Piped driver, a day effort

[Sumanta]

Actually it is not a day effort if you consider mental calculations, reading, assembly processes that went through my mind, ut otherwise, it got finished in one day.
On last to last Saturday I supplied food to my gear acquisition syndrome, bought a used Panasonic 5 DVD player with 4 speaker set because I liked looks of the drivers there in.
Last Saturday I opened those surround speakers. Tried to fit them on PVC pipes.
It seemed working by physical and dimensional similarities. Gaps and mismatches seemed manageable.
Then I took one of the driver to a hardware shop, and found out that an elbow actually is holding the driver nicely.
Bought two of those elbows and two pipe piece.
Then I took some plywood plates to a nearby wood shaping shop to get required holes in them.
Later I placed those drivers on the elobow with MSeal.

And ran earthing wires to connect. I put some synthetic cottons inside and mass loaded them at the end too.
Here is the result.

 

[lifewater]

Actually it is not a day effort if you consider mental calculations, reading, assembly processes that went through my mind, ut otherwise, it got finished in one day.
On last to last Saturday I supplied food to my gear acquisition syndrome, bought a used Panasonic 5 DVD player with 4 speaker set because I liked looks of the drivers there in.
Last Saturday I opened those surround speakers. Tried to fit them on PVC pipes.
It seemed working by physical and dimensional similarities. Gaps and mismatches seemed manageable.
Then I took one of the driver to a hardware shop, and found out that an elbow actually is holding the driver nicely.
Bought two of those elbows and two pipe piece.
Then I took some plywood plates to a nearby wood shaping shop to get required holes in them.
Later I placed those drivers on the elobow with MSeal.

And ran earthing wires to connect. I put some synthetic cottons inside and mass loaded them at the end too.
Here is the result.

That's what I call an instant DIY. Looks lovely naked and would look even better with a coat of automotive paint. BTW how do they sound to your open baffle soothed ears ?

 

[saheb11123]

Also some technical details about the pipes and speakers would be nice and what is mass loading at the end?

 

[rav_mk1]

This looks so good.. what about the crossovers you did it yourself or bought one?? and where are the terminals on this.. please Im dying of curiosity..

Cheers
Ravi

 

[manniraj]

Great going Sumanta, also I was thinking instead of using mseal you can make a MDF ring of the same diameter and fix the ring to the inner diameter of the tube using some kind of instant glue that you get for PVC pipes. This becomes a baffle and you can fix the driver over it. I hope you would have already thought about it but anyway this would entail more investment and effort. Overall a superb effort with locally available parts. Very inspired with the effort.

I have so many PVC protruding pipes in my apartment and I hope instead of getting foul smell I can make them sing :lol:

 

[Sumanta]

That's what I call an instant DIY. Looks lovely naked and would look even better with a coat of automotive paint. BTW how do they sound to your open baffle soothed ears ?

Dressing it up is left to my daughter. :lol:
Actually I judge speaker (for that matter everything else too) based on my expectation. I didn't expect it to be colourless, but it actually quite is. Because the driver is a tiny 3" one and the pipe is 2.5 feet tall plus some length for the elbow, add to that are those synthetic wool pack.
Bass is little weak in weight.

 

[Sumanta]

Also some technical details about the pipes and speakers would be nice and what is mass loading at the end?

Well, pipe and elbow were of 4 inch size. I have no clue about the driver's T/S parameters as nothing is written on the driver or their cabinet except that they are of 20Watt and 8 ohms.

I added half of one water filter cartridge (used on RO water purifier) per speaker at the other end of the pipe. There will always be some air in that cartridge, which will act as mass loaded to the end of the air column inside the pipe. This way I have tried to reduce resonating frequency of the whole pipe. It is like reducing natural frequency of a flexible rod having one end anchored and the other end free but loaded with some mass. For the mass, the rod will vibrate with slower frequency.

 

[Sumanta]

This looks so good.. what about the crossovers you did it yourself or bought one?? and where are the terminals on this.. please Im dying of curiosity..

Cheers
Ravi

There is no crossover. It is a one driver speaker.
Edit:
Terminals are back and bottom of the pipe. Wire ran through elbow and then pipe from back of driver to the end. I took a hot wire to make a hole on the PVC pipe.

 

[Sumanta]

Great going Sumanta, also I was thinking instead of using mseal you can make a MDF ring of the same diameter and fix the ring to the inner diameter of the tube using some kind of instant glue that you get for PVC pipes. This becomes a baffle and you can fix the driver over it. I hope you would have already thought about it but anyway this would entail more investment and effort. Overall a superb effort with locally available parts. Very inspired with the effort.

