Building a Transmission Line SPEAKER - by SoundBlab
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- There is always a first for everything, and this is my first transmission line (TL) speaker build. I have heard people say that it is very difficult and time consuming to design a successful speaker of this kind, but it can produce far better quality sounding lower frequency response (bass) and a more spacious soundstage.
After initial listening tests, I can attest to the claim of better quality bass performance and a spacious soundstage. These point source full range drivers are truly very well designed. The speakers disappear and you and you are left only with the music. For my 1st TL, this came out better than expected, and honestly, I find myself listening to these speakers more and more. Even with a moderate bass response, the sound is full enough not to fire up the subwoofer to fill in the low end. A very balanced, detailed and well rounded sound indeed!
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As a car audio enthusiast that has built transmission lines and a carpenter, I said hell yeah so many times during this video I can't even recall. Excellent build, beautiful work by the way... Remember the speed of sound that's all you need to know LOL
Thanks
Nice job. I used to build transmission line loudspeakers myself but I used a design that as copyright free.
It was based on a paper written in Wireless World in 1969 and used a triangulated path rather than parallel panels with tend to produce more resonance.
I also mounted the crossover on a pice of PCB and fastened it to the cabinet.
Jeremy i also have one exactly like yours using Audax speaker during the 90s. Still using it paired with Yamaha 3020 AV. it still sound great.
Gracias again SoundLab...beautiful way of teaching and sharing...I really do hope you receive the blessings back in the way you need them most. Gracias desde Colombia
Awesome build! I love transmission lines, they just seem to sound so good to me
....what a wonderful and neat work, it's a musical instrument. Listening to the report in the video I imagine that listening to them should be an impressive and unique experience...
Thanks. Jip, I like them!
TML speaker builds are one of the most exciting diy builds.
i have made a lot with TB speakers..these companies speakers offers a very interesting price quality but need a little little crossover build even in TML setup to sound well...like a Noch filter.
your workshop looks like a dream come true
Thanks. It took many years to gather the tools that I have and fortunate enough to have acquired the studio space in which I can work and live. I wish though that I had more time to organise everything better. But all with time I suppose!
Very nice speakers and congrats on the RWC win!
Thank you! Yes, the team played well and we are all very proud of them!
I love the music in this video. Reminds me almost of 90's computer adventure games.
Musics recorded in the "past" do not in average have such a high dynamic range that during replay, we need speaker systems that capable of re-producing Lower Freq. more distinct.
I believe Transmission Line is the answer. Long time wanting to build one but still have no chance to make it. Thanks for this good video.
Thanks
Amazing. Never knew how much work goes into this.
Thanks
A superb job, workmanship counts! some good sounding synth music along the way, thanks!
Thx
Congratulations on the nice build! My first TL was a 10" for a 3-way that I designed. I found the bass quality and speed of dynamics to be unmatched by anything I have heard previously. I'm fairly particular, but when it's right, there is something to the quality of bass that is unlike a closed or regular ported box. Every note sounds even with a walking bass line, and kick drum transients seem instantaneous.
Cool, thanks!
I am also very interested in the TL designs along with back loaded horn. Experiment and then some...which is really part of the fun of it all.
Awesome looking speakers. Reminds me of my dad's floor standing NAD's he built when he was younger, they have the same kind of reflex. Great job bro
Thanks man!
Dear Robin I apologize for hurting , these idiots never mention the dimensions they want to to touch the soft corner of our heart. Without proper tuning you will get only noise , believe me I am the industry for past 3 decades
your dad might want to see a dr for that :D
i cant believe how good these sound. ill have to build a pair.
Thanks
Congratulations, and thank you, for actually constructing the enclosures where others might have just 3d-bloody-printed them.
Thanks!
@Spirit Oh you poor little boy. You can't make basic things, can you? How sad that you have to print the simplest things instead of just making them.
very good job. it was beautiful
Thank you! Cheers!
I built folded transmission line 20 years ago. In my design, the cross section of pipe tapers providing a lower Q and flatter response at low frequencies.
It is interesting to play around with tapered vs straight line pipes. A lot of experimentation is normally needed to get a T-line to perform correctly.
I've been designing and building Transmission Line boxes for subwoofers, and I must say, they make the absolute most bang for your buck when you can make cheap 10s on low wattage sound like high-powered 15s. I've always wondered about running mids/highs t-lines through their own t-line setup. You did a great job on this.
