New diamond speakers for sale.

Hello,

My name is Eli and I live in Asheville, NC.

I'm in the process of trying design a relatively affordable diamond speaker for sale (possibly in kit form, too)

I've completed my first prototype and have several ideas for tweaking the design. If anyone has any suggestions as to what they would like to see in a open backed, diamond speaker, let me know.

The speaker is designed to be a matching companion to the Etherwave standard theremin. I put together a quick myspace page. You can see photos of the first one there.

link (http://www.myspace.com/aetherophone)

I estimate the cost for a finished speaker, with a high quality mike stand, will be about $300 - $350.

Here are the details so far:

- Open back
(In the photos you can see I built a box around the first speaker but I've been playing with the back panel off and it sounds much better.)

- 8" Eminence speaker (8 ohm, 125 watts)
(I plan on trying out a full range 60 watt 8" with a wizzer cone and I'd like to try a Jensen P8R but the Jensen is rather expensive.)

- Oak, with beveled edges (much like the top of the Etherwave)

- Atlas MS20 mike stand. (heavy duty stand)

I'm not real big about putting it on a mike stand and having to do the "Etherwave spin" (it's more of a pain with the speaker but it's do-able).
I'm still working on an alternative.
It is top heavy but relatively stable on a heavy mike stand (even on carpet, hence the pricey MS20 stand), if not greatly disturbed, so I wouldn't let unsupervised children or energetic guitarists around it.
(I traded extra stability for a small footprint and looks with the stand, as in tripod vs. round base).



If you have any questions, thoughts, ideas, or interest in these speakers, let me know.

Thank you,
Eli

Eli,
Unable to go to the 'LINK'.
Please, advise.
teslatheremin

The link did seem to be bad. I think I fixed it.

If not, you can go to the music section of myspace and search "aetherophone". It should pop up.

It works now for me. Thanks! The photos look great.
And I may need pointers from you for myspace, I've never found a way to style my home page with a background or any custom features.

Keep up the good work.

Eli,

your speaker prototype looks fine! What about an "active" version with a small amplifier (~20W) and a 3-band equalizer included in order to have a compact solution? Please be aware that overseas clients normally prefer power supplies which allow working on 230V!

As I mentioned in the roll call thread, I love the look of it. If I could justify the expense on looks alone I'd buy one. Stability doesn't strike me as an issue - as a solo performer I don't contend with excited guitarists, and if it worried me I could mount the stand - detachably - on a board painted black to inconspicuously increase it's footprint. It would mean re-boxing my black etherwave - I think a matching black frame on the speaker would lack the impact of the oak frame.

But - I bought my speaker solution of choice a few months ago. It's an SR Technology Jam 150+ (http://www.srtechnology.co.uk/jam_and_pocket_series/jam_series.html) on an imposing tripod amp stand. Price-wise I think it is in the same ballpark as yours, with a full range speaker (for me this is essential, I exploit the full range of frequencies my instrument can generate, not just the "playable range") and a decent amplifier. In any case for me that would be who you would be competing against, firstly for audio quality, and secondly for looks. On looks you would win by a mile, so the question has to be, can you offer similar audio.

(If money had been no object, I'd have got a Bose L1 (http://www.bose.com/controller?event=VIEW_STATIC_PAGE_EVENT&url=/musicians/index.jsp), but I still prefer yours for looks.) :-)

Hi Eli:

are you able to send one of them to México city??

Look great¡¡

Ernesto.

Not bad. It would be nie to get a little better look at it though.

"- Open back
(In the photos you can see I built a box around the first speaker but I've been playing with the back panel off and it sounds much better.)"

How so? Can you elaborate on that? What made you decide to enclose it in the first place?

Have you given this design a thorough test run? Is it free of any serious resonances?
It appears you've used plywood. While it is used for some speaker enclosures, the "box" design is a little more self supporting/dampening.
I'm not saying you should have any problems. I just wondered if you've encountered any.

Hello again,

Thank you all very much for the thoughts and interest.

I should probably clarify a point or two, though. First off, this is the first speaker I've ever built. I have used plenty of speakers throughout my music history and have spent countless hours trying to wrest a good "sound" or "tone" out of equipment but have no history, and only a cursory knowledge of, speaker enclosure design. This project began with the fact that the big diamond speaker behind Clara Rockmore's head (and all the other diamonds that appear alongside theremins throughout time) look REALLY cool. So I wanted to build one within the scale of my Etherwave, house, and budget. It is
primarily for home use or as an interesting (and useful, what with it being right next to your head) stage monitor, reenforced though a larger sound system. Ideally, I would like to one day achieve the equivilent of a small, boutique guitar amp for the Theremin. It seems a crime nothing like this is available for folks that do not have thousands of dollars in their pocket. So I figured I might try my hand at a good looking (and sounding) speaker. It is mostly trial and error, with a touch of dead reckoning.

Anyway, that said, let me address some of the questions.



omhoge: I always use "Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4" just because it's simple and weird and (sort of) easy.


Thierry: I'm on a mission for some kind of integrated amp for this thing that is more simple and elegant than a mixer + reverb pedal + power amp + all the assorted cables and mess that does not break the bank. If you look at the tall picture on myspace you can see the Fender Frontman (crappy bass practice amp) I ripped apart and put into a matching oak case. I'd like
to try this with a Moog amp just for something cheap to power it.

(However, the ideal setup in my head I'd like try right now is a Jensen P8R 8" 25watt Alnico speaker with this 16 watt tube amp kit
(they also have a tube tone control):

link (http://store.tubedepot.com/diy-k-16lm.html)

and a Synthesizers.com spring reverb, in one big box.

I've never heard that amp kit, maybe someone out there has paired it with a theremin before? Point being it might be a cool little tube amp that doesn't cost a thousand dollars.

On the other hand, I would be a little nervous about making or modifying an amp and selling it to people, so that may have to wait (I may have to make one for myself, though).


GordonC: I was thinking a matching finish for black Etherwaves might look pretty sleek, if I changed the grillcloth so you can see the speaker hiding in there. It would certainly disappear on a dark stage though. I have also pondered a silver, metal grillcloth (screendoor screen basically). That might put an impact on a black speaker (or look horrible, you never know, I'd have to try it to be sure).


Ernesto: I wouldn't have a problem shipping to Mexico as far as I know. I imagine it would just be a matter of the cost and if you were okay with it.


Jeff S: I built the box around the back just to try it out, see what happened, without any thought as to enclosure design. 1/4" oak plywood on the baffle panel and solid oak for the frame and box. I had to make the box the size of the speaker so it had something to mount to.
I pulled the back panel off after reading, I belive it was one of your posts regarding a speaker in the archives somewhere. Something about an open baffle having a more "airy" quality. Which it does. There is more response in the high frequencys (of course, a little less in the bass freq.) and more sound bouncing around the room. I'm thinking of just trying to get a
good sound out of an open back if I can for simplicity's sake. Maybe using 1/2" oak plywood so the speaker can mount directly to the panel and build a smaller "frame" around back to protect the rear of th

[i](If money had been no object, I'd have got a Bose L1, but I still prefer yours for looks.) :-)[/i]

...where, only where do you find that stuff? - i always feel like i am living under some rock or similar...sorry for the noise, but this L1-thing really captures me...

...have to say though, that your design also looks very nice - it just wouldnt fit with [i]my style[/i] in terms of playing (ability) and surrounding :o) ...