Well, as you guys know I am in the process of the design, and construction of my HT cabinets. The Kit81 units in a ported box using flared vents is in order. I have spent weeks practicing with clear lacquer, as a how to. I have a ton of wood scraps out in the garage I have been practicing differant techniques, and materials and I have found my method. I have tried schelac, varnish, laquer, polyeurothane, and tung oil. I have tried several methods of application of each and I have found my very favorite to be Deft Lacquer, with a natural brush. I have a piece out in the garage with 8 coats of lacquer, but the final product on the units will be around 16 coats. All hand sanded, compounded, and polished. The result will be a mirror like shine over a complex woodgrain. South American Crotch Mahogany is the wood of choice, but next Saturday I am going to Charlotte to a big woodworking show, and depending on what is there, I may have a change of heart. Here is the Crotch Mahogany. It is a veneer, and a pricy one at that. The enclosure assemblies below are small versions. We basically attempted a few ideas and wood types for the design, as well as differant inlays. We are working to find the best cutting method, and joining method possible. Rather than using an expensive veneer, we simply used an old cherry veneer we had sitting around. The inlays are black walnut, and likely what we are figuring will be used in the final assembly. I have several woods to choose from, including purpleheart, bubinga, zebrawood, and bloodwood, but I feel the Black Walnut will suit my needs best. As the lacquer is added to the units below, you will see the grain climb out, and the Black Walnut become almost dead black. These first pics are in the rough, sanded fitted, all ready for trial lacquer coats. While they are miniature, they will be exactly the methood and appearance of the final product. I think we will be using the 1/4 inch inlays rather than the 3/8. I will lacquer the units to pull the grain and color out, and be sure I want the fine inlays, rather than the heavier inlay. Here is the face of the unit with 1/4 inch inlays. Here is a detail of the inlay, from the end with tthe cutaway showing how we set the inlay. The face of the 3/8 inlay. Another face shot, with a bit of an end view. A detail of the 3/8 cut. We found this method to be the best for the wood we will be using (3/4 MDF). We cut a straight 45 degree cut, and flip the board over and using a 1/8 blade, we cut a spline into the edge. We then cut the 1/8 inch plywood to fit the joint. A very slick and simple method that works very well. Now I will show some comparisons for the units, side by side; Side by side Angled Again Detailed end comparison. The 3/8 is bigger than the 1/4, in case you were unaware. For Steven. The wood block I am holding on the top of the box is the mahogany. All I did in the pics was change the angle of the wood, I did not flip it or anything. Comparatively, you can see the color differance between the cherry on the box, and the Mahogany block. Notice the color change as the mahogany is turned. That is the effect I was telling you about. Mahogany/cherry 1 Mahogany/cherry 2 I will add some pics as the Lacquer draws out the color in the woods... Let me know what you think of the design thus far.
Wow, that crotch mahogany in that first pic looks absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to see it instead of the cherry veneer used. As is, the black walnut, it seems rather neutral and uninteresting. But with that deep, shiny red of the mahogany it will look great. Especially if it does turn out to be almost black. Hey, since you have your skilled friend to help, why not take the cherry and black walnut and put an Adire logo on those things somewhere? I think a small logo flush right below the speakers in the center would look amazing.
I'm gonna hit Chris B up and ask him if he will send me the logos they use on the Rava. The clean simple gold and green diamond .
The wood has been purchased. I went to a woodworkers show in Charlotte (a few hours from me) because they had an "Exotic Veneer" dealer there. I scored big time!!! He had a bit of Crotch, but it was really weak in the heart of the "crotch" and I was not particularly impressed. He had a TON of mahogany selectinos tthough, as well as some babinga. I was tempted to buy the babinga, but I came across some amazing mahogany... I got a TON of this stuff. Tiger stripe mahogany (pictured below) and ribbon mahogany (same as the block above, but if you want to see the actual product, I will take and post some pics). That is unfinished, still wrapped in the roll. I got 10 sheets that are 4 feet X 18 inch as well at 14 sheets of 6 inch X 12 feet. All is bookmatched. I also got a ton of the ribbon. It came in 32 inch X 5 foot slabs (I got 10 of these) and in the same 6 inch X 12 foot slabs as the Tiger, which I scarfed up 7. No kidding fellas, I paid under $45 for all this wood. UNDER $45. It was a dollar a slab. that is right, $1 a sheet!!! I am going to be veneering the hell out of stuff around the house.
