Monitor Cube Kit Design Pt. 1 March 12, 2014 12:48 54 Comments

What happened with this? It seems to have gone quiet ?

I think selling the kits without drivers, flat packed, un-finished would be best for shipping costs and overall affordability. As for the name, i actually really like “AuraClone”

I would love to buy a pair asap. shipped flat, oldschool veneer. AURUMTONE™

1. Drivers should be optional, as well as the choice of driver (3 sounds like a good number? In theme with the Colour 500 series)
2. Kit should be shipped flat (assembly required) or fully assembled with drivers.
3. Not too sure about this one, I personally think a veneered wood colour would be a good lookin’ monitor.
4. GoodToneWyn Monitor Cubes. But this works only if they are your signature series.

I think you should have different options for ordering- with speaker, without speaker. Also, you could provide a couple of of different speaker options based on their characteristics and price.

Otherwise, I would vote to have them shipped flat and unfinished.

I feel as though selling the kits incomplete, requiring DIYers to have access to wood cutting materials and experience with said tools is probably not the best way to go. It will cost more to include the drivers and to have all the speaker holes pre cut but it would also be more appealing to those who want the auratone kind of sound without access to the tools or wherewithal that would be required should you not include the driver or precut mounting hole.

1- With and without driver options.
2-Flat
3-Raw
4-AuraClone has my vote

Hi guys,
thats VERY good news! Since I have my drivers lying around for quite some months, I would be very happy If the kit without the drivers would be ready for shipping in the near future. I think its a good idea to let people choose their own drivers and keep the shipping cost and expense down for your part.

Best,
Adrian.

Common, where is that DIY anymore? If you cannot take a jigsaw and do at least some work by your own, go buy the new real Auratones…

sorry, I replied to the wrong post I think… :3

I agree with Adam. Shipping flat packed and unfinished without drivers would really keep things simple on your end and give us plenty of customization options. I kinda like “Tone Cube.” Although, “AuraClone” is probably the catchiest.

Yes include drivers.
I can’t stand some DIY kits that are like, “well we got everything except a chassis and a power supply.”
Don’t make me source stuff, that’s annoying

1) Is there a way to include a hole large enough for the smallest driver, but which would not create a problem for the other drivers? Perhap with markings for drill holes for that particular driver. This would give builders who don’t have a decent saw the opportunity to build the kit with that one driver, while other builders could expand the hole to fit the driver of their choice?
2) Flat pack. Come on, if you can’t glue stuff, how can you call yourself a DIYer?
3) I quite like the idea of painting my own. So my vote is unfinished.
4) Horrorclone?

1). I think you can offer two options – A: driver included kit with the hole cut. B: a no driver kit with no hole.

2). Flat packed. Reduces shipping. Assembly should be DIY.

3). Raw wood. Painting/finishing should be part of the process. Leaving it raw would also be an option for the user.

4). I kinda like AuraClone

I don’t see much point in a kit that doesn’t at least give the option of including a driver. At that point it’s just a few rectangles of wood prepped for a rabbit joint and a screw terminal. I don’t think that’s worth ordering. At that point just cut and rout the wood on your own. Chances are if you have the equipment to cut the hole for the driver you don’t need someone to rabbit the joints either.

BTW. I’ve already built a pair and use th on my TV. I have the Behritone c50. I’m mostly just interested in the driver types you are contemplating.

Looking forward to this!

Hmm…

Regarding clamping etc – stupid question from the carpenterally challenged here: is clamping necessary if you use glue AND screws? If not – I would say ship it flat.

Offer an option of either no speaker, or a speaker of your “choice”. That way you get economy of scale – cheaper speaker by buying larger number at a time. Also, would I suggest you just offer the option of “no speaker or the single one we chose to supply”, again to get the best possible deal (if it makes a worthwhile difference in cost).
The option of “no speaker, with a guide hole in front panel” can then satisfy the people with the tools available and the need for a specific (other) speaker.

I would say unfinished, again to keep cost down and also giving people the opportunity to choose their own finish.

Name: I’ll let you guys figure it out… :-)

Tonecube? MidBox?

Id love to see everything unfinished and an option for a driver.
Hell, even just a big template for size/dimensions/blueprint of the wood would suffice for those of us with access to wood working tools.
I’d go so far as to look into getting a small low wattage power amp kit to self power this thing.

Shipping cost really isn’t a problem since it goes by weight mostly.
And if you tell me I’m not a DIYer because I don’t glue my own box then I’ll call you out when you don’t use your homemade smelter to melt your own copper wire

1. A marking for different options would be really nice! Adding different drivers as an option makes it an easy job, and saves on shipping costs. For me as a European that makes a lot of difference.
2. Flat pack indeed.
3. Unfinished, painting is so satisfying.
4. Don’t really care, actually!

