First time DIY - Overnight Sensations MT

Discussion in 'Speakers' started by Cakecake, Oct 24, 2016.

  1. Cakecake

    Cakecake Guest

    Long story short, my room sucks midbass and reflect sound like crazy.
    BMR didn't work out for me and thought I should get a smaller speaker for low SPL listening.
    I liked the OSMT when I heard them so I thought I'd give them a try.

    - I am a complete beginner-noob-scrub-GUTB
    - Spoiler: I didn't blow up my OSMT so you guys should get off your ass and start DIY.

    Resouces:
    Materials:
    • Drill + drill/driver bits - $100
    • Soldering station (I got Hakko FX-880D, I dunno) - $100
    • Parts Express (cheaper than Amazon)
      • PartsExpress #6 x 3/4" Deep Thread Pan Head Screws Black 100 Pcs. - $2.90
      • 0.110" (16-14) Female Disconnect Crimp Terminal Blue 50 Pcs. - $4.60
      • JSC Wire 16 AWG Red Primary Hook Up Wire 100 ft. USA - $17.32
      • JSC Wire 16 AWG Black Primary Hook Up Wire 100 ft. USA - $17.32
      • OSMT Kit - $138.00
      • PartsExpress Binding Post Banana Jack with 1" Thread 2 Pair Black Gold - $14.49
      • Gorilla Glue 2 oz. Bottle - $4.93
      • Perforated PC Board 4-5/16" x 3-1/8" For #320-430 x 2 (two boards) - $3.44
      • Cable Wire Tie 4" 18 lb Tensile Black 100 Pcs. Made in USA (ZIP TIE) - $1.33
    • Amazon (cause I forgot to buy from PE)
      • Electrical tape - $4.74
      • Wire stripper/cutter/crimper - $12
      • Wood clamp ( I got 6 inch..DONT DO THIS GET 12 inch) ~$25-40
      • Solder (60-40 rosin core) - $8.58
      • Hot glue gun - $10
    • Total
      • ~ $470 with everything
      • ~ $270 without Drill and soldering station.
    • Why did I overspend?
      • cause I be scrub.
    Progress:
    • Didn't take too many pics cause I was absorbed into building the speakers...anyhow here are the steps.

    obligatory intro pic with all the crap like PCMR...MR?
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    Lay em out, smallest panel is the bottom

    [​IMG]
    DIY is getting real.
    These 6" clamps are shit...get at least 12" one. They are alittle crooked too.

    [​IMG]
    On to the soldering table.

    [​IMG]
    Look at pics online and lay em out.
    Those copper donuts have to be far apart and orthogonal or the magnetism cause interacti

    [​IMG]
    Watch the video and make rough connections.

    [​IMG]
    Add a cold solder or two.

    [​IMG]
    Insulated wires to not touch one another. Red (+) Black (-)
    Those European terminals(?) make things easier but I forgot to get them.
    Connect the rest of the wires to Tweeter and Woofer. I could have used female connector thing I bought but didn't have crimper.

    [​IMG]
    Did I make a Samsung Note 7? No...good.
    Yggdrasil-> T-amp-> OSMT = endgame.

    [​IMG]
    This is the rear port. I put electrical tape as opposed to Speaker Chaulk(?) cause I didnt' have any.

    [​IMG]
    installed Port. Look at this crappy CNC cut boards. That's why Josh hated them and built his own fkn cabinet.

    [​IMG]
    Binding post..drill a hole, put inside, washer, nut.

    [​IMG]
    Screwed in the woofer. Now I know why I pay 90% of speaker price for cabinets.

    [​IMG]
    Secured the crossover with electrical tapes because with all the wires underneath the PCB board, it wouldn' touch the floor.

    [​IMG]
    Only one speaker so far, but sounds great and I am happy that I got to do this.

    Conclusion:
     
  2. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    Great job! Thanks for the heads up on the crappy cabinets. I guess good ones would cost a small fortune to ship. I've been thinking about building a pair of these to replace some 25 yr old B&W bookshelf speakers I use for the television.
     
