MiniDSP 2x4

I got my drivers and MiniDSP 2x4 kit.
MiniDSP has a nice looking crossover management software.

While I work on my boxes, drivers have time to warm up.

First enclosure is almost done

One of the enclosures is almost done!

Someone can ask me why I placed drivers too far from each other. Well, the only good answer I have is "what if I want to add a midrange later?"
MiniDSP should help with signal delays.

Woodworking

Time to have some fun with MDF and tools!

MDF sheet didn't fit into my car so I had to cut it in store. Both Lowes and Home Depo have the same crappy saws and I was afraid they can't cut it precise enough. Well, I ws absolutely right.
Thanks my colleague Mike - he has a table saw and he helped me to trim all the pieces to be the same width.

After I had all the pieces cut and holes routed I could start to glue it all together. I decided not to use any screws because if I veneer it later screw heads can be visible even covered with putty.

Don't think I would make a sandwich like this next time. It is really hard to position parts right

Drivers fit pretty well:

I'm going to reassemble speakers many times so I put some effort and used t-nuts. I like the result.

By the way, Harbor Freight clamps did the job but I would not recommend them for any professional work. They are very cheaply made, but no one can beat the price.

Turntable got a new needle and a new belt. Now it works. Want to show to my kid how we used to listen music

It is going to be 2-way design with XT25 tweeters and HiVi M8a woofers, XT25 can be crossed pretty low with 4th order crossover.
MiniDSP 2x4 will do the job well I hope.

My wife and kid are going to have a long trip to visit all the grandparents so I'll finally can do a lot!

What a huge amount of information I have to digest!

Passive filter design scares me a lot. Especially the price for good quality components. I'll go with with active amplification, it will give me much more flexibility

There will be new speakers

Speakers

Not so far I bought some used Onkyo gear on a garage sale. LP, preamplifier, amplifier, FM tuner, cassette deck, surround amp, two tower speakers - all for 50 bucks. Great deal. But speakers were just burned down. Initially i just wanted to repair speakers, but it was just a beginning of a new adventure... Speakers design was quite questionable - 3.5 feet tall speakers made of 0.25” panels, not properly sealed. 1st-order crossovers made from crappy components. So I had a dilemma - buy new drivers and get renewed pair of shitty speakers or build my own new speakers out of nice solid ¾” MDF…
I chose the second way.

I had a little previous experience with building speakers, but it was not really serious.

Almost every step on this way seems to be a new experience for me and I expect myself making stupid mistakes. I have to buy all the tools and materials needed and having not too much free time the whole process is going to take a while. I better be patient (I hope my wife will be patient too)...

So I started to recall all the knowledge I through the years trying to find some good recipes. Wise people on the Internet keep saying “for your first speakers choose a proven 2-way design” and bla-bla-bla. But who listen to a wisdom nowadays? Let's see...

And what a surprise! I picked up another Pioneer speaker at a dumpster. It works!
It seems to be the same design but I don't care, I'll use it as a test load for my experiments.