E r r p i n

The Birth of the Barklays The addition of a new TV and the accompanying cabinet meant that my first home built speakers, theLargle and Goothers were left with no room, either side of the TV. A new block of wood would have to be built to fill the gap. As a consequence of the cabinet width being limited to 20 cm, driver diameter was accordingly resticted. The solution... more drivers, splitting the power, thereby keeping the cone flex within reasonable limits. From there it became a simple matter of deciding how many drivers, driver arrangement and from that, eventual box size and shape. A browse through the JayCar catalogue brought to light the Response 5 inch driver. It seemed to fit the bill, though I was uneasy about the lack of sub 60htz response. I ordered 12 drivers at $382 total. At this stage, I was still considering a 'three' way arrangement, and also picked up a few midrange and tweeter units off ebay. But the more I looked into speaker arrays, the more convinced I became of the need to go to a 2 way arrangement. The ViFa D26NC15-06 tweeter caught my eye. The almost retangular shape of the tweeter front plate made it simple to arrange the drivers close together, keeping the speaker box height within reasonable limits. I ordered ten tweeters (though I would only use 4 per box, you get a better deal when you order 10 or more items from Jaycar), at a total cost of $319. The boxes are made of 18mm MDF. Dad helped cut each panel, My cousin Ian, a carpenter by trade, radiused the edges on the front and back panels, and glued and pinned the panels together using a nail gun. Each box has 2 baffles, located between the 2nd and 3rd, and 4th and 6th woofers. The baffles are angled and not parallel to each other. They offer bracing to the front and side panels and are also glued and nailed. Cutting twenty holes for the drivers was a chore, but not too difficult. A hole saw would have been ideal, a jigsaw done the job. I would have liked to recess the tweeters, (who wouldn't), flush with the front face of the cabinet. However, because of the unusual shape of the tweeters, and lacking a router, more importantly, lacking the necessary skills, I simply mounted the tweeters onto the front face. Extra work was needed, the D26's, due to their having a rectangular heatsink mounted on the magnet, needed a rectangular hole, jig sawed out of the front panel. Initial thoughts were for a wood veneer finish. I eventually settled upon the black, Hammered Metal Finish by Galmet. The cabinets where prepared. Seams filled and sanded. Undercoated with pressure pack, flat black paint and sanded again, and again, and etc. Finally left to dry and cure for 4 days. Now, on with the Galmet, a good stir, a new two inch paint brush and starting at the top and working down, smooth even strokes. Hammerite is very forgiving and brush strokes dissappear. Care is needed around the edges, not to apply to much paint, generally I was quite pleased and relieved that my choice in brushing turned out as well as it did. The Hammerite is dry within hours, but it takes several days to develop its final hardness - it's tough stuff. For internal damping material, I used heavy, dimpled sound absorbing foam, glued to the top, bottom, sides and rear of the cabinet. I used liquid nails for glue. The next step is to insert the drivers. I used a thin bead of black Butyl Rubber Caulking Compond to form a gasket between the driver and the cabinet. The driver/ wire connects were soldered. The wire lengths where measured, leaving a little excess to ensure easy access at the point were the wires are gathered together. I used 17AWG gauge speaker wire for the woofers and 20 AWG gauge for the tweeters. A four way, gold plated screw speaker terminal is located near the cabinet base, at the rear of the speakers. (Altronics P2019, $13.60 each). An L Pad ($20.95 each) is located between the bottom two woofers (in place of the fifth tweeter), as it was deemed neccesary to provide some kind of tweeter attenuation. Hooking up to the amps was done using 12AWG cable for the low stuff, and 17AWG for the high. The speaker screw holes were lined up and piloted. 8G self tapping screws where used for the woofers and 6G screws (black finish) where used to secure the tweeters. Children do not go with HiFi gear, their fingers are drawn to driver domes like nothing else, so grill covers are a must. A simple rectangular frame, of 20 mm quarter round wood, reinforced at the corners and with a single brace accross the middle has proved ample. The frame was painted flat black and covered with black speaker grill cloth, glued and stapled down. Speaker grill clips (Altronics C3755 @ $3.70 pack of 4) are used at the four corners of the frame. A base of Aqua tight chipboard, painted gloss black is bolted to the cabinet, a thin smear of Butyl Mastic allows for movement. Level adjustment is provided by bronzed nuts and bolts. The nut is counter sunk into the wood and glued with epoxy. The bolts provide 20mm travel, the head of the bolt is cushioned from the floor by a stick on felt pad. (We have vinyl floor coverings in the house, spikes are not an option). Nothing left to now, but plug them in!

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