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bobbyb13:
Great finish!
I envy you gents with printing prowess.
Boy do I NOT need another hobby right now.

The music thing always gets me.
It has been a slog to rip all of my music down to flac files (J.S. Bach alone was... 142 CDs worth?!) and having a few daps loaded with stuff has been excellent.

The tease of a speaker build has the audiophile in me salivating.
I have no real playback gear to speak of.

Excellent to see a post from ya mate.
I'm looking forward to getting more fun happening myself this year.

Hope all is well with your summer!

pbj:
Your Artisan speakers look very similar to my Klipsch floor standing speakers. Mine have additional top firing speakers that are meant to simulate ceiling mounted surround sound. I guess by bouncing sound off the 10-12 foot ceiling in a normal house. Anyway, I have them in my high ceiling living room and they do an excellent job of filling the room and second story walkway with sound. They’re on a separate channel from my amplifier. Something to consider adding… it feels very flat without them engaged. I’ve read that no true audiophile likes Klipsch but they thump the garbage I listen to in a satisfactory way.

:cheers:

Ond:

--- Quote from: bobbyb13 on January 24, 2025, 02:55:59 am ---Great finish!
I envy you gents with printing prowess.
Boy do I NOT need another hobby right now.

The music thing always gets me.
It has been a slog to rip all of my music down to flac files (J.S. Bach alone was... 142 CDs worth?!) and having a few daps loaded with stuff has been excellent.

The tease of a speaker build has the audiophile in me salivating.
I have no real playback gear to speak of.

Excellent to see a post from ya mate.
I'm looking forward to getting more fun happening myself this year.

Hope all is well with your summer!

--- End quote ---

Heh, even though I've been doing plenty of 3D printing I still don't really see it as a hobby. It certainly is a useful tool though. I got complacent with it recently, I left it printing something in the house while I worked in the garage... Finally I came inside to find most of the print bed and extruder completely covered in molten plastic. The hotend was destroyed. Plastic had forced itself into every nook and cranny. I ordered another hotend on Amazon and two days later the printer was back up and running. Guess I'll invest in a camera so I don't have to sit with it all the time.

Great sounding speakers with a good amp (and sound source) are a real pleasure. I just hate the price of 'audiophile' gear so here I am slaving away over hot MDF ;D
My summer vacation is nearly over but I've got plenty done so it's all good. Your projects always fascinate me, hope you find the time bobby :cheers:

--- Quote from: pbj on January 27, 2025, 08:03:59 pm ---Your Artisan speakers look very similar to my Klipsch floor standing speakers. Mine have additional top firing speakers that are meant to simulate ceiling mounted surround sound. I guess by bouncing sound off the 10-12 foot ceiling in a normal house. Anyway, I have them in my high ceiling living room and they do an excellent job of filling the room and second story walkway with sound. They’re on a separate channel from my amplifier. Something to consider adding… it feels very flat without them engaged. I’ve read that no true audiophile likes Klipsch but they thump the garbage I listen to in a satisfactory way.

:cheers:

--- End quote ---

Sounds like your place is well suited to those Klipsch speakers. I've never heard them but people generally say good things about them. There's always some expert ready to rubbish mid-range gear. After never owning one my whole life I finally bought a turntable recently. To go with it I bought a Schitt Mani 2 phono pre-amp. Made right in Texas. YouTube reviews keen on it also had their fair share of those same guys commenting. I know it's really good value though. :cheers:

The Artisan plans call for hardwood bracing set into rebates.

Here's the rounded off bracing glued into the side panels:

Here are the partially completed crossovers for the Carrera speakers. Two way crossovers, but quite a bit more complex than the Artisan's. Also the 3D printed ports. I couldn't find ports of the dimensions specified in the design so, printed em.

The router cutting template is being used here to cut the port holes. Another will be used for the flange rebate.

Getting close to finishing basic cabinetry on two sets of speakers! I enjoy the finishing (veneering and painting) much more.

Ond:
Testing the fit of the Artisan panels:

Both Artisan enclosures glued up except for baffles. Most circular cuts were done with my router using a flush trim bit and the 3D printed cutting templates. I'm using threaded inserts for most screw fittings with either M4 or M5 Button head machine screws:

Here I've sealed the lower chamber of the Artisan enclosures with silicone. Crossovers screwed into place. The lower chamber will be filled with sand. You can just see the hole I've cut in the bottom to allow sand filling;

I'm starting to line the insides of these with foam. Once that's done I can glue the baffles into place:

Here I've just positioned the baffle in place and I'm making sure the drivers clear the port. Its a tight fit, the magnets on the back of each driver just clear the end of the port:

Here are the completed crossovers for the Carrera bookshelf speakers. These little bookshelf speakers are more costly to build than the tall floor standing Artisans.