Thanks
Goeie werk! Baie netjies. Talk about irony... a South African living in New Zealand, watching a video of a South African building speakers in South Africa and only realizing it at the end of the video when you started talking. Well done! Ek wonder nou al baie lank hoe sal n full range speaker aleen in n goeie boks klink. Ek hou nogals van Eminance se speakers.
Dankie!
This is good idea for sharing to each other that plays in youtube so that other know how to build good speaker thanks for making this kind of video
Thanks
Very handsome enclosures.
Thanks
Class workmanship. Reminds me of my youth when I admired the Transmission line speaker design and always hoped I could build one or buy one. The TLS80. From IMF
My dream
I think they used KEF drivers
Thanks
Comme toujours vous faites de très belles enceintes acoustique et excellente qualité
Thanks
I’m sure there is a master woodworking engineer on here that’s going to disagree with me, but you did a beautiful job on the veneer.
Thanks. I think the footage might be misleading just a bit. There are a few imperfections and I actually struggled with this veneer job. I have done much better jobs of it in the past. It can be tricky if you do not clamp down on the entire surface.
Looks like a rebirth of what was called a base reflex design in the 1960’s. Only then the box and speaker were much bigger.
LazyH-Online -
I have no recollection from 1030’s - I was not around. But if I can guess right, all those developments were evolving from the same idea appearing already on Edison’s phonograph. That means a horn. The difference being that the horn (straight and later folded for travel use) was on the forward side of the sound transducer. My mother’s childhood home had an old radio with a horn speaker (instead of the earlier ear pieces). That was from early or middle 1920’s. In my own childhood home, we had a His Master’s Voice record player that contained a majestic big horn. Later on, I saw some people demonstrating travel versions that utilized a folded horn to make the whole unit more compact.
But the Bass Reflex idea I saw in some magazines in the 1960’s. That was the time when I built my own stereo speaker boxes, totally closed and inside padded with mineral wool, because the reflex structure was too complex for me (I had essentially no wood working tools). Moreover, I then found speakers that were optimized for use with the closed enclosures. They were weak in the first octave (I think Stravinsky’s music was used as a proof material), but were - and are still - good from 40 Hz up. Which should explain why I still don’t have my own Bass Reflex speakers. Actually, I don’t know what is inside the Radio Shack speaker boxes that I have also had since about 1980.
I never knew you needed a crossover for a full range speaker.
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if I wanted to learn everything and anything about this hobby, honestly completely new to me.. where do I start?
Book about speaker cabinets and a book about speakers :)
Now make a speaker with the following TB W4-1337SDF, Peerless SLS-213, ND20FA-6 ;) I had this combo in my car with a extra sub-woofer. After a while somebody I know noticed that the sub wasn't working anymore, yes the SLS was doing well in almost sub layers :o .I still got the SLS'en but want to use them in my home :)
Sir Douglas Howel, 5th Seat: Disregard the other comments. Where you would need to start would be by going to quarter-wave.com. That is a great place to read. The design of a "transmission line" speaker is similar in function to actual power transmission lines (or say oscilloscope leads) in the fact that it involves a line and second order differential equations. That is a bit much for beginners, but I would start at that site to get your feet wet. T-lines like in this video are very easy to build physically with a basic folded line.
@Sir Douglas.... Joseph D'Appolito "Testing Loudspeakers" is a great start... practically all youtube channels are for kids only....
Nice to see a new video from you Hanri.
A pair of transmission line speakers are on my to do list.
I think I am going to make a pair of frugal horns as my design skills don’t quite match yours.
Hi Richard, thanks man!
Beautiful work. I hope they sound as good as they look 👍
Right
I really love your work sir 🙂
Thank you so much 😀
Craftsmanship at its finest
Thanks
Those are really really nice 👍🏼
Thank you! Cheers!
Nice project. One suggestion though. Instead of using wood glue to attach the veneers use a solvent based contact cement. Not the green water based crap but the clear solvent based stuff. (Weldon red can, not the green can) That stuff grabs and doesn't let go. It gives perfect 100% adhesion and doesn't require any clamping and you can work the piece right away. No waiting for the glue to dry. Plus some veneers can swell up and form ripples in the veneer when you use water based glues like PVA's.
Thanks. I've tried that before and I still prefer the wood glue. However, I have also used a polyurethane wood glue before for some veneers that are more difficult and cause ripples. The wood glue IMO just provides a much nicer solid feel, almost as if the veneer becomes part of whatever you glue it to.
