Not sure if someone has mentioned it, but as someone who has worked in a glass shop for around 5 years I've used A LOT of that weldon stuff. The best way to apply it is to actually put your parts together and then apply the weldon to the seam and let it wick in. You'll instantly see it starting to melt the acrylic together.

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Ahhhh now this is a good tip, thank you! The applicator makes way more sense now

@MichaelLivingston-me

Жыл бұрын

Really nice work 👍 I like this project so much, I might have to copy these. A diffusion dome or panel would be a good idea.

@mytuberforyou

Жыл бұрын

That is DEFINITELY the way to solvent weld, although for the best seams he really should have used UV cure glue to avoid microbubbles.

@matthewroderique7468

Жыл бұрын

As an actual acrylic fabricator, 100% agree, it works by capillary action, like water it will flow into the gap

@mattadulting

Жыл бұрын

I came to say this as well... only way to do it.

Wire strippers at 13'27" - A little tip for you. When you strip the end of the wire, leave the excess insulation ON and use that between your fingertips to twist the strands, THEN pull it off. That way you don't get finger grease all over the strands and it makes the solder joint more reliable. Great video btw!

@alphaforce6998

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, or you could just, you know, not be a disgusting slob and wash your hands after you get done eating your jar of mayonnaise.

@Drinkyoghurt

Жыл бұрын

Also, those type of wire strippers are pretty trash in my experience. Get some Jokari or if you have a lot of money to waste some Knipex or Wiha ones. The Jokari cost me €12 and were well worth it. Great Scott! recommends them as well.

@tvphelix

11 ай бұрын

Wow, not sure how I didn't know that trick. You learn something new every day. Thank you for that comment. Whether he learns from it or not, I just did.

@timf-tinkering

8 ай бұрын

My Dad taught me this when I was a nipper. It also makes it much easier and quicker to twist the strands as you can just roll the insulation between your fingers.

You cannot make a speaker sound it's best in a cabinet without knowing the free air resonance, and the same goes for the port size/shape/type.

@real_nc461

Жыл бұрын

The acrylic probably resonates, the woofers are rather nonlinear, there's a lot of problems with the built. Nonetheless, it looks like a fun project.

@pnichols6500

Жыл бұрын

I don't think good sound is his priority.

@timbaumann9046

Жыл бұрын

my point EXACTLY!!! without knowing that you are just fooling around in the dark!

@Traqr

Жыл бұрын

The C-Note MT kit has the cabinet panel dimensions laid out for you - figuring out the interior dimensions from the MDF plans is pretty trivial. The crossovers and ports are part of the kit too. I suspect the mismatch in resonances between the hardwood and the acrylic might actually help his sound out, but I'm not sure. I do wish his skyline diffuser was down at listening level where it's supposed to be though 19:02. That's not just decoration...

@xanderguldie

Жыл бұрын

This is a kit wiseguy

can we talk about how cool the post mortem aspect of these videos are? like no one else does that, and its really helpful to see how to improve something.

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

It's a good outlet for me because I always find 10 different ways I could've done a project better by actually building it. Designing is one thing, but going hands on makes things a lot more clear

@officialtree5245

Жыл бұрын

@@ZacBuilds yeah i just finished my first project, and it had so many ups and downs so it was literally a roller coaster of happiness and sadness while making it lol.

@RichardBronosky

Жыл бұрын

Yes, I totally agree. I had stumbled upon a few Zac Builds videos, but was never compelled to subscribe. (No offense, I am more of the long-time Adafruit customer, "RIP Philips Hue & Govee" type than I am the "tear the guts out of a Philips Hue" type.) However, it was the Post Mortem aspect of the videos that finally earned my Subscription.

@justaskin8523

Жыл бұрын

+1 for the post mortem! "Lessons Learned" is essential for everything from fabrication to car repair to gardening to IT because if you don't do that, you'll never be able to improve on future designs. This is a perfect example: Now you know you need to measure ... well, "everything" so that you don't have to cut away wood to make room for LED or crossover assemblies should you ever decide to do another speaker project. And I have an idea for another project. Make a set of speakers similar to the old "Magnaplanar" ones that don't need "box-shaped" enclosures, resulting in speakers about as thick as a framed painting. That would be truly space-saving, and I'm sure you could figure out a way to go completely bonkers with the LED rigging!

