Hey all, I am new to the DIY community, and recently finished my first build. This speaker sounds fantastic! I will be building a pair of Hit makers after final exams are over. Notes: -Back side of speaker cabinet fastened to sides by 9 screws for easier disassembly if necessary -Glue was only used to hold the front baffle, bracing, and sides in place. Did this make a significant difference? probably not. -Corner pieces were cut for the inside and mounted with screws to help secure the back panel to the back four corners of the speaker cabinet. -A small amount of mattress foam was placed on the sides, back and top on the inside of the cabinet. I could have over done it here. -This speaker sounds excellent for the 80Hz-17kHz range. ( I doubt the 17-20 kHz range actually makes a significant difference unless you are a dog or a baby). -This speaker would probably sound amazing with a decent subwoofer to fill in that low range. Vocals, guitars, and other mid to high frequency stuff sounds absolutely amazing. Thanks Erich!
I received the Fusion 8 Alchemy yesterday. I was going to order the Fusion 6 or Volt 6, but after discussing with Erich, I went with the Fusion 8. My build is almost done as I am clamping the baffle of one speaker right now. I will glue and clamp the other baffle in two hours time (giving time for the tite bond to set). I will then give the baffle one more coat of paint and will connect the drivers when everything has dried. I tested the crossovers and they work before final assembly. Hopefull, I will not have to remove crossover, but I hot glued it so removing crossover should be easy. One thing is I have not done is finish the back and sides. I am thinking of some wood varnish or clear poly coat so the birch comes through. It is now bare plywood. Update and photos once I finish the build.
I finished the build of Fusion 8. Back, sides, top and bottom are not finished yet. I will probably cover with a poly coat in summer when I can put them out to dry. The sound was initially very bright, but with some break in, the speakers got a bit less bright. I still have no real handle on the sound. The bass is a bit lacking, but that could be due to not fully broken in and living room opening to kitchen and dining room. I may have put stuffing too close to the ports. I may have to remove woofers and readjust the stuffing once the speakers have been broken in. I used cheap foam mattress liner as suggested. I was going to add the poly fill from a cheap pillow, but have not cut open the pillow (cheaper than buying raw poly fill). I stuck some speaker cabinet liner that I had laying around on the horn to dampen any ring . Overall, it seems detailed, loud, efficient, and dynamic, with decent sound stage. It does not seem as detailed as the Norh Mini 9 with 5.5 inch Scanspeak revelator and 9700 tweeter (Dennis Murphy crossover), Acoustat Spectra 11, or Martin Logan stats. I tried to attach a pic, but after compressing, it was still too large. Oh well.
If, see if this pic will work. The speakers in the background are the Acoustat Spectra 11 and the Norh Mini 9.