Garden Speakers

Hello Everyone

Another project on the go !

My parents has a small garden in their house.

Most of the time we spend there is pretty quite , all you hear are birds and the " sound of silence ".

I wanna change it !

I decided to build from Plexiglas ( as usual ) a pair of speakers , supported with the LEPAI amplifier.



Hope you enjoy
:)

The things you would need for this instructable are:

Set of component speakers - JBL CS 5C 120Watt

http://www.amazon.co.uk/JBL-CS-5C-2-Way-Components-Speaker/dp/B004OXETYW


Plexiglas - a sheet of 80X80  + a small 30X80 Black Plexiglas
Aluminum Angles - comes in 3M length
Crossovers- i ordered 5 already ( for future projects )

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Counter-down-l280-one-point-counter-down-second-high-quality-audio-speaker-counter-down-crossover/1137698502.html

45M of 2x1.5 wires for speakers ( approx 30$ )

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Bolts and Nuts ( 60 or so )
Silicon ( Clear + Black )
Drill +Drill kit
Saw + Special blade for Plexiglas
Electric driller
Dremel Tool + Dremel Kit
Clamps
Working Gloves
Caliber

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Moreover i decided to take it a step further and mod ( improve ) the Lepai amplifier .

I order from eBay a few Capacitors and a few induction coils .

All the parts i`m replacing according to recommendations of  www.diyaudio.com members ( they provide lots of manuals  )

Lay the Plexiglas on a steady table , Grab it with a pair of clamps, mark the size of the cutting hole for the speakers

You need to make 2 pieces of this Plexiglas



Do see that i drilled with a driller a hole the size of the blade of the saw , and only then you can start drilling

Just wanted to check that speaker sits ok inside the hole

One for each speaker

Two sides for each speaker

Grab the Plexiglas on the clamps.

Take some sanding paper and smooth the edges

I also smoothed the edges using the Dremel tool

Measure the size of the bottom part and cut accordingly 

In order to attache the Angles to the Plexiglas , i marked the places i want to drill , Grabbed the Aluminum Angles on the table using the clamps  and drilled it

Drill two holes for the tweeter above the Woofer.

Using the DREMEL , cut a small narrow opening for the wiring  

After you finish with the cutting you can sand it with the DREMEL Tool also

Bought a bunch of aluminum angles ( 2 sizes )

 drilled hole in each of them ( measured the distance before the drill )  , and up we go

Mui importante 

The fun has arrived.

I just love soldering ! , it`s just fun !


The crossovers purpose is to receive from the AMP the output , take it , split it to High and Low frequencies and send it to the proper unit
( e.g Tweeter - High tones  or Woofer - Lower tones. )

Input in YELLOW

checked the sound using my old AMP from my existing Boombox .

 the sound is OK for now

Cut a small hose ( in the size of the bolts ) 

Place it between the crossover and the Plexi

Since i don`t work in a factory , and the cutting is OK but not 100% accurate , there are small spaces between the Woofer and the Plexi.

this could damage the Acoustics ,and the sound in general .


Soooooooo , i took BLACK silicon , and made sure that it is 99% sealed

Before we close the case , be sure to clean it a little , check that all the bolts are tighten  and in general that all wires are connected securely to the peripherals  ( e.g  speakers ,and crossover  ) 

For the Acoustics sake , and for my good feeling , i will create a small ( 3cm ) hole  , this will act as a Reflex Port
 


BTW

Reflex-port uses to increase the efficiency of the system at low frequencies

After finishing the hole , sand it a little , and add a small rubber housing , just for the looks

I have tested the sound using my Modded Lepai Amplifier.

The sound is absolutely awesome

The bass is great , and all this after a 20M (2x1.5 ) cable for each unit!

The Lepai amp , is one of the greatest amps on the market .

It`s cheap , and gives you a great value for your money

It cost between 15-20$ , and the sound is great , but not awesome!



So , you guessed it , i had to modify it , according to http://diyaudio.com website , i found a few forums with a lot of discussion on how and what to replace in order to say " Wow that`s a lot for 20$ "

I can actually say , that after replacing a few Capacitors , coils the sound has improved by 30% at least!
The bass is more responsive , and the power that it produces is much higher


Beneath you can see the old ( RED ) Output capacitors - there Value is :

63V .47uf +80/-20%
I have changed them to a : 250V .47uf 5% capacitors - way better!

Also i have replaced the Big capacitor .- which made the biggest improvement for the sound
The original Value is : 16V 3300uf 20%

I have changed it to :25VDC 4700uF !

I made an amplifier perspex cover.
Because of the new capacitors are higher, I would have to raise the lid. Eventually the situation was beneficial to the functioning of the amplifier, since now there are more ventilation for the electronic circuits

I had to mount the speakers in someway , so i decided to build a wooden speaker standUnfortunately I did not have too much time to spend it, so I just started to cut, made atangles to support the weight.Overall went well, very stable speakers

I bought around 40 meters speakers wires 2 mm thick
I started to wire the wires between the deck , and made sure that nothing is too tight, and I connected it to the speakers

Everything is ready!
Excellent sound, the sound is very clean, very balanced, and most importantly I am happy Comments are welcome :)