bdm01 wrote:

This may not be the correct forum but i will give it a try.

Wanted a Lab 7.1 as a centre speaker for my Beovision 4 set up but can't justify to 2K spend.

So, got hold of the empty shell of a 7.1 and a front cover and want to try to do a DIY job.

Any comments or advise would be great i'm happy to buy the woofers, midrange and tweeters so they fit correctly, any suggestions as to an amp or amps that could be fitted to drive it ? powerlink in so I get auto turn on / off would be good.

My initial plan was a or a couple of second hand beolink passives or MCL2p's ? may not be powerfull enough.

Or maybe someone knows of an amp from another manufacturer that may fit the requirements ?

I look forward to comments.

Regards

First of all I have to say that I love DIY.

But the Problem on building a Loudspeaker is that you have to integrate an Amplifier.

The speakers itself may not be a big problem, but you have to test them for the right size, quality and the most important the magnet.

if you use speakers that are oversized the DIY Beolab may vibrate a lot.

I think building a beolab on you own is not a good idea. Why don't you use a normal speaker till you can afford a Beolab.

So, you're apparently the buyer who got the shell on eBay a while ago. I was about to bid, just for giggles, but before I got to that it was gone.

Let's face the facts: there's no chance to build a BL7 as DIY. At least not without spending a considerable amount of money buying all the neccessary components as spare parts, far more than a second-hand or even new 7.1 would cost. What I had in mind for that was building a fairly basic closed enclosure that fits inside the shell and using a proven set of drivers + crossover, most likely Penta midrange + tweeter setup, to match the sound of my Pentas. The easiest way is to make a fiberglass (or even cast!) positive mold of the inside, make a negative mold, modify it for best possible fit and finally use it to laminate a strong composite enclosure with appropriate strengthening to accommodate a screw-mountable flat faceplate.

This, however, is pretty far from a real Beolab 7.1, more like an opportunity for an unique but slightly heretic and work-intensive DIY-project.

Agreed! You won't get anywhere near building a BeoLab 7-1 of any sorts, but you may well end up with quite a nice DIY project in the shape of a BeoLab 7-1. There is a lot of active technology in the B&O speakers (and the BeoLab 7-1 is no exception) which will require a LOT of custom circuitry. The speaker drivers are also custom I believe, as with most BeoLabs.

A good start however would be downloading the service manual. I haven't looked at the BeoLab 7-1's circuit diagram, but I do know the BeoLab 3 manual gives you a lot of information about the sound manipulation going on inside the speaker. I would imagine the 7-1 is the same.

Hi,

I think it's a neat DIY project and I would love to see how you would do this one.

It's wise to look up the tech manual on the BL7.1 as this should give you more specs on the actual drivers used. it will be very hard to match the exact 7.1 specs but not impossible I suppose. Also alot easier to keep the amps outside of the frame.  The passives are ok but not the greatest amps and depending on what kind of sound level you want to produce you can use one or double them up. You can also find icepower amp boards (some threads in this forum might help with that) that are small enough to fit inside if you really wanted.  Sometimes you can find some on ebay.

A friend of mine used the drivers of a broken and faulty yamaha soundbar he bought on ebay, to create his own BL7.1 type speaker and sure sound good to me. 

Good luck with your project.

Regards,

O.