Brilliant work.
thanks
Yeah... this is a new type of enclosure to me! I must say that I have no idea how in might sound, since I have never seen these Transmission Line Systems in action.
Thanks for the video! A study is needed [ for me, of course :) ]! As usual, an incredible demonstration of building enclosures!
Thanks!
Look up cyburgs needle TL speakers. Small speakers, cheap and way more sound than you will expect
Regarding speakers, there was a write up on it in 1965, the actual execution way before that. The full understanding (as in physics and mathematics), acoustic waveguides which what this is, should have gone back a hundred or more years.
1994 we built 8 pair of Transmission Line loudspeakers....thanks to J G. Great speakers....
Awesome work i should rate you . salute you , what a lovely job
Tx
Satisfying... Nice build.
Thanks
Did you measure the frequency response on these? Published is 70 Hz to 20 KHz. I built 2 pair from a damaged PMC AB2 I purchased as salvage and disassembled it. It showed me exactly the proper measurements and damping.
You did a fine job sir.
I think I did, but don't have it on file. Thanks.
Might I suggest using E6000 adhesive instead of hot melt glue for gluing the crossover components? It adheres better, and the slight flexibility of the glue will keep it all together much better. Works great for large heavy inductors, too.
even better yet, buy a pack of the plastic wire ties with the screw mount built in. Put one around each end of the components and screw them to a board through the wire tie. I also use hot glue underneath the component when I do this, but more for the sake of vibration. Make sure you don't mount through the middle of the air core inductors, as the screw will change its value.
Thats a really nice build. I built the JB Lord transmission line sub woofer with 12 foot folded pipe..Hi-Fi News
В алюминиевые опоры я бы посоветовал засыпать кварцевый песок )))
Nice build from 👍 Texas
Thanks 👍
Nice work. But I would have the port exit either on the bottom or on the back side of the cabnet. Not on the top where it is visible and such a dust collector !!!!!!
Other than that, very well put together and an excellent job. !!!
You do REALLY good work!!
Thanks!
Wow,those speakers sound fantastic!
Thanks
@@SoundBlab And where is it in video how they play?? Or is this just a sarcasm.
Came for the speaker instructions, stayed for the sped-up gameboy advanced music.
When bonding 2 flat surfaces together, one should always clamp or fasten from the middle outwards to avoid trapping air and creating voids that can lead to delamination.
Good tip!
Or use a good contact adhesive that has a slow set time and iron out all air pockets...
Ciao mi permetto di darti un paio di consigli: alla base della cassa acustica crea un piccolo doppio fondo dove mettere il crossover ed i cavi devono essere aderenti al pannello perché le pressioni interne sono enormi e le vibrazioni vanno a sporcare il suono. Ho visto la doppia tavola sul frontale, molto bene.
Da quel progetto ridimensiona un po ed adotta un 2 vie, tweerter e woofer da 16 cm, crea una camera di compressione dove alloggiare il tweeter Il condotto deve stare isolato da tutti i componenti a parte il woofer. Complimenti bel lavoro. La mia prima linea di trasmissione la ho progettata e costruita 25 anni fa con risultati incredibili. Confronto fatto con gli stessi componenti montati anche su una reflex.
Thanks, I appreciate the tips and think they are good ideas.
Do you have a link to the adjustable bladed hole cutting tool you're using on your drill press?
I want to call it a hole saw but it's more like a hole "knife".....lol!
Thank you and I love your channel!!!!
I know this is an older video but wow....just wow! I'm really into car audio fabrication so I'm loving the idea of using less speakers in the car like you're doing in your cabinets. More of a full range or wide band approach.
Once again. thank you!
Thanks man! Try this link to a few options: www.amazon.com/s?k=Adjustable+Circle+Cutter&ref=nb_sb_noss
I would use black screws and paint the all thing white, but this project is a must try. Just what I was looking for. Thanks
I like it!
Oh my god. so nice and seem sound very very good.
Thanks
GOOD JOB! FANTASTIC! I WAITING TO TEST!
Thanks. yes, aiming for next week.
WAITING IMPATIENT!
Excellent work
Thanks!
Great build! Apologies if you’ve answered this before but why do you install a crossover if it’s a single driver speaker?
Looks nice but can't help but think the port exit area is larger than the speakers cone area. Some 45s in the corners would go abit further than a box full of wool.
