Back Loaded Horn Speaker Box using Car Stereo Components - Candle Test

Seeing this runs a very poor second to hearing it which is just awesome. If I crank it up and then walk down the street I can hear it 4 houses away, 3 houses away clearly.
For more info [e-mail]
Cheers and thanks for watching.
(Sorry about the watermark, used an eval version of AVS Video Editor which was the only program my old clunker lappy liked)

[@korpel]

Finally some one who puts real music trough his speakers :D

[@savagemako17]

People using car speakers for home audio drives the audiophile folks nuts. They jump up and down crowing about how it will sound terrible and so on and so forth. Car speakers were designed for cars and will sound like crap in the home etc, etc. I have no doubt that done properly, you can make fine speakers using decent car speakers. You've done pretty well for yourself here. I'm going to use some decent Focal speakers for a project of my own. I can hear the home audio guys crying already

[@thomascampbell8064]

You are right as long as The box is correct. Car stereo speakers , require really large boxes if you want to port them . They were designed to go in the rear deck of a car and use the trunk as a box .

[@wogoc1]

Thanks, I have made another one using MDF and am surprised with how much more bass it makes. Also mdf gives a smoother finish so i have made it "pretty" with some pin striping, i will post another video in a couple of days

[@benjmiester]

Very nice work! At least one guy on here appreciates the video so far :D

[@wogoc1]

Good question Eric, the short answer is No, I have now built 3 of these boxes refining the build process along the way, the plan you see in the video in Rev 2 and needed some tweaks. I plan to build another box with Rev 3 of the plan and time lapse the process and post on here. I will then be happy to supply any interested party a copy of the plan for say US$20

[@thomascampbell8064]

Love your back loaded horn ,I Just designed, Two 50inch tall horns for some 6x9s tuned to 37hz . You can tune 6 1/2s lower than 100hz ,they would probably sound pretty good at 45 hz , the box would have to be at least twice the size .

[@wogoc1]

I thought that too, and the prototype had no ports... and distortion. At low frequency the air cannot leave the horn quick enough and restricts cone movement. The port allows bass transitions in the range 50 to 80 hertz to exit the enclosure quickly, yet to bass transitions of 90 hertz and above the port has no effect on the horn efficiency. Yeah I know I did not believe it either but it works. and yes the ports blow the candle out

[@thingsdemystified]

Did you come up with this design yourself? I don't get the purpose of the 60Hz ports. It would seem that they will take away the energy that should be exiting through the horns. Also, it looks to me that the candles were blown out by the ports.

[@wogoc1]

I've had many speakers over the years and decided single driver is the way to go and there was a challenge, a friend had said "car stereo components are too inefficient for hifi". I started with a fostex plan (google "fostex fe 126en" its the first one) and made some calculations on volume, throat, horn length, etc req'd assuming a 6" driver instead of a 4" then took into account what I could do in my workshop. Its crisp, clear and plenty loud, stacks of hours in the planning, my cost about 300

[@TimpBizkit]

In your comments about low frequency not leaving a horn, it's lows that go through a horn below its tuning like it's an open doorway. The horn unloads below a certain frequency and just lets air through as if the back was off the enclosure, whereas in its range, it's supposed to offer resistance and build up an expanding pressure wave, which is what amplifies the sound by moving more air than just the cone. This means the port is not functioning down to 60 Hz because the lows are just escaping through the horn path. The way to do a port and a horn is to have a port on one side and the horn on the other, although that only works with bass speakers because you want the mids and highs open to the air. Regardless of this it seems to be sounding quite good.

[@wogoc1]

Tim Lewis Hi Tim, good to see people are questioning the "how's" and "why's" of this. I thought like you did until I built this enclosure and I think the key here here is using car speakers. These are 3 way speakers and the main driver is only dealing with freq's up to 2kHz (2.5 max), the higher freq's are directed to the tweeters in front of the main driver ...in free air. Hornresp software shows I have "amplified" the performance from about 120 Hz thru to about 1800 Hz which in real terms equates to excellent clarity. The bit I found hardest to get my head around was why the Bass response's were not being unloaded and it just comes down to the cross sectional throat area and shape of the horn presenting too much resistance to sound waves below 110 Hz and this is demonstrated by the port velocity blowing out the candles

[@wogoc1]

Cry they may but the fact is you can achieve very good results if you think it thru. My speaker box is very capable just using cheap car audio bits, so I have decided to up the ante and use some Pioneer TS-A1605C 6.5" 350W Component splits in the next one, watch this space

[@_H_2023]

I think you gonna need bigger candles!

[@xxmeanyheadxx]

christ i was trying to design something exactly like this but i have no idea what i'm doing lol!

