1.618 - 3-Way Hi-Vi Tower Speaker Project
DESIGN GOALS
My goal was to design a loudspeaker that sounds and performs beautifully across the whole bandwidth. I was looking for crystal clear highs, an open and warm midrange and deep, accurate bass. Nothing sticking out, making one think, "Ouch... those highs are harsh!" Clear and accurate response was key.
Other than that, I was bored and really wanted to see what I could pull off.
DRIVER SELECTION
I came across the HiVi F5s mid-woofers on eBay and bought them up thinking I'd find some use for them one day. I searched and searched for woofers and tweeters to go with these for months. Punching in the driver specs in the box and x-over programs really to only come up with the other Hi-Vi drivers. I figured why not keep with the same manufacture. The simulated graphs looked good and so it was, the Hi-Vi F8 woofers and the Hi-Vi SD1.1A tweeters.
UPDATE - 17 May 2010. The SD1.1A tweeters have been discontinued by HiVi. I have had someone use the Q1R as a substitute and they have reported excellent results. Modeling shows no issues with using the Q1R as a substitution.
UPDATE - 17 May 2010. The SD1.1A tweeters have been discontinued by HiVi. I have had someone use the Q1R as a substitute and they have reported excellent results. Modeling shows no issues with using the Q1R as a substitution.
ENCLOSURE DESIGN
I wanted to keep it looking good, yet fulfill its duty. I instantly decided to go with 1.5" thick walls all around. Slightly over kill, but figured might as well. The cabinet itself is divided into two chambers. One chamber housing the woofer and the other housing the mids and tweeter. The Enclosure Drawing shows it best. The port is 3" in diameter and 4" in length.
Hi-Vi Tower Enclosure Plan
The frequency response for the bass enclosure was calculated using BassBox Pro and is shown below.
Frequency Response - Hi-Vi Tower Enclosure
ENCLOSURE CONSTRUCTION
The photographs below show the construction of the enclosure. I used MDF and lots of wood glue, screws, and caulking.
Hi-Vi Tower Enclosure - MDF and Bracing
Hi-Vi Speaker Box - Pre-Primer and Paint
The finished cabinet is primed and painted in oil based epoxy paint. I lost count of how many coats I did. The rest of the cabinet is trimmed out in red oak.
Oak Trim and Painted Speaker Cabinet
3-WAY CROSSOVER
I designed simply what best fit the drivers' capabilities while focusing on keeping the woofer in doing its job handling the bass, the mids handling the full midrange and so on. 500Hz and 4000Hz were chosen as the crossover frequencies. An L-pad circuit I felt was essential in keeping the response of the speaker perfect as possible. I didn't want anything to stick out. A schematic of the Hi-Vi 3 way crossover design is shown below.
Hi-Vi 3-Way Crossover Schematic
The modelled frequency response plot of the 3-way crossover is shown below.
Hi-Vi 3 Way Crossover Frequency Response Plot
All of the crossover parts included the pcb are from PartsExpress. The images below show the completed crossover and testing of the 3-way crossover network with the Hi-Vi drivers.
Assembled 3-Way Crossover
Testing the Crossover
CONCLUSION
Have to say I was shocked! I've had them hooked up for a couple months now and they still make me giggle. They sound so clear and clean. The bass response, to put it lightly, is insane! Friends and family don’t believe me when I tell them that the sub is turned off.
As for the name of this project, 1.618 ... The name just sounded the best. There wasn't anything else I could think of that I liked. Also, funny enough there is a song called 1.618 by BT which was one of the first things that got played on the speakers.
