Aslo see the Maverick 2's, full size 3-ways that don't take much floor space
-Picture of parts-

First things first, I wanted the sound to match that of the Maverick 2's in tone and timbre. This means that I would have to use the Audax HM170C0 and the Vifa D25AG-35. (Drivers)

I knew that it had to be shielded because I was going to use it over my 35 inch TV, but I already knew that Audax did not make a shielded driver that is the same as the ones in my main speakers. Getting a shielded tweeter was very easy since Vifa has the D25ASG-05, a 1” aluminum driver that is shielded which is almost identical to the original. I started doing research on shielding the midrange and saw some things on the Internet about Mu Metal, which is supposed to block the stray magnetic field, but found that it was fairly expensive and may not work properly. So to figure out how to work with this, I called the Audax USA representative, Ralph Nichols, and asked him for some help. I told him that through my Internet browsing I had found some people talking about a "Bucking magnet". Initially I was not sure what that was, but after searching more, I found out that it is supposed to cancel the magnetic "B-Field" generated by the magnet. They do not sell bucking magnets, but he said that he had heard about a company that was buying their drivers from Audax that was buying them shielded and said that he would do some checking for me. A few weeks later I called Ralph again to find out that he had found some magnets for me to try and would send them to me.

I looked at all the distortion graphs for the different driver layouts that are shown in the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook by Vance Dickason and started doing calculations for box volumes. I knew that the midrange driver I used for the Maverick 2's were decent drivers that would go down to about 60hz in a vented enclosure, but my main speakers had them in a sealed compartment. I looked at how large the cabinet was going to be to use the driver in a ported configuration and saw that by using just one driver in ported had just about the same volume requirements as using two drivers in a sealed enclosure. I did not like how large the cabinet had to be though so I decided that by using just one midrange driver in a sealed cabinet, I could get it small enough to please me and my wife, Kathy. By using the one midrange, I will have a little more distortion than a two driver design, but the expense of a second driver and the extra size required was more than I wanted to give up.  This design will still go down to about 95hz which I figured was good enough for my center channel.

At this point I decided to order everything required to make the speaker, so I called on Madisound to get the drivers, and have them design and make me a crossover, using the same components as they did for the Maverick 2's. (Leap predictions)

A few weeks later, I received the drivers, crossovers and magnets so I decided to do some simple testing. I calculated how high it would be from the bottom of the cabinet to the center of the midrange driver and turned on my TV. I then attached one of the magnets to the back of the midrange and held it over the TV at the approximate location and watched the picture to see if there was any discoloration. Sure enough, the picture distorted when it was placed close to the TV. It was much worse when I pulled the magnet off ad tried it again. Ralph had sent me three magnets so I decided to stack another one on top of the first and try it again. To my surprise, I did not see any problems with the screen, so I tried turning the TV off and on again and then placed the whole thing on top of the TV a second time. It looked great, there was nothing wrong with it. I had my shielded driver just like that. So I bonded the magnets onto the back of the midrange with 2-ton epoxy and let it cure.

The next week I started making the cabinet, a basic rectangle with rounded edges except for the back edges. I used the same technique as I had on the Maverick 2's so that everything was the same styling. By using the ¾-inch thick Oak plywood, the cabinet was very stiff and has very little resonance to it. I stained and finished the cabinet to match and mounted all the components.

I am very happy with the overall sound quality and tonal match to the other two speakers.  I figure that when I upgrade to Dolby Digital I will make another two to match for the rear channels, or possibly use two midranges in a ported cabinet to get a little more bass from them.

The one thing I would recommend to Vifa is that they change the layout of the voice coil terminal locations.  Right now they are in line with the mounting-hole locations and the screws can break out of the clearance holes that are required for the terminals.  Vifa can solve this simply by rotating the terminals a few degrees.

If I were to do all the speakers over again, I would probably stick with Audax drivers, but I might look into their new Shielded Drivers from the Polymer Chassis line so that I would not run into the same problem as described here.
More Pictures: back(removable panel), New home, With the new rear speakers, Complete