The reason the applicator looks like a needle is because you actually push the acrylic together and use the needle to apply the Weldon to the corners. Because it's so thin, the Weldon actually seeps into the corner and spreads itself out. You can look up people build aquarium tanks :)

@alphaforce6998

Жыл бұрын

Underrated comment. Just think of the soldiers' lives who could be saved if we made tanks out of acrylic. It's like permanent camo...and if they can travel under water, that's even better for those sneak attacks!

Seeing someone wearing PPE when it's probably not necessary is very relieving with so many makers not using it when it really should be used. Major kudos.

@daveahlman1

Жыл бұрын

12:45 however, when grinding PBC material, you must wear a respirator (or hold your breath). You don't want those glass fibers in your lungs.

@saraheart8527

11 ай бұрын

@@daveahlman1 Ever so true grasshopper.

"Turn this wasted space into something functional" Dude...that space is functional and far from wasted. It's necessary to create good sound.

As an audiophile, you don't have to have the best quality. Sometimes it's about making yourself and your setup happy. Just because I wouldn't do doesn't mean you can't.

@snjert8406

10 ай бұрын

Yep!

@simonrano8072

9 ай бұрын

Too many people wast money on fancy hardware and psychological cables just to use their set up at 1/4 the power in a non treated room not even respecting speakers positionning requirements.

@gdj6298

9 ай бұрын

@@simonrano8072 Yep. The rest of us think "That sounds nice" and then just enjoy the music. While drinking the wine that we bought with the money we saved by using ordinary mains cable to connect our speakers. 😁

@chinmeysway

8 ай бұрын

Aw a semi non recovered audioperv let’s there be subjectivity, how cute!

@williameldridge9382

5 ай бұрын

You're not an audiophile. You made a sensible, reasonable comment. Audiophiles don't do that. Perhaps you're a recovering audiophile?

I really appreciate how your content has evolved, it's nice to see you make items for yourself that you actually use. Keep it up!

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Thanks man, I appreciate you being with me long enough to see the change! It sometimes gets tough finding stuff to make I actually need/want, the house is starting to get pretty full 😂

Awesome project and amazing results! I made an acrylic speaker a while back and I'm still working to get rid of the rattling, glad that wasn't a problem in this build!

I absolutely love when we make mistakes in making furniture or stuff like this, moments like this truly show how adaptable a person is, improvise, adapt, overcome🤣

I absolutely love the dual purpose with the lighting as well. That thinner acrylic probably isn't the best for sound, but there are trade-offs in design. If you think they sound good, that is all that matters!

Oh dear, this is an "audiophile's" torture! Even I feel mildly infuriated, but I really enjoyed the aesthetic! The last "I'd like to incorporate more things within the speaker", tho, was the final nail in the coffin, like a stab in my chest when i thought triggering was done 🤣 Keep up the good work!❤‍🔥

@alphaforce6998

Жыл бұрын

Pretty much this. I'm not an audiophile but if we're going to take the time to build speakers we may as well do it properly. I'm still not sure why he needs to save space on a giant, empty desk.

@amichelis

Жыл бұрын

@@alphaforce6998 well, my guess is "clean-desk aesthetic", which i Also enjoy! That said, one can use newer speaker technologies such as hard shell and mechanical bass drivers to shrink their size! Introducing lighting and other AC and/or PWM power sources within a noise-sensitive piece of equipment is generally considered a bad practice

@Sombre____

Жыл бұрын

What give me the more pain is to see the cheap rca cables used to connect the speakers ... i don't even want to see the amp.

