Auratone DIY

[jordan s]

Here's mine. Made from the parts express speakers, mdf and painted with truck bed liner. They do the job.

 

[SIXTYNINER]

The Maplin driver is still on their website, but unavailable,  so you can see specs:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/25w-525in-shielded-bass-mid-range-speaker-l69aw

No more speaker = end of story ?  :'(

no replacement possible ?

 

[psb_87]

Hey guys, first time poster.  I actually made a couple of aura clones a few years back before discovering this thread.  I was lucky enough to get my hands on a couple of those Maplin drivers and here's how they turned out.  They sound how I hoped and it was a lot of fun building them, I'm actually planning on building another one, this time with a veneered cabinet.  Like everyone else I'm having a hard time to find drivers that suit (I'm in the UK) but I did find some on eBay which are 4.5" mid range, paper cones originally made for tannoy.  The only difference is that they are 4ohm instead of 8 and around 40w instead of 50w.  Do you think this will make a big difference to the sound? Thanks for your input!

 

[DaveP]

Very nice work!

I think your new speakers will be fine, this type of speaker is not for blasting out, it's for listening to mid-range detail.

Best
DaveP

 

[psb_87]

Thanks a lot Dave, good to see you're still following this thread after all these years.

I just order all the parts for my new build, I'm just going to build a single speaker this time as that's all I'll ever use it for.  I went with the dayton audio driver in the end as from what I can tell it's the closest match to the original in existence these days, apart from it being twice the wattage... but that's never accurate anyway. 

I'm going to be basing the rest of the build on the newer reissue auratones, 6.5"x6.5"x6" cabinets with veneered sides.  I almost went all out and got some matt black formica for the front and back but it's just a little expensive and tricky to use, so I got some matt black textured vinyl instead.  I'm interested to see how it will look.  As far as I can tell the originals used a vinyl walnut, not sure if the reissues are real wood veneer or vinyl, if anyone has some and would like to let me know that'd be great. 

I've ordered 15mm MDF as I couldn't get 16mm...not that 1mm will make much difference! It's also going to come precut so hopefully if they've cut it accurately it will just be a case of putting a jigsaw puzzle together.  I'm going to hopefully cut the holes out with a CNC machine as a good friend of mine has one.... if not then I'll use some large hole saws but I want to avoid this if I can as hole saws don't get on well with MDF.  I don't have a router so it's my only other option.  The last ones I made I cut with a jigsaw but I couldn't get a perfect circle which is what I'm aiming for on this build as the speakers and terminals will be sunken in to the front and back.

I'll update with some pictures when I start the build, though I suspect there's only a few following this thread these days!

 

[psb_87]

Thought I'd post an update to my latest Auraclone build for those (if any) that are still following this thread.  I just need to wire it up, add the insulation and screws.  This was my first time trying to veneer anything and I really enjoyed it though I now know what I need to do in order to get neater joints on the corners.  The best way to learn is to try!  Here's a pic:

 

[DaveP]

Excellent work!

The best way to learn is to try!

I couldn't agree more ;D

Well done

DaveP

 

[dukasound]

Here are my Dukatone.
Bose speaker maybe who was used in one serie  of Auratone.
This was gift and I know model of driver.
Box are made from MDF.
Sound nice

 

[Sorr]

Pvision,  can you post a picture of those waterfall plots?
Thanks

 

[btyreman]

Hi I am new to the forum, I've just been searching through the posts, some amazing builds,

I bought 4 of the maplin drivers a couple of years ago and am a very keen woodworker, so would ideally like to put my skills to good use and make a pair of them using solid woods.

I am amazed that they are all made out of chipboard or MDF,  what about using real woods instead and using joinery instead of pins or nails? I have a couple of design ideas. The first one would be every side piece is dovetailed to each other, the second is a frame with grooved panels, where each panel much like a door can freely expand and contract with the seasons

I understand that chipboard or MDF will dampen the resonances, but surely some softwoods like pine, cedar will do the same thing? would appreciate some opinions before going ahead with my build, I also mix a lot of music and know how important sound quality is.

regards, Ben.

 

[KrIVIUM2323]

Hi Ben,
Enclosure of a loudspeaker does indeed need to avoid resonnance so the use of mdf or agglomerate wood board. Mdf is widely used because it is easy to be machined and because it is relatively stable in time (it doesn t expand).
Using solidwoods have drawbacks about resonance and stability. Resonnance could be dealed with using appropriate strengthning scheme (to divide panels into multiple different area with different resonnant frequencys), stability in time is a different matter and can be disastrous long term.

