Build Your Own

After more than ten years I’ve decided to give full disclosure on this array build. Trough the years I shared just about everything with regards to building and processing but there is one thing I had not done yet. That’s the sharing of all the files used in this Array. The parts that make up the stack, the baffle and the feet that should keep it stable.

I will provide the files as is, meaning I won’t take any responsibility if things don’t fit when you build your own. I simply cannot guarantee the fit. Buying birch plywood sheets for instance, the moment you receive a few stacks of it, you’ll notice there will be differences in thickness. In my build I’ve used that to my advantage, I mixed and matched parts made out of the sheets to be able to match my baffle size, making sure the enclosure for each driver would match the others and be a perfect fit for the baffle.

But there’s expansion and contraction too! And that can be a brutal force as I’ve experienced first hand. When I first build the arrays and had them in my living room for storage one night they simply cracked. It was on a day where we went from high humidity to a dry clear night. The forces in the wood simply sheered the enclosure in pieces, the only thing that kept it together were the long threaded rods.

Even though this was quite a devastating blow, in the end I found a solution to make sure I could keep it all together and restore the arrays. I’ve cut the arrays in 27 pieces, made sure every chamber had it’s expansion zone. With the help of a mantel of fiberglass mats and epoxy I restored it back to a single long array again.

So you’re on your own in how to make this all work. You can learn from my mistakes and come up with your own solution how to deal with the brute force of nature, the expansion and contraction of wood with swings in humidity and temperatures.

So even though you’ll have all the files and information in how I’ve build my arrays, there still plenty of challenge left to make sure you’ll succeed in building your own. All I can say is it is worth it! I’ve had years of joy listening to these speakers, spend countless time to understand them, get a grasp on how to tune them an in the process had a lot of fun and joy as the rewards were plenty.

Even though I’ll be willing and available to help, trough the forums on DIYaudio.com, you will be by yourself in all regards like the fit and finish, but also with regards to safety. These arrays are huge and will weigh about 75 kg all in all, you don’t want one of them come tumbling down and destroy your precious furniture or even worse, hurt someone. So figure out how you want to do this and above all else, how to do it right! 

The picture below shows a top view and includes 3 huge damping panels I’ve put into our room, filled with fiberglass insulation inside. It also shows the position of my final ‘toe-in’ aim that I’ve enjoyed the most.

With this Paypal button below you can make a donation if you like the content presented here.