Poor Man's Tower Speakers

Well here's what I came up with for under 50 bucks so far (without speakers and clamps). I plan on using the aluminum DJ lighting clamps so they can be taken on and off easily with the thumbscrews. Pretty simple setup for fellow cheap a$$e$.

6-inch thin wall PVC couplings
Fiberglass repair kit
bondo body filler
Scrap plywood
Binding post speaker terminals
Black krylon Fusion plastic spray paint
Thumbscrew knobs
Scrap flat steel for an anchor point
All I did was cut out plywood disks that fit very tight in each of the ends of the couplings. (I set them back about a .25 in from the end) I used "special" glue for PVC and plastic to glue the disks in. After gluing them, I countersunk finishing nails into the PVC and wood to make sure I wouldn’t get a speaker in the head some day. Then I just glassed over the wood until it was built up flush to the edge of the coupling. Sanded, filled, sanded filled, sanded filled. Painted, sanded, painted. Done. They aren’t Boss, but I must say I think they turned out pretty good for a first timer.

By the way, everything can be bought from Lowe's or the like. The only thing that I didn't do was to weld an "L" bracket that sticks up out of the speaker so that the speaker can be attached to a clamp. All is left is to paint the flat steel braket coming up out of the speaker and I've got some plastic to rivit to it to keep it from getting scraped up and rusting. I'm thinking of using these clamps:

http://www.elationlighting.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=1105&cat=Clamps

or these:

http://www.central4wd.com/store/itemdetail.asp?ID=5224

Mark.
Looks like a fine job to me, way to go!
Please be sure to have some means to insure that the palm bolts/knobs don't work loose from vibration and then fall.
Great job. Let's see them on the Tornado!

Thanks Duane

I was thinking about that. I'll have to come up with something. I flying speaker would do some serious damage to someones head. My boat is in storage for another couple months so I'm just trying to keep my sanity with projects!

looks great! Simple, clean and inexpensive.. I'm with Duane though! Vibration can show you whos Boss!! lol, get it "Boss." ok that was bad..

Mark those look great. If anything I would have changed to the RS6 those things rock. Still a great choice and they should work great.

www.Wake-Me.com

I agree. Those do look great! So you say you did put plywood on the speaker side of the coupling? If so, did you cut out the speaker diameter before you glued the wood to the PVC??
I can't believe how good the finish looks!

Yes, I cut out the openings in the plywood disks before I glued them in. I made sure they fit really tight so I used a router with a home made circle cutting jig. The glue that I used was extremely strong, but I wanted to make sure they would stay so I put 6 finishing nailes through the coupling and into the wood. I hit them with a punch to bury them and covered the small hole with bondo. The hardest part was all the sanding. PVC looks like it is smooth until you put it under a light. There were a ton of waves and dimples that I had to sand out and fill. In addition, I actually painted them 3 times. After the first two coats I sanded with 220 grit to take out some of the scratches from all the sanding. I still have to buff them to take off some overspray but for a 4$ paint can they turned out nice.

Awesome Job! Post some pic's on your boat when you get it wrapped up.

Impressive Mark B, Impressive!

I agree.. Those look great. I too made some out of PVC - I used 8 inch water main PVC - really thick stuff - 1/2 inch walls. One thing I failed to do (until after the fact) was to epoxy or use silicon sealant all over the inside of the speaker cans. After a couple of outing and rain on them here and there, just a scant amount of water got thru to the inside of the can. When it came in contact with the plywood, it got wet, swelled and cracked the paint job where circle plywood meets the PVC.

Then I decided to replace by using aluminum irrigation pipe sold in 2, 4, 6 or 8 inch diameter. Tig weld the backs on. Sand and polish. A great improvement and not really that expensive.


Here's link to take a look at both- aluminum and original PVC pipe.
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/avflyguy

Mark,
I may have some clamps for you. Although I'm not sure they will work with the mount plate as you have it coming out of your can. Drop me an e-mail at work.
Scott

This is SWEET!! Mark and Bill.

