Heeman's New DIY MTM Project

[heeman]

So there has been an itch to scratch after learning so much about this hobby and on our 3rd Home Theater in a decade.

Retirement has been treating me very well.

My current system performs extremely well mainly because of what I have been able to do with optimizing my dedicated room acoustically.

After Franklin built his Ellipticor MTM's, I have been consulting with him on and off about how to improve on the clear, detailed sound that can perform better the Dynaudio C1's that are currently my main speakers.

Well, I have been working with Franklin on a design, the drivers have been purchased and the MDF cutting should start later this week!

This will be an MTM Design using the Ultra-Low Distortion Purifi Midrange drivers and Morel TSCT Tweeters. These will be paired with my existing Scan Speak Revelator Woofers that I built a few years back that was well documented on this forum.

If there is interest here, I will do my best to document this project.

I am sure that Franklin will chime in here at some point.

 

[Batman]

Look forward to monitoring a much needed Audio related topic!

 

[Haywood]

That is awesome! I second what Batman said. We definitely need some audio topics around here.

 

[Zing]

If there is interest here, I will do my best to document this project.

Oh I think there is more than sufficient interest here.

 

[Deacon]

While you're at it you should make an infinite baffle sub!

 

[CMonster]

And three more of those bass bins for me .

 

[heeman]

While you're at it you should make an infinite baffle sub!

Oh, there is plenty of deep clean bass going on here............

 

[PaulyT]

Awesome, an actual project for us to watch and offer all our helpful suggestions on.

 

[heeman]

Day 1 in the books, well about 3 hours.

I broke down 2.5 sheets of MDF into manageable sizes close to the finished sizes.

Went quicker than I thought. Handling the .75 thick, 4x8 sheets of MDF by yourself is challenging.

 

[Batman]

MDF sheets are MF’er to handle being so damn heavy.

 

[Botch]

Day 1 in the books, well about 3 hours.

View attachment 12649

I puzzled over this, some kind of radial arm saw I was unfamiliar with?
Finally saw the Yamaha name and figured out it must be an outboard motor!

 

[Haywood]

Breaking the sheets down is the only way to fly. I usually drop mine on a sheet of 2" foam insulation and use my track saw. I am done wrestling 4x8 sheets through the table saw by myself.

 

[heeman]

Breaking the sheets down is the only way to fly. I usually drop mine on a sheet of 2" foam insulation and use my track saw. I am done wrestling 4x8 sheets through the table saw by myself.

I made the poor man's track saw.

Clamps, a straight edge and circular saw.

 

[Haywood]

I made the poor man's track saw.

Clamps, a straight edge and circular saw.

That's what Flint uses too and it works great for doing rough material break down.

I bought a track saw because I build a lot of cabinets and there are a couple accessories that make it awesome. One is a track square. Mine works like a miter gauge with detents at commonly used angles and it is super accurate. The other one is parallel track guides. Those attach to the track and hook to the edge of the sheet. You can set them to the exact length you want and use them to get completely consistent and repeatable cuts. You can also use a track saw for jointing. You can do the same thing with a jig on a table saw, but the track saw is faster. The there is also a track accessory that lets you use the track as a router guide. I have one, but I haven't played with it yet.

The other thing I love about my track saw is dust collection. Unless you are cutting right along the outside edge, the dust collection is amazing. We are talking damned near no dust when connected to a shop vac. It is easily one of my favorite tools, but they are expensive and I admit that they only make sense if you spend a lot of time working with sheet goods.

I still make a lot of my final cuts on the table saw, partly due to my current skill level.

 

[heeman]

Lots and lots of cutting today.

All the parts are cut, ready for the router!

We have weather rolling in over the weekend, then bitter cold.

It will be a while before the next step.

 

[CMonster]

The first pic - I feel like there's an outhouse/Alabama joke itching to be told...

 

[heeman]

The first pic - I feel like there's an outhouse/Alabama joke itching to be told...

That's the pool equipment hut I built to keep it out of the sun.

 

[Botch]

That's the pool equipment hut I built to keep it out of the sun.

I was guessing a cook area for your Big Green Egg and Blackstone griddle...

 

[AndySTL]

This looks like a really fun project.

I’m curious about the cabinet design. Is this something flint created himself or are you using a cabinet design that’s been created/published somewhere else?

 

[heeman]

This looks like a really fun project.

I’m curious about the cabinet design. Is this something flint created himself or are you using a cabinet design that’s been created/published somewhere else?

FLINT ALL THE WAY!!

I decided to make the stands the same size as my woofer cabinets.

Wait, what? The MTMs aren't sitting on top of the woofers.......

Due to room acoustics,, I had to move the woofers in to remove a null in the MLP. I couldn't put the C1's on them because of interference with the screen. The MTMs will sit in stands and the woofers will remain in their current position.