I have so many PVC protruding pipes in my apartment and I hope instead of getting foul smell I can make them sing :lol:

Thanks!
Yes I thought that and probably will be doing for the next one. This process increase pipe size as there should be some gap from the screw circle diameter to inner diameter of the pipe to hold the screw tightening the driver. Plus the way I did it was the fastest and easiest for me.
I am planning something similar to Pluto with the main speaker of that same Panasonic DVD player front speakers, where, I will be using reducer to hold the woofer and then will connect smaller pipe to reduce overall cost, add more pleasing (compact) feel in the design.

 

[manniraj]

I added half of one water filter cartridge (used on RO water purifier) per speaker at the other end of the pipe. There will always be some air in that cartridge, which will act as mass loaded to the end of the air column inside the pipe. This way I have tried to reduce resonating frequency of the whole pipe. It is like reducing natural frequency of a flexible rod having one end anchored and the other end free but loaded with some mass. For the mass, the rod will vibrate with slower frequency.

I did not understand this part of your explanation

 

[Sumanta]

I did not understand this part of your explanation

An open pipe has a column of air inside, which resonates for a particular sound frequency. That resonating frequency will decrease (increase the wave length) if we increase additional air column by adding a smaller cylinder at the end of that pipe.
It is same like holding a 1 meter long sturdy thick wire at one end swinging the other end. It will have its natural frequency. But that frequency will decrease once you tie a small weight at the open end of that pipe and swing it.

 

[Sumanta]

Very inspired with the effort.

I have so many PVC protruding pipes in my apartment and I hope instead of getting foul smell I can make them sing :lol:

Dear Manniraj,
Do it, it will be fun for sure. Sound will not be bad. There are many benefits using pipe as cabinet, and using pipe reduces your dependency on others.

I am also thinking of using porcelain (or burnt clay) tall flower vase to use for the woofer as it will have inherent weight advantage including other benefit of cylindrical shape. Brittleness and cost is restricting me so far. On the other hand uniqueness quotient and beauty quotient (WAF) increases a lot.

 

[manniraj]

Dear Manniraj,
Do it, it will be fun for sure. Sound will not be bad. There are many benefits using pipe as cabinet, and using pipe reduces your dependency on others.

I am also thinking of using porcelain (or burnt clay) tall flower vase to use for the woofer as it will have inherent weight advantage including other benefit of cylindrical shape. Brittleness and cost is restricting me so far. On the other hand uniqueness quotient and beauty quotient (WAF) increases a lot.

One more speaker in the home then I am out, thats the ultimatum from my better half :lol:. You would have seen my 2 speaker builds of Zaph audio and Frugal Horn.

 

[dheerajin]

hi Sumanta,
try one older trick..get the earthen pot and stick the thick woodwool inside the
pot with fevicol and do three small holes symmetrically arround the diameter of
pot and see the result..one of the natural ways to get the natural sound..

 

[Sumanta]

hi Sumanta,
try one older trick..get the earthen pot and stick the thick woodwool inside the
pot with fevicol and do three small holes symmetrically arround the diameter of
pot and see the result..one of the natural ways to get the natural sound..

I did made such speaker in my college days like everyone else. But I do not know why there should be 3 holes (small).
Please give me detail about those holes and reasons for them being there.
If you have photos to share, then that will be a wonderful gift to me.

thanks,

 

[Sumanta]

One more speaker in the home then I am out, thats the ultimatum from my better half :lol:. You would have seen my 2 speaker builds of Zaph audio and Frugal Horn.

Ha, ha...I haven't seen your make, but will do so soon. I can understand that.
Luckily, I managed a room for music listening only, but that room is getting full as well. My OBs are on stairs sitting idle. Let's see, where it takes me:indifferent14:

 

[dheerajin]

main difference is woodwool and holes..
Holes act as ports as in speaker enclosure
woodwool gives effect of wood and claypot walls resonate with half the strength than before, so its a hybrid design with goodness of wood and clay.
Holes should be 120 degrees apart on the circumference of pot.
I hope you got the point..

I did made such speaker in my college days like everyone else. But I do not know why there should be 3 holes (small).
Please give me detail about those holes and reasons for them being there.
If you have photos to share, then that will be a wonderful gift to me.

thanks,

 

[Sumanta]

main difference is woodwool and holes..
Holes act as ports as in speaker enclosure
woodwool gives effect of wood and claypot walls resonate with half the strength than before, so its a hybrid design with goodness of wood and clay.
Holes should be 120 degrees apart on the circumference of pot.
I hope you got the point..

Thank you!

Will having only holes help? Have you tried having bass ports instead of holes?

Clay pot is too fragile and low in elevation for me though. I tried them in college days with holes (without wool) but sounded bass biased. It is too youngistan design for me now

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Speakers in pipes!

By coincidence I was browsing about this one a couple of days ago

 

[Sumanta]

Speakers in pipes!

By coincidence I was browsing about this one a couple of days ago

YUP, he is source and inspiration for many of us.
I will be copying Pluto concept of piped driver soon, but finished look could be different. As there isn't any T/S parameters available to me for the drivers I have, there will be quite many fall and stand trials.