Overnight Sensations Bookshelf Speaker Build

This is my build thread for a popular DIY speaker called Overnight Sensations. I got the flat pack kit from Parts Express as a Christmas present. The idea was for my dad and I to work on it together, and it's turning out quite nicely. Unfortunately, we couldn't finish before I had to go back home.

I'll be starting to post my story and pictures tonight. Unfortunately, my dad took some of the pictures too, and he hasn't sent them to me yet.

Here's the kit we used:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=300-706

A little bit of background first:
My dad has been doing woodworking pretty much his whole life. He's been professionally employed as a carpenter now and again, and really enjoys it. I'm more of a computer and car geek. This is my second time finishing a wooden piece and my first time doing soldering. It's also my first time building a speaker in any capacity. Neither of us are terribly familiar with wiring diagrams and working directly with electronic components.

We were going to find out that, for a newbie, "overnight" is very much a misnomer!

Neat.

Do you have an amp/setup already for them?

This will be going to my basement setup. I have a receiver and a pair of no-name bookshelf speakers there. They hook up to my work-away-from-work computer (which also doubles as a jukebox and secondary Netflix player), and to my XBox 360. Interestingly, the receiver has an A/B switch for the speakers, so I can switch between the pairs as I listen to music or play games. It'll be good for comparing the sound quality. I might even drag my Polk TSI300s down from the main room to compare.

In any case, these will at least LOOK like expensive speakers when I'm done with them.

So...I started the build with my dad in Louisiana.

The flat pack came with CNC cut 1/2" birch plywood, cut to size, the woofers, tweeters, and crossover components. It did not include wire, solder, terminals, screws or a board to mount the crossover. It also didn't include anything to finish the cabinets. It basically has a 8 minute video and a crossover wiring diagram for instructions. A builder has to have some clue, but someone with a GRM mindset could generally tackle this.

The first thing I had to do after unpacking the parts was to make sense of the crossover diagram. It's a fairly standard looking diagram, but I literally hadn't looked at a wiring diagram in 10 years or more. My dad was quite rusty as well. We called my uncle, an electrical engineer, and found out that the crossover components don't care which direction they're wired. So long as we wired them in the right place, if we got one "backwards" it didn't matter. Great!

The second thing I learned is that a wiring diagram is NOT the same as a physical layout of the components. We cut out 2 boards of 1/4" MDF to mount the crossovers. Trying to lay things out like it is on the wiring diagram resulted in it taking roughly twice the area of the board. That was not going to work.

I've always wanted to try building a set of these!

Did they not come with the circuit boards for the crossovers?

sobe_death wrote: Did they not come with the circuit boards for the crossovers?

No, just the six boards for each face of speaker cabinet. After looking at other people's crossovers, it appears that different people like to use different types of boards to mount the crossover components. It's not like digital circuit boards where there are lots of tiny traces and components. Most of the components are at least an inch long with 2 inch wire leads out of each side.

Ive seen a lot of C/O's that are not printed, but just mechanically fastened to a board, and the leads soldered together...

Grr... Trying to carve out some time to upload the pics...

I experimented a little bit with the layout to get the crossovers to fit in the allotted area. I think it came out okay, but after everything was wired up, I ran across a number of crossovers that just blew mine out of the water in terms of layout.

Okay, here's the layout I wound up going with:

I did make sure that the inductors were on different axes so as to try to minimize interference. I only barely got them to be a good inch from each other. I did NOT know when I laid it out that resistors and capacitors can pretty much be touching except for the leads. They can be put in pretty little rows abutting each other. The only thing that needs to be spaced is the inductors, apparently.

Soldering everything turned out to be pretty easy with a powerful enough soldering gun. All my previous experiments were with a 25 watt iron, and that's just not up to the task for this thickness of metal. The 100 watt setting of the gun was about perfect.

Here's a closeup of one of the solder joints:

As you can see, to solder them, you simply twist the wires together as tight as you can, heat up the wires (not the solder directly), and let the hot wires melt the solder into the joint. With about an hour's practice, I felt completely comfortable with it.

The only thing that required some creativity was trying to solder stranded core wires. It was a little bit of a pain in the butt, but it made for some interesting looking joints when it was done. The main difficulty was trying to get a tight wrap with all the strands of wire.

Very Nice. I just finished soldering a tube amp from scratch. It's quite satisfying when it works, isn't?

The Overnight Sensations have a pretty good reputation out there on web forums, they seem like a great project. I built the same designer's earlier Orient Express speakers (drivers are NLA so they don't get talked about much anymore) and while some of the cabinet work could have gone better, they were a good speaker and I've loved mine. The guy has a number of designs out there that look good, including a home theater sub that I'd love to have but hate to move at something like 90lb's and a woofer that you have to treat carefully when shipping.

My dad took all the cabinet building pics, so I'll just leave a placeholder here for that.

I'll post up some of my pictures of the staining/sealing/sanding/etc. process soon.

