893 Speaker Build

After 20 years of faithful service from my B&W 804 and HTM speakers, I got the itch and was on the hunt for something new. I visited various brick and mortar stores, auditioned Ascend Acoustic Sierra towers with RAAL tweeters and SVS Ultra Towers in my room, but the B&Ws held their own so I decided to keep them. After months of additional research, the 893 kits caught my eye and I took a shot at the center kit along with the flat pack with XO board from Matt.



Since the flat packs are cut so well, using caulk to seal the seams isn't truly necessary, but I did it anyway as a precaution.



Afterwards I lined the interior walls with two layers of poly fill batting and mounted the XO to one of the side walls.



Next steps I glued and mounted the front baffle, drilled holes for the speaker terminals, gave it a few coats of Duratex and allowed it to dry before connecting and mounting the drivers. After using the Restore 4X on my DIY sub, I'm thinking of redoing the center channel with the Restore 4X or building a new cabinet and going with a veneer. Decisions... decisions... but here are the photos during the build process.



After everything was complete, I ran DIRAC on my XMC-1, sat back and listened... and listened... and listened. The B&Ws still have a strong hold onto my soul, but the 893 Center kit certainly won't be my last dive into DIY speakers. I'm going to move the B&Ws into my home office and build a set of 893s as ported towers to complete the DIY HT speaker system.

 

Ordered 2 more kits and once I'm done with the Volt 6s, I'll start building these as ported towers.



Since I was assembling the crossovers for the Volts, I dry fitted and then assembled one of the crossover boards for the 893.

 

welcome to the 893 tower club. what dimensions have you settled for.

 

Hello... I'm going to use the drawings you supplied on AVS. Still enjoying your towers?

 

That's great. Any questions, I am here to help. Definitely enjoying the speakers. Much of the time I listen in 2.2 when watching t.v. no need to fire up all the amps. (using marantz 7702 mkII). sounds terrific when not using the center. But, blu-rays..9.2.4 is the way to go.

 

For sure, I'll reach out with any questions. Thanks for providing the information and motivation!

 

Picked up another board from Matt and will be using a pair of his in the towers and the other board in the center channel as it's slightly smaller. I forgot to take pictures when I glued the components to the board, but here's soldering them on the flip side.



All done:



And both boards compared:



Both are made like a tank, but I liked the fact that the board on the right has component placement labeled on the board... it made it easier to put together.

 

Finally finished the crossover swap and it fits perfectly in between the braces on the rear wall. Can't wait to build those towers...

 

Your build is coming along nicely. Will be following this thread as I am planning a tower build soon. Keep the pics coming.

 

Well, weekends came and went as other priorities presented themselves and I was no closer to building the towers. After a few months of staring at the components in the corner of the room, I broke down and purchased 2 flat packs. I figured I can at least enjoy them instead of wishing I had built the towers. I have the MDF in my basement, so I can always do something with it down the road.

I wanted to mount the crossover boards towards the back of the cabinets, so I notched the center brace. While I was at it, I pulled out the router and gave the braces a slight round over to get rid of those knuckle scraping corners.







I then dry fitted parts of the cabinet and placed the crossover board inside to see if I had enough clearance. I had enough width, but it was resting too high.



It then dawned on me, to cut the center brace to look like the two end braces. Once I did that, the crossover board sat flush with the back wall of the cabinet. I took that piece I just cut off to my saw to cut it down and will glued it in the dado so that part of the cabinet isn't weakened. (Pictures to follow)

Then I dragged out the clamps and glued it together. One down, one more to go...

 

And done for today... second cabinet is glued and clamped. Tomorrow's plan is to glue the front baffle in place.

 

I was about to ask for pictures of you gluing the front baffle on until I realized how recent this thread is. Your last pictures are the most helpful I've had in my build. I now know exactly how many clamps I need to buy.