Danke! Sehr informativ dargestellt. Interessant wären wie Materialien wie Marmorgehäuse oder Stahlgehäuse, Aluminiumgehäuse, sieht bestimmt Eddl Space futuristisch aus, Interessant wie Plexiglas sich im Klang verhält, das aussehen kann nur ein sehr Edles sein!
Grüße aus Nord Germany✌
Thanks!
thanks,
love to watch someone do fine work
Thanks
So awesome absolutely great 👏👏👏👏👏
Thanks
Thanks
Wonderful build, but i didn't understood, why you didn't secured cables inside... Just letting them float around looks annoying... :D if it touches the front baffle, it may rumble a bit. But after all, it must sound amazing, love these TB speakers ;-)
Thanks. So far the wires has not posed to be a problem. Normally the stuffing in the enclosure keeps it from rattling or making any noise.
@@SoundBlab Well... i think, i should also build some nice fullrange. Few ideas are bubbling in my mind :-) problem is only with parts, which are harder to get in Czech republic. I'd like to try TangBands, but the prices are absurd here.
Very good job 🎉👍
Thank you 👍
Very nice! However, id figure the port would sound much better if it were pointing downward? Ive always gotten better resonance from having subs or ports closer to the ground. Also, wish you would’ve shown them playing
Use an x-acto knife to trim the wood like cover or a down cut router bit. You can also leave it a bit bigger and trim it with a sandpaper.
Great job. Greatings from Mexico. North America
Thanks
Not sure why you couldn't let us hear them right here. I'm impressed you built your own xovers but not sure why you need on a single driver.
Sound demo in the next video after this one. It's not really a crossover, but rather a flattening circuit to correct the frequency response.
Great build...love the double layer baffle. Please explain the electronic components. I don't understand why these would be used on a full range driver.
My guess is it is some sort of power reducer? These speakers have a low power rating so if hooked up to a regular stereo it may be too much? Just my guess.
Thanks. Full range drivers will not measure a flat frequency response once mounted on a speaker baffle and put into an enclosure, even if it has a flat response as measured on a large infinite baffle as specified by IEC standards. For this reason I needed to compensate for the higher midrange that I measured in this enclosure with a compensation network to get the FQ response as flat as possible.
Good looking floor stander. But isn't this a full range driver? Why the crossover?
Why do you mount the oscillating SP on the top? It is more effective to lengthen the back of the SP than to lengthen the box of the SP downward without a box ringing.
incredible as usual.
Thanks
Good work ,but it seems to me what are they only for bass ? Thanks
Thanks. No, they cover from 50Hz to 20000Hz
Hi I would recommend not glueing the resistors on to the Capacitors and Coils because the resistors can get very hot and can influence the capacity and inductance.
Nevertheless your builds are nice👍
Thanks
Music bring's me back 35 year's to old tv's cartoon's lol
это как телевизор слушать)))
Can you show us the circuit of the Cap and Resistors connect with the input socket internally? thanks.
That is unfortunately only available in the build plans you can purchase from my website at soundblab.net
Nice build but why not use contact cement for the veneer? It's a lot faster and doesn't require the clamps. Are there concerns with durability of the contact cement?
The PVA wood glue is a much better bonding agent. I have used contact cement before with variable levels of success.
Very nice. But you forgot to fill the stand tubes with a sand or lead shots. It's still could be done if you make a thru hole with a plug at the bottom the base.
Thanks. It did think of it and then decided against it for no good reason really. I am sure it will add somewhat to the weight, but I probably thought it was not worth it.
@@SoundBlab Yes it will add weight to the bottom and will make the towers way more stable but it would also eliminate any possible ringing of that bottom tube.
Really good!
Thanks!
Using a full range driver, a crossover shouldn't be necessary. The only consideration of any filter would be a passive low order high pass centered at or slightly above whatever the driver's lowest frequency is with whatever the acceptable amount of distortion is I would think. I could be wrong. I like what you're doing sir. Very interesting. What would you think about a bi-pole version, maintaining a shared, or mirrored transmission line?
Its not really a crossover, but a correction filter, or more specifically a notch filter that flattens out the midrange in this case to give me a flatter FQ response. Thanks. Have never tried a mirrored TL or horn before. I will hopefully try that one day!
Nice build. for transmission iine speakers you need to fill the line with wool or fiberglass. this slows the waves down effectively making the line of an infinite length. that's the theory anyway.
Beautiful
Thanks
a unique designed, your good
Thanks
Rally. Professional job
Thank you
Super pěkná práce.Klobouk dolů.
