Overnight Sensation Loudspeaker Kit

Overnight Sensation Loudspeaker Kit by Paul Carmody

You’re about to build what has to be the most popular speaker project on the planet.  If you have been hesitant to start your first build, be assured that help is with you throughout the project. You will find this kit elsewhere, but we believe in giving your the most complete package.  You can show the doubters your hidden skill.  In the end, you’ll have a speaker you can be proud of.

If Paul had a time machine, he’d go back to his bedroom when he was in Jr. High or High School and give them to himself.  These are the little bookshelf speakers he imagined – huge soundstage, deep bass, tiny box.  In reality, back then all he had were some impish Minimus-7s.  Sure, they had a “tiny-but-mighty” quality about them, but come on, who was he kidding?

Why The Tweeter Choice?

Paul did the original design with the Dayton Audio tweeter.  When that tweeter was out of stock for an extended period, Paul did a quick design using a similar Hi-Vi tweeter.

Which tweeter do you pick?  If you have an existing Overnight Sensation build with the Dayton tweeter, pick the Dayton to match.   The downside to this tweeter is that there are no screw holes in the mounting flange. You will need to glue it in place.  That makes it hard to remove.

The Hi-Vi tweeter has a 4 hole mounting flange and is less expensive.  I think Paul said he actually preferred this tweeter but they are really a toss-up.

How Do They Sound?

In a word: “big.”   The bass these little HiVi drivers can put out is tremendous.  They throw out a very large soundstage and can actually fill a medium-sized room very well.  Paul built these to sit on his desk.  They have very full bass (or as some might say “full BSC”) and sounded best put up on a little stand or riser.  Once he did that, he fell in love with listening to them in the nearfield.  They image very well not only from left to right but also from front to back.  The frequency response looks pretty flat. However, the midrange is voiced with a very subtle droop. This was done to negate any fatigue from the metal cone woofer.  The end result is a speaker that sounds good on most styles of music. Bad recordings will be evident, but it’s a pretty forgiving speaker.

When You Buy These, Here’s What You Get:

Included in this kit are the full build plans.  You can purchase is in two forms, depending on your resources:

The Bare Bones Version:

• 2 x Hi-Vi, T20-8  or the ND20FA Dome Tweeters
• 2 x Hi-Vi, B4N Woofers
• 2 x Crossover components featuring Cebo capacitors, sand cast resistors, and specified Air Core Inductors.

Need all the goodies?

The Full Kit Package:

• 2 x  Choice of Input Terminals – 5-way binding posts or a round terminal cup.
• All mounting hard hardware (screws)
• Internal damping material
• Color-coded hookup wire
• Optional push-on connectors
• MDF boards for mounting the crossover parts.

Have trouble soldering or reading a crossover diagram?  We can assemble them for you at a nominal charge.

Overnight Sensations Write up

Woodcraft Writeup

ONS TM Box Plans