Zilch's AK Design Collaborative - Econowave Speaker

i am going to start by reconnecting the woofers as Zilch suggests, and see if somehow the woofer was interfering with the tweeter as it crosses over into the upper midrange...and i know from having double triple quadruple checked that the l-pads are connected correctly...
Try the test Don suggests, as well -- there should be no sound out of the waveguide when the L-pad is set to "Min."
 
It's a little simplistic, but if your cab can fit the waveguide and you stick w/ a woofer of the same size as the original, you won't be too far off. It gets more complicated if you're building a cab from scratch or sticking a very different driver in the cab.

The real beauty of Ewave is that it completely meets its original design criteria. It's effectively a 2 way module. The compression driver/waveguide, crossover appropriate to woofer impedance and sensitivity, and any woofer, and you're good to go. The one woofer criteria you need to watch is that the woofer will play beyond the 1600 Hz crossover (i.e. no/few subwoofer drivers). Other than that you're virtually guaranteed good to great sound.
Thanks for the detail, fastbike. Does sound like a really efficient & conservative mod with maximum results. And I guess the driver utilization doesn't necessarily mandate the OEM position, based on what oldskl just did? The original large driver is now in place of the 2nd driver.

Incidentally oldskl, I'm very taken by your build there--beautiful! :thmbsp: I like how you integrated the tweeter into the cabinet, partially extended out. How'd you seal it in place? Did you use some rubber/foam gaskets, or a sealant glue? :)
 
Live performance levels of rock music WILL damage hearing and excite tinnitus.... :yes:
I unfortunately must agree with this, by direct experience. I have a permanent background ringing in my ears (mostly w/the left ear, which has some high frequency damage), thanks to J. Geils Band. The #$%&*()@! sound engineer for the concert had the speakers cranked up too high. I remember holding my ears for a good portion of the concert, then eventually gave in to enduring the noise without my fingers in my ears, plugging them only on the painfully loud parts. I should have just gone to the bathroom, created ear plugs from wads of wet toilet paper, and used those despite the silly appearance. Later, after the concert, it took about 3 days before that "cotton in the ear" feeling subsided. But the background ringing never went completely away. And now with age, the tinnitus has increased a little... I'm just hoping that they'll have an effective procedure to cure tinnitus before it gets too bad. :(

Anyway, probably too much information than anyone needed/cared to know, but ya touched a nerve, Zilch. ;)
 
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EconoWave has full-spectrum flat response, and I have to be cautious about SPL levels. If I crank them up, it is only for brief periods. The risk in these and other speakers having similar output capability lies in the fact that they will play distortion-free at very high levels, and it's easy to exceed safe limits with no distortion cues to provide warning. The trusty RadioShack SPL meter sits within easy reach at my normal listening position, rarely reading higher than 85dB, the NIOSH and OSHA limit for 8-hour exposure.

Live performance levels of rock music WILL damage hearing and excite tinnitus.... :yes:

I agree, clean and loud is potentially dangerous. Listen at moderate levels. (Get a dB meter.) Wear earplugs in loud bars or when engaging in loud activities. Bring them to movies, as theaters are often too loud. Try Zinc supplements. Avoid headphones. My 2 cents.
 
One subtlety of the EWave is that you want to position the woofer as close to the wavw guide as you can. Usually means a new baffle. Won't ruin the sound if you don't or can't but you won't get as much out of the project. You can see mine in post #8139. I've been very happy, but have decided to port them since I'm pulling the baffles to finally finish them. They're also a bit overstuffed.

The Ewaves are a great project and I expect to build at least two more sets.

Thanks for the detail, fastbike. And I guess the driver utilization doesn't necessarily mandate the OEM position
 
hmmm...opened 'em up and reversed the poles, but before i did, i ran a signal just to see what i could hear, and with the woofs disconnected, i heard...nothing. no signal going to the tweets, which is of course why the lpads 'didn't do anything'...but looking at the x-over, i can't see what i did wrong...

oh, yeah, just realized that with no woofer hooked up, no signal goes through the x-over....see, i never took shop class. i need help
 
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hmmm...opened 'em up and reversed the poles, but before i did, i ran a signal just to see what i could hear, and with the woofs disconnected, i heard...nothing. no signal going to the tweets, which is of course why the lpads 'didn't do anything'...but looking at the x-over, i can't see what i did wrong...

oh, yeah, just realized that with no woofer hooked up, no signal goes through the x-over....see, i never took shop class. i need help

Nope. Assuming you did not wire it up for bi-amplification, the HF/LF signals are split on the crossover board. You can disconnect either one and the other will play. It sounds like you did wire it up to be bi-amped, or the l-pad is bad, or the horn driver is bad. I doubt it is the hardware since you would have to have two bad drivers or two bad L-pads. I'm guessing you left the bi-amp option enabled which could explain a properly wired L-pad but no HF sound.

