QIDI X-MAX3 Review & Feature Build

Designing, building, and travel-testing a backpack speaker with the help of the QIDI X-MAX3.
QIDI Tech X-MAX3: s.zbanx.com/r/GgtWlFybucFP
Enclosure Model: www.printables.com/model/6457...
Tang Band W5-1138SMF: www.parts-express.com/--264-917
Dayton Audio DMA80-8: www.parts-express.com/--295-587
Dayton Audio KABD-430: www.parts-express.com/Dayton-...
Dayton Audio KPX: www.parts-express.com/Dayton-...
Homepage: hexibase.com/
Facebook: / hexibase
Instagram: / hexibase
Printables: www.printables.com/social/264072
Thingiverse: thingiverse.com/hexibase
SoundCloud: / hexibase
Patreon: / hexibase
Amazon Storefront: www.amazon.com/shop/hexibase
00:00 - Preface
00:12 - Title Sequence
00:22 - Unboxing & Setup
00:58 - 17 Minute 3D Benchy Fail
01:46 - Credit Where It's Due
02:16 - Feature Build Introduction
03:26 - 40% Infill Print Attempt
03:56 - 20% Infill Print
04:44 - Dimensional Accuracy
04:54 - Mounting The Sub
05:15 - Electronics
05:27 - Tuning
05:47 - Final Seal
06:04 - Why No Batteries?
06:20 - Mounting the Highs
06:39 - Home Music Demo Track 1 of 5
07:24 - Home Music Demo Track 2 of 5
08:17 - Home Music Demo Track 3 of 5
08:41 - Home Music Demo Track 4 of 5
09:02 - Home Music Demo Track 5 of 5
09:32 - Field Test: To Saint Louis
09:44 - Field Test: TSA
10:00 - Field Test: To Phoenix
10:20 - Field Test: To Douglas
10:39 - Field Test: The Room
10:49 - Field Test: The Setup
11:12 - Field Test: Music Demo Track 1 of 5
11:39 - Field Test: Music Demo Track 2 of 5
11:49 - Field Test: Music Demo Track 3 of 5
12:00 - Field Test: Music Demo Track 4 of 5
12:16 - Field Test: Music Demo Track 5 of 5
12:32 - Field Test: Performance Commentary
12:54 - Field Test: Movie (HT) Demo
13:15 - Field Test: Success & Bail
13:25 - Field Test: Back To Saint Louis
13:48 - Unpacking & After Action Review
14:30 - Now YOU make one!
14:42 - Closing Remarks

[@rhkips]

Laughing as the recording of your one 5 1/4" driver is making the four 10" subs in my living room work for it! LOL

[@aceracemusic7565]

Again, I feel like buying a 3d printer and printing my own speaker box too. You continue to amaze me with every video

[@awesomusmaximus3766]

Yes me too

[@12Vencedor]

i built the hexibox v3 and it sounds amazing in my car xD and i still can use my whole trunk

[@akschu1]

For what it's worth, my X-Max-3 works fine after I got the belts tensioned correctly. I got a 17min benchy that looks great. I suspect a lot of your issues where the table that moved around a lot. Put it on something more stable. Anyway, thanks for posting, I really enjoyed the video and am considering making one for myself.

[@EspHack]

the neodymium version is substantially lighter, these tiny tangband subs are just magical

[@smarouchoc7300]

What impresses me is that this has been recorded via mic, mangled through KZbin's compression, streamed down to me, and the sub attached to my system still thumps at the same time I see Sophie respond to the thump :D The ability to convey the ability of this speaker speaks volumes to the work put in. Oh, almost forgot. My PC is connected via bluetootht o a Fosi Audio BT30D Pro, which is serving to cross over/amp to an BIC V-80 sub woofer. From the Fosi, there is a true, unamplified audio out running to a pair of Audioengine A5+ speakers. Is a long boring story why this is setup this way, but it amounts to the RCA outs on the A5+ speakers makes mysterious LOUD crackles and pops, and the Fosi was a cheap and quick way to keep a subwoofer plugged in :)

[@mainscrizz]

Every time I see a new video uploaded from HexiBase, I know I'm in for a treat! I loved the kicking laptop part for some reason :D

[@EngineeringEssentials]

Bass that comes out of this tiny box is amazing 🤩.

