New build: BassChat 110T

[chyc]

After months of deliberation my father and I decided to give the BC110T a crack. Ultimate aim is to give ourselves the experience to build a 12", but that's another story.

 

Instructions by @Phil Starrand @stevieare exemplary. Although the divergence from those instructions is minimal, we are doing things a little differently:

 

1. You can see the wood is not plywood, but OSB. That just so happens to be the wood we had available. Once the box is done most likely we will finish with a hard epoxy or yacht varnish so that it looks amateur, but still is resilient to knocks.
2. We haven't bought it yet, but we will swap out the Pulse10 driver for either the BN10-300X(8) or (Stevie's suggestion) the NTR10-2520E. Both of those woofers are more expensive than the Pulse10, but not by a huge amount. Their parameters are very similar to the Pulse10 where that's important, and they exceed in the others where that's preferable.

 

I cannot really add to the instructions laid out in the mega thread on the topic. They're perfect. I will say that I'm super excited to make some noise at the end of the build, as well as during it. The table saw cut the wood like butter, and the cut was extremely accurate and true. The circular saw was equally straight with a jig, but it was much harder, with clamps and the like. In the end we cut the big panel down to smaller manageable chunks using the circular saw, and the table saw made the mm perfect cuts.

 

The battens were from B&Q, and were cut using a mitre saw, pictured.

 

Progress will be slow but I hope to keep this thread updated with developments. 

 

 

The battens have been dry mounted to the panels. We will save the gluing for a later date.

[Phil Starr]

The 110T is a great choice for a first cab build. Not least because you'll end up with a great little cab at the end, they really sound good.

 

We've called this the 'easy build' technique for a reason. It's about as simple as it gets once you have the panels cut, no harder than building a flatpack bookshelf, if you make a mistake it's simple enough to seal any gaps with mastic and you are pretty much guaranteed a working cab. 

 

Good luck with the build, I hope it goes well and I look forward to your review of your cab at the end when you get to plug it in and play. Ask away if you get stuck.

[chyc]

Thanks Phil. I'm edging towards the NTR-2520E at this point purely because of the discount at lean-business. It looks like a beast of a woofer.

 

Downsides to that are that it has a larger diameter, so if I want to hard-swerve back to the comfort of the Pulse10 it's a new baffle time.

 

Will I have to adjust the port depth for this speaker? I seem to remember that the port was already fairly close to the back panel.

[Phil Starr]

You'd be better off asking @stevie about the other speakers. I just built the cab for that design and helped with the trialling, Stevie did all the design work. I'm in the middle of a run of gigs and auditions at the moment so I won't be able to look at this quickly atm.

[chyc]

NTR10-2520E ordered, along with the CDX1-1070. I really hope that I got the tweeter right as that part is somewhat buried in the main thread.

 

Also @stevie is very kindly making the inductors for this. Next up it's buying the caps and resistors, and wiring it all together.

 

For the benefit of future builders, here are the parts, and where to buy them:

 

• Woofer: Officially Celestion Pulse 10 but I swapped it for the Celestion NTR-2520E
• Tweeter: Celestion CDX1-1070
• Throat horn: I think it's a choice of 1 according to the spec. Here it is
• Port: Tuffcab 100mm. Needs to be extended by 2 inches with cardboard
• Resistor: 4.7ohm 20W
• Capacitor: 2.2uF 250V
• Inductor: 0.11mF. Custom made by @stevie so contact him with the specification. Available on eBay
• Speakon dish. You may find something better than this, but you probably won't.
• Speakon connector: Neutrik is the best.
• Wadding: A neighbour had wool-cool going spare. This comes with meat online orders I think

 

Little things that seem so obvious but you don't have when you need them:

• Wire to join up the various components. Mains cable is fine, but this is cheap and high quality too
• Cable ties for fixing the crossover components to a board
• Glue gun to stop the crossover components vibrating
• Screws! Nothing I bought came with any screws. Buy what you need from B&Q, and buy loads.
• Spade connectors. You will need two sizes, one for the speakon, one for the tweeter.
• Chocolate block to connect up wires, particularly to connect up the crossover. Buy one block and cut it into pairs using scissors.

 

The following are nice-to-haves, and I bought them:

• Rubber feet: Buy whatever size you like, but I went chunky. A pack of 16 allows you to fit them vertically and horizontally
• Corner protectors: Again buy to taste. I went industrial
• Grille: Getting a full front grille was just too hard to source. I only care about protecting the woofer, so bought the grille and the kit to mount it
• Top hat: Only if you want to mount on a pole. Metal is heavy. Wish I'd thought of that before I bought it.

 

I will add to this list as I see it.

Edited October 28, 2022 by chyc
Updating things to buy

[chyc]

Question: Is Wool Cool a good material for wadding? Is it good enough?

