DR250 and WHOA...I'm giddy like a little girl

[Michael Lemke]

It took just over a month from recieving the plans (ok - five weeks), but 1 (and 3/4) DR250's are done. Here's the rundown.

I worked on both of them, performing double steps all the way until the wiring. After wiring the first one, I couldn't stand the wait. I finished that one the rest of the way and tried it out. I had a buddy coming over to do some jamming and I was dying to try this thing out. I would use it as a PA top and for running the bass through (I normally play guitar but do play bass on a few songs). Did I mention I hadn't yet padded the woofer chamber?

The performance was above average, but not by alot. It was definitely louder than my regualr pa speaker, but the bass was sort of blah and the sound needed a lot of EQ. For what it's worth, I was using my PMP3000 Behringer powered mixer (please - don't cringe like that) and my Ibanez active bass.

After that night I took the cab back out to the garage, added the padding, and re-sealed the sucka. I replaced the battery in the bass, took the cab upstairs, pointed it towards the wall (not sure if wall loading the DR's helps like it does the subs or not) and let er rip. After about 5 minutes I was (as the title says) giddy like a little girl. Mind you, this is a single, sealed DR250 using the MCM driver and twelve square piezos. I eq'd the channel, but that was it. I could literally play most of our practice songs out of this single dr, wall loaded, and be just fine.

I went downstair and asked my wife "Did you hear that???"

I went to my daughter and asked her "Did you hear that??"

I even asked the neighbor.

They all heard it.

Really long story short, the DR250 is a great cab, IF you follow the directions. I was skeptical at first. But after completing the build, it seriously matches performance of the 1X15 Fender bass amp I was looking at at Sam Ash, and it can be used as a fantastic PA cab. The vocals were loud and clear when singing. I have no doubt that a pair of these will serve both purposes without a hitch. I'll let you know next week when I complete the second DR250. My only performance concern was the midrange was MUCH more in your face w/o the EQ, but I heard over and over through the forums that these cabs need EQ. It's true.

As somewhat of a sidenote, I went for the gusto and built this using 3/8" plywood, from Lowes or HD. I don't know what grade it was, but it had the five ply's. The 1/8 for the sheaths were built from the cheapo pre-painted white paneling with the luann (is that how it's spelled) backing. NOTE: if you go this route, you MUST predrill every hole you put a screw in.

Also, I used the Loctite Power Grab instead of PL. A lot if it. Probably about 6 tubes of it per two cabs. There are two versions available at lowes & HD, the only way I can tell you which it was is that the one I bought had the yellow cap on the end of the tube. The beauty of it was it cleaned up SPECTACULARLY with water and could be painted after just a few hours. In some cases where I mis-measured and had a considerable amount, like more than 3/16" thick of glue, it shrank just a little and needed re-coated the next day. After that, though, it sealed perfectly and I couldn't be happier. I'll probably never use PL on a build after the Loctite. The water cleanup was GREAT and even the big goobers stay airtight.

For a finish I primed everything with flat black and sprayed it all with Krylon stone finish; it looks spectacular. The stone finish easily covers up the imperfections of the cheaper plywood. I have the pic's, but they are on the camera still. I'll post them in the next few days, and you can judge for yourselves.

Changes I would make is even though the 3/8" worked great, I would make the tweeter baffle out of 1/2". After cutting all those 3" holes into it, when I screwed the horn sheaths on it was a serious challenge to do that w/o destroying the tweeter baffle; it was very fragile.

FWIW, the only woodworking experience I had prior to building the DR's was building the deck's on our house. I knew how to measure, but my accuracy and patience left something to be desired. These cab's will cure that. It took five weeks to finish the first one (and most of the second). I'll have both done in six weeks. I wouldn't try doing them any faster if you've never done it before and you have a busy life. Rushing only causes headache. Take your time. The 3/8" is not impractical, but requires GREAT patience. If you can't be careful, I would say forget the half inch DR's, build the Omni's.

Tools used include a cordless drill (two would have been nice - one loaded with a drill bit for pre-drilling the holes and one with the driver bit for installing the screws could have saved ALOT of time), a circular saw, a jig saw, a small band saw with a fine tooth blade (one of the most used tools from the bunch), a table saw with the abrasive wheel for the schedule 40 pipe, and a caulking gun.

I play metal, classic rock, and some psychadelic rock either upstairs in my house, or in my buddy's 20' x 20' basement. Yes I and my buddy play half stack's in the basement. Yes these PA cabs will keep up with the half stacks for both bass and vocals without a problem. That is more than I can say for the 600w amp and 12" Carvin PA speakers we were using.

Cheers Bill - you rock.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

FWIW, I tried Loctite Power Grab. It may have its uses, but building speaker cabs isn't one of them. Use PL.

[Michael Lemke]

I know there are two versions, the one I used says on the label good for 'gap filling'. It didn't seem to have the 'instant grab' that it claimed, but it seemed to work okay for this project.

I'll try the PL on the next build (titans).