[stevecuss]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and I've posted this same question on the HT forum and the partsexpress forum to learn as much as I can.


I bought someone's left over MTM project today and would greatly appreciate any guidance with my first DIY speaker build.

I bought 3/4" MDF cabinets (17.5" tall, 8" wide and 14.5" deep) with pre-routed MTM layout on the front and a rear port hole 2" in diameter.

With the cabinets came some Morel MTD33 tweeters and a pair of Audax HM130Z0 5.25" aerogel drivers.

I'd like to build a speaker based on the morel tweeters (I doubt I'll keep the Audax drivers - it looks like they are mostly midrange, not midbass.)

My goal is to make a speaker that is significantly better than my current Boston CR77 bookshelf speakers. I'll be driving them with Rotel separates from the mid 90's - 120 watts per channel at 8ohms. I don't plan on using a subwoofer for now (maybe I'll try to build one later.)

My favorite speaker tone is the B&W line - I really like the CM and the 805s, so if I can get in that ballpark, I'd be thrilled. I like all kinds of musical styles, but I am most drawn to singer/songwriters like Knopfler, Lovett and Emmylou, as well as blues and newgrass (Nickel Creek stuff.)

I've spent $120 so far on this equipment and I'm willing to spend $300 - $400 more on the remaining drivers and crossovers, back plate, acoustic treatment etc.

here are some quick questions:

can anyone recommend a design or kit that features these morel tweeters?

How large a driver can I put on an 8" width cabinet face? (currently routed for 5.25" but I assume I can increase the route hole size.)

If 5.25" is the largest size I can use, does any driver that small go low enough to get away with no sub? I'm not expecting earth shattering bass, just don't want all mids and highs.

can I turn this cabinet into anything other than an MTM? So could I make it a TM bookshelf in a larger cab or a 2.5 or even 3 way?

thanks for any help you can provide. I'm excited to get going on my first project!

Steve Cuss

[spinnerbait70]

ZaphAudio.com is a great site for driver info as well as fully documented speaker projects. Troelsgraven and humblehomemadehifi are also excellent sites. DIYaudio.com is the place for this particular question. They are all do-it-your-selfers over there and will have a greater depth of knowledge when it comes to this sort of thing. It might be easier to start from scratch with a fully documented design.

Hope this is usefull
Spinnerbait70

[JimJ]

It depends on your crossover point, but I've always been a fan of Seas CA paper coned midbasses...they're pretty smooth and well behaved. Or the Nextels for more money.

If you could get your hands on four channels of amplification and an active crossover, you could forget having to deal with designing and building a set of passives, and just run the drivers with only active processing Heck of a lot easier to integrate different drivers, and gives you flexibility to play around with crossover points and slopes to determine what sounds best for your room. Little more expensive at the outset, but for a beginner you'll really learn how changing things affects the final sound.