first diy diffuser build. QRD and 2D skyline types for Magnepan system.

medium jim · « **Reply #80 on:** 28 Apr 2013, 07:25 pm »

No offense, and kudos for taking the bull by the horns, but it just seems that with all the tools you have/had to buy, time involved, that it might have been better to go ahead and just buy the panels already made?

However, the feeling of accomplishment of building them yourself is priceless.

Jim

Mmaxed · « **Reply #81 on:** 29 Apr 2013, 12:08 am »

Maybe, but when he's done he will still have the tools for the next job.

Rclark · « **Reply #82 on:** 29 Apr 2013, 12:12 am »

I'm still doing alright. I haven't spent all that much at all. I just started backwards. We'll call these prototypes

And yes, I totally suggest buying retail if you can afford it. Gik, SRL, Realtraps, and more, have a lot on offer and can also provide all the advice you need.

medium jim · « **Reply #83 on:** 29 Apr 2013, 12:22 am »

Quote from: Mmaxed on 29 Apr 2013, 12:08 am

Maybe, but when he's done he will still have the tools for the next job.

True and I applaud him for taking it on.

Jim

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #84 on:** 29 Apr 2013, 03:22 pm »

And you can never have too many tools.

This thread has also been great fun to read as it's gone on. The good advice, the rejection of said advice, the young folks proceeding as if a bull in a china shop, the looking around at the scattered remnants of best laid plans, the light bulb goes on.

“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

― Mark Twain

medium jim · « **Reply #85 on:** 29 Apr 2013, 03:59 pm »

Quote from: Letitroll98 on 29 Apr 2013, 03:22 pm

And you can never have too many tools.

This thread has also been great fun to read as it's gone on. The good advice, the rejection of said advice, the young folks proceeding as if a bull in a china shop, the looking around at the scattered remnants of best laid plans, the light bulb goes on.

“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

― Mark Twain

I was always told, when you are young, you want to be old, when you are old you're just happy to be alive!

When I was 21, I was perfect, by 25 I was conceded!

Jim

Rclark · « **Reply #86 on:** 29 Apr 2013, 11:00 pm »

no idea what you wacko's are talking about...

Just building some diffusers over here and couldn't be going smoother at this point

The jigsaw also has a circle attachment I can buy. The Brahma 15's in my closet are starting to look useful again.

Rclark · « **Reply #87 on:** 9 May 2013, 05:49 am »

Not much longer now, a few more days now till the raw QRD's without stands are done, and I have enough material left over to build 3 2'*2' 1500khz skyline diffusers for my front wall, or wherever, and will begin building them immediately after. This pic represents about 2/3 of it.

I'm at the point of choosing which finish I'd like, as I will be painting these.

Basstrapping will be next. At the minimum I can build some corner superchunks to start. Or I just might go Auralex. Imo Aurelex corner fitting basstraps and a DSPeaker Dual Core will probably be more than sufficient.

Rclark · « **Reply #88 on:** 9 May 2013, 05:57 am »

3 of these

As you can see these are almost a foot deep.

1 of these

Rclark · « **Reply #89 on:** 11 May 2013, 10:25 pm »

Finished cutting today. Ready to begin sanding and then assembly, followed by paint and finish. The idea of an 8*4 diffuser sounds smaller than it actually looks when you have all the pieces cut. This will be quite a substantial device. I'll have to figure out some simple stands as well, probably just some low, broad bases. Because even at their raw height they match the height of my speakers, that is to say they're very tall and stands need only be a few inches in height, if that. I might get away with just a thick board.

Was only able to cut for a few hours at a time, and I did go back and buy some 1" panels at $3.58 a panel. Extremely cheap. Going forward with the 1" strips would have been agonizing. There are a lot of panels here. I also would have not been able to build this without a jigsaw, so I don't recommend going at it with hand tools. I'm not normally a diy'er, and in my mind, this being styrofoam, it seemed intuitive that it would be an easy job with hand tools. Even with the proper size panel to cut from, and power tools, this is slow work, and requires a mask and a lot of cleanup, and I'm still not done. Be ready to put your vacuum cleaner to work... have spare bags. A shop with a table saw is the only real way to get faster results, but I live in an apartment.

Anyway, I have enough material, as I said, for some 2D's, and will detail their build as well. I am anticipating a tremendous difference in my room.

