Buy two 4X8 sheets of 3/4" mdf or plywood, and have the yard crosscut them at 66". The saw they will use has a coarse dull blade, so you will have to trim them to 64" later, but it's easier to carry and handle each sheet in two sections. I chose Birch plywood because I hate to breathe mdf dust, but you can use either. If you have a router and plan to do a roundover of the corners you must use mdf since plywood tends to split under a roundover bit.

Affordable Line Arrays

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FredT300B > The ART Arrays (AudioRoundTable Group Build Line Arrays) are happy with tubes or solid state amps. They are shown here being driven to room filling levels by a pair of Bottlehead Paramour 3.5 watt single ended triode amplifiers. Complete directions are here: http://audioroundtable.com/GroupBuild/Projects/

FredT300B > Here's the complete "kit" from Parts Express: 16 Dayton Classic 5.25" midwoofers, 2 Vifa DX25 tweeters, 50' of 16 ga wire, speaker terminals, ports, feet, air core inductors, Dayton poly capacitors, resistors, #6 driver mounting screws, quick disconnects. Thanks to a very generous discount from Parts Express, all this is only $290!

FredT300B > Buy two 4X8 sheets of 3/4" mdf or plywood, and have the yard crosscut them at 66". The saw they will use has a coarse dull blade, so you will have to trim them to 64" later, but it's easier to carry and handle each sheet in two sections. I chose Birch plywood because I hate to breathe mdf dust, but you can use either. If you have a router and plan to do a roundover of the corners you must use mdf since plywood tends to split under a roundover bit.

FredT300B > Building the arrays will require four 10" X 64" front/back panels and four 13-1/2" X 64" side panels cut from the two larger pieces you brought home from the lumber yard. Also needed are fourteen 8-1/2" X 13-1/2" panels for the tops, bottoms, and internal braces. One panel of each dimension is pictured here.

FredT300B > The drivers are test fitted on a front baffle. The centerline for all drivers is 4" from one side of the 10" wide baffle (be sure to make mirror image baffles). The tweeter center is 29-1/4" down from the top. The Tweter-Woofer CTC spacing is 5-1/4". The Woofer-Woofer CTC spacing is 6". These spacings will accommodate a solid brace just below the tweeter cutout, dividing the enclosure into two equal 2 cu ft subsections, plus a window frame brace between every second driver.

FredT300B > One baffle with the driver cutouts. The woofer cutouts are 4-3/4". The tweeter is 3-1/8". I used a router because I have one and it's easier than using a skil saw, but the cutouts don't have to be perfectly round, so a skil saw will work fine. Just draw the correct size circle with a compass, drill a 3/8" hole somewhere inside the circle, and start cutting. Be sure to use a blade that will permit you to do the smaller tweeter cutout.

FredT300B > You will have to cut out some "Mickey Mouse ears" for the tweeter tabs. To do this, place the tweeter in its cutout and mark the position of each tab. It would be better to recess the drivers, especially the tweeter, but we want this array to be accessible to people who don't have a router, so recessing is optional. The drivers for the prototype will not be recessed.

FredT300B > Here's the cutout with the tab positions marked.

FredT300B > Then you make the cutouts. You can use a router or a skil saw. If you plan to use a router to recess the tweeter, be sure to do the recess before you do the tab cutouts.

Buy two 4X8 sheets of 3/4" mdf or plywood, and have the yard crosscut them at 66". The saw they will use has a coarse dull blade, so you will have to trim them to 64" later, but it's easier to carry and handle each sheet in two sections. I chose Birch plywood because I hate to breathe mdf dust, but you can use either. If you have a router and plan to do a roundover of the corners you must use mdf since plywood tends to split under a roundover bit.