[@no_one_special_5407]

Had my raycon earbuds in when I started this video but as soon is I heard that little thing I had the run to my truck, what that little thing was putting off and how u recorded it had my 15 inch hooligan moving 😂😂 loved it , the neighbors not so much

[@mikedifebo4220]

I miss the old Arizona days, your 11 year old box design still sounds amazing even though the car it was built for is long since gone. For those who do not know, you can have him custom design but not build "stuff" :-)

[@widowmakerdesign]

If you want to print really fast, try placing the printer on a more stable table. You could see the printer shaking all over the place…? Did you just have it on a card table? It's possible that you just got a printer with a problem but I have the bamboo x1c and it prints a beautiful 17 minute benchy. I have seen the qidi do it too

[@BostonMike68]

I haven't seen a new video in awhile i love watching you get new toys

[@kevineccles7766]

Nice to see Douglas, AZ getting some airtime! I lived there for 3 years back when I was a kid. Fantastic backpack speaker system!

[@soniclab-cnc]

I have found so many great uses for the little Tang-band. I've used it for probably 100 builds. Very reliable driver with warm deep bass. It's a beast combined with the 8" Dayton designer series passive radiator.

[@__-fm5qv]

I've used them for my desk speakers too, they're pretty great! I've done a similar thing where I've somewhat over-extended the port tuning but then bumped it back up with DSP and it handles it pretty well in near-field.

[@francisdaoust5862]

Do you know how to use them in a tapped horn subwoofer? What about using 2 of them in the enclosure? Thank you

[@soniclab-cnc]

@@francisdaoust5862 Tapped horn you may find a speaker with a lower Xmax more suitable. These have like 9 or 10 mm of Xmax. They may be just within the range for a horn... As for using two, as long as they are well matched and in phase I don't see any issues. More is better, correct? lol

[@anandshah71]

@@francisdaoust5862hexibase can u consider this build please

[@lazypilot99]

Should have gone with bamboo I been using my X1 carbon with no issues. The filament runout would've been a no go for me but good luck

[@andrewwatts1997]

When the Thumpy is just right 👌

[@jozefsoucik3115]

You are living a dream a lot of makers. It is pleasure to see that someone did achieved it. Take care.

[@brianwood5220]

The sound quality really came through. and it's an ideal size to take on a travel journey, F**k the clothes, as long as there's room for the Music-Box. Thanks for sharing.

[@foggofed9163]

That first hit in the beginning, lmao. Got me too.

[@artyfarty87]

Thank you for literally sharing this ride with us. Very cool!!!

[@NexGen-3D]

Finally, you got a real 3D printer :)

[@OG-ProfessorFarnsworth]

This is exactly the build I’ve been wanting to do for about a year now. I haven’t had the time/money/printer to do it. But it’s great to see how well it could perform.

[@EstorilE36M345]

Love this!! I’m sure your hotel neighbors are less impressed 😂

[@OHMAudioChannel]

Ayyyyyy, fellow St Louis audio guy! I had no idea you were in this part of the country.

[@hypnotech83]

Welcome back Pete!

[@MrBaskins2010]

your builds always blow my mind, another one for the books

[@spedracer55]

This is the stuff i live for lmao i love speakers waaay too much

[@David-wg5ce]

Super cool to hear your from stl too after watching all of your videos lol who wouldve known youtubes audio genius has probably passed me while im omw to work 😂

[@CowetaGaming]

the W5-1138 is an amazing little sub. I have one in a Carmody Voxel for use with my PC speakers

[@Calvin420GetRektM8]

Your Hotel Neighbors will hate you... But I would not 😂

[@audiogarden21]

0:03. Looks like it hit that spot, huh Sophie? xD

[@HexiBabe]

He tends to have that effect 🤣

[@audiogarden21]

@@HexiBabe Yeah boiii. S'what I'm talkin' about!

[@clearme2]

The flying sausage 😂

[@NamacilHDx]

I want a car subwoofer making me mirror tilt with those 5 1/4 drivers damn 😂

[@russelllewis6674]

Please update your soundcloud with your newer test files! great stuff!

[@brianmack6285]

Another thought provoking video! The DSP/amp board looks to be 4 channel, I'll guess it's 2 of TI's amp ICs which makes me wonder if you can bridge a pair of outputs to drive the single woofer ? If you haven't already done one ( I'll have to recheck) perhaps a video on programming that DSP/amp board would be interesting to your viewers. Lastly since you're now both a 3D printer and CNC owner, maybe a video using both for a speaker enclosure would be informative. I know I'd like to see which parts you think are best suited to which machines.

