custom heresy II center channel

[damonrpayne]

Disclaimer: I realize the "heritage center" topic has been beat to death but I have a fairly specific question.

I want a 3 way center channel that will work with Heresy IIs. I'd like to put this in a standard center channel enclosure (maybe about the size of an rc-7) that will fit on top of my TV. My rough understannding is that I'd take the mid and high horns from a HersyII and then try to find a woofer that was a good match. The horns are readily available on ebay.

I think I can find enough info to make the crossovers work (I might be smoking crack too...)

My questions:

1) What woofers might I want to choose for this? Part numbers are helpful.

2) My wordworking skills are questionable. Is there a DIY type place where I could buy a pre-made MDF enclosure, then just modify it to fit my parts? Something I could apply wood stain to would be ideal.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

[damonrpayne]

This might be the type of thing I'm looking for: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-718

The middle part where the horns would have to go would be a problem though...

[Frzninvt]

How about using the 8" woofers that the Academy used? Perhaps the woofers from RF5's would work as well.

[avman]

i am awaiting a single '04 heresy2 to go between my '82 cornwalls as a center channel.that will complete the 5-speakers for my secondary room-the living room-with '85 heresy 2's as rear surrounds. i anticipate having alot of space to work with as we are putting a fireplace in that will be built using the exterior wall as the back,so the rest of the fireplace structure will protrude into the room and be finished w/a custom cabinet. i should be able to accomodate my 36"XBR and the heresy2 into that design(above the fireplace),while remaining flexable enough to replace the 4x3 xbr w/a 16x9 one day.

is there no way to use a standard heresy2 for YOUR application?

avman.

[damonrpayne]

Well I don't think it looks as good as the standard elongated ceter channel design, and its sort of practice for a Khorn center (when I have more space) Does anyone know the part# for the woofers from the RF-5?

[STL]

I don't think you'll find a prefab enclosure big enough to house what you need for a Heresy center (both horns and two 8" woofers). You do want the enclosures to be built with 3/4" MDF, but you could apply a veneer that is stainable or use this stuff:

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&SO=2&&DID=7&CATID=48&ObjectGroup_ID=135&filter=laminate

I did mine in Black Ash, so I cannot attest to how good the other colors look.

Keep in mind that you might be able to find a mill shop that will cut all the pieces for you so then you only have to assemble the enclosure. That is what I did. I have two 4'x8' sheets (enough to build my 4 custom speakers) cut to my exact measurements for $60 -- money very well spent because the stuff is very dense making it hard to work with and quickly dull saw blades. You do need to make sure you are getting precision cuts -- not some rough cut for 25 cents per cut like Home Depot or Lowes does. Once you get all the pieces cut, you only need some clamps, wood glue, screws, a drill (and bit for recessing screw heads), and a power screwdriver.

[j-malotky]

Damon

Get a hold of hwatkins on the Forum. He built one using two 8s I think. He had help from Trey C to make the crossover too.

JM

[cyclonecj]

I also built one with a pair of 8".

My wood skills are also non-existent, so I did like STL said, had a wood shop cut the pieces for me then did the assembly. Everything fit together perfectly.

I used the heresy E-2 crossover with no mods, & the box size was built to the specs for the woofers I used.

[damonrpayne]

cyclone that sounds pretty good, how would I go about looking through the phone book for that type of wood shop?

Would Klipsch sell me two 8" woofers, K-53 horn/driver, K-76 horn/driver, and a Heresy II crossover network? Parts on ebay and such are usually heresy I parts.

[cyclonecj]

I just looked up the company that did mine, & it was listed under "lumber & wood products, millwork".

I am sure Klipsch will sell all the parts you need, but at full price. I looked on e-bay for a single Heresy, & found they were going for close to $300. I finally just bought a pair for $405 local, saving the shipping. If I ever move up to 6.1, I will already have a rear channel.

[STL]

There really is no need to use Klipsch woofers in this case. As for the horns just be patient b/c I have seen K53Ks on eBay (in fact there was one just last week). If you get in a pinch, I have a K76K that I might be willing to part with.