@aaronb1138

11 ай бұрын

The video is all trolling. Not just audiophiles, but really it's designed to drive mildly negative engagement from a variety of domain enthusiasts (cabinet builders, expert makers, LED lighting fans, etc.) while pretending to be maker-ey / tinker-ey enough to elicit a warm fuzzy counter argument from people with less of a clue of how they've been manipulated by the fast talk method. Most people trying CA glue the first time on acrylic are in for a bad time when it frosts splotchy and ugly, when other adhesives work. "Oh look I forgot about the crossover!" is just as fake as any other reality TV bit. It just goes on and on with trolling. Even the initial premise is bs. People who value desk real estate put their monitors on adjustable mounts and speakers either wall mounted or on other elevated platforms, leaving the desk space clear for other uses. Heck the old school PC Hifi Logitech Z-560s had stands that pivoted into wall mounts 22 years ago and probably sound better.

@heMANshred

11 ай бұрын

​@aaronb1138 I've never seen this channel before but you nailed it. It's genius really. Imagine how many algorithms this guy is in!

Dude's running out of desk space, dude's also having 150 inch TV on his desk.😂

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

It's also less than an inch thick and set at the very rear edge of my desk with a custom made mount.

@photonfartsqueeze6694

Жыл бұрын

I would mount that monitor to the wall.

@ArcturusCOG

Жыл бұрын

@@photonfartsqueeze6694 yea just screw it into the windows behind it 🤯🤯

Something you can do with acrylic to get it fogged/frosted is using an orbital sander with a medium high grit 180-200 and going over the surface of the acrylic. This is a diy approach and can be used if you accidentally nick one of the surfaces and don’t want to restart.

Those speakers look absolutely amazing. I have always loved the idea of people building their own speakers for that personal touch but this is a pair I haven't seen with lights be used like that. Very nice work.

The cool thing about KZread instructional videos is that you can see and avoid all the mistakes made before giving it a go on your own. And if desk space is at a premium, make panel speakers and hang them on the wall.

@Kiham80

2 ай бұрын

Part of the problem imho with videos on speaker building on youtube is that they always show the build process. And never the design process or talking about why they do something. Actually building the box is usually the easy thing to do.

Really like that Zac doesn't edit out his mistakes along the way! It's super realistic and actually very valuable to learn from!

I heard you talk about this on the podcast. It turned out really nice. I like how you integrate technology with woodworking. your channel seems to have a taste of DIY Perks with a strong focus on walnut instead of aluminium - which I like.

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Walnut over everything!

@JustinCrediblename

9 ай бұрын

​@@ZacBuilds stainless for me. Aluminum for the jobs that aren't terribly needing in aesthetics. Normal steel if I'm either on a budget or doing something indoors in a dry room. House fires just aren't my thing. I have maple floors and I regret it. 'can't trust a medium income set of renters to not damage it whenever I leave.

Hi Zac! I do appreciate the Idea behind the build, as well as the quality of the work. You do however have some technical issues of varying degree. First of all, you NEED some kind of dampening material in the cabinets, I realize that it might interfere with the lighting idea.. But there's pretty fluffy white poly filling that does the job just fine. The reason behind this is to absorb the back wave from the driver. Not doing this will result in pretty iffy resonance issues as it 'bounces' off the rear panel. Second, A baffle that thick with a small midrange driver should have the rear of the cutout rounded or chamfered on the back side to help the driver 'breathe'. This can otherwise impact the midrange response. Depending on driver and baffle thickness, this might be an issue. It's good practice to just do it and be safe. Third, Plexi as a material is fine actually.. Honestly most common materials are fine if it's structurally sound and thick enough, as long as it has proper bracing/support. These do not have proper support and are too thin though. So, you'll likely have resonance issues there as well. Your hardwood is fine, nothing wrong with it. Otherwise, great job on the build and keep doing things! If you for some reason decide to do more audio things, feel free to reach out.

@jackmarshall2496

3 ай бұрын

The number of comments on this video stating he did it wrong are baffling yours is the first I've seen with genuine advice. I have seen speaker cabinets with void space and no dampening but this space's volume and surfaces are specially designed to act as wave guides for each individual driver. This from my limited knowledge seems very complex to design around but definitely does seem to improve sound quality based on the speakers I've seen that implement them.