Here are the Carrera enclosures with rebates finished and ports glued in place:

Soon I'll start looking at the third design, the most complex (and expensive!) the Sasandu speakers. I'll cover the 3D design prep I did in Fusion for CNC cutting the panels, and a first look at the 3 way Sasandu crossovers, built once again on my own PCBs...

Xiaou2:
Ond, If I may make a Suggestion...

Ive owned like 30 different pairs of speakers... as Im a sort of Speaker-Holic. Ive picked most of them up from Thrift shops, for
dirt cheap prices.

However... Through all of my purchases... I had only ever ran into ONE audiophile grade speaker (and they needed an extensive rebuild: AR3-A).

One day, I walking into my friends Slot Car Track + Classic Arcade. He had some disco playing... like Earth Wind and Fire.
The Clarity alone, was astounding. However, what really blew my mind... was how "Holographic" the sound was... and just how
far and deep that Soundstage was.

I was so blown away by the sound... that I spent the next 10 minutes, trying to find these speakers. Realize, that my ears are still fantastic..
able to hear extremely high frequencies. It would normally only take me a few seconds to locate a speaker. But in this case... the sound was
so Holographic... that the speakers projected Origins, actually Vanished.

Now... The dude is a bit of a Pack-Rat. He has stacks of DVDs, Slot Car parts, Magazines, paperwork, and all sorts of other stuff, all
over the place. So, visually... it wouldnt be easy to spot them.

Eventually, I actually gave up... and asked him, What speakers were playing, and WHERE the heck they were?!

He walks me to the front of the store, about 1ft away from the massive front store window. There was a 1ft x 1ft tall bench, that
sat in front of the window... and on that bench, was a lot of various things, piled up. Then he pointed to the speakers...

These were quite small in size.. only slightly bigger than bookshelf speakers. One was oriented vertically, with like 2ft worth of
magazines on top of it. And the other was laying horizontally, with like two stacks of magazines on top of it. It was also
partially behind a Sit-Down version of Atari's "Race Drivin" video game.

Despite possibly the worst speaker placement possible... the sound was utterly Astounding.

You got a near perfect stereo Image... almost anywhere you stood, within about a 15ft x 15ft square area, of the Arcade...
without any notable "Drop Off" (where one speaker sounds quieter than the other). And even when walking further into the
room... the sound was still good... its just that you actually noticed the Drop-Off in the volume levels of the "3D Image".

Im not an easy man to please... as far as it comes to sound quality. Not that much longer ago... I got into Audiophile grade
headphones... so I knew aproximately what audiophile sound was all about. However... Id never experienced that level of
response, from the speakers that Id ran into.

Anyway... I had to have them... and eventually picked up a pair, off of Craigslist, Re-Foamed, for only a mere $100.
It seems that these are special Gems, that the Audiophile's have not yet seemed to have discovered.

The design is a 2-way. An 8" Woofer, with a MASSIVE and heavy magnet. And a special Inverted tweeter (cone instead of dome).
They are about 2ft tall, and 1ft deep. They sound fantastic, no matter how or where you place them... but they sound best
when placed near a wall, and on the floor (greater bass response).

This was also my first "Sealed" speaker. As all of my other speakers, were Ported. Let me tell you... Once you hear Bass from
a sealed speaker... you can NEVER go back to a ported speaker. I also owned a pair of 90s era Techniques 12" 3-Way speakers...
which are Ported... and while those can play a little Louder... they cant even compare to the EPIs. Not even close. The bass on
the EPIs is deeper, thumpier, and is more "Musical"... where as the bass on the Techs.. is slow, muffled, and droning, in comparison.
The Techs bass sounds Artificial... where as the EPIs sound "REAL". Its something I might never have known... until I heard it
for myself... and again... once you hear what bass is SUPPOSED to sound like... you cant go back to ported designs.

I took apart both of these speakers, to compare the drivers... as I was Amazed that an 8" woofer, was destroying a 12" woofer.
The Techs used a very small sized magnet... where as the EPIs used massive and heavy woofers. In fact... One EPI woofer...
probably weighed more than TWO of the Tech woofers combined. That explained it. The Tweeter itself, also had quite a honkin
sized magnet, for its size.

