Meil is a guy how is devoted to detail and finish. What you see in this gallery is his 6th DIY loudspeaker project and his hasn’t made it in a few days like so many others – how about using 25 hours “just” sanding the outer surfaces…! I would never ever be able to spend that much without going crazy and just wanting to get some sound out of my new creation.

– Meil started the project around January 2006 and he had them up and running in the beginning of October. Actually these boxes were only thought to be a test, but as you can see the result is too excellent to be just a test. The inspiration to the current DIY loudspeaker project was found in Magico mini II - www.magico.net. Meil is using ScanSpeak R29 and C-Quenze 15H, where the original uses an ATD W18 from Italy and the R29 ring radiator tweeter.
The boxes are made of multiple layers of 17mm Finnish birch plywood. One of Meil’s friends milled each layer by hand with a router using a wooden template. Meil was persuaded by people on the thread about his project to cover the front MDF piece with leather. This also prolonged the process and boosted the final result.

Meil ordinates from Hornslet – does this ring a bell? – Meil was a bit surprised to discover that Hornslet Møbelfabrik is making the Magico mini II boxes. Lars Ole from Hornslet Møbelfabrik has also posted in this very thread. In Denmark the world isn’t that big !

Meil made a passive serial crossover filter and tested quite a few combinations ending up with a good result – but how about going active? While waiting for the right components for the passive filter Meil made a pair of stands also inspired by the original.

Meil reappeared in the thread in August 2009 with a rework of his subwoofer in a new similar designed box as the satellites. The subs are using the Peerless XXLS driver pair driver and slave unit.
The plan was to use a new pair of JBL GTI 10”, but didn’t perform as good as the XXLS combination – now they are stored away in the attic!

At the same time Meil begins to show some interest in replacing his DCX2496 with a set of Ground Sound digital filters as he isn’t happy about the noise level coming from the Behringer filter.

Now that the subs was up and running – the decision was made to make the investment in a DCN23kit and a Modu box to accommodate the crossover.
At first the result wasn’t as expected – more noise than Meil had accepted and he contacted me to find out if anything was wrong – given a sensitivity of 350mV (RMS) for full power of his Marantz SR14 MkII - this don’t add up with the maximum output swing of the DCN23 12Vpp = a difference of 18dB. To lower noise floor and increase bit resolution of the whole setup I recommended Meil to install the R1/R2 seen on our FAQ page.
Two suggestions were made 2k/1k = 9.5 dB damping or 4k7/1k = 15dB – I would go for the last suggestion, but I think Meil made the first - giving plenty of headroom. - This helped a lot and Meil was satisfied.

Comments from Meil:

"it's really an exciting product with a myriad of opportunities"

“I have also added some compensation below 100Hz, which helps a lot to known room modes - problems that always will be in a room”

“I am speculating if I should go active between my R29 and 15H – I will certainly test it one day. But right now, I am really happy with how it sounds”

“And yes I have finished the adjusting for now. But the good thing about such a system is that when I get new ideas it is so easy to test them and compare with the reference setting. I have to admit that I feel like building some new speakers because it was so easy in terms of crossover….”