Fig 20 - Adjusting Fit of Quick Connects
Fig 21 - Installing Midrange Damping
Fig 21 - Installing Midrange Damping
Torii Tower Assembly Instructions
What You'll Need
At a minimum:
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Screw Driver
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Hammer or Mallet
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Soldering Iron
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Wire Cutters/Strippers
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Wood Glue
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Tape or Glue for the Port
You might also find beneficial:
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Clamps
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Electric Drill
Things to note:
This is a 3-way design which utilizes the same driver (CSS W5-06) for both midrange and woofer duty. In the steps below, the W5-06 used in the separate, small air volume will be referred to as the midrange and the W5-06s used in the larger main air volume will be referred to as woofers.
Flat Pack Enclosure Assembly
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Verify all cabinet parts were received. (see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2)
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Clear dust from corners of all panels. Any debris in the joints will prevent you from getting a tight, flush surface when gluing up the cabinet. (see Fig. 3)
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Assemble cabinet WITHOUT glue to ensure all panels fit together. (see Fig. 4)
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NOTE: due to regional and seasonal humidity differences, some sanding may be required to insert braces into appropriate slots.
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Disassemble cabinet and place panels on a clean surface, arranged for easy assembly. Take note of the recommended order of assembly in the pictures (see Fig. 5-7). Make sure the front baffle is placed with the tweeter flange recess on the outside and that the midrange chamber is facing the midrange and tweeter. The side with the brace cutout should be on the back of the cabinet.
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(OPTIONAL) Before assembly, you may drill pilot holes for mounting the crossover board using the board as a template. Use caution not to drill through the panel. The TM Circuit Board should be mounted on the side panel of the woofer enclosure, below the midrange sub-enclosure, just behind the top woofer. The Woofer Circuit Board should be placed on the side panel behind the second to top woofer (see Fig. 8). This step is not necessary, but will make installation of the board easier once your cabinet is fully assembled. Screws can be pressed into the MDF cabinets without drilling if desired.
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Apply wood glue to mating seams as shown in the pictures, pausing to let glue dry before moving to the next set of panel glue application. The side panel that is NOT being glued in a given step can be used to keep panels in alignment by dry fitting panels into the dadoes.
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After the cabinet is fully assembled and the glue fully cured, sand cabinet flat. The front and back panels are designed with a 1 mm overhang intentionally to make for easier flush sanding. Fill any larger gaps with wood filler or Bondo and sand all surfaces flat again (see Fig. 9).
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Finish as desired using veneer, vinyl, paint, etc. (see CSS blog post for ideas).
Fig. 1 - Panel Layout
Fig. 2 - Panel Layout
Fig. 3 - Vacuum Dados
Fig. 4 - Dry Fitting
Fig. 5 - Assembly, Step 1
Fig. 6 - Assembly, Step 2
Fig. 2 - Panel Layout
Fig. 7 - Assembly, Step 3
Fig. 8 - Crossover Board Pre-Drilling
Fig. 9 - Bondo on Gaps
Crossover Assembly
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Verify all crossover parts were received (see Fig. 10)
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Place each component in its labeled location on the SmartNode board by putting the lead wires through the holes for the associated board location. Orientation does not matter as long as you can reach the through-holes.
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Note: Pull inductor wires up through its center hole and back down if needed to prevent crushing the lead against the body of the inductor. This will prevent a potential short when cinching down the zip-ties.
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Secure the components to the board with the supplied zip ties (see Fig. 11).
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On the backside of the board, twist leads together that share common letters (e.g. A to A, or B to B to B) using supplied hookup wire where necessary to jumper between nodes. Ensure that no bare wires are touching unintentionally (see Fig. 12).
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NOTE: Crossing bare wires from non-matching letters can degrade sound quality and damage the drivers or your amplifier. If you need to run across another wire, ensure you use the insulated hookup wire supplied in your kit.
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NOTE: Inductors have an insulating coating on them. You cannot connect directly to the red colored portions of the inductor wire or you will cause an open circuit. You should connect to the pre-tinned leads (silver portion) to ensure proper connection.
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Cut 8 lengths of wire per speaker as described below.
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Qty 3 - 18” lengths to span from each of the top 3 woofers to the Woofer Circuit Board (+W-)
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Qty 4 - 24” lengths to span from:
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Terminal cup to Woofer Circuit Board (+IN-)
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Woofer Circuit Board (+W-) to bottom woofer
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T/M Circuit Board (+M-) to midrange
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T/M Circuit Board (+T-) to tweeter
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Qty 1 - 30” length from terminal cup to T/M Circuit Board (+T-)
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Strip 3” of white outer insulation from each wire pair and ¼” of red or black inner insulation from each wire end (see Fig. 13). It may be better to strip more than ¼” on the ends that will be connected at the SmartNode boards.
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Use the red wire for positive and the black wire for negative and insert the wire ends of the appropriate length wire though the appropriate holes on the SmartNode boards.
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Connect the inserted wire ends to the appropriate lettered nodes using the supplied jumper wire if necessary.
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Solder all twisted connections (see Fig. 14 and 15).
