Exodus Audio Kepler Press & Review

Kevin Haskins · « **on:** 1 Mar 2008, 06:20 pm »

Here is a little teaser about the Exodus Audio Kepler. We have a full-fledged review coming up in another month, along with measurements in the NRC. The editor, Doug Schneider was impressed enough to write and small article about DIY speakers.

Just a couple notes, I'm working on pre-cut baffles for all the speakers. I think Doug is overestimating the difficulty of assembling these speakers. When I have the pre-cut baffles its going to take a screwdriver, and a drill with hole-saw to assemble them. It should take an hour or two to assemble a pair of speakers. Certainly not much more than an afternoon of work, no need for woodworking to get a speaker that looks better than most commercial ones and performs better too!

Just wait for the measurements!

http://www.goodsound.com/home.shtml

The Kepler in the NRC waiting to prove its stuff.

Soundstage Colin · « **Reply #1 on:** 8 Mar 2008, 04:54 pm »

Sorry about the fingerprints on the baffle, Kevin. One thing they don't have at the NRC is a polishing cloth

My review of these speakers will be published on April 1. As you can tell from Doug Schneider's editorial, these babies impress.

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #2 on:** 8 Mar 2008, 07:50 pm »

Quote from: Soundstage Colin on 8 Mar 2008, 04:54 pm

Sorry about the fingerprints on the baffle, Kevin. One thing they don't have at the NRC is a polishing cloth

My review of these speakers will be published on April 1. As you can tell from Doug Schneider's editorial, these babies impress.

Hey... no problem Colin. Those are great looking compared to how they look after I play with them for days.

I hope that the April 1st review release is not an April Fools joke.

jr1414 · « **Reply #3 on:** 9 Mar 2008, 03:43 pm »

My cabinets are here, and the drivers show up on Tuesday!!! I don't want to upstage Colin's review, but I'll definitely let everyone know my thoughts when I get them broken in. I'm sure Colin is much more qualified to offer an opinion, but I've got one too!!!

I'll have a 5 channel setup when all is done, and hopefully we'll work out a sub in the near future. I've been reading up on the Sicko 18, but that's way to much output for me!!! Maybe a Maelstrom setup, although a Tempest will be adequate for my needs.

FYI, Kevin has been incredibly helpful in the decision to purchase the kits and with pre-assembly questions. His customer service is second to none, and is kind of unheard of in today's times. Thanks again for all of your help.

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Mar 2008, 08:31 pm »

Quote from: jr1414 on 9 Mar 2008, 03:43 pm

My cabinets are here, and the drivers show up on Tuesday!!! I don't want to upstage Colin's review, but I'll definitely let everyone know my thoughts when I get them broken in. I'm sure Colin is much more qualified to offer an opinion, but I've got one too!!!

I'll have a 5 channel setup when all is done, and hopefully we'll work out a sub in the near future. I've been reading up on the Sicko 18, but that's way to much output for me!!! Maybe a Maelstrom setup, although a Tempest will be adequate for my needs.

FYI, Kevin has been incredibly helpful in the decision to purchase the kits and with pre-assembly questions. His customer service is second to none, and is kind of unheard of in today's times. Thanks again for all of your help.

Thanks for the feedback!

The most valid opinion is always your own.

kfr01 · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 06:49 am »

Congrats on the review, Kevin.

Guys and gals out there considering Kevin's kits: The quality instructions Kevin provides make speaker building projects even easy for "computer geek" guys like me to complete. Further, his options of constructed crossovers and the use of partexpress.com cabinets surely make the process even easier. Finally, the driver and design quality of Kevin's designs go above and beyond what you can find in the store for at least double the price, in my opinion. Case in point: I've got some Monitor Audio 3-way towers in our living room (the veneer matches the woodwork in that room). They are Stereophile "recommended." Both of Kevin's first generation Exodus kits (61 and 2641) that I own mop the floor with the Monitors. Really, it isn't even close.

I can only imagine that the Kepler and its (soon?) to be released siblings will be an evolution worth beyond the first generation kits.

bald · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 Mar 2008, 11:52 pm »

Interesting. Theoretically I could use some affordable speakers to go with my new plasma in the living room. Are these using the partsexpress curved piano black cabinet http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=302-701&ctab=4? Is the assembly document available anywhere? Didn't see it on the website.

BTW, I can't believe Kfr01 is still here. Dont you have work to do?

