How to Build Your Own Speakers at Home
The design and engineering of home audio speakers is a complex engineering process, involving the disciplines of materials science and acoustics, and relying upon marketing and merchandising to make sales. But if you're a do-it-yourselfer, you'll find that making a solid, serviceable and good-sounding pair of home speakers isn't as hard as you think. You'll just need some basic tools and materials and a few off-the-shelf parts.
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Things You'll Need
- 1 4x8 foot sheet of 3/4-inch medium density fiberboard (MDF)1 pair 5-1/4 inch two-way car speakers2 terminal cupsSpeaker wireWood screwsDrillJig sawCircular or table sawWood glue
Instructions
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1
Cut two front and two back panels for your speakers out of MDF. Each should measure 7 by 12 inches.
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2
Cut two side panels for each of your two speakers. Each of the four resulting panels should measure 5 by 12 inches.
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3
Cut four top and bottom panels. Each should measure 5 by 5-1/2 inches.
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4
Cut an opening in the front panel large enough to hold one 5-1/4 inch speaker. Use the speaker as a template for the opening, and center the opening on the panel.
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5
Cut an opening in the back panel to hold the terminal cup. Use the cup as a template and center the opening on the panel.
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6
Screw the side panels onto the front panel. The side panels will be overlapped by the front panel, so that the joint is not visible from the front. Put screws at 2-inch intervals, and place a layer of wood glue in the joint before assembling.
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7
Screw the top and bottom panels into the front panel. Secure with wood glue and screws every 2 inches. Then screw the side panels to the top and bottom panels where they meet. Put a screw every two inches.
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8
Add the back panel to the assembly. Put down a bead of wood glue, apply the panel and screw it in place with wood screws every two inches.
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9
Attach an 7-inch piece of speaker wire onto the inner tabs of the terminal cup. Feed the wire into the box through the terminal cup opening, and then screw the terminal cup into place.
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10
Attach the other end of the speaker wire to the tabs of the speaker. Place the speaker into the opening of the box, and screw into place with wood screws.
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11
Repeat steps 4-10 to make the second speaker, and you'll have a pair of speakers that can be used for a home stereo.
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