Family22 – large and cheap
Family22 loudspeaker kit – large and cheap
Get in big and get in cheap. There are also people who want to go a little bigger. So we have thought the future-proof genes in a cheap floorstander. With the Family 22 we have already set a not too distant milestone, the upgrade or even the new entry are certainly a worthwhile goal. The necessary investment of money in no way unduly prolongs the path to the higher class, which after positive building experience will no longer remain in the realm of unfulfilled dreams for all time.
Speaker building is great:
The Family11 fulfilled its mission to outdo the Needle with flying colours. So it rightly bears its name Family. Its decisive gene for success is its slim silhouette, which makes it sound big and tall even in the smallest room. Anyone who has rebuilt this slender beauty will certainly not want to buy a ready-made speaker from the shop again, but will want to do more DIY - because of course there's still room for improvement. There are also people who want to go a bit bigger. So we have taken the future-proof genes of the Needle and the Family - namely the tiny footprint of a floor-standing speaker - and thought one category bigger.Thanks to our professional development, you have the design in your hands without losing the sound. Thus, there is an enormous variety of design possibilities while at the same time being able to reproduce the sound characteristics. Basically, the creative outpourings of our readers can be confidently placed side by side - if they are built according to the same instructions, they will sound the same, regardless of whether the builder is a trained musician or has misused the kitchen table for do-it-yourself construction due to a lack of a workshop.
Even in the entry-level segment, it is worthwhile to realise your own ideas, as Natalie (see picture below right) shows us with her own ideas for the realisation of a construction proposal - it simply doesn't have to be a rectangular black box, there are already enough of them in the shop.
So, those were certainly enough arguments for DIY loudspeakers beyond the sheer price-performance ratio, now we'd better get back to the practice. It's clear what comes next, isn't it? Broadband construction and a two-way speaker are followed by three ways, right?
So, in this construction proposal, we will dedicate ourselves to the task of building a three-way speaker as slim as possible. Chronologically correct, this is now the Family22. From the outside, it's nothing more than a practical rectangular box with a small footprint.
Loudspeaker chassis:
To make it fit the Family 11, we took over the GDT 104 N tweeter and the W 115-4 bass-midrange driver, now using the W 115-4 as a pure midrange driver and adding a woofer.
We decided for the W 218-4, which has been waiting a little longer for its first application in a construction project. As an inexpensive chassis, the W 128-4 has to make do with a sheet metal basket, but the silk gloss coated cardboard cone with its inverse dust dome still looks quite good and suits the W 115-4 perfectly, both for optical and technical reasons.
Anyway, next we entered his parameters into LspCAD and got a bass reflex design with 40 litres volume as a cabinet proposal. With an untrimmed HP 70 reflex tube, the lower cut-off frequency falls below 40 Hz. Since the W 128-4 is a direct radiator, the crossover frequency to the W 115-4 can safely be set at 350 Hz, which can be achieved quite inexpensively with reasonable components.
Although a plastic shell would suffice as a volume for this comparatively high crossover frequency, we have planned for a generous 10 litres, since this was the result of the arrangement of the enclosure chambers. In addition, its chamber walls favourably serve to stiffen the entire speaker.
This time we did not use MDF (medium density fibreboard) for the construction, but OSB (coarse chipboard), because it offers an interesting surface that can either be left natural or sanded and oiled or stained with little effort. If you are rebuilding a Family22, you can practise the surface treatment on the one hand and on the other hand the flush fitting of the baskets into the front panel by means of milling or doubling up the front. In the case of higher-quality cabinets than the Familys, this is a must; That´s freestyle.
We are providing the construction plan this time as well
After assembling, we sanded the surface, we did not stain or oil it, everyone is free to do as they wish. One advantage of oiling or varnishing is that no wood shavings come off, which can easily get into your fingers if you're not careful.
Frequency Switch:
With the Family 22 we paid attention to the appropriate Intertechnik components and also kept the effort of the wiring within limits. We were all the more surprised by the results of the crossover, which in the end was quite simple.After the development of the crossovers, we installed them permanently in the speakers. Instead of setting up the crossover ourselves, we always recommend using the crossover set-up we offer.
Final assembly:
Pay attention to the correct polarity of the speakers; the plus pole of the tweeter is marked in red. For the midrange speaker and the woofer, the positive pole is the wider flag. When soldering, heat the cable together with the terminal lug until the solder flows into each other. Caution: If you pull on the cable too soon to check whether the connection will hold, you run the risk of loosening the solder tag from the plastic base.
When screwing the chassis in place, as always, don't forget to pre-drill, as this considerably reduces the risk of slipping into the diaphragm with the screwdriver.
Four bags of original Sonofil should be placed in the cabinet, leaving the area around the bass reflex port free. The Intertechnik HP 70 bass reflex tube remains untrimmed.
Sound test:
Now comes the freestyle of every construction report: the sound description. We are still as happy as a child at Christmas when the speakers are finally moved from the test lab to the listening studio. One thing in advance: the Family22 sounds excellent for its price. We performed the sound test on a stereo amplifier, resisted the temptation to put a CD in the player and controlled the music via tablet from the hard drive.Mediamonkey reads out the content and the remote control via smart device from the sofa is simply fun. That makes the decision all the harder. Mozart? All right, so "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" from The Magic Flute, performed by Herrmann Prey, once again you want to miss your target group as a loudspeaker developer and first find out for yourself what the speaker can do before feeding it with songs suitable for the target group. The signal is passed on to the powerful transistor amplifier via a professional Tascam sound card; we refrained from using the Family22 with a low-power tube right from the start.
And anyone who thinks that not only a CD player but also a stereo amplifier is a thing of the past is missing the fact that amplifiers are passed down through the family ... so the offspring may already have an integrated amplifier and now only needs the inexpensive Family to be happy. Nevertheless, we are left with music that is not very suitable for the target group: Herrmann stands tall and with a swollen chest on the stage, the metal plates of the glockenspiel, which are stimulated to swing by a small clapper, are clearly recognisable as such.
And yet the Family will probably be used more by younger people, so we have adapted the music accordingly in the sound text by rummaging around a bit on Youtube. The singer at the "Muse live at Rock Werchter Festival" sounded intelligible and the bass guitar was distinguishable from the bass drum and guitar, even though the sound quality of the music source was not too good due to a strong compression of the playback, but that can't be blamed on the Family.
On the other hand, Tina Turner's live concert "Proud Mary" from 2009 was so rousing that the feet almost automatically bobbed and the hands clapped along. The level was also reminiscent of a live concert. So the Family 22 passed their acid test with flying colours and are not averse to the odd small party.