The 2641s are working out nicely - they are in a room much too small for them, but it is where the wife has put my theater for now. Allows me to get by without a sub.

bald

kfr01 · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Mar 2008, 12:15 am »

Quote from: bald on 17 Mar 2008, 11:52 pm

BTW, I can't believe Kfr01 is still here. Dont you have work to do?

Look at the time of my post: Reply #5 on: March 12, 2008, 01:49:12 am

I think I had just finished work for the night ....

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Mar 2008, 01:46 am »

Quote from: bald on 17 Mar 2008, 11:52 pm

Interesting. Theoretically I could use some affordable speakers to go with my new plasma in the living room. Are these using the partsexpress curved piano black cabinet http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=302-701&ctab=4? Is the assembly document available anywhere? Didn't see it on the website.

BTW, I can't believe Kfr01 is still here. Dont you have work to do?

The 2641s are working out nicely - they are in a room much too small for them, but it is where the wife has put my theater for now. Allows me to get by without a sub.

bald

Yes... they are the Parts Express 0.5ft^3 cabinets. I'm still putting some polishing touches on the documentation. I tend to get long-winded so I need to go back and edit all my non-critical comments.

Here are some updated pictures of the parts kit, crossovers. I use two PCBs per speaker, one for the Peerless HDS and one for the woofer. One mounts to the roof of the cabinet (tweeter) and the woofer goes on the bottom keeping plenty of distance between inductors.

I use rubber grommets for mounting the PCB. It provides a little standoff, helps hold the screw in place while your trying to drill and provides some strain relief for the PCB.

And here is the updated parts view. I've moved over to a different port that is larger in diameter and easier to install. A single 3-3/4" hole saw makes installing the port a piece of cake and it fits the rear of the curved wall cabinets where the PSP port had clearance issues. The only other part I changed was the binding post. The standard post is the Parts Express ones because their cabinets are pre-drilled to support these. I tried to make everything as simple as possible from a build perspective as long as it didn't impact sound quality.

This is how the rear of the PE cabinet looks when everything is installed.

jr1414 · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Mar 2008, 02:56 pm »

After thinking about a few different alternatives, I finally settled on building a set of the Exodus Audio Kepler monitor speakers. I can say I couldn't be more pleased with the whole purchase so far. Kevin has been such a tremendous help, first in explaining the product and his methodologies, all the way through my multiple questions regarding assembly. I received the kits last week and just got around to setting them up yesterday.

The assembly is extremely easy for anyone with minimal woodworking skills. If you've got a router and a circle jig, you can build these to look like a pro. I'm doing 5 speakers for a surround setup and I was able to cut all the baffles and cut in the ports and got one speaker setup with crossovers mounted to check for clearances. Quick tip for those of you building the kit: Protect the surfaces with Contact paper, like you can get at any hardware or craft store. You won't have any edges to lift up and catch on the router base plate, as you would with masking tape, and it protects better too. I used clear contact paper so I could see that it was adhering properly with no voids and it worked a treat!

I would have gotten them all setup and wired, but my 3 year old decided he wanted to learn about woodworking, so the pace was slowed a bit. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get back to them tonight. I wouldn't even consider using a soldering iron with him around, just seems like impending disaster.

Here are some shots of the speaker I setup yesterday.

Sorry about the poor quality of the pics, I just wanted to get something up quickly for all to see. Not bad for a first DIY speaker, huh?

I would say for someone who never used a power tool before, you could easily put these together on a Saturday and listen to them Saturday night. Super easy with the Parts Express .5 ft^3 cabinets, and they are incredibly well built. You could spend a lot more to get the paint work done than the entire cabinets cost, and they almost look too good.

I'll let you all know what I think of them once I get them fired up. From what I've heard from different sources I know I will not be dissapointed.

ejfud · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Mar 2008, 07:24 pm »

Very nice work. That will be one sweet 5 channel setup when done.

What other speakers were you considering before you went with the Keplers? I'm in the same boat and would be interested to see what you have been comparing them with.

Gary

jr1414 · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Mar 2008, 07:51 pm »

I don't think it would be proper to talk about other manufacturer's products in Kevin's forum. If you'd like to take that chat offline, I'd be happy to do that. What I can tell you is that I feel I made the right choice. Looking at the quality of the materials and the appearance of the final product, I don't think you can come close to this level of quality and appearance anywhere else.

jr1414 · « **Reply #12 on:** 20 Mar 2008, 01:36 pm »

Just came up with a design for stands for my front stage. They will echo the curvature of the PE cabinets, and should provide to be very sturdy and functional. The mains will work out to a 26" finished height, and the center will work out to a 11" height to stay below my PJ screen.