I would eventually look up information about these speakers. It turned out the the designer, used a special technique, that Ive
never heard about before. He used heavier Gauge wire on the Voice Coil windings, to automatically filter out the high-frequencies...
which eliminated the need for an additional Crossover Component. The reason... was to eliminate any potential Micro-Distortions,
from additional Crossover components. And let me tell you... that, in combination with these powerful drivers... proved to be true.

In one of the songs I played on them... I believe something from Phil Collins... there is a part of the song where I could never
fully understand the lyrics that he was singing. However, when playing this song though the EPIs... I could understand every single
WORD... without any strain at all. Not only that... but there was more Separation (details) between the Backing instruments, and
the vocals. It seems that all of my previous speakers... were suffering from Micro-Distortions.. causing the Instruments and Vocals,
to slightly Melt into each other... and slightly "Muddy" the details. I always just assumed, it was a bad recording issue... never realizing
that the speaker were the real issue.

Now... as far as LOOKS goes... they dont look like they would be anything special at all. The box shape, is incredibly Basic. But the
sound that the produce... Destroys speakers that cost several THOUSANDS of dollars. In fact... I compared them against the local
high end stereo shops Flagship $3000 speakers... and I almost laughed at the Salesman, when he asked me what I thought of them.
My little EPIs destroy them in every single Metric... by Lightyears in comparative differences. Those speakers were Modern Towers,
that had several 6" woofers in them.. .and a few other drivers for the high end. The sound of them were too Harsh/Hot (fatiguing)..
and they were missing a certain spectrum of Bass. Even with their Over-Priced Subwoofer added into the mix... it didnt help the
sound at all.

Anyway... "EPI" eventually sold out to "Genesis Physics". Genesis used these same EPIC drivers, for MOST of their new
speaker lineup. Though, some of their designs have different configurations... such as adding a Passive Radiator.

There is a website, called Humanspeakers where you can find make and model information... as well as buy Kits, with all Brand New Drivers.
The guy that runs the site... used to work for EPI/Genesis... and as such, knows the proper ways to reproduce these drivers. In fact, he claims
to have even Improved the drivers, even better than the original specs.

You can buy a kit to build a replica of the EPI 100 for less than $400. This is a total Steal, compared to audiophile speakers, that cost thousands more
and dont give you even Half of the Experience.

Now... If you pick up a pair of USED EPI's or Genesis speakers...

1) Make sure the Drivers are Originals. Original woofers have smaller diameter dust-caps, and are pretty easy to spot.

2) Make sure the Inverted Tweeters, are the New-er Model. The older inferior tweeters, have a Fiber-Board backing plate. The
upgraded tweeters, have a Plastic Backing bezel. Again, very easy to spot the difference.

3) If you choose to buy one that has the Elder tweeter... it wont be anywhere near as impressive. However, you can buy replacement
upgrades from the Humanspeakers site.

4) I eventually picked up a different pair of Genesis speakers, that have Passive Radiators. However, due to health and other issues...
Ive never had the chance to compare them to the EPI 100 's.

I did recall reading on a post.. that they preferred the sound of the smaller EPI 100.. over the larger EPIs... as the bass sounded
Better / Punchier. Sorry.. I just cant confirm, at this moment in time.

5) Depending on the Model... they can be quite Power Hungry to drive. Mine are labeled as 4 ohms, 8 nominal or something like that.
I dont quite understand the Nominal stuff. My amp doesnt seem to have any issue powering them, in 4 or 8 ohm mode... but my amp
is kind of a Beast. An older Pioneer model.. made in the 90s. One of the first few amps to get 5.1 surround sound. I bought it when I
was like 16... and Im now 51... and the thing is still working flawlessly, after Decades of daily +8h a day use. They dont make amps
with such quality, at that fairly low cost, anymore. Todays Pioneer amps probably wouldnt last 3 yrs worth of use... and probably have
an inferior output to boot.

6) Because these are a Sealed Speaker... they can sound a little Anemic in bass levels, at LOWER volume levels. However, once you
crank them to med / high volume levels.. its Pure BLISS... with some pretty Powerful Bass. To solve the lower volume issue.. you can
use an EQ to boost the bass frequencies... and that will get those drivers thumpin pretty good, at lower volume levels. Furthermore,
I also often use Software EQ... to push my speakers to their Maximum bass potentials... right at the edge of potentially blowing them.