Since a driver has to be matched to a cabinet, you should include the drivers for which the cabinet was designed as part of the kit. Otherwise you wil get someone using an incorrect driver and complaining about how bad they sound.
As a kit, the box should be unassembled and, along with the driver and other components, require assembly to complete it.
The enclosure pieces should be at finished quality, either sprayed or veneered. Not only does this give them a signature look, it also means that those who have completed building them can start using them straight away, rather than having to go through the extra process of spraying/veneering/staining etc.
Any name with ‘Aura’ in it will be cringe-worthy. Maybe call then the T1 Cube? (ie T-One Cube)

I would sell the kits with the drivers. Avoid the builder sourcing parts.
Offer the wood in two kinds of finished coat.
For the name i really liked TONE CUBE. Cant wait to get a kit!

1.Definetly with a driver… And recommend an amp too
2. Flat
3. Raw
4. I like AuraClone. But if the idea is not to make a clone, then don’t call it a clone. ToneCube looks nicest.

Please sell it as a single mono kit

1. Both, just in case other people want to use different drivers.
2. Flat (DIY), but with premade holes for the speakers.
3. Raw, so we can customize it.
4. I like tone cube

Hi Peterson,

I know it’s still very early, but do you have any idea what a project like this may cost? It would be nice to select which driver the AuroClones come with based on personal preference.

Thanks!

Matt

supply drivers, I’m tired of ordering parts.
flat pack
raw , the less it cost the better
name: MixCube

What drivers were using on that video?
thanks

Those were Visaton FR12 2061 and an unknown part number from All Electronics.

Thanks for your feedback! We will probably stay away from “Mix Cube” to respect Avantone’s branding.

Hi Matt, I know this is a very vague number, but the total cost to build a set of two speakers should be well under $100.

Great, thanks for the feedback!

Recommended amp(s) is a great idea, thanks for that one. And, agreed, it’s no a clone so calling it a clone will just create confusion. Mono kits will of course be an option.

Great feedback, thank you!

Thanks for your thoughts, Geoff.

T-One Cube—I like it!

Re: finishing. I am hesitant to offer the kit pieces pre-finished simply because it is rather difficult assemble the box without creating some sort of aesthetic imperfection: excess glue, clamp marks, etc. If the panels are shipped raw, these imperfections can be easily sanded away before finishing.

Re: driver choices. As you know, we’ve gone about this the opposite way from how speakers are typically designed. That is, we took DaveP’s approach of replicating the 5C’s internal dimension and then looking for drivers that “work.” Now, there are very different criteria for “working” in this context than in designing a proper reference or hi-fi speaker. And it’s our experience that various, even very different drivers, can meet these rough criteria. So I’m tempted to at least provide an option for builders to source their own drivers, but perhaps with some informational caveat in the documentation that any particular driver may not perform “ideally” in this particular cube.

Interesting, someone who wants to paint! Thanks for the feedback, Denis.

True, flat vs. assembled will not change the shipping cost significantly. Everyone has different capabilities and tools at home. Partial kit, full kit, no kit—it’s still rock’n’roll to me.

Thanks for the ideas, Anthony. We will certainly extend our commitment to open-sourcing our design files to this project. If you have the tools and what to cut and rabbit your own wood, we’ll give you the info to do so.

Include drivers, with 2 or 3 choices.

Shipped flat, for me. Offering pre-built is a nice option but the shipping goes way up and it is supposed to be a kit, right? ;^)

Offer both finished (veneer and paint) and unfinished

Klassic Kube DIY Studio Monitors

I’ve noticed little pictures and updates posted about this periodically. Exciting to know it will see the light of day!

I would suggest two kit options: 1) with drivers and holes pre-cut, 2) without drivers and no front hole cut. I think most people will want to use the drivers that you guys think will work best, and you can probably get a better deal purchasing in quantity than all of us individually.

Above and beyond that, this is DIY so I would like to see the kit as raw as possible. No stain/finish, and flat pack.

I can understand the issues with final finishing after assembly. Not sure if there’s a way around it. I was thinking of way back in the 70’s when a lot of DIY speaker kits came as flatpack and only required gluing, but were otherwise already finished.

As for driver, maybe you can suggest the acceptable range of driver parameters that would offer reasonable performance in ths enclosure, as a starting point for those wanting to source their own drivers. I’ve seen several 4 and 5 inch all-range drivers with ‘whizzer cones’ for response up to around 8-12kHz. A small mid/woofer driver will only give a response to about 3-4kHz, so driver selection is important, and with a small sealed cabinet it would be easy to get a nasty peak around 400-600Hz if the driver is not carefully chosen.

I use something like this as a mono mix monitor and it’s very handy indeed.

DYRE 5C!

You should cut the holes with a circle cutter. This allows for any size driver. Also, using a router you can recess the speaker frame into the front baffle but that gets a bit more expensive especially if you don;t have a router.