If I counted right this is how many is needed:

• 6" - 4
• 18" - 14

 

Hello and I'm glad my thread was helpful. I might have gone overboard with the clamps, but I rather make sure it's clamped well. I left the clamps on for 6 hrs as I don't have enough to do both boxes at the same time and then let them dry over night. I have a mix of clamps from Jorgenssen, Bessey, Dewalt and Harbor Freight. The Dewalts are my least favorite as a couple slip when tightening, so I had to return them and one of the replacements is starting to slip now. Very easy to use, but frustrating when they slip. The ones from Harbor Freight work very well for glue ups, but the bar tends to bow a bit when tightening... the Bessey and Jorgenssen are rock solid, but more expensive.

If you're starting from scratch I would go with the Harbor Freight clamps as they are cheap @ $6 - $8 or so each. Here are the sizes I used:

Dewalts (Yellow) are 6 & 12
Bessey (Red Handle) are 6 & 12
Jorgenssen (Wood Handle) are 12 & 24
Harbor Freight (Blue Handle) are 24

Hope you create a build thread for your speakers. Any other questions, feel free to ask...

 

Yikes. I was looking forward to your tower build so I can copy it . But I completely understand how these things turn into something other than what was originally planned.

 

Yea, things happen, but think about it, now I'll be able to compare how they sound sealed vs ported.

1st baffle glued and clamped. Once the second one is done, it will be time to clean the living room.

 

Second one is glued up and clamped. Now it's time to decorate the tree and then it's cleanup time.

 

As luck would have it, when we brought the cabinets inside and started to clean up it started to snow. So the cabinets are done for now... lmao The sides are sanded baby smooth and we gave the edges a round over. I just need to give the round over a quick hand sanding to smooth them a bit more and then I can apply a finish. Still undecided between Duratex and Restore 4X, but now it's time for some hot chocolate as it was freezing out there. Brrrrr

 

Hi. This is looking good. My kits were delivered yesterday and my boards from Joemar should be here Friday. I get to buy a new soldering iron for this project. I'll post updates on my build in my build thread at AVS Forum: http://www.avsforum.com/forum/15-ge...s/2648665-dream-room-s-finally-happening.html

I have a couple questions.

-How tight did you make the clamps when assembling the cabinet? (I bought Harbor Freight out in clamps )
-How are you placing these in your room, baffle Wall or beside the screen?
-What hardware are you using for the 8" woofer?

 

Thanks and I just subscribed to your thread on AVS. Looking forward to seeing your build thread.

• I didn't over tighten the clamps, but they were certainly snug... if that makes sense. Once the joint compressed, I gave them a little twist until some of the excess glue squeezed out.
• For now, they will be placed on stands or onto a pair of 18" subs beside my 100" screen. I also have a 58" plasma on the wall, so the L&R speakers are roughly 8" apart.
  
• I'm using the screws that came with the kits... that's how I built my center and it's been fine thus far. I considered using T-Nuts, but ended up using the screws instead. Maybe if the baffles had a little more meat on them or it was a double baffle, but I felt the screws were fine. I used these for my 18" sub build:

https://www.parts-express.com/m5-x-30mm-cap-head-wood-screws-black-100-pcs--081-312​

 

Drilled pilot holes for the driver screws and speakon connector. Getting closer...

 

Assembled one to make sure the crossover is good... so far two thumbs up! Digging the sound!



Wasn't expecting this for a few days, so you can say Santa came early.

 

Build looking great!

When you said you will be able to compare sealed/ported, does that mean you are still going to build a ported version? Or do you already have one. Sorry I kinda forgot.

 

Thanks, almost done! I have the MDF in the basement, so I'll try building the towers during the spring / summer time as I'll have a better table saw and more free time.

 

My 2017 New Years Resolution is to finish these bad boys. Hope to have the first coat of Duratex finished shortly after the flat black drys a bit.

 

First coat applied... second coat will be applied in the AM. I'll try to take better pictures after they dry.