 

I mean this stuff, found in insulated boxes from places like Riverford. One of my neighbours is getting rid of some.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Dare]

11 hours ago, chyc said:

Question: Is Wool Cool a good material for wadding? Is it good enough?

 

It'll be just as effective as any of the synthetics. Give it a go. If it's compressed, could be worth teasing it out a little.

[stevie]

I agree with Dan. It looks like wool felt, which is very good for wadding cabs.

[Chienmortbb]

I love a good build.

[chyc]

As far as I can tell. I have all the parts for the build now. Many thanks go to @stevie for the inductor, which as far as I can tell is unavailable anywhere else online. Here's my crossover:

 

I look at the original schematic, and I'm reminded of the barbecue building scene from the Simpsons.

 

In any case, with only three components even I struggled to fail at building it. Here is the tweeter, XO and woofer all in one circuit, hooked up to my trusty GSS Bullet amplifier:

 

 

I've been listening to music all day with these two speakers in free-space, and I've got a serious problem: I fear that this build may give me a cabinet far better than anything I need, and the 12PR320 I have sitting next to me is redundant. The sound is pleasant to say the least. Highs are prominent but not harsh and the lows are firm without rattling the teeth. This setup will almost certainly make a fabulous PA top.

 

Just for curiosity, I swapped the 2520E for the 12PR320 in the circuit above and the much preferred the sound of the former, but then that would be obvious as the XO is designed for it (of sorts). I then disconnected the tweeter and listened some more, and I still prefer the 2520E, but again that's plausible as the box can make quite a difference to the sound.

 

This has been amazing fun so far. Can't wait to finish the job. The only hiccough was that I went round Sainsbury's trying to find a whisky bottle with a cylindrical sleeve to use as a port extender. Alas I could find none with the requisite diameter. Having a celebrationary whisky which contributed to the build would have been perfect

 

Right, onto the box.

 

[chyc]

This is better

Edited October 4, 2022 by chyc

[Chienmortbb]

Getting there. I am almost as excited by this as my own builds.

[stevie]

Great work! The PR320 needs a much bigger box than the Celestion 10. So it's not going to sound right in that size of cab. Plus, as you say, the Faital Pro needs a completely different crossover. I'm seriously annoyed that Celestion have discontinued that driver; it's one of the best they've made.

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by stevie

[chyc]

OK, progress update, I found a drink that can be used as a port extender!

 

 

Bunnahabhain is available in Tesco's, but I won't add it to the list of component above as your tastes may vary.

 

I cannot remember the thread I read this from, but someone mentioned that for decent circular cuts you put a screw in the centre of the circle and cut using a stationary jigsaw while rotating the panel of wood.  Below is a picture of my attempt, using a pallet I found on the side of the road as something to screw into. You can see the result, a circular disc with the screw in its centre and a baffle with a hole in it. Also at the far left of the baffle you can see the notch caused by the hole I drilled, to get the jigsaw into place. I now know (experience is everything) that you drill inbound of the required diameter and slowly spiral out to the required distance. That way you don't get the notch.

 

 

As you can see, I went off piste with the woofer. To say I'd be pretty piste off if this were decent wood would be an understatement but this I'm here to learn from this and learn I did, and on cheap wood!

 

Let this be a lesson to future woodworkers, if you are cutting a circle you need the full circle drawn on the wood. Putting dots every 90 degrees does not work even if you think you're not moving the jigsaw. My mistake above is evidence of this. The forces required to hold a vibrating jigsaw are too great and you will not be able to keep it still while you rotate the sheet of wood.

 

Anyway, the other two holes came out beautifully. The port doesn't have the drill notches by virtue of the spiralling technique I mentioned above:

 

 

The plans give exact millimetre measurements, but they are darn forgiving. I wouldn't say I made bad measurements, but this is the first time I've done anything like this so I'm grateful that any deviations (other than the colossal one for the woofer) won't be noticeable in the final product. Here's the baffle with all the components in:

 

 

I'm so keen to finish, but unfortunately I've had a few too many shots of Bunnahabhain (hiding behind the baffle in shot above) and so power tools are out of the question, at least for now.

 

While I'm waiting to sober up, what should I do to fill the accidental hole I made? Can I leave it? It's larger than the mounting of the woofer unfortunately.

[tauzero]

I think you'd be best off filling that crevice in to avoid hissing or other intrusive noises - I'm no expert but I think you'd want something that will stick firmly and fill gaps, like wood filler or epoxy resin. From what I recall of wood glues, some are happy to fill gaps and others are rather poor at the job.

[Chienmortbb]

9 hours ago, tauzero said:

I think you'd be best off filling that crevice in to avoid hissing or other intrusive noises - I'm no expert but I think you'd want something that will stick firmly and fill gaps, like wood filler or epoxy resin. From what I recall of wood glues, some are happy to fill gaps and others are rather poor at the job.