[@FangOfTruth]

Has anyone ever accused you of equalizing the audio to make it sound better than real life? Just curious.Your projects sound that good. Coral BX-1000 9” woofer 4 1/2” midrange 2” tweeter All measured at outside diameter of mounting flange 2 6” full range speakers in original projection screen cabinet converted into entertainment center. Only 15 watts per channel (2 channels) with left and right wired in parallel.

[@brian6029]

Anyway you could make a video where your print a subwoofer basket and then build it or multiple fuse block, maybe even a speaker terminal cup for a box or similar items?

[@joshholden8561]

U really live 3d printing stuff

[@fookingsog]

I thought I had a rough go with my Ender 6 (CoreXY!)!!!😂 My biggest problems were enclosing it for heat retention to eliminate any warping from drafts and blobbing at various points which was caused by gcode M413 "Power Loss Recovery" being enabled. Turned that off and everything was peachy!!!😂 Regarding your box design, you could probably widen the "sound field" by angling the speakers outwards to the angle of the cones on opposite far edges would be parallel to a flat plane running through both. Doing this would (should?) provide better LeftRight channel separation. Bass port could still remain in the center. Looking from the top down, it would look like the cross section of a house, bass port at the peak, speakers on the roof slopes. Having angled front baffles would also assist to eliminate any internal standing resonant waves with possible null points.

[@jet613]

Totally want to see your 3d printer storage space! You have a ton by now( unless they were for review only I can't remember if it was said).

[@avejst]

Great project Great video as always. thanks for sharing your expirence with all of us 😊

[@B1OD]

Unless you used a high speed filament for the benchy then it was optimistic to think it would work. 600mm/s is just bragging rights though and not practical for everyday usage.

[@12Vencedor]

this brought me to the idea to make a soundbar. with the w5 and 2 fullrange speaker.

[@ashcoleman8866]

Off the chain stuff, how often do you sell the demo items? Because everything you fab is fabulous or fantastic oh yeah fun and cool to boot I do appreciate the tech side of it as well keep up the phenomenal work!!!!

[@frankcastle2814]

You should try "weld-on 16" I use that it is one glue that actually melts the contact spots of plastic together for a perfect bond. It is a bit runny like syrup, but sets within minutes

[@danielspangler5033]

Great video. The minor teething issues to be a theme with the Qidi's. Hoping to someday to build my own surround setup with printed units and have been loving the inspiration.

[@tacka73]

It was great to see you and sophie getting back to see her family 🫶🏼 even just for the weekend

[@HexiBabe]

Seeing my sister get married was something I refused to miss out on!

[@samijoukainen8289]

Had also big problems qidi Cfpro but after new ribbon cable and lot of tuning it's finally doing good prints. Slowly, but it's working...

[@jamiethomas4079]

Wow. I had a similar thought last video and was going to make the suggestion. To see if you could make something small and portable we all could make at home to replace those boring portable boomboxes that are all the rage. Thank you for the awesome videos and knowledge sharing!

[@simonfr97]

I'm curious to see what you could do with the T500 from Comgrow, a 500x500x500mm bed slinger. I'll probably print a small speaker or a sub in the near future, but I lack the technical knowlege when it comes to enclosure design. Listening to all your videos with a pair of Sennheiser x DROP HD6XX through a S.M.S.L M6 DAC

[@iamdarkyoshi]

I've got a trio of skar 6.5's hiding under the cargo mat in my car. The box was designed just to take up as much space as I could but that's about all the engineering work I did. I'm tempted to get the dayton audio woofer tester to actually measure what these drivers can do now that I've broken them in and re-design a new box accordingly. They work shockingly well for how little design effort I put into them but I know they can do more

[@ohlosha]

a man of quality

[@tabaal2]

I had zero problems with the bentchy. came out perfect

[@drixom9805]

ooh new vid wooohoo.

[@MechAnism820]

I have that same printer and it worked fine at full speed, but print quality was much better when i dropped things down to 70mm /s. I had an issue with the nozzle being loose and unscrewing slowly. The print was fine at first but after an hour the nozzle unscrewed a bit and threw off the layer height. One time it was so bad it hit the print knocking it to the side. After tightening it down the printer has been solid.