Fig 10 - Crossover Boards and Components
Fig 11 - Components Installed on Boards
Fig 12 - Twisted Leads on Bottom of Board
Fig 13 - Strip White Insulation
Fig 14 - Assembled Crossover (Bottom)
Fig 15 - Fully Assembled Crossover (Top)
Final Assembly
CAUTION: It is recommended to test your speaker after final assembly by starting at a very low volume and listening to each driver by placing your ear closely. You should hear highs coming from the tweeter and lows form the woofer. You should hear no crackling or static. If everything sounds normal, proceed to turn up the volume and enjoy.
Mount the SmartNode boards with the tweeter and mid section on the side wall below the midrange chamber (behind the top woofer) and the woofer board on the side wall behind second woofer from the top (see Fig. 16).
Take the wire pair coming from the +M- holes on the board and send it through one of the 2 holes in the bottom of the midrange enclosure (see Fig. 17). Mark this hole with an “M” for future reference using pen, pencil, etc. Pull the wire through so there is a little slack below near the board, but most of the wire is in the midrange enclosure.
Take the wire pair coming from the +T- holes on the board and send it through the other hole in the bottom of the midrange enclosure (see Fig. 17). Mark this hole with an “T” for future reference using pen, pencil, etc. Pull the wire through so there is a little slack below near the board, but most of the wire is in the midrange enclosure.
Crimp quick connect terminals to the ends of the wires coming from the SmartNode boards.
There are 2 sizes of blue quick connect terminals, large and small. Each pair of wires that goes to a speaker driver should be connected with the large terminal on the red wire and the small terminal on the black wire (see Fig. 18).
The wire pairs coming from the +IN- holes on each SmartNode board should be sent down the back of the cabinet and out the terminal cup hole on the rear of the speaker. Here the 2 red wires should be twisted together and a large quick connect crimped to the joined red wires. Likewise, the 2 black wires should be twisted together and another large quick connect crimped to the joined black wires (see Fig. 19).
Connect the terminal cups to the input wires. Keep in mind that the quick connects may need to be compressed a little for a tight slide-on fit (see Fig 20). Insert the terminal cups into the opening and screw in place using the supplied #6 x 3/4” screws.
Insert 2 pieces of the 7” x 9” x 2” thick recycled denim into the midrange enclosure, covering the back wall with a 4” thickness of the material (see Fig. 21).
Cut the 10.5” x 24” piece of eggcrate foam down its length, creating 2 pieces of 5.25” x 24” and install 1 piece behind each woofer, covering the side of the cabinet, wrapping around the back and covering the other side (see Fig. 22). The foam should cover the crossover boards and can be set back slightly from the front in order to not interfere with the rear of the woofers. Wire can be in front of or behind the foam, as long as there is enough slack to make connections as needed.
Pull the tweeter wire (marked “T” in step 3) through the tweeter hole and slide the quick connects on to the tweeter terminals – large to large and small to small. Give a light tug on the wires to check the grip. If they slide off easily, close the opening a little on the quick connects with a pair of pliers and repeat until a snug fit is achieved. Then install the tweeter in the proper place using the included screws.
Repeat step 8 for the midrange and woofer drivers.
Adjust ports so they are 7.5” long and fix in place with tape or glue (see Fig. 23). Then slide the ports into their openings and screw in place. Note: the cabinet openings for the ports are very tight, so be careful not to use so much glue/tape that the port will not slide into place.
Fig 16 - Crossover Mounting Locations
Fig 17 - Midrange/Tweeter Wires
Fig 18 - Crimp Quick Connects
Fig 18 - Crimp Quick Connects
Fig 22 - Installing Eggcrate Foam
Fig 23 - Adjusting Port Length
Troubleshooting
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No Sound From the Whole Speaker - No sound from one or both speakers typically means you have a problem on the amp input side of the crossover. Check your input wires are properly connected to the crossover (including ground wires coming back to the negative connection) as well as the binding post side. Ensure the input wires and binding posts are not shorted by stray wires or other metal creating a conductive path between the negative and positive.
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No Sound From One Driver - No sound from a single driver most typically results from a bad connection in the crossover. Review all connections to make sure only similar letters are on the same connection points. Ensure inductors are properly connected on tinned/bare wire and not over the insulation. Ensure there are no loose connections anywhere.
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Crackling Sound – Crackling sounds are usually the result of a loose connection. Check to make sure you have secure connections on all driver and binding post wiring. Ensure crossover wiring has solid connection and solder welds are tight. You should see no movement in the joint itself. Check crossover wiring for any bare wiring that is inadvertently touching where it shouldn’t. If the source cannot be identified, contact us.
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Amp Shuts Down – An amp shutting down is likely cause by a straight short to ground, meaning your amp is seeing minimal or no resistive load. The most likely cause is wiring touching where it shouldn’t be. Check crossover wiring for any bare wiring that is inadvertently touching where it shouldn’t. Ensure binding post terminals are not inadvertently touching. An amp shutting down is likely a straight short to ground, meaning your amp is seeing no resistive load. If the source cannot be identified, contact us.
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Lack of Bass – There are a few things that can cause lack of bass. Check to make sure your connections all have the same polarity on both the inside and outside of the binding post. Inverting the polarity of one speaker will lead to bass cancellations. Ensure there is free airflow around the port openings and it is not being blocked by stuffing material. Ensure the woofer is connected to the woofer W +/- section of the SmartNode board and not the tweeter T +/- section. Ensure the port is adjusted to the correct length. If the source cannot be identified, contact us.