*Treatment stage* Fen Cabin Studio - Build Diary. UK

[Waka]

Here's my speaker framing and ventilation design. I'm not going to be isolating the speaker in my design, but instead going for very solid framing and a tight fitting speaker box.

Speaker Shelf and Ventilation.png

Dan

[Gregwor]

Man, your craftsmanship is great. It looks gorgeous so far. Are you leaving the resonator wood exposed like that or are you going to paint it?

Greg

[Waka]

Man, your craftsmanship is great. It looks gorgeous so far. Are you leaving the resonator wood exposed like that or are you going to paint it?

Greg

Thanks man! That means a lot.
I'm considering what's the best way to finish it at the moment. I'm leaning towards sanding the exposed surfaces and staining/oiling them.

But I'll leave the finishing work til near the end.

Dan

[Waka]

Updates for you all:

I've been slowly doing some more in the studio.

I've now finished the speaker baffle (soffit) framing on both sides and and the baffle "wing" on the right side.

I've got one layer of 25mm mdf and a layer of 12mm hardwood ply to fit to the face of it. There will be a 600mm cloth faced gap at the base of the wing as a port for sound to enter and a 200mm gap at the top.

I'm considering another 150mm port just below the speaker shelf on top of the slot resonator currently, to expose the insulation around the speaker more to the room. I'll think some more.

Let me know what you think guys!

Dan

[Paulus87]

Updates for you all:

I've been slowly doing some more in the studio.

I've now finished the speaker baffle (soffit) framing on both sides and and the baffle "wing" on the right side.

I've got one layer of 25mm mdf and a layer of 12mm hardwood ply to fit to the face of it. There will be a 600mm cloth faced gap at the base of the wing as a port for sound to enter and a 200mm gap at the top.

I'm considering another 150mm port just below the speaker shelf on top of the slot resonator currently, to expose the insulation around the speaker more to the room. I'll think some more.

Let me know what you think guys!

Dan

It's looking really nice Dan, did you already upload a sketch of your ray tracing with this soffit design?

I am debating between a total hard flush, total soft flush with slats, or a design similar to yours which is half hard/soft.

In my mind, a total hard flush is the only one where you will get the full effect of the half space low end power boost since a proper hard flush would be a front wall which is completely sealed from floor to ceiling to side walls.

The other two options are really a variation on the same thing, a speaker mounted in treatment with some hard surfaces to reflect the upper mids and highs. The benefit being with a soft flush is that the space behind the monitors can be used for bass trapping and depending on the design near field monitors can be used more effectively with less comb filtering due to the low end being absorbed behind them... which is why you rarely see near fields in studios with proper hard flush front walls, though there are exceptions.

So what was your though process in deciding to go with this hybrid hard/soft flush and what are your opinions on the total hard flush and soft flush with slats?

Paul

[Gregwor]

That looks professional as hell dude! Wow!

Greg

[John Sayers]

Yes, well done - that's the way to hold a speaker tight in soffit mount.
cheers
john

[Waka]

did you already upload a sketch of your ray tracing with this soffit design?

I think I uploaded the raytrace on my design thread a while ago. I didn't change any of the angles since then. Ray tracing showed that any sound pasding under the baffle in the 600mm lower section soft section, should bounce below the mix position as it heads away, or be blocked by the desk.

In my mind, a total hard flush is the only one where you will get the full effect of the half space low end power boost since a proper hard flush would be a front wall which is completely sealed from floor to ceiling to side walls

It's true that a hard flush mount is attempting to emulate an "infinite baffle", eliminating edge diffraction and compete half space projection of sound.

But in the end you can get a huge way there by simply increasing the size of the baffle. You just push the baffle step as low as you can. This reduction is edge diffraction and SBIR elimination are the key benefits of flush mounting speakers in my opinion. Low frequency boost is an added bonus in my eyes.
I would still flush mount my speakers even if there was no boost to the low end.

I chose to allow "soft" sections in the baffle, for speaker ventilation, and give the low/mid frequencies some access to that sweet, sweet fluffy absorption stuffed in the corner there

That looks professional as hell dude! Wow!

Always love the support man!

Yes, well done - that's the way to hold a speaker tight in soffit mount.
cheers
john

Thanks for the vote of confidence John!

I've got some more pics to come this week.
Dan

[Gregwor]

Dan,

Did you use clamps with the wood around your speaker and then glue/screw it or did you build the enclosure and then slide your speaker in? I'm mostly curious how hard it will be to remove the speaker if there is an issue with it.

Greg

[John Sayers]

Greg - the box should be very tight so when you slide the speaker in you can hear the pressured air escaping.
It's the tight air that holds the speaker in even on an angle.


cheers
john

[Waka]

Dan,

Did you use clamps with the wood around your speaker and then glue/screw it or did you build the enclosure and then slide your speaker in? I'm mostly curious how hard it will be to remove the speaker if there is an issue with it.

Greg

I actually did this a bit wrong. John's method of allowing a couple on mm all around so it can slide in and out (but with that air pressure holding it in) it's the best way. I cut mine a bit small so it is too tight. I would need to remove the baffle and loosen it to get it out

I'm considering the likelyhood of having to do this soon or not, and whether it's worth fixing the boxes. I would need to cut the side panels a bit taller. As they are tight on the top of the speakers atm. I might just leave em.

Dan

[Waka]

Hi guys, sorry for the long delay. I have some progress to report, but have been busy with life, so I haven't done much in the studio.

I'm close to finishing the speaker baffles (soffits) and therefore getting close to taking the second set of REW measurements.

It's taken a while as I needed to finish routing audio and data cables to the PC location.

I also fitted additional electrical sockets next to the speakers hidden behind the baffles, and wired these up to 13A switches in the dado trunking. I don't want to modify my speakers in any way, and they are very simple on the rear anyway, I plugged in an XLR to the back of each and cut off the other end, then soldered these to a double XLR wall plate in my trunking. It looks nice and neat

The audio and data do run near to power in parallel which is usually a nono, but the audio is only running for 1m-ish and is balanced.
The data uses shielded cat6 cable which is very resistant to EMI. I can't imagine it being worse than WiFi across the room.

I'll post some pictures soon (tm).

Dan

[Waka]

After working a little more on the soffits and wings, I decided to remove the speaker modules and reset them with a 1-2mm gap around the outside so I can slide the speakers in and out as needed.

It was going to be massive hassle in future otherwise, with them being clamped tight.

Dan

[Gregwor]

Any pictures to share?

Greg

[Waka]

Hi guys, sorry for not being around of late!

I've got some more pictures to share. I've done more work since these pictures were taken, but I've not taken more recent photos yet. The photo shows the 25mm first layer on the baffles. I've already added a 12mm hardwood ply layer on top of this. I'm still considering my finish options for this, so any ideas would be great.

20200113_145152.jpg

20200302_112339.jpg

20200302_114354.jpg

Seeing Ron's aaawesome birch veneer finished slot resonator makes me cry when I look at mine now But it's not something I can add to my resonators now as they're already fitted. I'm thinking of either sanding and oiling them, or hiding them behind a cloth finish (after testing the acoustic effects). My speaker baffles themselves could be veneered, but I haven't done it before (so I'm scared!), or the other option is to paint them satin/matte black, which will look cool with the speakers in them (and a lot cheaper).

So here's the most recent pics I've got. I'll add some more when my baffle wings are ready. It's hard getting building materials in the lock-down though sadly.

Dan