The Line Array Thread

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

just be careful with the lacquer

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

just be careful with the lacquer

will do....i dont want to laquer my surround...thatd' be ghey

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

Ok im going to bring this back alive to ask for more advice.

I got all 32 speakers lacquered and I think it went quite well if i do say so myself.

So now i am down to actually building the towers. i dont know what kind of wood to use. i dont really want to use mdf becasue it would look like *** and be really heavy. but i am still on a budget. so i was thinking of using solid pine- .5-.75 inches thick- it is cheap and i think if i stained it sort of dark cherry it might look kinda neet. I know i would have splitting problems. but i suppose i would with any solid wood. ... any other suggestions? would pine sound crappy?

 

[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

particle board?

 

[Moe Lester 10+ year member]

3/4" baltic birch ply

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

particle board?

YICK!!!!

3/4" baltic birch ply

hmmm---ill have to go shopping @ HD soon... do you expect this to be much more than regular pine? what sort of size does it come in?

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

would about 2.6 cubes sealed be good for these towers?

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

http://homedepot.bighammersoftware.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=78de73da-0cee-46d3-b872-daf0965303e8

http://homedepot.bighammersoftware.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=fc271f7b-b553-4068-bb2d-1883f8cc98c0

here is the wood i was looking at. i would have an 8 inch wide peice on the front and back, and 10's on the sides, and the towers will be 77 inches tall -making about 2.6 cubes total volume.

these would make cutting a bit easier on me too, because i dont have a table saw. Im pretty good with a skill saw, but its never perfect. and the cutting guys at home depot hate their lives i guess cause they dont give a shit how they cut your wood.

 

[IamDeMan 5,000+ posts]

Well, your moving faster than me lol. I am still just staring at all my drivers. In the middle of glassing an enclosure for the car though. BTW I would think 2.6 cuft sealed is plenty. 3DB down will go up to 105Hz according to WISD. A good sub complimenting it will be a must later down the road.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

3/4" baltic ply is about twice as expensive as MDF for "good on both sides" stock - it was around $45 a sheet here at the local Home Despot/No's.

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

The front baffle is your problem.

The rest of the box you can do whatever you want.

I have a bad memory and too lazy to read this thread again,

but are you doing 16 NSB per tower right? When you cut a bunch of holes for an

array, the wood is not strong. Particle board would be ultra weak, plywood

would be strongest, and MDF in the middle. You don't need esoteric plywood

for the project really, just make sure that the plywood sheet is flat. Plywood

and hardwoods can be warped so examine the wood closely. Cherry pick

the best sheets. Particle board and MDF is less problematic.

The second issue, if you use 3/4" thick front baffle, the hole you cut will choke

off the NSB air space. Realistically it will work but it's not ideal, SQ may suffer.

I had to chamfer the rear baffle NSB holes which makes the front baffle even

weaker. If you use a 3/8" - 1/2" thick wood with just a hole, this is better if you

don't want to chamfer, but a front baffle that thin would have to be plywood for

best strength. The rest of the box can be whatever you wood you want.

What center to center spacing do you seek? If you spread out the NSB's more you

can make the front baffle alittle stronger.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

The front baffle is your problem.
The rest of the box you can do whatever you want.

I have a bad memory and too lazy to read this thread again,

but are you doing 16 NSB per tower right? When you cut a bunch of holes for an

array, the wood is not strong. Particle board would be ultra weak, plywood

would be strongest, and MDF in the middle. You don't need esoteric plywood

for the project really, just make sure that the plywood sheet is flat. Plywood

and hardwoods can be warped so examine the wood closely. Cherry pick

the best sheets. Particle board and MDF is less problematic.

The second issue, if you use 3/4" thick front baffle, the hole you cut will choke

off the NSB air space. Realistically it will work but it's not ideal, SQ may suffer.

I had to chamfer the rear baffle NSB holes which makes the front baffle even

weaker. If you use a 3/8" - 1/2" thick wood with just a hole, this is better if you

don't want to chamfer, but a front baffle that thin would have to be plywood for

best strength. The rest of the box can be whatever you wood you want.

What center to center spacing do you seek? If you spread out the NSB's more you

can make the front baffle alittle stronger.

yeah 16 nsb's and 1 tweet,

i really like my pine board idea, but now you bring up the issue of a thick front baffle choking airspace, and a 1 inch baffle would be worse than a 3/4 inch, but i dont want to use crappy looking wood such as mdf or plywood becasue i want it to look nice.

how much would it choke the speaker? it still has breathing room, its not totally sealed off, but not a totally open area. would this really affect it noticably?

how crappy would plywood look on the front? 1/2 inch would be pretty weak too wouldent it? im used to making front baffles thicker, not thinner.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

P.S. i plan to space the speakers about 5/8 of an inch edge to edge. this still makes my tower almost 6'6":uhoh:

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

home depot sells this birch plywood that i tried once and it is easily the best "sheet" wood out there for under 50 bucks. note i say 50.....it is expensive.

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

ouch 50 bucks per sheet?

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

48.99 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif