For the bottom plinth, I learned it can't be made from soft woods like pine because it warps too easily.  This piece has to be perfectly flat and stay that way.  I tried 1/2 inch plywood which worked but it wasn't very heavy and looked too thick.  I tried 1/4 hardwood and learned that too can warp.  So right now the best look both visually and structurally is a hardwood block made from two pieces and then sliced like bread to 3/8 inch so the grain is vertical in the plinth rather than horizontal.

Tonight I did a logo for the front.



As soon as get the binding posts I ordered I plan to put more of these together.

Steve

Plans have been finalized and will be available as soon as I create a place on the site to purchase them. I will post that link in this thread when it becomes available.

Just getting ahead of the curve here a little bit. Since I don't know the final price and or if there would even be a market for these I am just proceeding as if I did. What I do know, is that there's a market for the plans, so now they are done.



Here is a Buy it Now link for the Tiny Radial plans $19.95 instant download.

https://secure.ultracart.com/cgi-bin/UCEditor?merchantId=DIY&ADD=TRPLANS&themeCo...

The plans are a high resolution .pdf of the picture shown above.

-Steve

Funny, I just started to disassemble my implementation of the Tang Band T2-2136SA to finish as a center channel for the Charoit and took a break to look at this thread.

Nice progress on the design. Looks like the Tiny Radial will be added to my ever growing todo list for a set of computer monitors. Looks good Steve!

John

Welcome to the family!

If you hi-pass these speakers at 80Hz, they could probably get reasonably loud in a small room, So far I have been running them full-range with our 2 watt amplifiers and find the pairing ideal for low volume listening.  I honestly don't think the speaker would handle much more than that without getting distorted.  

These speakers are great for desktop in-your-face listening with just a couple watts at which point they will get plenty loud, or for relatively low level background music in an office, kitchen, living room, bedroom, etc. with the same power.  If you wanted to push them, you would need an 80Hz hi-pass crossover and more power.

As for DAC, Streamer, CD player, and so on, I would recommend a dedicated streamer/usb DAC combo like the Cambridge Audio CXN series.  That way you have it all covered.  If you want to play CD's you can get their CD player, or use one you already have as a transport feeding the streamer/dac.

Nice to haves is a ZBIT so that you can run the balanced outputs from the streamer/dac  into the amplifier.  I have tested this combination and found balanced outputs feeding a ZBIT to be better than the standard RCA output.  In fact the difference is so great, that even with a ZROCK2 connected to the standard RCA output the ZBIT output will still usually win.

Steve

Here is a Buy it Now link for the Tiny Radial plans $19.95 instant download.

https://secure.ultracart.com/cgi-bin/UCEditor?merchantId=DIY&ADD=TRPLANS&themeCo...

The plans are a high resolution .pdf of the picture shown earlier.

-Steve

If it's just looks it's not these. The white doesn't do it for me on the beautiful wood. Size is a factor but color is the biggest problem for me. I like the ones used on the Traps. Not sure if they would work on these. I don't have my pair close to look at the moment.

Steve,

Maybe something like these: https://www.parts-express.com/mini-gold-plated-insulated-5-way-binding-post-bana.... Not sure how they sound but better looking.

HK

What I think would be neat is if these Mini-Radials could be constructed to be mini-mid bass units such as HSU I think used to make. Stick them out of sight and fill in that range.

Appreciate the feedback on the binding posts, which confirms my thoughts as well. I have ordered some regular full size, but in black instead of gold. Also some pricey ones for the walnut pair.

Yes, I will take several more pictures as we go along. On this walnut pair, I am using high gloss lacquer. I'm on about coat 10 so far, and have a long way to go before it starts looking like something.

Sadly I gooned myself last week. I accidentally created a perfect pour-on finish on this cutting board. No way to do this on a speaker because it only works on horizontal surfaces. But... now that I've seen this, everything else just looks like shit ; )




So far the first three pair I have finished in satin lacquer, which is the standard Decware speaker finish, and it looks great. The high gloss walnut pair is likely to be a one-off.  

So far my favorite wood and my favorite finish is the Sapele with Linseed oil. There is just something richly satisfying when you hold the natural oiled wood in your hand. Not only the way it looks but the way it feels. The oil works well with the Sapele.

Steve

thisd might also bbe the time where I point out that my wife is really getting tired oif seeing invoices from parts express and Decware.

I point out that it could  be worse.  I could be collecting amplifiers from here too.


I'm just glad the parts listing for the zen amp kit is so outdated that I can't find all of them or I'd be seriously racking up the bills.

oh great.  this time searching for the GXSE10-6-8K results in me finding them.  *thannks* for that.

I'm going ot have to do some serious sucking up to be allowed to blow more money.  As it is I am waiting for another shipment already from PE for 8" and ribbon tweets.

I gave up smoking without a plan in place to funnel that money into a hobby.  I've also rpetty well stopped drinking so my "ghood bottle of burmon" fund has dried up too.  Clearly I am doing it wrong.  I have failed to properly negotiate the terms of my surrender.   But that was 30 years ago.  She still puts up with me.

I will build some speakers first.  Then I get to try to explain why I need to build another amp so I can run mono blocks.  At which point I get a new source.  I like to think I have the  long game figured out but I know better.  She seems to be one step ahead of me every time.

When I am allowed to go get more MDF, I'll post pictures of the build(s) to the proper forum.

I like these that I put on my F15s.  The do stick out but to me, they are aesthetically pleasing.

The Solen look like great candidates, depending on the quality.  I ordered some to see.  Thanks!

Steve

How about these for binding posts?
http://gr-research.com/electracabletubeconnectors-1.aspx

...yes Steve ....I like those much better then the larger, more protruding pair...they are such a small handsome speaker with a sleek flair that anything large and protruding would draw your eye away from the beauty of the wood and shape...I feel that a pair of these on the side of a big screen would complement a pair of ERRx ....they are the same shape and could be the ERRx little brother

Soon, I should have another selection of binding posts that I ordered weeks ago at which point I will do the finally assembly on the enclosures I have built. I will post finally assembly pics of each of those. I am looking forward to making some more, now that I have all the jigs made. Getting jigs right is time consuming. If you are only going to ever build a single pair of these for yourself, you don't need jigs.  

Steve

I am still waiting for binding posts to arrive, however I did receive the more expensive pair I ordered for the fancy walnut pair I made for myself... and today there was some sunshine so I could catch some of it with the phone camera.

That wood is beautiful! I love when wood has character like that.

Steve, now the last pic. If they were black to match the top and bottom you would nailed it for me.

The walnut ones look absolutely stunning.  How many coats of lacquer are you using?  Sorry, I realize we are now talking about the finish on the cabinet rather than he sound quality, but when thinking price, you are going to need to consider how must time is spent on the finish too.  It has been a couple of decades since I have been to the shop, do you have a finishing booth too?

I'm awaiting the upgrades to my anorexic build before I star in on the home version of these.  I really need to get one right/working before I start the next project.

smaller means tighter tolerances and less room for mistakes.  The only think you are reducing is material cost. Considering that the real investment is the intellectual property of the design, the reduced lumber is not significant in the picture.

Your intellectual property, 4 hours of labor, plus materials to get a pair of desktop speakers/background sound is going to be a tough price to crack.  FWIW, $499 would be my guess for a price point on these guys.  I'm going off my past experience with the results you have produced on when you chased an idea, because I've not listened to these guys.


That finish is stunning. You've done an incredible job with them. I will eventually make a pair to see how thy sound, because I bought the TB drivers.  They fell into the cart when I was purchasing the wrong x-over caps for my other project.