Finished Hi-Vi 3 Way TowerSpeakers
PARTS LISTS AND COSTS
A list of the parts used for this project and corresponding cost is provided in the table below. All of the parts for this project are available from Parts Express
.
| PARTSEXPRESS PART# | DESCRIPTION | QTY | PRICE | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 004-1 004-2 004-20 004-30 004-4 027-438 090-850 095-234 095-280 095-286 100-074 100-088 240-730 260-124 260-330 268-320 297-445 027-419 027-425 004-1.5 255-210 255-220 255-266 255-280 027-445 297-416 091-600 370-038 091-624 268-328 297-435 | DAYTON DNR-1.0 1 OHM 10W DAYTON DNR-2.0 2 OHM 10W DAYTON DNR-20 20 OHM 10W DAYTON DNR-30 30 OHM 10W DAYTON DNR-4.0 4 OHM 10W DAYTON DMPC-25 25uF-250V POLY BARRIER STRIP 10 ROW #6 (16-14) FORK TERMINAL 1/4" (16-14) F-DISCONNECT .110" (16-14) F-DISCONNECT 16 GA RED PRIMARY WIRE 100' 16 GA GRAY PRIMARY WIRE 100' SPEAKER SUPER TOE SPIKE 4 PC CROSSOVER PC BOARD 3-WAY ACOUSTA-STUF POLYFILL 5 LB. DAYTON PT3-OF 3" OUTSIDE FLARE HI-VI F8 8" BASS/MIDRANGE DAYTON DMPC-4.3 4.3uF-250V POLY DAYTON DMPC-5.6 5.6uF-250V POLY DAYTON DNR-1.5 1.5 OHM 10W JANTZEN .20mH 18 GA AIR CORE JANTZEN .33mH 18 GA AIR CORE JANTZEN 2.00mH 18 GA AIR CORE JANTZEN 4.00mH 18 GA AIR CORE DAYTON DMPC-75 75uF-250V POLY HI-VI SD1.1-A 1" TEXTILE DOME DAYTON SBPP-SI BINDING POST DAYTON SLDR-S4P-8 4% SILVER DAYTON BPP-SN PREMIUM BINDING DAYTON PT3-ST 3" x 15.75" HI-VI F5 5" BASS/MIDRANGE | 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 4 | $1.26 $1.25 $1.25 $1.25 $1.25 $5.90 $4.90 $3.00 $3.25 $3.25 $14.70 $14.70 $7.90 $15.50 $39.90 $4.25 $65.87 $1.86 $2.10 $1.25 $3.69 $4.58 $10.84 $15.05 $16.05 $12.60 $7.80 $18.00 $12.60 $6.25 $35.64 | $2.52 $2.50 $2.50 $2.50 $2.50 $11.80 $9.80 $3.00 $3.25 $3.25 $14.70 $14.70 $15.80 $31.00 $39.90 $8.50 $131.74 $3.72 $4.20 $2.50 $7.38 $9.16 $21.68 $30.10 $32.10 $25.20 $15.60 $18.00 $25.20 $6.25 $142.56 |
Parts Total: $643.61US
Cabinets (MDF, Red Oak, Caulking, Glue, Lexan, Screws, Stain, Paint...): ~$300US
Total Project Cost: ~$950US
Cabinets (MDF, Red Oak, Caulking, Glue, Lexan, Screws, Stain, Paint...): ~$300US
Total Project Cost: ~$950US
Hi-Vi 3 Way Tower Loudspeaker Closeup
Update: 5 July 2008
Daniel in Canada let us know that he has finished a pair of these speakers. High resolution photographs of Daniel's 3-Way Hi-Vi 3-Way Speakersare available in the Photo Gallery: DIY Hi-Vi 3-Way Tower Loudspeakers.
Daniel in Canada let us know that he has finished a pair of these speakers. High resolution photographs of Daniel's 3-Way Hi-Vi 3-Way Speakersare available in the Photo Gallery: DIY Hi-Vi 3-Way Tower Loudspeakers.
Update: 25 August 2008
The measured room frequency response for the tower speakers is shown below.
The measured room frequency response for the tower speakers is shown below.
HiVi F8 / F5 / SD1.1A Measured in Room Response
DIY HiVi Home Theatre Speakers
The above photo shows the HiVi Tower Loudsepakers with a Hi-Vi Center Channel Speaker Project and a HiVi SP10 Subwoofer.