@TheDaniel85

3 ай бұрын

@@jackmarshall2496 Thank you! I try to offer sound advice and constructive criticism. I was speaking about his design mostly. But in general.. you cannot get away from some kind of damping behind the a driver covering the midrange unless it's.. open baffle or sealed back drivers. There are other creative solutions with varying degrees of success. The main thing is that the rear wave needs to be addressed, how is less important. For speakers only covering bass, it's another story and not necessarily needed. :)

Where has this guy been my whole life and how many skills does he have? The best mix of tech and DIY I didn’t know I needed.

The less you know, the happier you are. This guy is really happy.

@TechDove

3 ай бұрын

LOL

another great video from one of my favorite channels! You're an inspiration Zac!

Nice looks and ideas for the future😊 Thanks for sharing

Great video as always Zac! Keep up the amazing work!

The end product looks so clean. Well done

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Andre!

I love the space saving feature above all else in this build. Very clever, I have a similar setup with a custom made soundbar and these same Philips Hue lights and I wish we had this video a few months back, I probably would have tried integrating the lights for a big fat behind the screen defuse ambiance.

@jimrosson6702

Жыл бұрын

Very cool 😎 they look great

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Now you're giving me ideas! I just moved and need to redo my media center. Maybe I'll try and work some LEDs into my big wide center channel.... 🤔

@MathieuCruzel

Жыл бұрын

Now this I have to see. With an ambilight like setup built into it, it could be great 😃

I am very happy too, this speaker make inspiration for more project to the future.

Those look very nice and seem to be a good design. A couple ideas: 1) you could have used heat to bend the acrylic into a squared-off-u-shape and eliminated the Weldon 2) although it would eliminate light from the top, you could have made the top wood (leaving the sides acrylic and eliminated any seams) and incorporated wireless charging pads in the top of each speaker.

Fantastic idea and a beautiful finished product! They look awesome!

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Cheers!

I just built a desktop organizer/soudbar with 2 4" drivers and 1 5" sub. It's 7" tall, 7" deep and runs the lenght of my desk to make the speaker volumes work. It looks gorgeous since it's made from walnut.

with that particular glue the pieces to be glued are first moved into the final position so when the glue is introduced to the joint it spreads evenly via capillary action

Cool. Looks like it was a fun project. Thanks for the video.

Those look amazing! I might have to make some when I upgrade my desk setup!

They look amazing, great idea to add the lights inside 👍🏻

This was one of, if not, the best build I have watched from you! Fantastic job! All of the tools you have at your disposal is honestly a jealousy point, but oh well, lol. Not too late to print a diffuser (half moon) in clear petg and add it I would think. Great job!

I love this channel man it's fun watching wood work.

At first I thought based on the title that you were going to do DML type DIY speakers and wall mount them, but these are pretty cool too even if they don't exactly save any space :)

@tboj

Жыл бұрын

Came here for this. How is this saving space, really?

Those speakers are Sweeeet! Nice! Inspired to try it myself

In this exciting episode, Zac sort of plans out something awesome without planning ahead somehow, again. I'm messing with you bro, beautiful work as always.

That looks very nice! Would be cool if you could make the lighting inside react to the sound they are playing

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

They actually can! The only catch is you have to use Spotify as it's the only app that integrates with philips hue. I don't use Spotify tho :(

They look awesome, great work man!

Nice! Great looking build. I’m a repeat customer of PartsExpress so I’m pretty well versed with their stuff. I think the Woofer/Tweeter placement looks fantastic on the Walnut and the lighting aspect is really great. I’m going to build a set of those too. Really nicely done.

Okay so I’m just so angry that I’m just now finding your channel cause I love tech and love wood working. And your the perfect middle ground.

Zac absolutely beautiful design there. Can't wait to see more videos soon my friend. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Keep making. God bless.

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Thanks man! Hope you're doing well and making yourself! Cheers.

Keep up the great content!

Love the look of these speakers, they so unique wish i had them to match with my bedroom studio❤🔥

I'm in love with that workshop

I've gotta save this video somehow because I LOVE the idea of building ambient lighting into the speakers like that :D

For future speakers, consider using a Dayton Audio KAB amplifier with DSP. You can eliminate the passive crossovers along with the associated downsides. Each driver will get its own tuned amplifier and you can order mounting and control hardware. To save desktop space in my own setup, I bought some ART RM5 studio monitors. They are especially thin powered speakers with VESA mounting holes. I removed the stands and attached monitor arms to each, so that they are completely off the desk and positioned perfectly to the sides of my monitor.

