An 8 Port Single Driver Loudspeaker that Will Blow Your Mind

I was recently invited to a neighbors house to listen to his new DIY loudspeakers. They were built from plans from Decware DIY audio projects with the help of another neighbor who is very good at woodworking.

Our friend Miguel is an electrical engineer who built all the components in his system including his turntable, which I'll share in another post soon. He's a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the source and delivery of his music.

When he mentioned he had new speakers, we pretty much dropped everything and headed on over for a listen.

The Speaker plans

Miguel's new do it yourself speakers were built from Model NFX  plans.

The Driver

The driver is a single full range 8" full range crossover-less loudspeaker. The spec sheet claims a minimum power requirement of 2 watts. OK then. I like it.

The Cabinet

The cabinet, which as mentioned was built by Brian, another neighbor from plans from Decware DYI plans was nothing short of stunning. I don't often use that word to describe the physical form of a loudspeaker but in this case it held true.

Yes the cabinet was carefully hand crafted with beautiful matched fronts, but the baffles, oh the baffles!

The cabinet sits at a 20 degree angle and there are eight (8) baffles, 4 on each side. And oh, what they do is nothing short of amazing.

The dimensions

The cabinet is 12.5" wide, 17" deep and 42.5" high. The Decware website calls this the Nibbelin Ultraflex that has no parallel surfaces.

You can read all their marketing stuff here.

The Sound

The most amazing trick this speaker accomplishes is to almost totally disappear. I've heard a lot of speakers and these are one of the most transparent speakers I've ever heard. The sound stage was immense and seamless. Sound was everywhere and very balanced and comparable to good electrostatic panels. A beautiful mixture of mids, highs and cultured bass that simply filled the room with music and incredibly natural vocals.

The one thing though...

Jazz, acoustic music, symphonic music sounded amazing with just the right amount of bass, for me at least. Where the Decware's fell short was rock or anything requiring more booming bass. The soundstage remained impressive but the bass was just not delivered in a satisfying way. Nothing a good sub could not and did solve.

But the reproduction of jazz and vocal musics along with the immense soundstage makes me want them just for those genre's alone.

Bottom line

Would I buy these? Well, all tolled with labor these came out to about $2,000. A reasonable price for these incredible sounding and looking speakers. Of course you build cost could vary. That said, I want one of Miguel's turntables before a new set of speakers, of which I already have quite a collection.

Here are some of the specs from Decware's site.

SPECIFICATIONS

• 99 dB with 1 watt at 1 meter
• 58Hz ~ 20kHz flat
• 48Hz ~ 25kHz -3dB
• 8 ohm nominal impedance
• Crossoverless
• 2 ~ 60 watts
• Max SPL 115 dB
• Size 12.5" wide, 17" deep, 42.5" high
• Ultraflex cabinet

How MDF Speakers are Made

MDF, or medium density fiberboard is used in most mid-level speakers and in many high end ones as well. Speaker companies use it because it is easy to work with, inexpensive and is extremely rigid. The rigidity and density is important so that the speaker cabinet does not color the sound as it bounces around inside the cabinet.

Do MDF speakers look worse than real wood?
In short, no. A high quality speaker company will make them look very nice. Since MDF is made from wood fibers glued under heat and pressure, it offers a extremely dense material that is, unlike wood, dimensionally stable. This gives you a very uniform material to make speaker cabinets from. Unfortunately in its native state, MDF is pretty ugly. To address this, manufacturers attach either a wood veneer (real wood) or vinyl woodgrain (not real wood : ^) outer covering on the MDF before making the speaker cabinet.

How are they Made?

1. Vinyl woodgrain or wood veneer are glued to the MDF. This is a permanent process, but of course the quality and thickness of the vinyl or veneer come into play. The thicker the veneer or vinyl, the more sturdy it will be over time.
2. A Groove Cutter cuts a V groove into the MDF right down to the vinyl or veneer.
3. The MDF is then "folded' to create the cabinet.

In better speakers a brace is usually added for extra support and to add rigidity.

Good as Wood or Better
Overall MDF speakers look and sound every bit as good as a speaker cabinet made of wood alone, probably better. In most cases they will look better, no knots or other imperfections, and sound better due to higher density and conformity of the material.

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