Mach One like.

[Donnie27]

Well first of all, happy 2012 and hope everyone is OK!?

The latest speaker Project is a set of speakers that started out as Realistic/Radio Shake Mach One parts. The parts included the Tweeter Horn X 2, the Mid Range Horns x 2 and 2 Crossovers. Planning to port them so I passed on Getting the same woofers. Took me about 3 months but I got the parts and tested them on the table top. I chose some cheap 15" woofers a couple of others had sworn by, they stunk, more on that later. Instead of the Radio Shack version, I used the rheostats from my old Pioneers.



I could swear that everything worked. Woofers seemed weak, ok, no biggie only paid 50 buck for them.

So I started cutting the wood.



The Mid-Range horn was the only thing difficult to mount. The Teeter horn's Lens and Driver separated so it was easy as well.

The boards were pre-cut on a friend's much-better-than-mine Table Saw. No math was done on the enclosure but two of US just guessed and I took advice on what Port to use. PE had the Port tube on sale just, my luck. We just thought what the Mach One would be liked if they were ported instead.



I like this Krieg Tool thing for Pocket cuts.

[IMG]http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr245/Donnie27_photos/Speaker%20Building%20and%20repair/Mach%20One%20Like
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The horn and port tube on one of the speakers. The Top part is 45 degrees and the bottom sides are straight down. The back is screwed on since I access to the MR Horn if needed.

[Donnie27]

So now I get the horn and Reo mounted, that a Driver with the Lens mounted, then its screwed back on. Once the fronts were finished except for the woofers, the sides were added. Mistake here. I had to uninstall all be the Mid Range since the speakers blocked the Pocket Holes. This went quickly since I remembered this on the second enclosure.





Mach One 40-4024A Crossover mounted on the back panel. One both were assembled I took them inside to test em'.



Now I get to see just how much the woofers sucked. But I notice a lack of highs on the one pictured. I had to replace a connector on the Mid-range and got it to work and the Crossover sent it a signal but nothing still to the Tweeter. Test the connection with a DMM and both the Tweeter out put from the Crosser the tweeter is Dead. Back to the Drawing board.

So now I have to get two tweeters with a similar range but I already had a set of Cerwin Vegas. I used a 400W Cerwin Crossover from my old towers that weren't being used. For the woofer replacement I use the 15" MTX Road Thunders that was installed in my Extra Bass Cab.




Back panel on and Woofer mounting.







Pocket holes can be seen at the bottom inside of the Cabinet. They work great for me



Stop right here, I was an idiot for not just putting a clear coat or two on the unstained wood here. Then I screwed up the staining of the cabinet compared to the unstained look. I know what I'll do next time LOL! So at first the Pioneer 819 even switched to stereo and disabled bass redirection made them sound similar to the Klipsch Horns and killed the Heresy but with a little better bass. I knew the MTX's needed more juice so I was impressed. A vs B showed vs moth my other sets that they turned out good. The last test of the old school JVC receiver lite up the Room. It didn't matter if they were in the corners or in the middle of the room they rocked. Hell I put them down on the carpet and the still rocked. One friend thought my Sub was on.



The other is take I made is that I used unstable wood filler and then lost some of the pictures of Bracing and etc....... The Flared Port works better than the Vented port on the other speakers. The vented speakers loves corners and sounds better than these when placed there. Each set of speakers has their own sweet signature and does something slightly better than the others.



The wood on top is the framing for the grill cover. Brown grill cloth will be used and I finished the Frame just last night.



The front showing the Cerwin Vega tweeter. It sounds better than the Mach One's Horns that are the Ferrite cooled versions. The Mach Ones Crossover 40-4024A produce slightly better sound stage but both are good. The Cerwin Tweeters project better so they kind of balance out.

I really wish I had some testing equipment.

[Donnie27]

Still need to touch up the Black around the edges on the front. They sound very good and I'm very happy with the end result and already got friends trying to talk me out of them. These are 2 inches taller, almost 2 inches wider and over 3 inches deeper than the Mach Ones I have. I will still change out the Tweeter for a Realistic horn when I can find one. As is, they rock.

[Donnie27]

I finally got a replacement Crossover and replaced the Cerwin Vega models I had instealled. I hear a small be nice improvement. Since I got a 3D TV I'm also looking at a Pioneer 1021K one of a few OpenBox models. Is 3D worth it? Probaly not but I like the 1021 better than the 819. The 819K will go to the living room with my Toshiba TV.

[Donnie27]

I ended up getting a Pioneer 921K and the Optimus Mach One Crossover did exactly what I thought it would do. In fact, those speakers are now in my computer room where they absolutely rock. I have to keep the volume on my old Harmon Karon 730 and X-Fi sound card wayyy down as these speakers can play almost Night Club loud without distortion.

They aren't perfect but the have better bass and are better sounding than the Original Sealed Mach Ones. That crossover was made for sealed and or ported. The main problem I have is that I will have to removed all of the speakers, use a Gasket between the Horn and the front panel, brace them and reassemble luckily I can do this without going outside.

Guys that Port is also very good for use with a Sub.

http://www.parts-express.com/product...=269-165_L.jpg

They also come in different sizes to accommodate different size and style enclosures. I can't hear any port noise but I wouldn't used this as a side or back port. I haven't tested or heard someone else using it as a down firing port.

[Donnie27]

I don't post here much more but hey! These Mach One speakers are much better than the original. I'm post be last week I modded the other speakers downstairs and used the Planar Tweeter in these since they have similar db rating (Volume and not frequency). The Dayton Planar adds a very nice kick!

[Soulburner]

Nice work

[Donnie27]

A long time ago and they are still rocking!

[Donnie27]

My speakers can now be found on Google search LOL!