PVA wood glues, including Evostik and Titebond don't fill gaps without some sort of filler, like sawdust. Some wood fillers are only designed for surface imperfections, the best, but hardest to work afterward are the two part fillers like Everbuild High performance Wood Filler.

[Phil Starr]

It needs to be an airtight seal so yes you need some filler for any gaps. The speaker should have a gasket that will seal against the wood. I can see that the outside does have a gasket but not all speakers have one on the inside. That doesn't matter because you can just use some draught proofing strip between the wood and the speaker frame. This will then fill any irregularities when you screw the speaker down. 

 

So when you fill you just need to make sure there is enough filler to support the gasket so it can be squished between speaker and baffle. It doesn't matter if there is a provided gasket or you need to make one

 

Just congratulate yourself  for helping others not to make the same mistake  We've all been there!

 

[Chienmortbb]

29 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

 We've all been there!

Many times.

[chyc]

Boom

 

There are gaps the size of the mariana trench, but hopefully everything is sealed up nicely. I didn't put wadding in, because I want to save it for a later build that isn't made of OSB.

 

Saying that, I guess the question people want answering is "how does it sound?" Pretty good is the answer. No deep throbbing lows, but I'm not too fussed as I'm predominantly a double bass player, and this cabinet is perfectly tuned for that. There is wonderful string detail coming from the tweeter that usually comes across as horribly harsh in other cabs. The woofer isn't broken in either so I expect it to mellow out as it ages.

 

One step that I found difficult was the fitting of the front baffle. The brace across its front is one snug fit. Impotant I know but the tolerances are such that it was a real pain to get that in.

 

I wish to thank everyone on this thread for their advice and support . This has been a wonderful experience both online and in the workshop (aka garage) and the tips I learnt here are invaluable. Similarly I hope this thread serves as a useful supplement to the main thread on this cabinet. I will be building more and hopefully will put more pictures up online as I go.

 

Speaking of that, I'm currently waiting on a delivery of a CDX1-1425......

 

[Chienmortbb]

1 hour ago, chyc said:

Boom

 

There are gaps the size of the mariana trench, but hopefully everything is sealed up nicely. I didn't put wadding in, because I want to save it for a later build that isn't made of OSB.

 

Saying that, I guess the question people want answering is "how does it sound?" Pretty good is the answer. No deep throbbing lows, but I'm not too fussed as I'm predominantly a double bass player, and this cabinet is perfectly tuned for that. There is wonderful string detail coming from the tweeter that usually comes across as horribly harsh in other cabs. The woofer isn't broken in either so I expect it to mellow out as it ages.

 

One step that I found difficult was the fitting of the front baffle. The brace across its front is one snug fit. Impotant I know but the tolerances are such that it was a real pain to get that in.

 

I wish to thank everyone on this thread for their advice and support . This has been a wonderful experience both online and in the workshop (aka garage) and the tips I learnt here are invaluable. Similarly I hope this thread serves as a useful supplement to the main thread on this cabinet. I will be building more and hopefully will put more pictures up online as I go.

 

Speaking of that, I'm currently waiting on a delivery of a CDX1-1425......

 

Well done,

[GlamBass74]

good stuff - you've got the bug!

[chyc]

4 hours ago, GlamBass74 said:

good stuff - you've got the bug!

You're too right. I'm looking at a table with four speakers in boxes. I have three sheets of plywood of various quality outside in the garage, some cut already and my chippy cabinet is still warm from the jigsaw cutting still.

 

I have some questions still:

 

1. I affixed the port using duct tape. I *think* it's a good seal, and I did it because I want to remake the cabinet using decent wood. When I do, what should I use as a better solution? Is duct tape good enough?
2. I wish to reuse the battens. There will be holes in them from the old screws. Is that OK?

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by chyc

[GlamBass74]

Silicon sealant is your friend.

 

I'm sure the holes won't be an issue.

 

Someone with more knowledge will be along soon 😁

 

 

[tauzero]

On 26/10/2022 at 18:00, chyc said:

You're too right. I'm looking at a table with four speakers in boxes. I have three sheets of plywood of various quality outside in the garage, some cut already and my chippy cabinet is still warm from the jigsaw cutting still.

 

I have some questions still:

 

1. I affixed the port using duct tape. I *think* it's a good seal, and I did it because I want to remake the cabinet using decent wood. When I do, what should I use as a better solution? Is duct tape good enough?
2. I wish to reuse the battens. There will be holes in them from the old screws. Is that OK?

 

 

Surely you'll be getting another bottle of port extender, so you can experiment with securing the current one to the current cab.

[stevie]

On 26/10/2022 at 18:44, GlamBass74 said:

Silicon sealant is your friend.

 

I'm sure the holes won't be an issue.

 

Agreed. Try to get as tight a fit as possible and seal with silicon. It's an excellent glue. As @GlamBass74 says, don't worry about the holes in the battens.