A note about the crossover components and translating them to real life: On the wiring diagram, everything is labelled + and -.
On the speaker drivers and terminals, they are colored red and black.

Red = +
Black = -

That's all for now. If I'm wrong, please let me know! Like I said, I'm pretty much a noob at this.

I dig it, anytime you can build your own tunes, you learn a little something, and can customize exactly what you want. I like that you can stain, modify, do just about anything you want to with that kit! Not to threadjack, but I built a mobile audio cooler before last season's tailgating started and found it to be fun and rewarding: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/mobile-audio-cooler-pics/51169/page1/

I think once you start building your own audio, nothing that comes pre-boxed seems to measure up

Teaser: I finished test assembly last night and it sounds pretty sweet. It'll be a while before I can get the build thread up to speed, though.

For the cabinet building, my dad took point on that, as he's much more experienced in carpentry. I was there to help with the gluing. We managed to use clamps only and wood glue to build the cabinets (at my request). I didn't want any nails to show up in the finish. If I were doing it myself, it would have used nails, because I don't have quite the same cabinet building chops as he does. He also sanded while I was making sure our car was ready to head back home.

Anyway, at that point, I had to pack up all the components and head back to Michigan. From here, I was doing all the work.

My next step was to begin finishing the cabinets. This would prove to be the longest part of the process, since I was trying to get a really nice finish on things. Since my dad sanded it already, I just cleaned off sawdust with a wet rag, then let it dry.

I used a water-based stain that was left over from a previous project. This particular stain seems to get exactly where I want it. Here's a picture of the cabinets with the stain only:

Now, with just the stain, it looks pretty ho-hum. I let that dry, and started putting on a poly-based sealer. This is where ho-hum turns into beauty. I'll have to see if I can get a few more pictures to illustrate the translucency effect it gives.

scardeal wrote: A note about the crossover components and translating them to real life: On the wiring diagram, everything is labelled + and -. On the speaker drivers and terminals, they are colored red and black. Red = + Black = - That's all for now. If I'm wrong, please let me know! Like I said, I'm pretty much a noob at this.

realistically, it doesn't matter which way you hook up the speakers, so long as you do it consistently. I know it doesn't seem to make logical sense since it seems that the cone would move outward to make sound and wired opposite, but its true. (the cone moves inward and outward with each stroke either way). That is called the "polarity" of the speaker and sometimes people actually get better results from inverting one speaker compared to the rest.

I do not like building passive crossovers and have not done it in a while, but some tips: 1) most guys seem to use peg board for ease of fastening components. 2) trim those zip tie tails when youre done or they will buzz. 3) you don't need to twist the wires together, as long as the solder holds them together they will work fine. solder is stronger than you think.

I've been building speakers since I was about 14 years old, and I guess I take a lot of that stuff for granted. Let me know if you have any questions.

Oh, and for finishing the cabinets, for smaller cabinets I like a veneer product called "bandit." its available in different grains and colors and its extremely easy to use. Lowes sells it, or at least they used to. I think parts express might sell it anymore. Your stain turned out nicely but I hate the exposed edges of the laminated wood.

I like to use a hot glue gun to secure the components on the board.

I don't normally build other people's projects, but this one intrigued me, so I bought all the parts, and just need to find the time

andrave wrote: 1) most guys seem to use peg board for ease of fastening components. 2) trim those zip tie tails when you're done or they will buzz. 3) you don't need to twist the wires together, as long as the solder holds them together they will work fine. solder is stronger than you think.

1. Yeah, I found that out after the fact. It seems to make things a little more tidy.
2. Done!
3. Good to know, but I do think that twisting them will keep them together when you're mocking it all up.

andrave wrote: Oh, and for finishing the cabinets, for smaller cabinets I like a veneer product called "bandit." its available in different grains and colors and its extremely easy to use. Lowes sells it, or at least they used to. I think parts express might sell it anymore. Your stain turned out nicely but I hate the exposed edges of the laminated wood.

Yeah, the stripes are a little odd, granted. I DO think it came out pretty good anyway. I didn't want to deal with veneer for the first time on top of everything else, though.

thats why bandit is so awesome, its self adhesive. Its very easy to use. I've never used real veneer, save for helping some buddies on high school shop products. bandit works like this: stick it on, use a roller to get it good and stuck and any trapped air out, then use a new sharp razor knife to trim the edges. its easy as cake.

Doh, saw this thread. and you're already familiar with parts express.

The front baffle has a round over. I don't know if band-it will work with that.

I am building the Overnight's as well. Crossovers are done! just have to glue and sand the cabinets. Don't forget to verify that the tweeters are wired in reversed polarity as per the design.

heyduard wrote: Don't forget to verify that the tweeters are wired in reversed polarity as per the design.

I noticed that later. I first wired it with same polarity, but then realized that after the fact. Quick connect fasteners to the drivers are very helpful!

Quick update: everything's pretty much finished, but I was interrupted the past several weeks by the birth of my baby boy!