Pull out the instructions on the crossover. Did you install the jumpers that connect the HF & LF sections in the crossover? I don't have the instructions in front of me, but they are marked 1a & 1b, 2a &2b, 3a & 3 b something like that. The jumpers are just short sections of wire.

Hope this helps!

Don
 
jumpers installed- check; not wired for bi-amp, check-- i think...what would be different? i'll have to look when i get home...hmmm stumped at the moment

but thanx, donprice. your help is invaluable
 
THANK-ya!! Zilch...what about the ring-y ding-y's?

Imade the same "black input makes positive forward movement" way back on E wave pair number 4! As to the HF, I didnt have much trouble with the seleniums. The B&C DE 250 in the begining was like a spike going through my head, but after playing for some while, it abated. I just turned the volume down on the HF. Slowly as I played them, they improved. seems like the 220 ti were smooth from the get go. Which crossover are you using?

I also found charge coupling the crossover smoothed things out quite a bit. There is a link to the crossover on page one.

russellc
 
ok, i need help guys. went over my x-overs again, touched up iffy looking solders, checked that all jumpers were in place, made sure l-pad connects matched at each end, and yet with woof's disconnected i still get no signal to the tweeter...
 
OK, question-- i looked at instructions yet again, and i notice this at the bottom of pg 4, section 3) Biamping:
Jumpers J1 and J2 connect the Ewave crossovers lowpass and highpass filters
together for normal operation....

when assembling my crossovers, i jumpered J1a to J1b, J2a to J2b, and so on. is this my mistake? and also, above where instructions mention 'J1' and 'J2', are these the same 'J1a' and 'J2a' or....?

if i'm in error connecting the jumpers as described above, then should i remove them all and simply connect J1 to J2?

thinkin' i'm getting it narrowed down, right?
 
Jumper J1 connects J1a to J1b, J2 connects J2a to J2b, same with J3.

If you don't have J3 in place connecting J3a to J3b the tweeters will not play.

With either of the others missing, tweeter will play but not the woofer.

I'm talking standard EconoWave here, not Deluxe....
 
thanx, zilch-- i am using V1.1 instructions. i originally jumpered j1a to j1b, j2a to j2b, j3a to j3b, and got no sound from the tweeters.

in my instructions, pg 4, i read Biamping: (it says) Jumpers J1 and J2 connect the Ewave crossovers lowpass and highpass filters for normal operation with a single amp, J1 being the (+) and J2 the (-) or common. without the jumpers installed the two filters can be accessed individually....

on page 5 there is a photo showing not J1a connecting J1b, but rather a black jumper going from brass binding post on the negative In side to jumper hole J2a, and red jumper going from positive In side to J1b.

i installed similar jumpers on my crossover, and now have signal from the tweeter, with the l-pad now able to go from full off to full on....

not arguing, but this seems to contradict what you just said, which leaves me kinda confused....but it now has my tweeters giving sound....
 
also, i am not biamping. but man i'm confused. i now have my crossover config'd exactly as it is on page 5, and only now do i have the tweeter in the game,...
 
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The photo on Page 5 shows the crossovers set up for biamping, but with the low frequency connections (the red and black wires) bridged to the inputs for later separation and use to biamp the high and low sections individually. Normally, not set up for biamping, jumpers J1 and J2 make the same connection as shown in the pic, without the wires. Look on the bottom of the board, and you'll see that to be the case; either connection scheme will work fine for normal operation.

No matter, you seem to have them working correctly, now. Still sound bad to you? Flattest frequency response should occur with the L-Pad set near its midpoint.... :yes:
 
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bass sounds much much better now that its in phase...listening to Wooden Shjips on vinyl....still getting that upper midrange ringy dingy...but i get that on almost everything where that part of the dynamic range appears...
 
This is my progress report from February: My Barzilay cabs are 108 liters roughly. Still working on the internal bracing. Drivers are JBL LE14H-3's and 2452H-SL's. It took me since February to collect these little audio jewels.

So, now I need the JBL waveguides and cross-over parts. My first thought is to use the "Zilch's modified M19 crossovers", as Simi did in his Barziwave build. According to Zilch, this rendition of the M19 has the most research done verses say, the JBL 4430 cross-over as in Duffs Barziwaves. If any one else has thoughts on crossover design before I pay for parts, lets hear it.


I have the itch to try another ewave project, and this one will be a more costly endeavor than my first attempt, ewaver #41.

My plans are to use Barzilay cabs 4.5 cf and JBL woofers I was considering the 2235H as in the 4430's. I would like to use LE14H's, but they are hard to find and costly.

Then, the BMS 4555 and JBL W/G. Is there a crossover design already for this combo, and how hard would it be to add the L-pads for Mid and High attenuation, like the 4430's?

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
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Finished up a pair of mine (center channel still to go) but wanted to share the quick project snapshot with everyone. This was my first build and it was a blast.

The initial listening impressions are very favorable and the detail in these for movies (about 10 minutes of listening so far) is insane!

Thanks to Zilch for helping me out and everyone else who has completed a project to provide me the necessary motivation!

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