[GeeWhizBang]

I have purchased the latest AV-1 kit, it should arrive soon. I have drawn these in CorelDraw to approximate the look of the cabinets that I am considering to build instead of the stock design.

These will look very kewl compared to the stock design and very unique, but I don't want to compromise the sound.

They will be MDF, just like the standard cabinets, but covered with ironed-on linen canvas (the rendering gets the color about right, but the grain is a bit finer than what this shows).

All fabric edges will be carefully obsured by hardwood (probably walnut) solids, either screwed on or press into slots.

I will do the math to get the volume exactly the same as the specified design.

The main issue is whether the change in the sloped sides will cause a noticeble effect in the frequency output.

I know just from reading the GR-research site, and from a previous email with Danny that a lot of work has been put into optimizing the design of these speakers, so I don't want to mess around too much. I can do a similar design with straight sides, too, if people more expert than me think this would be a bad idea. The straight design would be easier to build, too, but I love a challenge.

[JoshK]

the best thing to do is to ask Danny as noone knows more than he.  He might tweak the xo for you if you sent your cabinets in.  Don't know for sure.  They look mightily impressive however.  I do like the look!  

[Danny Richie]

You did that with Corel Draw?

As I guy that owned a graphics design business for eight years, that specialized in screen printing, and being a Corel Draw master myself, I am impressed.

Your design ideas are very impressive.

Slanting the sides towards the top is fine and will have little effect on it, but don't slope the front baffle back.

The drivers are electrically shifted to account for the time arrival from both drivers while mounted on a flat baffle.

Sloping the baffle back will pull the tweeter further back in time and cause a dip in the response to occur.

[GeeWhizBang]

Thanks, Danny for the compliments and I am really looking forward to hearing these speakers.

Given your expert advice I won't slope the fronts back and they will still look very distinctive and be a bit easier to build besides. It hadn't occured to me that this would affect the blending of the drivers, so I'm glad I asked.

I have put an enormous amount of time during the last month into selecting this system, browsed hundreds of web pages and catalogs and this small box was exactly what I was looking for and within my budget.

I wanted the smallest possible (and thus least noisy) cabinet to produce low enough bass to mate with a good sub; good-looking drivers that don't need grilles, and adequate efficiency. This kit will also save me a lot of hassle of manually tweaking a crossover without proper measuring equipment.

BTW, I have been using CorelDraw since version 1.0; it has made me lots of money in the past.

[GeeWhizBang]

The image has now been changed to have the box front vertical and to show the stands. I also scanned in the rather nice marble tiles I will be using for the pedestal (and I'm not sure about the speaker top, I may use walnut veneer for the top as the tiles are perhaps a bit busy (and top heavy, besides).

[JoshK]

that is gorgeous!

[Nostalgia]

I asked a question about changing the shape of an enclosure in a different thread.  I was quoted all sorts of things about baffle step, and how I should never change the shape of a baffle.

Wouldn't changing the shape of the baffle change the baffle step, and therefore defeat the work you do in designing the crossovers?

Thanks,

-Joe

[Danny Richie]

The change in baffle step loss by slanting in the top of the enclosure towards the tweeter is pretty minor.

That little of a change can be gotten back by going up one inductor size (from a 16 gauge to a 14 gauge).