Optimal damping can be done using constrained layer damping principle but in practice it is difficult to do.

Anyway for auratone i wouldnt bother either cld or solidwood... except for the eye nothing to be gained imho.

 

[btyreman]

thanks for your response, that makes a lot of sense, I suppose different wood species expand and contract at different rates, what I may have to do is veneer some MDF, which hopefully will still look like solid wood, I have some stunning figured timbers that would look amazing, but they are solid wood and very hard to find pieces, what I'll probably do is make one prototype out of pine wood and then another from MDF and compare the sound, then I will decide which way I want to go with it, hopefully I can update you all with photos and information as I go along, thanks, Ben.

 

[DaveP]

Just to echo what has been said already.

Electric guitars with long sustain are made with dense solid wood for that reason. Gibson SG for example.

Speakers need to dampen the response from the rear of the cone and not excite any resonances in the panels.

Wood work skills are an excellent gift, long may you practice them

DaveP

 

[KrIVIUM2323]

Hi,
Dave is right, nice solid wood for instruments when you want to highlight some frequency and or sustain.
In fact enclosure build for loudspeaker is the exact opposite!

Some veneer over an mdf box ( or other more complicated materials!)  is what most nice looking loudspeakers are.

Again Dave is right about woodworking skills! How lucky you are Ben, you ll make some nic3 speker for yourself. Start with simple one like auratone and when you have finished them take a look at Diyaudio.com in the multiway subforum... you ll be amazed by what it is possible to achieve...

Or take a look at Troels Gravesen site for inspiration or whole stunning projects.

 

[iampoor1]

These might be a decent option too.

https://www.parts-express.com/acoustic-research-1210050-5-5-1-4-poly-cone-woofer-with-rubber-surround--299-2052

.098 CubicFt is the ideal box size, so slightly different than the original drivers, but I would assume they perform well, being made by Acoustic Research.

 

[psb_87]

thanks for your response, that makes a lot of sense, I suppose different wood species expand and contract at different rates, what I may have to do is veneer some MDF, which hopefully will still look like solid wood, I have some stunning figured timbers that would look amazing, but they are solid wood and very hard to find pieces, what I'll probably do is make one prototype out of pine wood and then another from MDF and compare the sound, then I will decide which way I want to go with it, hopefully I can update you all with photos and information as I go along, thanks, Ben.

Hi, I went the MDF with veneer route and it turned out great IMO.  Have a look above where I attached a picture. 

 

[btyreman]

Hi, I went the MDF with veneer route and it turned out great IMO.  Have a look above where I attached a picture.

thanks, yes they do look good, nice job. I will be using MDF now as I'm convinced it's better in this case. I am thinking of making my own veneer as I've already done this on some boxes and furniture before, but it's usually thicker than the versions you can buy, so I'm quite excited about the project now!

 

[fp_lue]

Just read the whole thread, thanks Dave!

I was wondering if any Canadians found a canadian dealer that has a suitable speaker.

Thanks!

 

[btyreman]

Does anyone out of interest have the internal dimensions of the davetone and also the original auratones? from what I know the original external dimensions are 6 1/2" x 1/2" x 6 1/4"  but having the internal dimensions would be helpful so that you know the amount of air volume inside the box is exactly correct.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Does anyone out of interest have the internal dimensions of the davetone and also the original auratones? from what I know the original external dimensions are 6 1/2" x 1/2" x 6 1/4"  but having the internal dimensions would be helpful so that you know the amount of air volume inside the box is exactly correct.

Since you're not using the original speaker, you must not sweat too much about the internal volume. What governs the LF response is the actual combined compliance of the box AND speaker vs moving mass and damping factor.
I would suggest using the TS parameters of the original speaker, combined with the internal volume of the original box, to check the alignment; as Dave suggested, WinISD is a great help for that. Then you can plug in WinISD the TS prameters of a possible speaker, and tweak the volume of the box so that it matches the original alignment (or not).
This procedure would take care of the LF response only. The HF response is governed by other factors that are not standardized, such as cone break-up, cone profile, suspension radiation; that's where comparing the actual measured frequency response vs. the original is paramount.