[@wogoc1]

If I wanted to build a Bass Reflex box (blocking the horn) that would of been easy with the expected result of a box that produces bass but not much else. In this case I have combined bass reflex with horn technology. By tuning the port and the horn to different freqs I have achieved excellent performance from cheap components, comparable to expensive 3 and 4 way speaker boxes. The challenge was in limiting the physical size and not sacrificing performance.

[@wogoc1]

I had to google that... and i guess it sort of is similar but I am only using one driver per channel and a cheapy at that... cheers

[@yahnsolo]

Hehehe could be nice to have a hearing with stereo recorder, (with no AGC off course) But from here i guess the basses are deep for this configuration! :)

[@thingsdemystified]

Interesting. So it would seem that the horn has no effect on the sound then because the 60Hz ports would unload the drivers before the horns kick in. Have you tried to block the horn (without blocking the ports) to see if it sounded any different?

[@d3115uxor]

im more interested in the build and actual sound output than some lame candles, looks like a good design though. could you post a more informative video on how this enclosure was built?

[@wogoc1]

I am wanting to do some time lapse photography of the next unit I build, but other things have consumed my attention. Because of the odd angles involved with the horn I use a full scale plan (publisher) to mark the slightly oversize base with the position of every piece, starting with the outer vertical pieces glue and clamp each piece individually, fine tune the horn because it may not be right at the top then put the slightly oversize top on, Trim, sand, and paint, add components. As soon as I do the next one a video will be posted, Cheers and thank you for your interest

[@BigglesAdel]

Love this

[@ericmeijer7733]

Very nice design! Is the plan for this design available on the web?

[@ChapsUnlimited]

Impressive!!

[@edwardbarr1533]

Excellent application,would make affordable audio solutions for

[@lucariva6717]

Hi, sorry for the inconvenience, you could pass me a picture of the picture of the box with measurements please thank you!

[@borealis370]

Nice build! Have you used HornResp? if so - u mind sharing the numbers?

[@thingsdemystified]

If you have a port tuned to a higher frequency than the horn (which in your case is just another port tuned to a lower frequency) the 60Hz port would unload the driver before it can take advantage of the tuning of the horn. Try blocking the horn. The system shouldn't sound any different. If it were possible to take advantage of multiple frequency porting, speakers would have multiple ports in them all tuned to different frequencies. Once a speaker unloads, it's basically operating in free air.

[@wogoc1]

you are just not getting it ! the horn works perfectly with or without the 60 hz port because the port has minimal resistance at 60hz and maximum resistance at around 90 hz and above. ie at freq's above the port resonance the port is not there, like the hole and tube were never put in because the resistance offered by the port at those freqs is too great and therefore the easier way to exit is via the horn. Likewise with the horn, the resistance to 60hz is to great but the port offers low resistance (a horn that caters for 60hz would be enormous). everything is a compromise with audio, for a single driver this works really well

[@thingsdemystified]

So you're telling me that the horn works at frequencies below 60Hz despite the 60Hz port that you added to the enclosure?

[@wogoc1]

thingsdemystified No - the throat, length, and opening of the horn determine its lowest operating frequency, in this case around 100hz and up. Below 100hz the horn offers high resistance - approaching a sealed enclosure but not quite. The volume of air directly behind the driver is not enough cope with low frequency (below 90hz) transistions and without the port would cause distortion by not allowing the cone to move freely. It is all about efficiency and this could be considered a 2.4 system, 2 active drivers and 4 passive drivers

[@thingsdemystified]

So what frequencies come out of the horn mouth itself?

[@wogoc1]

thingsdemystified I have not measured it but I would guess anything from 100hz to 1500hz maybe a little more

[@Ozmandius]

oh yay.. port velocity blew out some tiny candles...

[@LTDCrownVicFanakaRoyalTsnumber]

Looks like an old console stereo

[@puletasi94]

What if you faced the speakers inside the box?!?

[@wogoc1]

Might try that...

[@brunoli1717]

What was that song ?? Something of Pink floyd ?!

[@wogoc1]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aobJkKWKgdadZtE - Run like Hell - Pink Floyd

[@brunoli1717]

steve clancy Thanks man ;)

[@newENIO11]

darude- sandstorm

[@burgernutty]

Do you have a vid how you made the box?

[@wogoc1]

Thanks for your question, I've been out chasing a dollar (interstate truckin) but changed recently to local work so I'm hoping to get back into it. Lets see if I can get a vid up before Xmas

[@burgernutty]

steve clancy your box is awesome, wish I can make 1 similar lol

[@lucanengil5909]

Hem...is a t-line..

[@toddcoleman5796]

I want to build that

[@davidgoliat8757]

........JBL PARAGON......

[@alexgarcia3900]

150 watt bullshit 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@rottenasspranksters7155]

sounds like my grandsmas shit radio

[@wogoc1]

Where is the HaHa button