My home made diffuser

[jeremycox]

Today i started a project to build some quadratic residue diffusers.
Overall not a difficult project--even though i used only hand tools to build this first test product. It took around 10 hours and cost less than $8.

Anyone have any reason to believe these wont work? I plan on building 7 more for the back wall of my room (which is around 16 feet away from my monitors).





Any suggestions?
Jeremy Cox

[avare]

Suggestions? If you could detail the work process (with pictures) for other people to know how to do it.

It is fantastic!

Andre

[kyle barton]

how are the bottoms of the "wells" suspended? or are those solid pieces? it looks like the same material as the grid. that stuff is inexpensive at lowes/homedepot. i never thought of making one out of that.

i'm interested in your comments after you get it into action. keep us posted.

[jeremycox]

Interestingly, when just talking in front of this one you can hear a change in acoustics. It seems to be an improvement but its hard to tell with only one panel.

I constructed it out of "hardboard" as Home Depot calls it and used two 2'x4'x1/8" sheets which cost 2.59 each. Below the wells there are pieces of 3/4' x 3/4" pine moulding which i cut to space the vertical slats (y axis), and keep the wells at the correct depth. This is $.38 per linear foot. In this model you can see how this works..



There are 3 pieces of moulding in each well to space the horizontal axis and 6 vertically to support the base of the wells. Although the entire thing is glued together (no nails at all) it is extremely rigid.

Any questions/ suggestions? I'll take pictures as I make this next one.

Jeremy Cox

[Glenn Kuras]

I don't know what "hardboard" is but if a solid piece of wood then it should work fine.

Way to go, but hope it does not take 10 hours on the next one.

Glenn

[jeremycox]

Hardboard seems to be in the same category as MDF. Its extremely rigid/often used in cheap ikea furniture.
The only reason it took so long is i don't have a table saw here in NYC! If someone around has one and wants help building some diffusers--i'd love to help .

[avare]

Thanks!

[bpape]

Those are nice looking and should work just fine. The trick is to not repeat sequences too much and also more the distance from YOU to them rather than the monitors to them.

Bryan

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by jeremycox

It took around 10 hours and cost less than $8.

Looking good Jeremy! But hopefully you realize that ten hours of your time is worth something too! If a pro mix engineer earns $50 per hour, that's $500 right there - before the $8 for the wood.

--Ethan

[jeremycox]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Looking good Jeremy! But hopefully you realize that ten hours of your time is worth something too! If a pro mix engineer earns $50 per hour, that's $500 right there - before the $8 for the wood.

--Ethan

I wouldnt do it again with hand tools. With a table saw it probably wouldnt take more than 2 hours. I'm going to do them 36" high for the actual models.

[jeremycox]

I tested the room with the panel 2' from the mic and it flattened 500 to 2k perfectly. Will post graphs tomorrow.

[No4PCs]

Originally Posted by jeremycox

I tested the room with the panel 2' from the mic and it flattened 500 to 2k perfectly. Will post graphs tomorrow.

Friend, i did a kind of diffuser too, but with MDF wood, you know?

Then i did apply vernish on the MDF...did you try vernish? The vernished MDF looks like mogno!


Happy year 2008 everybody.

[pearldrum944]

Wow, that looks great! I may attempt this next month when I start putting treatment into my control room. How are you going to do the depths for the other panels? Make each separate panel identical to the others or vary the diffusion depths between the panels?

[kyle barton]

jeremy, what is the depth of the unit?

[cjogo]

A collection from the recycling center

shipping material--inserts from TV , etc ---the sheets were purchased on line
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/attac...1&d=1199236616
_MG_7294.jpgt

[jeremycox]

The depth is around 4 3/16"

All the calculations can be found here HiFi Speaker Design © mhSoft

I used 928Hz because its a good round number as far as converting from cm to in goes. Not super scientific though.

[imaverysoundman]

would there be any advantage if the bottom (depth) panels of hardwood were angled slightly????..would it diffuse more frequencies???

[Jason Jones]

Originally Posted by imaverysoundman

would there be any advantage if the bottom (depth) panels of hardwood were angled slightly????..would it diffuse more frequencies???

Nope.

Jason

[NowWhat]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

I don't know what "hardboard" is but if a solid piece of wood then it should work fine.

Way to go, but hope it does not take 10 hours on the next one.

Glenn

ZING!

[audiovisceral]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

hopefully you realize that ten hours of your time is worth something too! If a pro mix engineer earns $50 per hour, that's $500 right there

only if you''ve got work ...

[bino_5150]

I think I'll build one of these just for the hell of it. I have nail guns and a table saw, so this shouldn't be more than an hour or two tops...

good build though!

[jeremycox]

Im making more right now--at four feet tall. There will be 4 on my back wall. Its an easy build and you save a bunch of cash.

Jeremy

[spigot]

don't know about in the US but here diy stores will cut the wood for you...for a price, a small price to pay for not having 10hours of cutting wood!

great job and great links may even try some myself

[bino_5150]

Here in the US, diy stores like Home Depot and Lowes will cut it for you for free. But for a bunch of cuts like this, be polite and catch them when they aren't busy... and make sure you have all of your measurements right.

[jeremycox]

Here in NY Home depot charges $1 for each cut beyond two. You can rent a table saw for i think 40 dollars a day--maybe the best bet for someone w/o tools (at least up here).

[dykstraster@gmai]

Jeremy,

It's been some time since your last post on this subject. I was wondering how the final product worked out for you, and maybe you have some pictures? Using the link you provided for the depth calculations should prove useful.

[dr jazz]

Hi I can't resist showing you my new diffuser made in Black Mdf
19mm for the back and sides 9mm for the rest.
My friend Benjamin Minisini built it for me and I only have to polish it and to find somekind of roller system to move it because its weight is nearly 60 kilos.
I tried it with my bass clarinet and it's a pleasure to play it front of it...detailed and large sound...
Dimensions 124cmX64cmX22cm

[MSR74]

One way to keep weight down is to build the diffuser out of Gator Board. This is a lightweight and inexpensive material similar to foam core board, but made of a much stronger material because it has a wooden fiber pollimer between the laminate sheets. It also looks like foam core and only weighs slightly more.

[MSR74]

BTW, it might be good to fill the insides of your diffuser cavities with some sort insulation so they (the cavities) don't resonate. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

[dr jazz]

Thanks for the advise but I'm not sure Gator board Exist here in France...
Perhaps it has another name?
If anybody has an idea...