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The Colossi

The Colossi
Design Goals
Driver Selection
Enclosure Design
Enclosure Assembly
Crossover Design
Conclusion
Parts List
About the Designer
- Enclosure Construction & Assembly -

The overall construction of these speakers is similar to what you would find in any other speaker system. The biggest challenge is the physical unwieldiness of the panels and the overall size and weight of the cabinets. With all of the bracing and double-wall portions of the cabinet, I ended up needing three 4' x 8' sheets of MDF for the two speakers.

I started the construction with the subwoofer portion of the cabinet, and built it as if it was its own enclosure. It measures 10-1/2" by 10-1/2" by 23" with 1-1/2" thick ends; the rest of the cabinet was built around this to create the 1-1/2" walls on the subwoofer.

Above the subwoofer section, a 3/4" divider separates the cabinets into left and right air chambers, one for the midbasses and one for the tweeter. Since the tweeter does not play low enough to produce significant cabinet vibrations, no bracing was used in its airspace. The midbass portion was heavily braced with two sets of perforated vertical braces connecting the central divider to the exterior cabinet wall. All joinery was done with biscuits and glue, with some strategic air brads used in the bracing. The leading cabinet edges and top were eased with a 3/8" roundover bit. It was my first time trying to seal the MDF end grain with diluted Elmer's White Glue, and I was pleased with the results. When it came time to paint, I was able to get good coverage on the end grain without needing excessive coats.

For the finish, I wanted a simple, clean look, and decided that a gray paint would complement the drivers best. The paint is a Sherwin Williams ProClassicŪ Waterborne Interior Latex Semi-Gloss Enamel, which I had tinted Passive Gray. This was thinned slightly and applied with a HVLP sprayer over two coats of primer. About 4 thin coats of paint later, I was very impressed by the even coverage and deep lustre of the paint, especially considering that it was waterborne and dried fairly quickly.