“I’m new to DIY speaker design in the past year. Trying to find a hobby I keep into, considering I love music and high end audio. Trying to improve with every design I make.”

“Boxcars” Tower Speakers, by Mongoose & Bear

Project Level: Beginner

Project Time: 20+ Hours

Project Cost: $100 – $500

Project Description: 3 Way Floorstanding Towers; 3/4 in MDF. Duratex Coating. 2 rear 2in Precision Ports; External Crossover with 8 lead speakon cables to connect

Design Goals: Build my first Tower Speakers, and experiment with external Crossover

Driver Selection:
-Dayton Audio AMT Mini-8 Hi-Res Air Motion Transformer Tweeter 8 Ohm x1
-Dayton Audio RS100-8 4″ Reference Full-Range Driver x1 – with TM offset 3/4 in from center
-Dayton Audio DA115-8 4″ Aluminum Cone Woofer x4 (center aligned)

Enclosure Design: 3/4 in MDF glued together. 3 heavy internal 3/4 in braces (one full to seperate the TM from the woofer section; Then 2 Window braces in Woofter section. Internal walls all coated in Spectrum paint, and then also used Second Skin sections on middle portions of internal walls. Also used 3/4 denim insulation. Behind each of the mids, were a 2 in diameter diffusion block (from rubber/plastic)

Crossover Design: Passive 3 way Design; all external, then connected to towers via 8 line Speakon Connections and cable. Approx 400hz and 3.8kHz. Asymmetric driver specific passive network optimized around measured electro-acoustic behavior of each transducer – rather than textbook electrical filter.

“Turned out very well. They were not perfect, but sound very good – just need more time to break in.”