Adire Audio Kit 281 Speakers
I have built 5 Adire Audio Kit 281 speakers to upgrade my surround sound. The Left and Right mains were built as tower vented speakers. The Center and Surrounds are sealed.
The following is from the Adire Audio Kit 281 instructions:
"Welcome to Adire Audio’s KIT281 loudspeaker system. The KIT281 is a high-efficiency MTM system designed for home audio reproduction, as well as home theater applications. It features two Adire Audio AV8 midwoofers and a single Audax TM025F1 tweeter per side, which yield a system sensitivity of 92 dB SPL @ 2.83 Vrms."
The complete instructions can be downloaded from the Adire Audio web site.
Here are some pictures of my project:
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These are the components from Adire Audio for the Kit 281. The crossovers are pre-wired and ready to use. |
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These are all of the cut and routed blanks for the 5
speakers. They are made from 3/4" MDF. It takes about 2 4X8 sheets to
make the 5 speakers.
There are 2 8" Adire Audio AV8 midwoofers per speaker. The tweeter is an Audax TM025F1. The speakers are being built according to the Adire Audio Kit 281 application note. |
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This is all 5 of the cabinets just before the front panels
are put on.
The vented Left and Right main speakers are 48" high, 9" wide, and 14" deep. They have a net volume of 61 liters and are tuned to 28.8 Hz. Each one will be stuffed with 24 oz of polyfill. The sealed center and surrounds are 22" by 9" by 14". They have a net volume of 27 liters and a Qtc of 0.81. Each one will be stuffed with 16 oz of polyfill. |
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This is a closer view of one of the surround speakers. The
notch in the center brace is to allow clearance for the tweeter.
The Kit281 includes pre-assembled crossovers. They will be mounted on the rear, one behind each mid-woofer. |
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I mounted the crossovers on 1" long dowel pieces. These were glued to the inside back of the cabinets behind a woofer. This is a picture of a tweeter crossover. |
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This is one of the finished main speakers. The sides and top are veneered, the front and back are painted. The flared vent came from Adire Audio, as did the grills on the two woofers. |
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This is the center channel speaker. It is finished just like
the mains. It is put on a shelf just above the TV since I did not want the
weight of the speaker directly on the TV.
The shelf was made with some left over MDF and painted flat black. |
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This is one of the rear surround speakers. They are mounted on shelves on each side of the couch. These are painted only, no laminate was used. All of the edges are rounded over with a 1/8" radius bit using a router. |
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This shows all three front Kit 281s. The Shiva subwoofer is in the black cube at the far left. The TV is a Mitsubishi WS-55805 widescreen that is HD ready. The surround sound receiver is an Onkyo TX-DS696 that supports Dolby Digital, DTS, and Pro-Logic II. The DVD player is a Panasonic RP-56 that is Progressive Scan. An Echostar (Dish Network) model 6000 receiver is used for SDTV and HDTV satellite and over the air reception. The VCR is a JVC S-VHS. The equipment racks are DIY "Flexy" style. |
How do they sound? Great! Both my wife and myself are thrilled with the sound. Movies and music sounds much better than with the old speakers, which were a couple of Bose mains and Paramount Pictures surrounds. I did not have any center channel before.
The appearance is also very nice. My wife picked the laminate and paint colors, and we are both very pleased with the result.
Now we need to watch all of our movies again to enjoy the new experience! Now, we just need to get some more titles with DTS soundtracks!
