Speaker progress 01

As mentioned recently, one of my projects is building a horn loaded speaker.
The design is a BillFitzMaurice DR250.
http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1099 (SPL charts)
I have one DR250 already, and once I finish this one my sound system will be much more complete.
Right now I'm running 2 Gemini 1204's (Cheap 12" mains) They put out sound, I won't say good sound, but adequate for most people's taste.
The DR250 sounds far better though, and if I didn't need to run in stereo I would use the one I have instead of the two others. It's also noticeably more efficient, which I care about more than most. For more on that, here's one of my favorite technical writers who can explain it much better:
http://sound.westhost.com/articles/pwr-vs-eff.htm
He has many other good articles too.

Anyway, I've been taking photos, and I've got a few here:
Sorry for the terrible photo quality, I left my good camera at work, 
and while I really like my cell phone, its camera is not a strong point.

Lots of tweeters! I'm not a big fan of pizeo tweeters. They usually sound awful, but I'm using them because 1, they actually sound pretty decent when arrayed and properly EQ'ed. And 2, the horizontal dispersion is worth it. I have at least a 160 degree field of coverage on my working DR250 with no noticeable high frequency loss. My other speakers beam like crazy, probably covering 40 degrees.
I'm not really that unhappy with my mains, considering what I paid for them, I knew what I was getting, and they've held up reasonably too.

Custom jig to cut the tweeters:

 Marking the speaker mount for a center point. Pretty symmetrical.

Speaker mount finished cutting. I had to make a router jig for this too, as you can see in the photo below.

All marked up and ready to cut!

Partly cut, just need to get the middle section.

Figured I'd go with the scroll saw, it's easy to drill a hole big enough for the blade, and I think it actually cuts straighter than our jigsaw.

One more piece finished! Hopefully there aren't any mistakes, I don't want to have to cut this piece again!

This post probably wasn't of as much interest to other readers, but I wanted to have it on here kind of like a journal entry that I can look back at.

Just Projects

I'm glad to have a break, but I have plenty to do over the break.
My breaks always seem to be doing something else instead of not doing... Not that that's necessarily bad.

A couple of my projects:
Build a shed, 3 wardrobes, a horn loaded speaker, and A guitar tube amp.
Besides working on the Redwall Project, cleaning up my lab, and work.

I actually have some photos, so here are two:

Can anybody familiar with a compound bow spot the problem?

Second unrelated photo just because. It's my blog, so I should probably put some more photos of myself on here every once in a while, and I happened to have that one on hand.

More posts soon. I'll probably do one on the speaker next.

My Backpack (contents)

So, after my first college semester, I thought maybe I should clean my backpack out, and while I'm at it, why not take a picture?

Just for fun, (I mean, now I actually have time to do this sort of thing...kind of..)
Here's a list

(Click for larger)

1. Graphing calculator (Ti Nspire non-CAS)
2. secret invention prototype demo in case
3. Ethernet cable
4. Velcro ties
5. Fishing line
6. VGA cable
7. 1/8" to RCA cable
8. Swimsuit
9. Goggles
10. Spare scantrons
11. Laptop
12. USB power plug
13. Broken combination lock (used on a project as a weight)
14.  Dual screwdriver
15. Outlet strip
16. Econ textbook
17. Headphones (Sennheiser HD280 Pro)
18. Cable tester
19. HD video camera
20. Non-graphing calculator
21. Whiteboard pen
22. Spare laptop battery
23. Automatic wire strippers
24. SPL meter
25. Scissiors
26. Slide rule (yes, I have used it in class on a test :)
27. Flashlight
28. Radio
29. Traffic cone (goes on flashlight for directing traffic)
30. spare AA batteries
31. Dynamic mic
32. Pencils
33. Compass case
34. Compass
35. Spare cell phone battery
36. Computer mouse
37. Alligator clips
38. Bible
39. Notebooks (you can't tell, but there are 4, and one has three sections)
40. Granola bars
41. An inch worth of old tests, notes, etc.
42. US Constitution, Declaration of Independance, and the Articles of Confederation
43. Antenna
44. SDR (Software Defined Radio)
45. USB power plug
46. USB current meter
47. 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive
48. Sharpie
49. Deodorant
50. Laptop charger
51. Another spare cell phone battery
52. Clear demo lock
53. Rugged, waterproof 64GB USB 3.0 USB drive
54. Pen I got at orientation that I use for all my notes
55. Earplugs
56. Charging cables and headphone splitter adapter
57. Calculus textbook

I usually also keep a rechargeable bluetooth speaker in my backpack, but on an average day this is about what I would have.
On the list, items 33 and 34 should probably be combined, as should 35 and 51.
And the little dot above the compass I forgot to label is a 1/4" to 1/8" stereo adapter

Overkill? Yeah, maybe, but it's nice if I need something, I usually just have it right there...4 layers down ;)
Oh, what does it weigh? Not sure exactly, but around 30lbs, so maybe half what a standard military pack would weigh. I must say though, when I take it off, I go a little quicker, especially up stairs ;)

Happy Holidays everyone!

Right now

This is about my life right now...

Except the balloons I'm (trying to) hang onto are college and CRU