Although I am enjoying this whole process, tremendously, for those with more money than spare time, I highly suggest buying retail. I now understand at this point that retail products in this category carry a lot of value for the money spent. Especially that SRL (I hope I'm getting that right) 8*4 for $600 shipped. That's a bit more than I'm spending here, but all you have to do is click a mouse button, and pow, diffuser. So. That's worth something for sure. All of the products I see now, the diffusers and other stuff from Realtraps and GiK as well, definitely appear to be worth the price.

jtwrace · « **Reply #90 on:** 11 May 2013, 11:04 pm »

Quote from: Rclark on 11 May 2013, 10:25 pm

I highly suggest buying retail.

Quote from: jtwrace on 18 Apr 2013, 07:59 am

Why bother? Just buy the proven diffusors from GIK or Real Traps and be done.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=116052.msg1214625#msg1214625

Rclark · « **Reply #91 on:** 11 May 2013, 11:07 pm »

I'll have a nice set of diffusers here, but given the time spent to build them the retail products look to be well worth the price.

Rclark · « **Reply #92 on:** 14 May 2013, 10:13 pm »

Just went to Home Depot to look at the various colors to choose from as I just finished sanding today. Sanding was a breeze with my big power sander. Just clamped all fin groups together and took all the ripples down.

Sanding went quickly, but the cleanup was even worse than from cutting as now I had this fine powder, just everywhere, up the walls, everywhere. Took an hour to clean and filled a bag just about.

Anyway, about to pop a bottle of zinfandel and start gluing. Should be able to listen tonight.

Rclark · « **Reply #93 on:** 15 May 2013, 08:18 pm »

Ok, so even the gluing process is excruciating. You can see my improvised method of books and clamps to keep everything steady.

Ended up only having time to build 2 of them. I'll build the 3rd +1 and the inverse panel today.

So.. right now I have 1 behind each speaker. They completely match my speakers in size and are of course, wider. They're extremely large, but very very light and easy to move. I have them all the way back against the wall, aiming each speaker now head on with back waves going directly into the diffusers several feet behind them.

The effect is quite something! I'm listening to Duke Ellington, Live at Newport, and the effect is everything you've heard about diffusers. It's now obvious just how much the rear wave was reinforcing and also cancelling off the back wall. I no longer feel like I'm listening to both my speakers and the room, it's much more speaker now.

I can't think of anything that hasn't improved. Everything that was great before is now fantastic, imaging is far more accurate, drums have more presence, vocals crisper, I even played some muddy mp3's and am now able to discern a lot of the words being sung. Highs are extremely crisp... The soundstage is now incredibly dimensional, much more than before, just everything is better.

Will report more when the final "array" is done. So far yes, right choice. Treat your rooms!

neekomax · « **Reply #94 on:** 15 May 2013, 08:59 pm »

Good stuff, dude. Some of those pieces are pretty deep, that thing is much deeper than I thought it might be.

Pics in place?

Maritan · « **Reply #95 on:** 15 May 2013, 11:09 pm »

Impressive. A lot of time and effort definitely went into this. I applaud you, sir.

What are the final dimensions of each diffuser? Depth, width, height. Or is that in a previous post of yours?

How far back from the speakers do you have these? You mention several feet, but is that 3 feet? 4? 10?

Inquisitive mind wants to know.

PDR · « **Reply #96 on:** 16 May 2013, 12:39 am »

Nicely done, knew you would nail it.....

Rclark · « **Reply #97 on:** 16 May 2013, 07:51 am »

Thanks guys

I'll go into more detail tomorrow and answer those questions. I came home tonight and all I wanted to do was listen to album after album. Couldn't pry myself from the system long enough to build the last two. It's so good that if I stopped now with just these two diffusers I'd be totally thrilled and want everyone to have a listen. The changes are absolutely profound. I was really understating my previous comments because I'd only had about an hour with them. Now I can hear just the crazy amounts of clear, easy resolution, huge soundstage, 3D, definitely very very holographic now. Also, they've removed distortions I didn't even know were there... Really has me flabbergasted by my speakers and amps.

edn4x4 · « **Reply #98 on:** 16 May 2013, 03:44 pm »

Looks great - are you able to place them closer to the back wall?

Mmaxed · « **Reply #99 on:** 16 May 2013, 05:02 pm »

Great job. Thanks for keeping us posted and glad you are happy with the results. More pics and info would be great.