[cherrell]

First post here.

I had a friend fabricate an aluminum enclosure instead of wood. This is an active system running off 3 CDA amps from Class D Audio. Running this with a Deqx 2.6p, which I'm still figuring out at this point. I've had about 10 hours of listening at this point.
Here are some pictures of the amp and speakers.
http://imgur.com/a/roTMb#25

[cherrell]

A little more info now that the sun has risen.

This project took about a year to put together. A friend of mine who works with aluminum for a living has always been on me about building some aluminum enclosures. We finally went ahead with it when we figured out how to deal with the resonance of the metal. These were constructed using 6061 aluminum plate. 1/2" for the baffle and 1/4" for top, bottom and sides. They were cut on a plasma table. The baffle was milled on with CNC. It took 6,000lbs of pressure to curve the sidewalls. They are structurally loaded. This was then welded together.

This is a wonderful speaker that I've not had enough time to spend with. Sound pours forth, and it is utterly clean, detailed and effortless. Finally oboes sound like they should, as do English horns, Eb clarinets, flutes, trumpets etc...I'll write something more full fleshed when I've spent more time with them. So far, they are astonishing!

A big thanks to Rick for all of his help and putting up with this different project.

[mresseguie]

Hello, Cherrell.

I've always liked the look of aluminum, and I like how these look. 

I can't make out the woofers clearly enough to recognize them. What are they?

Does the aluminum require damping material? If so, do you have any pics showing it?

I'm betting these are a wee bit heavy. Are they heavier than their MDF counterparts?

Thanks for sharing!

Michael

[Tomy2Tone]

Yes, thanks for sharing! Love to hear more on what your plans are for the finish work. I'm guessing your friend used leftover scraps of aluminum, if so any idea what this would have cost retail for the average Joe for that much aluminum? Just curious.

I've heard aluminum is much harder to weld than other metals, I recently tried it and it was a train wreck...

[cherrell]

Hello, Cherrell.

I've always liked the look of aluminum, and I like how these look. 

I can't make out the woofers clearly enough to recognize them. What are they?

Does the aluminum require damping material? If so, do you have any pics showing it?

I'm betting these are a wee bit heavy. Are they heavier than their MDF counterparts?

Thanks for sharing!

Michael

The woofer is a Scanspeak Illuminator.
The aluminum requires dampening for the sound emanating from the drivers, we used OC705 1". Then you have to deal with the resonance of the aluminum itself. That's something, sadly, I can't give up.
They are pretty heavy, just guessing I would say between 50-60lbs.

Chris

[cherrell]

Yes, thanks for sharing! Love to hear more on what your plans are for the finish work. I'm guessing your friend used leftover scraps of aluminum, if so any idea what this would have cost retail for the average Joe for that much aluminum? Just curious.

I've heard aluminum is much harder to weld than other metals, I recently tried it and it was a train wreck...

We're actually going to building another cabinet, this one will be totally finished. These were only assembled in 6 hours, more of a prototype. A totally finished cabinet would be TIG welded, so it would look seemless; essentially one piece of metal.  Then you could powdercoat them, or anodize them if you still want to see the aluminum.

Yes, we used scrap metal. The fabricator works for a very small aluminum boat manufacturer that do very expensive customs hulls. Aluminum is just different to weld.

[milosz]

It's WELDED!  Wow! Impressive.  You the man!

I have a DEQX.  The software / user interface takes a while to become used to.  Hands down, the DEQX speaker correction software has made the biggest / best difference in any speaker that I used it with compared with many other systems I've tried.  Their algorithm corrects a heck of a lot more than just FR.  They do a lot of time-domain  correction.  The DEQX is a fantastic piece of engineering.  I think the only thing preventing it from becoming a big big seller is the user learning curve- you really have to be a hobbyist and not a plug-and-play consumer to get value from a DEQX, unless you pay someone to set it up for you.

I just wish the DEQX was not so expensive!  But with all the development cost, etc, I guess I should be glad it doesn't ten times MORE!

[cherrell]

It's WELDED!  Wow! Impressive.  You the man!

I have a DEQX.  The software / user interface takes a while to become used to.  Hands down, the DEQX speaker correction software has made the biggest / best difference in any speaker that I used it with compared with many other systems I've tried.  Their algorithm corrects a heck of a lot more than just FR.  They do a lot of time-domain  correction.  The DEQX is a fantastic piece of engineering.  I think the only thing preventing it from becoming a big big seller is the user learning curve- you really have to be a hobbyist and not a plug-and-play consumer to get value from a DEQX, unless you pay someone to set it up for you.

I just wish the DEQX was not so expensive!  But with all the development cost, etc, I guess I should be glad it doesn't ten times MORE!

I'm really enjoying the Deqx. After figuring a few things out with the speaker calibration, I was seriously impressed. The engineering in the box is incredible. It is expensive, as you say, but that's a hell of a lot of horsepower under the hood. I haven't even really delved into the room eq yet. Trying to fix some problems with the room first.

Overall, I'm almost overwhelmed with the sound that comes from my set-up. I hate turning them off, honestly.

[Rick Craig]

Chris has listened to quite a bit of live unamplified music, including some of the finest venues in Europe. He knows what instruments and voices should sound like.