You can achieve the same effect of slightly "melting" / gluing acrylic using acetone. Also super glue works quite well.

I wonder if everything will go as smooth if you just bend the acrylic with heat to avoid making them miters & using the weld-on stuff. It would definitely be seamless. But then you would need to round over to match the curves of the corner bend 🤔. I'm actually working on a portable boombox as well and ordered my BT large ammo speaker kit Friday from Parts Express. My version also includes frosted acrylic AND walnut. No bending though as I'm doing something different & do not require much

> Your speakers are a waste of space > Makes same size speakers that sound worse.

As a desktop speaker you may not get into this situation, but ideally you don’t want the sides of your speakers to vibrate. At louder volumes and at certain frequencies you my introduce distortion from the thin and low mass sides. An acrylic rod say 1” diameter could be glued in the center of the panels as side bracing to help mitigate this.

Beautiful design, great job!

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Bailey!

Zac, from one Canadian bother to another, love your work. Keep it up.

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Thanks man! I'll do my best 😃

Get some foam circles that you put between the midrange and the cabinet when you screw it in (unless already applied to the speaker)

dude those are BEAUTIFUL lots of inspiration here

funnily enough i scavenged speakers out of an old soundbar which had a absolutely drenched board. took this old 250watt PA system amp and ive been running the 50/60 watt 6 inch sub as a primary (hoping to find and scavange a second one with a ported box) with two small like 4 by 2 inch rectangle speakers which are about 25-30 watts each for this odd combination of deep low and decent highs. Very good work!

Hey! Really enjoying your videos. Where did you get the speaker parts in canada? Everyone keeps on saying parts direct but shipping to canada (comox, bc) is brutal. Thanks!

from what I recall weldon is basically a solvent that melts the plastic. it would have been easier to hold the joint together then put the adhesive in the joint. it then melts the plastic together. you cant use it in the way like you would other glues. thats why its so thin.

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Good call!

Those Irwin wire strippers are the bomb! I've been using them for a year or so and will never go back to stripping wires using the old-school wire strippers.

All solvent welding relies on introducing precise amounts of the solvent to parts already fitted together with sufficient gap to allow capillary action to draw the solvent through the join. Then after sufficient time for softening of the surface, mild pressure is applied to force them together and as the solvent fully evaporates over time you have a fully fused 'welded' joint.

What a wonderful concept! With the frosting, it almost looks as if there is fog inside 🌫️

18:27 "They are only 40 watts". The 'watts' don't say how loud a speaker can play. There are horn-systems out there that will provide rock-concert volume with only 20 watts or so. It's the level of efficiency that can give you a hint (a speaker with 85dB will get not the half as loud as a speaker with 95 dB when provided with the same input power). These Speakers actually turned out pretty nice. Much better than i've expected in the beginning. Well done.

@TimpBizkit

Жыл бұрын

I've noticed this. I had a Dali Spektor 1 and a Bill Fitzmaurice Omnitop 12 connected to the same system and I had to turn the perceived volume up 3 times as high to get the Dali to be as loud as the Omnitop 12. The Dali sounded nicer (at least without the EQ module) but small bookshelf speakers with 4" woofers will suck down power to make them loud compared to a 12" and 1" compression driver.

I built lights underneath my speaker stand (the platform where the speakers sit on) instead. Just some CCT COB led strips connected to hue with a gledopto controller. Does the job, different type of illumination though. Just a thought for people who don't want to make new speakers. Very cool idea though!

The cross over board you've used is similar to perfboard or solderable breadboard. Two common types are padboard and stripboard

I like the idea but I noticed some aesthetics you maybe missed. I would have channeled the mid range driver a bit further to ad a cover plate over. (Which may be in your next video for a speaker grill.) I would chamfer the three edges on the front so more elegant styling would really make the build stand out. Maybe print a signature on the back and clear coat the front and back with matte clear finish.

Great work mate, what is the phone you are using? And the headphones?