One time, as a fun test... I placed these small EPIs on top of much larger sized ADVENT bullnose speakers. I had my buddy sitting on
the couch, about 8 ft away... and I played some music... then asked him to point to the speaker that he Thought were playing. He
actually pointed to the EPIs. I got a good Chuckle out of it... then did an A to B comparison. He was pretty amazed at how much bass
those little buggers were putting out.

It appears that one of the main reason why so many speakers, are not Audiophile quality.. is due to using weaker magnetics.
If the music demands a certain acceleration speed.. and the drivers are slightly slower than what is demanded... it will cause a
micro-distortion. Furthermore... when that fast moving driver is asked to STOP immediately, and Reverse at max accelration...
this can also cause delay issues... as the magnetics might not be powerful enough to stop the cone Instantly... due to Momentum,
and those weaker magnetics. So, the cone will over-shoot the intended stopping point... and then also be further late, in its
reversed acceleration. All of these lead to micro-distortions... and will result in a loss of details, and separation... as well as
a reduced or flattened 3D Image.

Also, from my experience... any Horn based drivers... also seem to Flatten the intended projected 3D image... due to how the
soundwaves change when traveling through the horn shape.

Now.. I have heard a few Ribbon Tweeters, as well as SuperTweeters.. and none of them came close to the EPI tweeters.
The supertweeters sound very Airy... but they are Noticeable (draw unnatural attention to themselves). And a Dipole
Ribbon tweeter... while amazing in details... was creating these crazy echo effects, in a non-treated room (getting the same sounds
from various directions, at different time intervals).

Ive also heard from many reviewers... that the Soundstage on Planer tweeters, is extremely Narrow. If you even move a
mere Foot in any direction... you will notice a massive Drop-Off in the Volume differences, between the left and right channels.
Meaning... that you have to sit perfectly in center.. to get a decent listening experience. Personally, I could never accept that.
I like the EPIs... where it doesnt matter if Im sitting, standing, or walking around the room... and am still getting a near
flawless stereo image. Very few drivers can do that kind of thing.

As far as Bass goes... the EPIs are not DJ/Club grade speakers. They are not designed for very large parties, with loud room
noise. They are plenty loud enough to get you kicked out of your Apartment... but they are not Club speakers, with bass that
would shake the neighbors garage doors. They are specifically Audiophile grade speakers.. and will play any kind of music,
with the highest levels of Precision, and excellence. Its a musical Nirvana... rather than pure brute power (and lack of quality).

The only other speaker that blew me away in the Bass dept... was a Phillips mini system, that used special Passive Radiators
called "Woox". That system used special 6.5" woofers, that had extended travel.. to prevent over-excursion based distortions.
The woox passives, extremely amplified the bass potentials... making them sound like some decent powered subs were being
used. But it was even better than that... because most modern subs often Muddy the music / bass. Where as these didnt
muddy the sound, nor did they sound "Droning" (hearing the same artificial sounding bass note, repeated over and over again).
Even when maxing out the Amps volume levels... there was Zero distortions at all.

Those Phillips woox speakers competed similarly to the EPIs woofers... and in certain cases... produced a more enjoyable bass
experience. HOWEVER... the phillips tweeters and mids... were a mess compared to the EPIs inverted tweeter. The phillips
didnt produce much of a soundstage... and the drivers were often very "Hot". With a little EQ, you could tame them a bit..
but they still were no match at all, for the EPIs single tweeter.

Unfortunately, the Woox speakers suffered foam rot. While I was able to refoam the woofers... the Woox passives also started
to rot... and there was no way to repair them. I believe Phillips released all-plastic versions of the woox devices, which would
have lasted forever... but I had gotten the foam version.. and was pooched at that point. Ended up leaving them behind, when
I had to move.

One final note... is that a friend whom was moving... gave me a pair of large Advents. I believe the Advents use a 9" woofer, with
as 12" basket... and a special modification to do this. They produce an INSANE amount of bass.. far more than the EPIs.. BUT...
its actually way too much bass, for the music. The bass sounds way too over-exaggerated for the music (something I thought Id
never say). Ive thought about replacing the Caps to see if it might help things... but Im way too happy with the EPIs to care
about them. That said... they do add some great sub-like effects, to Movies... such as the Train Rumble in the Polar Express.
The advents fried-Egg tweeter... has a good deal of details.. but it doesnt produce a 3D Image, like the EPIs. Its both Flat..and
the tweeter sounds too "Colored". Again, SOME of this might be down to Caps needing to be replaced.

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