But lookin at the pics is one thing, that video you have of them Bill, on your link, in live action---->that kicks ASS!!!! like the stobes.

VERY,VERY NICE.......WELL DONE!!

Great ideas guys. my lay-offs in winter will never be boring again. Thanks.

I heard a rumor that our favorite tower manufacturer is coming out with some sweet tower speakers at a great price. Should be 2 x 6" mids and a horn in each of two enclosures. all for under $800! Need an 800watt plus amp just to drive them! Should be out mid jan. I was thinking of building my own that would be similar but for that price, I won't even mess with building my own. more to come..

BR,
Yep, everyone should be paying close attention in the next few weeks as alot of new stuff will be making a debut. I expect to see some of the new stuff at the SFO boat show the end of Jan.
Bill is doing some good research and I'm sure will have a high quality mid level product.
I've heard rumor of some of the big boys doing some bigger stuff so I'm eager to see what it will be.
I too will be releasing my tower set up in about 10-15 days. However, this will be a bit bigger then what we've seen available so far and probably not for the masses.
2004 should be a good year for new stuff.

Hey! it was the speakers you did that I was going to try. Didn;t know that you were selling them and or coming out with them or others to sell. Cool. are you going to do the 10's like you "said"
you regreted not doing?

BR,
It's taken some time to put it all together right. I didn't want to use PVC for the enclosures and so I've had to step it up and go the extra mile to have them fabricated from chrome. But they are the epitomy of Bling Bling.
I'm working on the web site now and will have some pics for everyone in about 10 days.
It wasn't that I regreted not doing the 10's but would consider a mix of 8's and 10's. The concern is really a space issue. Most of us like not to worry about standing up at the drivers seat and banking your head into a speaker. Obviously many variables come into play here like how tall your are, is your bimini up, how far back or forward you mount the speakers etc. So, to start with I will be offering the 8's only (with the HLCD of course). But, I have some plans to expand the offering to 8's + 10's, or just 10's in the spring.
I have to say though that going the 10's will really be putting you in someone elses face. If that's for you then please be sure to read the limited liability clause for inciting a riot as bodily and physical harm may result from those that don't like being invaded by your music.
Good luck and Happy New Year to all.

Hey Duanne,

Make sure you send me some pics and info for you set-up when it's ready.

Levi,
Hey whats up! I'm still playin your mix.
I'll let you know when I'm done.....almost there!
Happy New Year

Those look great mark.

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if you could make cans out of a 6" pvc end cap. I've seen where people use 6" pvc and put an end cap on them for cans, but I dont like the seam. If you use just the end cap would there be enough air space for the speaker to work properly? They would look more like the Titan bullet cans.

I considered the same thing Greg. However, the end caps didn't give me the exact diameter of the speaker that I was looking for, and I was concerned about the air space. I would think that you could do two end caps and fill the seam, but I don't know how well bondo will stick to PVC. I used small amounts to fill in nail holes and to smooth out my fiberglass job. As a side note, I dropped one of mine the other night after I waxed and buffed it. I was really surprised to see no damage at all. I expeced it to have cracked around the edge, but there wasn't even a scratch.

If I have time tomorrow I'll stop at Lowes and pick up an end cap just to see if it would work. I have a set of Kicker k60's from my old cans, I'll see how they fit and let you know. The more I think about it, the more I think it will work. My buddy had a set of Titan bullets that sounded great. They were loaded with kicker speakers. So maybe air space wont be an issue.

Worst case, I'll be out $8 and a little time.

Mark how long are your cans, or does the length not matter?

I'm looking at building a waterproof camera housing from 6 inch pipe. I've looked for the pipe at my local home depot, lowes, and orchard supply with no success. where did you guys find the 6 inch pipe? thanks

Steve,
You're right, those stores don't carry 6" in this area. The OSH in Antioch carries 6" couplings and end caps. I have some 6" electric conduit that glues nicely to the caps/couplings. If that's the route you are going, let me know and you can have my left-over 6" conduit.