Anyone who tries to find information about building speakers knows they'll need to invest a lot of time and money, as well as wade through thousands of opinions, reviews, and online arguments. One fundamental step is finding the right material, and that's how we arrive at Matt from DIY Perks, who decided to find out whether 3D printer filament can deliver good results. The final project is one of the most advanced we've seen on his channel, with excellent attention to detail, and sound that matches much more expensive solutions…
Personally, I've always seen making speakers as an intimidating process. My experience is limited to buying Bluetooth headphones and installing an 18650 battery after cursing the original cell for its miserable battery life, but building the wooden box and finding the right components are pending tasks.
My lack of carpentry skill automatically leads me into 3D printing territory, and I know I'm not the only one exploring that possibility. However, Matt from the DIY Perks channel (who you might remember from his invisible computer and his dual-layer LCD) decided to leave theory aside and build a set of speakers to put the filament to the test. As expected, difficulties didn't take long to appear…
Building High-Quality Speakers with 3D Printing
The first problem is the filament. On its own, it's a terrible material with very little mass that vibrates and resonates in unwanted ways (its performance is very poor between 100 and 500 Hz). The brute-force solution would be to make a thicker print, consuming more filament and much, much more time. The alternative Matt adopted was to use his printer to create hollow shells, and then fill the spaces using a mixture based on plaster of Paris and PVA glue (“white glue”). Using only plaster, the sound takes on a “ping” similar to the strike of a spoon against a cup.
The inside of the speakers carries a combination of acoustic pads for cars, a layer made of cotton towel, and sheep wool. The rest of the video takes on a more technical profile as it moves on to building the subwoofer, taking advantage of the 3D printer's ability to reproduce more complex shapes that optimize its frequencies. In total, Matt needed seven prototypes and a beta version before reaching his speakers (which, by the way, sound and look great), but the final answer is “yes”: With a few tweaks, building speakers using a 3D printer is possible.
