Walnut Rockers




Designer: JGinWY

Project Time: 20+ hours
Project Complexity: Professional
Project Cost: $500-$1000

Driver Selection
Ok, I looked for a replacement for the 15″ Woofer and the 8″ Mid Woofer and decided on the Dayton Audio Series II drivers, they have rubber surrounds, good sensitivity, hight power handling and treated PAPER cones! I will never buy another speaker with foam surround as I have a lot of speakers in my house and they have all deteriorated! So there is a 4″ liquid cooled midrange, old with the flange cut off one side to make room for the 2″ Clif Designs dome mid/tweeter, the flange was already cut many years ago to make room for a cheap Radio Shack paper cone tweeter. There is an old horn tweeter and yes a Mororola Piezio tweeter in the corner, (sorry) old as well but works well and is crossed over to prevent LF damage. Then on top there is an Electrovoice T25 tweeter that sits on top with a custom bracket and crossover and plugs into the back plate. this was a music store find and it also covers the black rubber dipped hook that is used to hand these from the ceiling (yes I know, put a hole in nice walnut? I gets them off the floor and makes space!) and thay also sound great. I put the aluminum gasket holders on there for looks and to hold the gasket down because they rock SO HARD! I just need to paint them black.

Enclosure Design
Solid 3/4″ Walnut except for the baffle, what more can I say? Pure beauty! You cant buy one made of solid walnut unless you make it yourself or pay major dollars! Back in 76 I wanted to use a 15″ woofer first off with an 8″ Mid/bass woofer that was my original goal, the rest came later with different components over the years and completely changing the front mounting baffle about 15 years ago. There is an internal baffle to cut nearly all turbulance between the two woofers, the 2 vents at the bottom are new, there was only one before, the second was added with the new 15″ and lets the cone free to thump away. I have a custom engraved logo in the corner. : )

Amplifier/Crossover Configuration
My amplifier is a Mcintosh 2100 power amp rated at 105 watts RMS per channel, that is REALLY conservative, considering I can hardly turn it up past half way without being totally blown away. I use a Kenwood preamp from 1975! I run 4 speakers on this amp, these speakers and some heavily modified Marantz monsters that I will include in pictures. These are in my basement, I also have 4 speakers upstairs, so I can switch between the two sets. I am not going to get heavily into crossovers and designs, I have change values and crossover points many times over the years, The 15″ is crossed at approx. 800Hz while the 8″ is shaved a little on both ends, 2500 Hz top end and approx. 60 Hz low end. The tweeters use first order crossovers with non inductive 20 watt resistors to absorb some of the power and I havent blown any tweeters for seveal years of HARD rocking!

Enclosure Assembly
Solid 3/4″ Walnut, 3/4″ 7 ply plywood baffles & backs. I took a large transformer case and used the two halves turned inside out #Hey I was in high school, I had didnt have much money!# for a connection plate painted blue that contain two RCA jacks, 1 ea. 1/4′ Phone jack and a set of spring loaded pinch connectors for vesatility and to connect my Marantz monsters in parallel. #4 ohm total and the Mcintosh has selectable screw connectors for 4-16 ohm, Nice!#

Conclusion
These are one my most prized possesions and I will never part with them, they will be inherited by my kids. I love these speakers and now with the upgrades they have the most solid bass I have ever heard and there is not a sound or frequency the things dont produce! The last thing to do is make new grills as these have been around since 76.

About The Designer
Ever since I was like 10 years old I was facinated with sound, music and speakers. I have have an AAS in electronics technology and I have built a lot of cabinets over the years and my house is filled with them, I am a musician as well and all my pro audio PA and monitor equpment cabs. were bult by me using Peavey BWX, and Low Riders. Im a sound junkie!

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