new Synergy horns with multiple 15" woofers. I will post pics up as I progress.

Update:The woofers are Eminence Kappa 15C woofers

Cost breakdown:
Eminence Kappa-15C... $109 each (2 required per speaker)
EV DH1A driver... $ I already have 3 spares (enough to do all 3 front speakers), but if I was to buy them used it would be around $100 each
Speaker connectors (2 sets per speaker)...$unknown as I had them laying around already
3 sheets 3/4 MDF... $150

 

[ellisr63]

Here is what we have so far.

Basic cabinet...




Rear shot of sides mocked up...


Front shot of sides mocked up...


Side panels with ports cut...


Ports with dimensions in the woofer cavity for reference later if needed.


Rear shot of cabinet with woofers installed...


Front shot of horn (still need to trim the horn down to the cabinet size)...

 

[ellisr63]

I just got these in the mail today...




We are going to Burning Amp this weekend to see other DIY stuff, and hopefully will be able to start cutting wood next weekend.

 

[ellisr63]

We have decided to make the cabinets a little different as a friend has made them out of a K-402 horn...so what I am going to do is try to duplicate the box size of the one he is using, and then make my horn fit it. The new Synergy horn box will be 40" wide, 26" high, and 26" deep. I have the MDF for the horn ready to cut, and I am getting the MDF for the cabinet cut Friday or Saturday. Hopefully I will have some pics of a complete Synergy horn this weekend.

 

[ellisr63]

Today I got all of the MDF required for a single horn cut to rectangles, but 2 pieces still need to be cut to triangles, and 2 pieces need to have the front and rear edge bevel cut so it will be flush at the front of the cabinet, and flush in the rear to hold the compression driver. I also need to get 2 woofer rings cut. I have edited the first post with the new sizer of the horn, and will update with pics when I start to put it together.

 

[ellisr63]

Today we got the basic rectangular cabinet together, rear part holding the horn driver, and 2 sides cut, and angled. The horn is a 45 degree horn so far, and will extend beyond the cabinet a bit. The sides of the horn are 33" long. The dimensions of the box are 40" wide 27 1/2" high, and 26" deep. I am contemplating making a second section on the horn that will flare out maybe 6" more. From what I understand this will help the polar control of the lower end. By the time we got this far we ran out of time. Hopefully next weekend we can get it finished. I will take pics of the cabinet before we insert the horn inside. If all goes well it shouldn't be long before it is ready to test.

Gotta say this speaker is HUGE! I am assuming it will weigh around 200lbs as it took the better part of 3 sheets of MDF, and will have 2 15" woofers and a 30lb horn driver.

 

[Tonto]

What! No pics now...what's up with that!!!

 

[ellisr63]

What! No pics now...what's up with that!!!

My friend had to leave and we were doing this build at his house, by the time we cleaned up it was too late. I will have pics when we work on it next weekend though. :T

 

[ellisr63]

One problem we are having right now is determining if we need to cut the triangle sides at a bevel or not. I say no, but my friend is still not sure. The sides of the horn are straight up and down and angled from the center at 43 degree toward the sides of the cabinet. I think that since the sides are straight up and down that the center triangle should not need its sides angled...even though the top triangle will be angled downward at the driver and the bottom triangle will be angle up to the driver.

Any ideas?

 

[Tonto]

My guess would be no.

 

[ellisr63]

My guess would be no.

Sames as my guess, but my friend helping me thinks there will be an angle cut... We will see this weekend.

 

[ellisr63]

Post #2 has updated pics of the progress. We also found out that a straight cut will not work when cutting the angled top and bottom of the horn. Next weekend we hope to get the angles down.

 

[chrapladm]

Thanks for adding this thread to your HT room thread. Never knew about this build. Looks great so far. Still looking at doing a 3 way SH but your dimensions are pretty close to what I wanted to do.

 

[ellisr63]

Sunday we worked on getting the last 2 sides (top and bottom) of the 1st horn completed...it took us 6 hours to get it done. We did though get 2 extra done so we won't have to deal with the angles for the next speaker horn. This was the part we were both dreading...getting the multiple angles right, and it proved to be difficult, but we prevailed.



Next we will be trimming the horn flush with the cabinet, and then make the extensions for the horns (different angle).

 

[ellisr63]

Any suggestions as to what material to use for a smooth horn transition? I am hearing Bondo, Wood Filler, and Modeling clay, but i don't know which is best to use.

 

[willis7469]

Fiberglass is popular in custom car audio. The learning curve may be a little steeper than the others but I'm pretty sure it will outlast any of the others. Bondo dries and cracks, modeling clay is about the same and wood filler would probably be the same.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ellisr63]

I wish I knew someone that could draw this up in CAD for me to take to a local CNC place to get the next pair cutup. This way it would be perfect, and we wouldn't have the problem with using Bondo, fiberglass or any of these problems with modeling.

 

[ellisr63]

I have 4 more woofers on the way now.

 

[ellisr63]

Today we got it to the point that we only need the following:
1: fill holes with wood putty
2: mount speaker wire jacks, and wire speakers up
3: sand speaker cabinet
4: install weatherstripping for sealing cabinet

Hopefully next time we will be to fire it up to see how the compression driver sounds, and then also how the woofers sound. At that time it might be ready to take home, and set up the crossover...for some real serious listening.

 

[chrapladm]

Nice I forgot about this build. I was looking at building a pair of SH's to see which I will like. I have three JBL 1.5 CD's and will look at trying a AMT SH also. Looks good so far.