[@RockLeeMC]

of everything you've done in this video, is awesome... but you got me at Carne Asada Fries. LOL

[@zacha1408]

Gen z art 😂

[@vilmfilm]

Where can I listen to your songs? I've tried looking before but I can't find anything 😢

[@Quazgaa]

Cool idea. I wish there were more options available for smaller subs for projects like this. There's that tangband and like nothing else. I can't believe nobody tries filling that niche

[@analogkid4557]

Dayton E150HE-44.

[@stefanbrony7905]

I keep saying it: i love that demo song at 9:01

[@robverkuijlen1817]

Yessss. And it reminds me of this golden oldie: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZOTp2B9h716bKssi=5kGAUKZXFC_Sp2Gm

[@1ytcommenter]

Do you think it would make a big difference if the speaker would be printet in metal?

[@gumbywwf83]

Another ripper speaker!

[@jebimasta4604]

I have the neodymium version of that driver and tried using WinISD to simulate a small enclosure based off of your STL, but I didn't get anything that went that low. It would be great if you could do a blog style thing with some of the behind the scenes showing the simulation and DSP work. Love your videos anyway! I'm thinking of getting a printer to make some enclosures now :)

[@jeanious2009]

Crazy how you and Sophie are still together, I could’ve sworn 10 years ago that you two wouldn’t last longer than a few months. Congrats.

[@HexiBabe]

10 years ago, I would have thought much the same. Then I decided I liked him a bit, asked him to marry me and here we are. 👍 Cheers!

[@Human_OU812]

Out of curiosity could this be made into a pair of speakers with left and right channels with Bluetooth connectivity between left and right channels?

[@atticchopshop8180]

If I could skip a wedding to rock out back at the room that would be so baller!

[@Schwiebert_Adventures]

Do you have any challenges with the subwoofer magnet and the hard drive of the laptop? I’m assuming it’s a solid-state drive? Another amazing video as always, thank you for posting!

[@JoeJalopy]

Really interesting, thanks.

[@Bill_CBR]

Looks like it was a lot of fun. Maybe they'll get that firmware right someday... Not.

[@McTroyd]

Nicely done as ever. I'm more impressed that you were successful in not being involved in everything about the wedding. (The last two family weddings, I was barely in the hotel room to sleep.) Even still, good to know 20% infill can be rigid enough if the layer adhesion is good. Hi Sophie! 👍

[@HexiBabe]

Hi @McTroyd ! I was more than happy to just have him to hang out with after the excitement of the wedding nonsense itself. There's only so much of a social battery for one weekend.

[@McTroyd]

Goodness yes! Much sympathy for that. @@HexiBabe

[@MrSkyl1ne]

That sounds awesome! About the printer, I think the stability of the table it's on is the issue. I can see the printer wobbling when at it's fastest speed, if it's placed on a more stable surface with good rubber feet, you shouldn't run into this issue.

[@JasonWW2000]

I see the table moving, but I don't see how that would affect the printing in any way whatsoever. The relationship between the printing head and the base shouldn't change at all, regardless of how much the entire machine is shaking or moving around. Why do you think the shaky table is the problem?

[@BigE1201]

Missed ya bro. 😎

[@alexjensen990]

Dude! You're in the StL area?! Fancy that! I live in South St. Louis City. Since you are so close... I've got 2 Boston Acoustic G510-44 subs and a Pheonix Gold amp, brand new in the box (bought in 2008/09 and never installed), that I would love to build a better enclosure for. I built a single sealed box just to get something into the Toyota Highlander that my grandfather left me, but I would like to either maximize the sound of the one sub or build an enclosure for the two… …After doing my due diligence I came across your website and will go through the normal channels and we can go from there.

[@DarkVarda]

I am wondering how different this enclosure sounds with pla compared to mdf. DIY Perks made a 3d printed speaker and didnt use infill but poured some sort of plaster/epoxy mix inside because it sounded bad. Whats your opinion on pla or other filaments as a use for enclosures? You work alot with just the plastic. Does it compare good to mdf in smaller enclosures?