Very nice build, I plan to build some as well but my goal will be to have the face at an angle (facing a little bit up) since I'll use them as monitor stand for side monitors

Any recommendations about a budget-priced CNC?

looks great, Dude!!

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Thanks buddy :)

I’ve had fully acrylic subwoofer enclosures in the 90’s to early 2000’s they sounded great

I like the idea of incorporating desk hogging components into the speakers. However, I feel like you would benefit greatly from lifting the speakers off of the desk with some stands. I have my speakers mounted on a hacked together combination of $30 computer screen stands and speaker wall mounting brackets. It works beautifully. I can move my speakers side to side and rotate them in and out on the fly. The biggest drawbacks are that height adjustment is a complicated process, there is no way to slide the speakers forwards and back, and the speakers don't like to stay perfectly level on this stand. I need to revise this idea to make it easier to move them around and make them perfectly level. But still, I'm very happy with this solution even with the small drawbacks. My speakers are just floating above my desk, not wasting space, and I didn't have to drill holes in the wall.

@TheAnoniemo

Жыл бұрын

Same, I have my speakers lifted onto some monitor arms (The type with the clamp and the bar that goes straight up). Now they take up no desk space plus they're at ear level.

@BrendanWeibrecht

Жыл бұрын

With the goal being to save space, I thought using stands was such an obvious choice - I was so suprised when he didn't!

Do you think you'll ever sell the cnc plans for this build? I would love to replicate this but instead of the acrylic panels just using some mdf.

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Yes, it's 100% something I'm working on. I need to set up the infrastructure to do it and that's the main road block, but I'm in talks with a web developer.

has to be cabinet resonances with thin walls no bracing and no insulation. Creative build none the less.

The whole thing can be solved by building supports that allow the speakers to be mounted outside of the desk

I love home speaker builds!

Love the build! Awesome result!! The soldering skills on the other hand... 🤣

Why is this video's entire premise centered on "space saving" yet the speakers are huge.

Add a way to adjust the light brightness unless you did and I missed it would be nice if you could make them as bright as lamps

How will the lights work when you get the dampening material in the speakers?

Nice build. But how did you save desk space? 🤔

Awesome as always man!!!

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Craig! Appreciate the support brother!

If anyone wants to do DIY custom speakers keep in mind you can cut the driver holes with a router and a circle jig. It's kind of a pain but you can cut really nice accurate circles. My DIY speakers have overlapping drivers and that's how I cut them. The left and right speakers look identical.

Great results. They look expensive 🙂

Those are bigger than the previous ones lmao

clamp your parts then add the weldon to the seam, capilary action will cause it to flow into the seam. also, squeeze your applicator bottle and a SLIGHT constant release of pressure keeps it from dripping when you turn it upside-down.

Excellent piece! One note which probably didn't impact this build - CA glue can fog acrylic.

You could add tiny balls to increase the surface area. Also, you want mm accuracy because it changes the sound (you can use acoustic simulation models)

this is interesting, finally a cnc based speaker box..

The reason the applicator is a needle is so that you bring you seams together than run the needle along that inside corner and liquid is so thin it permeates into joint.

I wonder what servicing them would be like considering the all glue approach to assembly. I suppose your hand could fit in where the driver comes out

How did you come up with the cabinet and port dimensions or are you just "winging it"? 😎🤘☮

You might want to add air vents the unit to allow the heat from the LED's to dissipate. The life of you LED is be shorten quite significantly from the build of heat. Seems a lot of builders that include LED into their projects over the importance of air flow for LED's

When those lights came on >>>>>>>>>>>❤

that was not what i was expacting i was thinking you talk about how many liters you need wasting space with the port etc. but i gues thats also very nice. I really liket the woodworking aspect im not sure about the light thing

Okay these look so good!!

@ZacBuilds

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching Soph 😘

Funny note on using solid stock to make boxes. I've tried it myself. One box is square, the other has twisted. So if the bases are pushed together, one if facing straight forward, the other is a few degrees to the left. Stayed sealed, so meh whatever :-)

If I was the one doing these, I'd have done heat-bent acrylic. Love the execution and the end result though, real good stuff.