DTQWT, built by Dave, AU
Copyright 2013 © Troels Gravesen
Hi Troels
Just a bit of a write up for your builders
page.
Hi all.
Here is a brief rundown of my DTQWT build that
I recently completed and are still having fun tuning. First of all let
me thank Troels for his passion and dedication to DIY speaker building,
people like him really make quality HiFi affordable to the average man.
I’ve said this to Troels many a time in the various question and answer
emails I’ve sent him but I thought I should also thank him publicly. So
Troels thanks from us all!
Now the build. In the past I’ve built several
DIY speakers mainly using Vifa drivers. Well, when I say built them, I
really meant my dad who was a master cabinet maker made the cabinets and
I did the rest. Sadly this time he isn’t around to build these but the
many years watching him gave me the confidence to try building them
myself. This is the first real wood work project I’ve ever done, I’m a
panelbeater by trade so metal has been my thing not wood!
The basic box was made out of 18mm MDF then
skinned with 6mm ply. The front and rear panels were 24mm MDF and once
again skinned with 6mm ply. The reason I did it this way was that it’s a
lot easier to get all the edges nice by doing them in small single panel
sections as opposed to getting many joints lined up at the same time.
Once the basic box was made I fitted the corner and edge pieces, these
were 6mm above the MDF. Once these were all fitted it was just a matter
of trimming the ply inserts to fit inside the edges, one panel at a
time. Then just a finish sand and some furniture oil…. Done!
The cross overs were easy enough too. I fitted
the binding post on the 50mm wide section on the base (pointing down) so
they are clean surfaces all around.
Now to the sound…. When I first connected
these to an old Yamaha amp I had lying around I was very disappointed to
say the least. After a couple of emails to Troels I started to realise
there wasn’t anything wrong with the speakers, it was everything else! I
replaced the amp with a new Peachtree Audio INova, a lot better. The
real thing I learnt was that the room acoustics were all wrong. All my
listening rooms in the past have been in houses with wooden
construction, wooden floors and jib rock covered wooden framed walls. My
new house has a concrete floor and plastered brick walls. Once I started
to realise what was going on I purchased several packs of acoustic
insulation, 45 deg panels from floor to ceiling in all corners and
several other panels at mirror points in the room. Now we’re really
getting somewhere…. It was at about this stage that I realised that
these speakers were really something special! I’m really enjoying the
music again, the detail and naturalness blow me away every time I have a
session. Sometimes with the right music (Pink Floyd) I find I almost
“trip out” it’s quite freaky getting totally lost in the music. You
forget the dimensions of the room, open your eyes and think, wow I’m in
my lounge room!
The only thing I thought was missing was a bit
of lower bass extension, just the other day I raised them up from the
recommended 40mm floor clearance to 75mm. This has given the lift I was
looking for they are now complete……….. I’ll still keep trying placement
and room acoustic things though.
One final thought about seeking perfection. I
find that I’m looking more at the quality of the recording now than the
content. A good recording now sounds so good it makes the lesser quality
ones sound rubbish!
Dave