[@avhuffTeamOtis]

Appreciate the time involved to create a fantastic video as always. Inquiry: Can you go into the nuances with different enclosure materials? Specifically what im thinking is acrylic vs poly, birch vs maple etc.. just an idea! Thanks

[@MechAnism820]

wood vs pla kzbin.info/www/bejne/pGTanaCXerN9n9E

[@gsxroyce256]

I like to lower the mids just a little on the eq just to make it that much more crisp

[@PavolDrahula]

I wish you would design once some height reflective speaker (Atmos speaker ) make possibility to add next dimension to standard 5.1 systems

[@PrismaticPhilo]

Im curious why you went with PLA compared to a more exotic filament? Especially since it has a heated chamber. It looks like the PLA enclosure did hold up well. I love your projects. Thanks for making them!

[@MoneyMunday]

This is awesome! I'd definitely want to make my own but I have no idea how to do the programming of the amp/dsp :/

[@chaddthompson]

Didnt realize you guys were in the STL area. We are about 50 min east of STL in Hellinois

[@MiDnYTe25]

Are you planning to release demo track 5 (superprompt iirc)? Sounds like a banger

[@DonnyDonnMendoza]

Just curious if it’s possible to set up two of these as a stereo pair? Sick design btw

[@aceracemusic7565]

What's the name of track 5 in the first test?

[@smiththers2]

im always amazed by how well a 3d printed box can sound. i would LOVE to be able to print a full size enclosure for my truck... but even with a large print bed, would probably take a month if nothing failed during the printing....

[@ivandiystatic6179]

Nice! Why you not using passive radiator?

[@JesseSchoch]

@HexiBase have you ever considered designing a passive speaker to amplify a cell phone? There are designs out there on thinigiverse but they don't look like they came from someone with as much sound engineering experience as you have.

[@smamas114]

Nice 💪😎

[@yemajdleifyam7554]

Have a general request, how bout a dyi box build to enhance your average medium onn rugged Bluetooth speaker. For the broke budget guy😅. If not no biggie still ❤ your in-depth content.

[@yemajdleifyam7554]

Also can't find the hz range of an Onn rugged medium Bluetooth speaker an have searched extensively.

[@alphaboltz]

i wanna see what you would make with a Memphis MoJo 8in car subwoofer 3d printed in a ported box they are very powerful. but with a true tuned box i am guessing it would have a much cleaner range

[@MiChAeLoKGB]

I must say, it's weird hearing your issues with support, since from all the info I see online, QIDI has an amazing support... Also, it looks like you have a bit older version. New version has a cooler on the back of the hot-end, a magnetic sheet instead of separate magnets in bed and a inductive probe instead of BL Touch (since it had some issues with magnets). From what I saw, QIDI send upgrade parts to people for free if you contact them, so that could be worth a try?

[@myhre-loco3040]

The link for the Dayton Audio KABD-430 does not work :D

[@Exstaz]

Usually you have all the info but saying a coreXY are basically that the z moves just up and down are so wrong. It has nothing to do with the bed. CoreXY means that the steppers work in tandem. If you have 2 or 4 don’t matter they all work to move the printhead in XY. Then you have coreXZ for example. There x and z are moved when booth steppers work in tandem.

[@krypto95]

I want to be able to do what you can do. I love the content

[@mvadu]

My Ear studio es100 mk1 said Hi to Sophie 🤗

[@HexiBabe]

Hello MK1!

[@Skovkid]

hello HexiBase, is it possible to change a center speaker cabinet without changing the sound much. my problem it that I have an old jamo d8 center speaker which is just a box sitting on the floor, and I had thoughts about changing it to more like a panel cabinet so it get raised more from the floor and looks more modern in the living room. any help to get further in my project is highly appreciated

[@davide.ercolano]

Your DMA80-8 plot 3:02 has a much faster roll-off on the back comparing it with the datasheet. The real plot is your one or the difference is there due to design? (high Qtc?)

[@DmnkRocks]

always love your videos (while I somehow managed to miss this upload). I tried to follow you on printables - but it seems it is not possible? love the Idea, but that particular build would be a bit to big for my taste. great sound though

[@janisdambergs4362]

You make avesome projects. But maybe do one for printers with 220x220 build plate vith some small spekers with passive radiators. Some tipe like jbl charge or something like that. That would be realy nice

[@thedoujinguynico7315]

How do you design these boxes that you make?? pleas i want to make a box fore my car but i dont know how to make ale the internals

[@PascalVos]

@hexibase i would love to know how "Martin Roth - An Analog Guy In A Digital World" song would sound on your gear its so good song even on my bose car speakers from 2013

[@civicrocker]

Now my question is, was it loud enough to get the some noise complaints in the hotel?