T-LINES are my favorite enclosures. When designed and executed correctly they can perform well beyond expectations.
Tuning can be a pain(stuffing) but after u get a hang on what type to use/combination, how much and most important where in the enclosure u can get some amazing response curves.
My first one I ever did before I knew how to design them was copying PMC designs from TH-cam videos lol :)
Awesome vid.
That driver is a little gem.
Thanks!
You might want to copy PWK instead of PMC th-cam.com/video/k_Bp8dOsZE8/w-d-xo.html
Definitely South African!!! Howzit Boet!!!
Howzit!
They look nice
Thanks
Awesome, can you explain since there is one drive why you used cross over? what is pole frequency?
It is a compensation circuit to flatten the frequency response in certain aresa of the passband.
i think black screws would look better (maybe allen key heads)
and you could fill the square pipe with sand
btw. great job!
Thanks man! I considered a few options for screws, but ended up using what I had on hand and thought would look best. I would also prefer black though.
Everybody saying well, good job and thing like these, you shoud say, how do you calculate the tl lenght and volume, what is the increasing of emitted spectrum with tl Vs an enclosed box....
If jou are just judging as a woodworking it is well made, but it has to sound good, not looking good
Thanks Alex, the next video on my channel after this one is the sound demo. Doing all of that in one video is complicated and will make for a very long video which is not what I am focussed on right now. But I could do that somewhere in the future. Thanks for the feedback.
@@SoundBlab thank you too for the aswer, i made several boxes and while is relatively simple doing one good box for a full range speaker, it is very difficult to find the right resonance frequency to actually enhance the speaker performance. If you tune your Port/box at 50hz and the speaker has 60/20khz, i think you can widen the frequency respinse, but If you tune it at 30hz, for sure it won't work, just work as a vented box, with the result of a bigger box in terms of sound (lower pneumatic elasticity).
So, how did you calculate those ports related to the box dimensioni and the speaker carachtersistics?
The final result is good when it matches your design aim.
It will be intresting to know what were your aim and what is the result..
For this design, I used a typical TL model provided here: www.mh-audio.nl/Calculators/TML.html
And then experimented a bit with how the stuffing in the TL will influence the frequency response. Ultimately I felt I ended up with a result that was very much pleasing to my ear and gained more knowledge on this type of enclosure and how they work.
EPI design from the 70's used JBL 4" full drivers from 901 series, the 4" drivers where made at the Jensan plant in Punxsutawney PA. I sold a ton load at my stereo shop 1971-1977 $100 bucks a pair.
EPI used originally Rola drivers. The EPIs were totally open inside with very erratic frequency response. They bragged about the 'organ piping' which was a part of the problem. They were good for really low powered systems though. They had at least 2 drivers. They were a very different design.
Have you done any comparisons with or without all of the damping material? seems like quite a lot of volume is being taken up
The damping material is integral to the working of the transmission line to assist in slowing down the sound and energy coming from the rear of the driver. It works together with a specific line length for this driver and it's specifications. There is a lot more to it, but this is the basics of its function.
I'm assuming that crossover circuitry was to keep the highs in check, right?
I was wondering myself. I thought Full range did not need a crossover.
It flattens out the response curve around the midrange mostly. It has to do with baffle step compensation where you loose SPL because of the narrow front baffle. It's not a typical BSC circuit, since I also needed to flatten out the FQ in general.
Great videos! Just one question... Why don't you cut all the pieces with a 45° angle so that no one can see where the pieces come together?
Thanks. Unfortunately, I do not have a table saw and have no other means right now to cut 45 degree angles accurately.
When one determines what the internal volume of the box needs to be; dose one also have to add add volume to make up for the sound damping material that is used?
I never do, but I do take into consideration the volume of the driver, the crossover and the port (if it is a ported enclosure).
Hi ... I am Indonesian. I am happy to see how to make speakers ... if possible, may I ask for the size of the speakers
4"
speaker box size?
I sell build plans for these on my website www.soundblab.net . The income from the plans helps me to continue to do projects and any support in this way is really very much appreciated.
Why that cross over thing for single full range speaker build?
look very nice nice job
Thanks
Just a suggestion, I think the things you said at the end of the video should be at the beginning.
That's good advice, thanks!
that looks very interesting.. how were these tuned? is this your own design or an already existing one?
Thanks. It is my own design using computer modelling software to tune it.