World’s Best Speakers!

We continue our series on flat panel speakers with simple construction guidelines, performance comparisons and a complete system playing a variety of music.

Skip to speakers playing music - 30:20

LINKS TO PARTS:

MUSIC CREDIT:

"Danse Macabre" Kevin MacLeod

"Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G, Movement I (Allegro), BWV 1049" Kevin MacLeod

"Habanera" Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[DonJohn_YT]

Clickbait? Yes!
Still interesting and worth watching? Yes!

[ragir]

Just finished making these and while I do agree the bass could use some help, they sound insanely good for what they are, this is crazy. I just came back up from the basement after over an hour of listening to my favourite tracks and discovering new stuff in them, sitting there with lights out and having a massive grin on my face, thanks!

[stevekerr]

Fascinating analysis. As a physicist, I wondered how the resonance peaks of a single panel design might be minimized without combining it with other panels with mismatching peaks. So, I built a pair. Each speaker of my pair is 1" extruded polystyrene, but is cut to the dimensions of a golden rectangle. The height is 1.618 times the width (my panels are 25" high) and I rounded the corners. The exciter is placed at the first level or primary eye or focus of the golden rectangle. The idea is that the distance between the exciter and each pair of opposite sides is an irrational number. Theoretically, I thought, this should reduce resonance causing interference patterns. Finally, I used a nail set to form hundreds of cone-shaped holes in the material through the side edges of the panels thinking this would break up and reduce internal reflections from the edges, again reducing interference and resonance. I have no way of measuring the result, but the sound quality is extremely immersive and rich. Love to get your thoughts. Thanks.

[doorwaycreative]

I just want to say your research has proven to be invaluable to me during my final year in uni. I'm very grateful that you would share this information to the public. This has been the basis for my final year project.

[wayneleroy]

I like that you cover these projects thoroughly and spread the content over multiple bite sized videos. I much prefer this format over one watered down video from which we only see a final product. Such watered down videos are not useful to me. You provide us materials and techniques used, details of tests performed, what DIDN'T work and why, and a summary of the lessons learned. YOUR VIDEOS GIVE ME WHAT I WANT. This is my favorite "tech" channel.

[Cartier_specialist]

One man's old ceiling tile is another man's world's best speaker.

[yddishmcsquidish]

"Sometimes I think I'm smarter than I really am"

After discovering your channel, this is a thought that I constantly have.

[caleb]

No joke, you are my hero. I am in my first year out of school working as an electrical engineer. You are the prime example of taking the principles we learn in school and putting them into action with REAL projects. I hope I can develop a clarity of thought and precise-ness of explanation as you demonstrate in all your videos. Thanks for being so thorough and for having such a broad range of projects!

[lkjdfjsdlfj]

Fascinating! I had to try this so I did. At first I tried just the ceiling tile: the mid range seemed good but it misses the hi frequency range and was 'blah' on its own. I then added the pink foam insulation speaker in series and it sounds great! What I appreciate most is the whole room sound - but your ear knows where the source of the sound is just fine. This helps my surround system a lot. Previously I could never hear anything out of the left surround speaker. It was too directional (mid-range bookshelf speaker). Now that I'm using the ceiling tile / foam insulation speakers I can hear the left surround channel - the clip clop of horse hooves, engine noises, bullets hitting things, etc. I'm quite happy about it.
Apparently you can purchase speaker fabric in many colors, and a couple of companies will print/dye any photo you have on that material - so you can have hanging artwork / photos too!

[rogersmith]

Just finished this speaker wall; 99% the same, on a wall in my garage. This is everything he says it is. Turned up base. Music is more fun than ever before. In one word “Clarity”! If you don’t do this, I question your motivation for life (sound at least)!

[ZPositive]

I'd like to see the frequency response of the entire system. It would be neat to see how that graph compares to a summation of the four separate response graphs.

[magnessma]

At 10:13, "I'm a little bit compulsive", oh really!!!, after watching many of your videos...I would have never known. LOL.
However thats what makes your construction and analysis so precise, ...soo be compulsive and be precise. It's the best way to be!!! I always enjoy your projects, hope you don't mind my kidding!

[chriswebb]

My daughter who has a home studio set up shared this link with me and I ended up running with this concept and just finished 4 panel acoustic speakers for my mancave. Used the Dayton exciters and added a Dayton bass speakers. Ran it through a Rockville Blutube 4 Ohm amp. Also added a Rockville 8 inch subwoofer. WOW!! I have a set of 5th Gen KRK's and some Bose 901 speakers I use for my DJ set up. But these panel speakers are my listening system choice. You made a huge dent and these DIY speakers are hot items on You Tube. Thanks!! 😎

[MalluFilipino]

Anybody else impressed with the workspace itself? That place is huge!

[omsirut]

It's crazy, these sound exactly like my tv speakers that I'm watching this video on! lol

[vaastonline]

This is the binge watch type of channel that keeps you from getting any actual work done... Very impressive. Looking forward to being lazy for a long time! Keep it coming...

[jacobkline]

I nominate this man for Shop Teacher Of The Internet.
EDIT: /Science teacher? /Engineering Teacher?

[mikeyfoofoo]

You are like "Mr Wizard" for grown ups. I enjoy and appreciate the scientific edge that you put into your tests! Great videos.

[zappedguy]

This video popped up on my recommendations and I was instantly intrigued. I have been an audio enthusiast for 60 years and appreciate good sound. While on a very limited budget I have built several "controversial" designs (Remember the Sweet 16 speaker? If you don't and want to hear about it, let me know). I worked for a time in the sixty's at a store selling the most expensive top of the line audio equipment and have seen many interesting and wonderfully sounding speaker designs over the years. I was amazed by a very tiny transducer attached to a styrofoam cooler being demoed and sold at a state fair a few years ago, so when I saw this video, it grabbed my attention. I didn't look for much bass response in this design, but I was VERY impressed with the clarity and presence of the sound samples on the video, especially in the number with the orchestral strings. My sound system is excellent and the compressed youtube audio still allowed me to hear the detail and subtle nuances in the recording. I'm planning to play with this concept soon; it seems like fun and I want to see how impressive it may be. I spent a long time reading all the comments on this video and had to laugh at many of the negative comments posted by self-identified audiophiles that buy the most expensive gear and engineers that like to use numbers to determine the quality of sound. And laughed at the young guys that think that sound quality is bad if their ears don't bleed, lol. Hey, I like to feel the music too, but I want the bass to be clean! The quality is in the listening! ! I don't buy a speaker for it's price, name, reputation, size, wattage, specs or anything other than how well it sounds. I have found excellent sound from very inexpensive gear. (And crappy sound from overpriced and overrated gear). Keep up the good work and don't listen to the egotists that like to criticize every little aspect of your video.

[MrExNavy]

Definitely NOT clickbait as some here have said. You put a lot of effort and research into this and I think these are awesome speakers and you can't beat the cost to build them. Very well done. I'm gonna build some to put in my shop and probably for our house too. Love your channel.