After selling my big sound system (I had a Bose 802 pair with the 302 sub cabinet) I decided since I had 16 of the Bose replacement speakers (1.6 Ohm), some time and some nice MDF 3/4 inch board, I would set out to build a pair of Bose 402 knock offs. Now the originals are plastic cased or wood case, I figure I could do a pretty good job with MDF.  It was a challenging build but I am glad I did the pair at the same time. Usually I would build one cabinet and see how it sounds before cutting up more wood to make the next cabinet. The complexity was in the 30 degree 70 degree wedge for each driver. also tring to figure out port spacing, my ports on either end were bigger and allowed more air movement than I wanted… I ended up poly filling the entire internal cabinet.

22uF 100V capacitor was the low end filter and a 3amp fuse was also put in to protect the speaker like the original.  1.6 Ohms per driver gave an over all speaker impedance of approximately 6.4 Ohms. speaker testing was done on a Bose amplifier receiver with the setting for the EQ at the 901 Level (Yes i have a pair of BOSE 901s too, with the pedestals), and the speakers did the sound right, flat with a hint of bass, but will be set up in the garage with a proper Bose EQ and an amplifier what will allow the 100 watts recommended amplification to see if they will shine.

Now since the frequency range is 90Hz to 20K Hz it is paramount to have a sub woffer to back up the low end… I plan on making a 12 inch woffer in a small cabinet what will allow bi-amplification and a good full range sound if I did use these in a small gig, for a back yard party or at a bar to do some DJ’ing.

Here are a few photos of the build:

These angles were cut three times, and measured 8 or nine times, I settled on a 40, 50 90 degree wedge.

Gluing up the chamber

Adding each wedge and checking for speaker interference.

Gluing the plates for each wedge

More glue, more silicon sealant, more clamps!

Sound check

I am painting them white only because my house is mostly white inside, but I have a 5 gallon bucket of paint, and I am bound and determined to use it up… (same paint on the corner cabinet shelf I made a year ago) and so the speakers are now white as well.

Spec book from Bose.

The pair painted, and ready for a bigger sound check…

I will make a plastic frame that will allow me to place a cloth grill over the speakers and cover the bass ports on each end.

The speaker stands i have are to large for in the house, but I will be sure to put a few screw mounts on the bottom of each box in case i want to put the speaker stand mounts on them…. so in the next few weeks be looking for the woofer cabinet and the speaker grills, i will try and post a few more pictures and let you know how the sound check goes!

Happy speaker building!