Construction is straight forward, 3/4" Plywood (Sign Grade, VERY Dense) for the top and bottom plates, 3" Sch40 PVC for the front pillar (fillable), 1.5" Sch40 PVC for the rear pillar (for concealed wiring). They will sit in 1/4" recessed pockets for stability, with the recesses routed out for only the thickness of the PVC, leaving the center of the area non-recessed. There will be 1/2" deep pockets (1/2" diameter) on center of those holes on the top of the top plate and the bottom of the bottom plate to allow for fixing with threaded rods, washers and nuts. The edges of the top and bottom blates will be finished with a 1/2" roundover, instead of the 45 degree cuts shown here. All will be painted black, and I plan on using these black chrome cone feet from Madisound. ( http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=117_121&products_id=1050 )

After I give this a go, I might consider building a few sets for others who might like them to go along with their new Keplers. The great thing is that it's super simple to make these any height you like, just change the length of the PVC.

Here's some quick images from Sketchup.

L-R Main Isometric view

Center Channel Isometric view

Let me know what you think.

jonwb · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Mar 2008, 01:49 pm »

It looks like it would be visually good... How heavy will the speaker be that you'll be setting on those? The engineer in me thinks that those will be a little "floppy" at more than 20" or so. But hey, I'm kinda trained to think everything is going to break, or maybe I just subconsciously think all speakers are as heavy as mine

I think I would use as big a dia. piece of PVC that would fit on the top and bottom boards, and then something of a complimentary size for the back post (maybe like 5" and 2"). I like the idea of routing a "fitted" recess into the base and top (but I'd go at lease 1/2" deep), and I'd use a PU adhesive to glue them together. Lastly, unless you have no kids or dogs (or some guy w/ a beer leaning on 'em), I'm probably do a proportionally larger footprint for the base.

Just my 2 cents,
Jon

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 Mar 2008, 03:12 pm »

They look very nice! The curved shape that fits the Kepler's cabinet is a good design touch.

The finished Kepler is 22lbs so I think filled with sand, the combo should be fine.

Cacophonix · « **Reply #15 on:** 20 Mar 2008, 03:25 pm »

Stands look great!

You might want to increase the size of the bottom board a bit...Plus since the center channel will be sitting at a lower level , how about tilting the speaker up a bit so that the tweeter will be looking up to the listener? You can easily fix a 1" piece of wood strip on the front part of top plate where the center speaker sits. Lot easier than cutting the PVC at an angle or trying to route an ellipse.

DeanSheen · « **Reply #16 on:** 20 Mar 2008, 03:31 pm »

Your beer guy, let me show him to you.

Quote

(or some guy w/ a beer leaning on 'em)

jr1414 · « **Reply #17 on:** 20 Mar 2008, 05:45 pm »

First of all, the beer guy is not invited to my house!!!!

Thanks for the comments. I'm really looking forward to getting the speakers done and building the stands. The pictures don't do the baseplate justice, it's actually 14.25" d x 8.5" w front, 4.5" w rear. Since most of the weight on these speakers is concentrated near the front of the cabinet (drivers, crossovers both in the front half), I feel very confident these will be stable. Especially when filling the 3" PVC with sand, that should add some weight and balance to the setup. I suppose I could go to 10.5"w front and 6.5"w rear to keep the same arcs, but I'll try the square approach first. Perhaps you would all feel the same if the top plate was a straight 6" x 6" plate like many of the pillar stands, that would make the baseplate look quite substantial.

As far as the center goes, I planned on adjusting the entire stand using the maximum adjustment possible from the cone feet. The off axis response of these babys is smooth enough to get away with a lot more than you think. I do have a trick or two up my sleeve, however. I'll let you all know when I get them setup and verify the information I've been given. Nothing too radical, actually simpler than you might think.

jr1414 · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 Mar 2008, 06:12 pm »

Ok, here's some quick images of the stand with a bigger base (1" offset all around). This makes the base dimensions 16.5" d x 10.5" w front, 6.5" w rear. It doesn't look too bad. I might mock something up tonight just to see what the two versions look like in a space.

I left a line showing the smaller base footprint also (top side of plate). I think either looks fantastic, it's just a matter of what fits the space best.

jr1414 · « **Reply #19 on:** 20 Mar 2008, 06:22 pm »

One more of the center with the big base. I really like the looks of this stand with the bigger base. These things will be substantial! Looks like I'll be going that way, safer and still very attractive.

What would you guys think of painted top and bottom plates and veneering the columns? Not even sure how to do this yet, but it might look good with black plates and cherry columns. Would certainly look high dollar!