  3. fierce_freak

    fierce_freak Friend

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  4. Cakecake

    Cakecake Guest

    I was thinking of building that one but I am not too sure xD
     
  5. haywood

    haywood Friend

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    You can get self-tapping screws that are a bit less prone to split the wood but you really just need to drill an adequate hole first - you want the drill bit to be about the size of the solid part of the screw so that just the threads are cutting into the wood to provide grip and the barrel isn't forcing the wood apart to make room).

    You might want to see if others with that build are using something to dampen the cabinet instead of bare wood (e.g. http://www.qtasystems.co.uk/articles/how-to-damping.htm) and to use something like hot glue to hold the crossover in place, electrical tape won't maintain its grip very long.
     
  6. Cakecake

    Cakecake Guest


    What does the damping do?

    Quick measurement for the curious. About 3 ft out
    [​IMG]
     
  7. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    That response is actually pretty good for a 4 inch driver. Does it mention anywhere in the manual that fiberglass insulation or fiberfill could be used internally? That would probably smooth out some of the jaggedy response.

    I usually try to make external xovers on the few speakers I've built so I can tweak stuff later or just isolate it better from the internal vibrations. Although this probably isn't the best kit to do something like that with.
     
  8. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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  9. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
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    I would just ask OJ. @OJneg, did you stuff @thegunner100's OSMT?
     
  10. Ushi

    Ushi New

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    @Hooncake you should drill the holes before putting the screw in to avoid splitting/chipping the wood.
     
  11. Cakecake

    Cakecake Guest

    So I did that for the rear port installation and it still chipped. Maybe the bore was still too small.
    They recommended not to pre-drill for the woofer cause the wood is so thin like 3mm? but maybe I still should have.
     
  12. Poleepkwa

    Poleepkwa Friend

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    Looks good for first project!
    Few things you should consider:
    Drill the holes and use a threaded nut in there - you can then attach the elements with some bolts then.
    This will allow removal of the elements without damaging the wood.
    Put some fiberfill in here to dampen the reflections inside the case - since this is reflex port the best is to use some lining on the wall only and leave the space around the port free.
    Add some bracing for the panels (sidewall to sidewall, front to back)
     
  13. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    I'm rapidly coming to grips with the likelihood that whatever I DIY is going to suck as far as WAF is concerned. There is no way I can get within a light year of the Blumenstein cabinets! I last did any woodwork in high school 30 years ago, have nowhere decent to work and no woodworking tools.

    Is it cheating to have someone competent fab them up for you? :D
     
  14. powermatic

    powermatic Friend

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    Last edited: Oct 25, 2016
  15. spwath

    spwath Hijinks master cum laudle

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    I'm going to diy my next speakers.
    Whenever I justify the need to upgrade. Probably soon. I might go for the volt-6 coaxial speakers.
     
  16. Sqveak

    Sqveak Friend

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    Only if it hurts your ego :p

    But really, if you just start off with something small that comes in a flat pack then you should be fine with a minimal set up.

    If tooling up is an issue then you can get away with less clamps by spreading out the pressure from each clamp. Use a flat solid object between each clamp and the speaker box. Works best with small boxes. My last kit build only took two clamps and some offcuts of two-by-four timber to spread the pressure evenly. Only moderate pressure is required to hold it all together while the PVA dries.

    You can also use a regular soldering iron rather than a temperature controlled one unless you intend to move on to more complex electronics later on.
     
  17. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

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    Yeah you can play with cabinet stuffing.
     
  18. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

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    This was super interesting, thanks for the post.
     
  19. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    I'm looking for some bookshelf speakers on standmounts. I always see the Overnight Sensations setup on desktops. Any feedback on how they are setup for a living room?
     
  20. take

    take Friend

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    It would depend how far you're listening. If you listen further away, you would need to crank them quite a bit to get acceptable listening levels out of them. At that point, you're eating into headroom; they're low in sensitivity at 83 dB, and the recommended power handling maximum is 25 W RMS / 50 W peak, so they aren't designed to go very loud.

    Having listened to them in a living room, I can say they do sound fantastic even at a distance, but you may want to look into larger speakers if you're listening at a significant distance and expecting to fill a room with sound.
     

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