[STL]

Check this auction out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14991&item=3091464829

At minimum it would get you two 8" Klipsch woofers (like you want) and the correct horn lens -- and maybe even the entire correct horn (then you'd have two). If not, you just have to buy a different magnet structure from Klipsch. Then all you need is a crossover and a midrange. I bet this crossover (BTW his pictures look wrong) would work with some minor mods:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50597&item=3091242473

And here is a lone midrange:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3276&item=3091035029

Seems like you are just about all set!!

[hwatkins]

You can get a look at my custom - it is in the first three pictures on this page:

http://home.earthlink.net/~hwatkins/id63.htm

I used two Fostex 168 sigmas (no longer made) that I picked up from a guy on AA. They are 7". I used a K77, K55 and type E2 crossover. Trey supplied the Thiel Small for the K22 and I searched for similar efficiency, response and measurements in looking fo the woofers. The fostex are suggested as a full ranger for a backhorn, but it sure speced out good as a mid woofer in a sealed box. With Trey's info (including the Xover schematic found elswhere) I was able to use a simple zoebel with the speakers wired parallel (this got the LF bump in SPL these smaller speakers needed). Since I was designing this for a managed 80hz I tuned the box to 50hz. It does really well down to 65 - 70 hz and is very nicely meshed with the sub. There is a small hump (very small, but when you DIY you know all those things and you always hear it) at 100hz or so.

The result - an extraordinary seamless meshing with the Heresy. I will probably keep forever.

You will need to use one of the free speaker box design programs - WinISD, Boxplot and Unibox are all very good and each have their specific values - for me unibox is a great way to quickly change speaker specs, boxplot is good for the vents (if used) and WinISd has a golden rule ratio that lets you put in two dimensions and it calculateds the third (very handy for odd shaped boxes) for box dimensions. As you can see I use all three for any project. I manually ran the formulas to spot check all three and they passed that cursury examination. Xover is a different beast - the speaker should really be in the box and measured before building a Xover. In this case the numbers were too close so I worked mods on an existing Xover. Here I used PIAlign (another freeby) and treated the mod as a first order change (you might not want to try this at home - it doesn't seem to make much traditional sense).

Don't be fooled - that is one big and heavy box. The interior volume is the same as a heresy (or there abouts). Also, don't be scared to try - if this sounds like mumbo jumbo I promise you will have to only read a short bit to catch the logic.

This project ruined me for life - I am now building a three way with JBL pro parts that is influenced most by a Cornwall. They will be in a very pretty enclosure (aat least in my eyes).

[JohnA]

Try this, too.

http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=34584&forumID=69&catID=19&search=1&searchstring=&sessionID={5C65936D-2DA1-4EBE-8542-A400A14FFB20}

[damonrpayne]

Many thanks to everyone, I'm bidding on various parts right now. I'm not in a super big hurry but I'm likely to have a lot more questions as the pieces start to roll in.

To be continued...

[HornEd]

Henry... you are a man after my own heart... what a beautiful custom center tribute to your Heritage rig! -HornEd

[hwatkins]

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On 4/17/2004 7:32:55 AM HornEd wrote:

Henry... you are a man after my own heart... what a beautiful custom center tribute to your Heritage rig! -HornEd

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Thanks Ed - coming from you that is an honor. Your solutions humble mine - I really want to be you (in a tinkering way, not in looks - I already have a heathy dose of ugly).

For all you newbies - Ed is the legend in building legend HT...

[Olorin]

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On 4/16/2004 6:25:04 PM STL wrote:

Check this auction out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14991&item=3091464829

At minimum it would get you two 8" Klipsch woofers (like you want) and the correct horn lens -- and maybe even the entire correct horn (then you'd have two).

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STL,

I can't find specs for this on the product page. Do you happen to have them? Since Damon is bidding on this set I'm going to leave it alone, but it would be handy to know about them for future reference.

Thanks!

[damonrpayne]

I couldn't find the specs either so I'm not bidding on those. I am bidding on a crossover network and some other stuff though.

[coronaspect]

Ok, I shoulda looked here first...I've made a couple posts about shielding heritage for centers. This seems to be the place for this info...VERY nice homebrew center Henry...I am finally going to have enough Heritage (2 pair LS's & 2 pair of Heresys for HT. I just haven't seen (maybe missed?) anything about shielding my vid screem from the LS or Heresy EMF. Any help for a newbie on this?

Again...SWEET custom center Henry! I may try my hand at one...