Here is circle cutter and you can probably find them cheaper.
http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-55-Circle-Cutter/dp/B00004T7P1/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_3/186-4736904-6141658?ie=UTF8&refRID=1TT81MNS6YVDM1G20CDQ

But this allows the whole deal to built with just a hand drill… although they do make circle guides for sabre saws as well. Harbor freight has a dual cutter for $7 but have never used that style. It uses two cutters instead of one.

Here is example of router bit set needed to recess driver. Just set depth, adn choose bearing that gives proper flange width, run router around hole you have cut for speaker. Now speaker will sit flush with face of cabinet.

Again just an example… probably cheaper elsewhere.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2001864/3419/WoodRiver-Rabbet-Router-Bit-Set-14-SH.aspx

That’s great info, thanks Tom! We use a CNC router with a 1/2" end mill to do all of the cutting. Once we have chosen a driver, we will certainly recess the baffle so that the speaker frame sits flush with the front panel.

Sound square ?
Truth cube?

two options:

finished cabinet with finished but uncut and unattached baffle similar to these cabinets from parts-express: http://www.parts-express.com/cat/hi-fi-speaker-cabinets/288

you just cut a hole there and you have a finished speaker.

flat pack unfinished pieces.

you assemble cabinets, cut baffle, and finish these as desired.

have a driver choice— or 3 based on price— for those that want to get the driver.

1. Drivers
2. Flat! This is DIY after all!
3. RAW! If someone prefers they be painted or stained then it should be DIY that as well!
4. Tone Cubes, MidDevils? (haha idk)

Aw HELL yes! I want a pair of these so badly I can taste it! My choices would be to include drivers, ship flat, and finished wood, but no matter what happens I’m in for a few!

My understanding of speaker design is that the volume of the box is dependent on the characteristics of the driver. And since every driver is different then every box would need to be different in order to create the frequency response you are looking for. I would imagine that a generic, precut, box with some driver that fits the hole is going to yield results that are all over the place. I think the reason the Auratones were popular was that they were consistent. If you can find a working set you should do a frequency response analysis and try and duplicate that. The dimensions and looks are only part of the picture.

Tone Cube is catchy. I think including the driver is the best option as long as it is as close in frequency response and sensitivity as possible.

I miss auratones in my setup. I’ve been torn between buying on eBay and avatone mix cubes. Having quite a few DIY projects under my belt I am from the position that I like as much of the critical cutting that may require special tools to be done, hence why the 500 series stuff is so great, no long days trying to cut metal work with a poor section of tools. I notice a comments about if you can’t take a Jigsaw you should go buy some manufactured ones. Well I don’t have a Jigsaw, so I then need to buy an expensive power tool. If I’m investing in tools to build the project and time to do woodwork.

If you could offer both a cut version and uncut version I would go for the cut version of the project preferable a full kit. So I can open a box and start building. If you only offered the cut version I would probably not go for the project.

1) What you have pictured above is ‘perfect’
2) If you are inclined, offer an option for a pre-cut speaker hole. Pick one or two generic sizes. period. If not, no one’s going to see the hack job some will do, as long as they keep it in the confines of the surface mounted speaker’s frame.
3) You can option drivers as you discover them. Don’t wait until you find the ‘holy grail’. When you do, folks will chuck their existing and buy them from you.
-
Speaking from way too much experiance: If you poll potential customers as you have here, they will just mull over possibilities based on their personal experiances. You don’t have time to get into everyone’s life story, skill set, or whether they are inclined to buy tools or not. A customer never ‘knows’ what they want until they ‘see’ it. Once they ‘see it’, they will ‘want it’, or more likely feel they ‘need it’.
Let’s get this show on the road.

Thanks for the feedback Rich. Don’t worry, the show is on the road! All of the woodwork has been cut and we are waiting on speaker drivers to arrive from the manufacturer. Won’t be long now…

Good show!

Gents;

Probably the best way to go is to have an option for the cabinet in different stages of construction; flat-you-assemble, together-unfinished and together fully-finished. (and you could have a painted finish or a nice real wood veneer finish – with price differentials, obviously) Driver must come with the cube, and it would be even better if you found a small amplifier that could be matched to the speaker since all too often people screw up the match between the speaker and the amplifier damping. At the very least, you should suggest an amplifier that, based on your tests, works well with the completed speaker.

Also remember that the Auratone’s strength was that it wasn’t a main monitor; it was a guide intended to tell you exactly what was happening in the critical midrange of your mix. It was not intended to be a high-fidelity speaker. The Auratone was a tool used by recording engineers as midrange magnifying glass. With that in mind, you could call it a Mid-Mag Cube, or something that emphasizes this quality.

Suggestion to others: coat the inside of the cabinet with something like rubberized undercoat and cover the exterior with that carpet covering the sound reinforcement guys use. This will greatly tame the cabinet vibrations that would otherwise most definitely screw up your midrange resolution. Try it…. makes all the difference in the world.

Hope this helps,
Ben