Eliasound M1

Eliasound M1


Designer:
Andy

Project Category:
Tower Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
8-20 Hours

Project Cost:
$100 – $500

Project Description:
40″ tall 12″ diameter PVC 3-way tower speaker.

Design Goals:
My goals with this unique design was to achieve an open baffle type openness while at the same time having some decent bass.

Driver Selection:
Dayton audio AMT mini 8 #275-095

Eminence alpha 4-8 #290-4012

GRS 12pf-8 #292-412

Enclosure Design:
12″ diameter 40″ tall PVC pipe.

Also a 4″ diameter piece of PVC that and goes all the through 12″ pvc and exits the back giving an open dipole sound

Crossover Design:
Dayton audio 3 way crossover #260-156

Tips & Tricks:
My one tip would be to not follow in anyone else’s footsteps,come up with a unique design and don’t stop until it works.

Conclusion:
Designing and building this unique set of speakers has been more fun than I could have imagined,and achieving my goals of having an open sound while still having bass makes it even better.

About the Designer:
Life long music lover with a passion for trying different things and figuring out ways to make them work.

Project Parts List:

Dayton Audio AMT Mini-8 Air Motion Transformer Tweeter 8 Ohm
Eminence Alpha 4-8 4″ Full-Range Pair 8 Ohm
GRS 12PF-8 12″ Paper Cone Foam Surround Woofer
Dayton Audio XO3W-700/5.6K 3-Way Speaker Crossover 700/5,600 Hz
Dayton Audio BPA-38G HD Binding Post Pair Gold
40″ tall 12″ diameter PVC pipe
13″long 4″ diameter PVC pipe

8 Comments

Add yours
  1. 1
    Alan

    Just wondering about any impact from the PVC enclosure.. I have made 3-way speakers with cardboard tubes and always wondered about PVC since it is more common. I think the tubular design is elegant even though very few people choose to use it.

    • 2
      Andy

      Sorry for the delayed response, been a little busy with the holidays. The PVC has worked out extremely well, the rigidity from being circular and also the thick wall make a perfect enclosure. Also the bass is actually more than I expected,so much so that I had to fill the inside with polly fill to dampen it. If I had to it over and build a set for somebody else I would probably make it completely sealed just to lessen the bass a little.

  2. 3
    Patrick R

    Cool project, congrats on your build! I did a similar upfiring 8″ woofer in PVC tube – looks like we used the exact same circular bases, lol. The pass-through Mid is a neat idea, definitely more stable than what I did (small open baffle over the woofer attached to the sides of the tube with curved drawer handles). So the 12″ woofer crossed at 700 hz 2nd order is okay? I was afraid that listening at 90 degrees off axis meant the woofer would have to cross lower, like 300 hz for my 8″, so it is still omni. But I always worry too much. Nice job!

    • 4
      Andy

      The 700hz crossover was a little to hi so I ended up buying the Dayton 375/3000 I think it is and rebuilt the whole thing using the dayton 10″ aluminum woofer and a morrel tweeter I stead of the AMT. For this build the woofer is completely sealed with some stuffing to help cancel any resonance, the sound is extremely smooth with solid bass. Will be posting pictures in the gallery soon! And have a short video on YouTube if you want to check then out. Eliasound v2

    • 5
      Andy

      Thank you for kind words. And yeah it was crossed a little too high,I was getting voices coming from the woofer Instead of the mid-range. I just rebuilt the whole thing using a dayton 375/3000 crossover I think it is and a 10″ Dayton aluminum woofer with a 1⅛ inch morrel tweeter and the same mid but this time the woofer is completely sealed. The sound is incredibly smooth with very strong bass. I’ll be submitting the project Soon and also have a short video on YouTube if you’re like to see the action. Eliasound v2

    • 7
      Patrick R

      I’ve ordered from pvcpipesupplies.com (8″ dia, sched 80) and sometimes 5 foot lengths are available. Def not cheap to begin with though, and then shipping is murder.

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