That's some pretty wood at a nice price. You'll have to take some pics of all the stuff you veneer Good find Seth.
Wow, that IS cheap! B) I can picture it now... the GN rolls out in the spring... And it's a Woodie! :lol:
Comedians Anyways... Tiger Mahogany? I saw this stuff and it blew my mind. I loved the way it changed color with the changing light. Here are a couple practice slabs... Ignore the stain lines, that was practice. The bottom portion, the red section, is unstained, just lacquered. I will be doing them like that.
They're here!!! I now have all the components for the speakers. The AV8 is a big old 8. Most impressive. I will post the pics this evening.
I actually need an 8" midrange/midbass driver to use, to couple up to a set of CTS compression drivers/Selenium horns that I've got here.. I want to really use them... Got any affordible suggestions?
Well here are some pice. The first are the crossover components for 1 side (yes, there are 2 sets of these components). Here are the faces of the AV8 and the TM025F1 tweet (textile dome horn tweet) Here is a closeup of the tweeter, and 1 with my cell for comparison (I have a Motorola V60GI) And the nasty MASSIVE port tube. It is 3 inches ID, double flared, and currently over a foot long. Shiva AV8 motor compare... And lastly, the Shiva and the AV8 side by compare. Oh yeah, for those of you who care the link to all the cabinet pics is http://sound-foundations.us/HTcabinets/
OK, so I am more excited then everybody else about this, but hell, it is my current project. I have a few pics of the constructed cabinets. I added one next tto my TV for a demonstration of the speaker's size. They are 36 3/4 inches tall, and 9 inches wide, and 12 3/4" deep. All I have left to do is lay the second baffle on (I am doing a double baffel and flush mounting the driver/port). I included a pic of 1 of the baffels as I have veneered the baffels so the veneer is fully set when I cut out the circles. I don't want any flaking and splintering of the veneer, so I am attatching it, then adding the second baffel and cutting it. Anyways, I still need to add the eggcrate to the insides, so the wood visible through the port flare will not be visable. Also, this is just part of the port dropped in there for a visual, the actual port tube will be longer than what you are seeing now. Not too big really, a nice fit with the system overall I feel. Solid construction. Look at the braces. I have 3 internal braces in the units. A quick drop in fit so you get an idea of the final product. Here is the baffle covered in the veneer. The veneer is totally raw right now, the laquer will bring the grain out even better.
They look good so far... I can't wait to hear how they sound! Are you building the crossovers into the cabinet? I'm also curious if you are high-passing the cabinets at all?
I'm excited. I am going to throw them together and give them a couple weeks to break in before the final assembly. My understanding is the tweets are bright for the first few hours, but break-in mellows them considerably. I am going to build the crossovers on boards, a 4X6 board per driver. So each unit will actually have 2 crossovers in them. I am considering placing the crossover in the bottom of the units, as I have a recess inside what you see, but I am thinking I will mount the mid-woofer crossover right behind the mid, and the tweeter right behind the tweet. Still not sure, but I am toying with the underside mount, as I can cover it with plexi and anyone interested can see them by simply leaning the cabinet backwards... who knows. As far as high passing, yes Chris. My reciver allows for a wide selection of crossover points and slopes. I will have my cutoff at 60Hz (at 12Db) for the units, and the sub at 80 (24Db). The natural rolloff should provide a seamless transition between drivers. THX certified movies will shift the crossover to 80Hz at 24Db all the way around and it will boost midwoofer to subwoofer frequencies I believe it is 3 Db :angry: (that is just an unfortunate trait of THX certified films). They do this to overcome the "natural brightness" of a room in a house. Being that the units are tuned so low, they will run flat to below 40Hz (and up to around 25Khz) and due to my tastes I would prefer the sub to wake up earlier than a full range would allow, at least with respect to some semblance of SQ. :blush:
The crossovers are complete and the trial run has begun... I put them together (without the second baffel and veneer) to be sure they were cool. I stuffed the units with 20 Oz of polyfill apiece (~8 behind the woofer, ~2 in the port section (not in the port, just that section) and 10 in the lower portion). Initially they were very bright, and very boomy. I had read this was common for the mid and tweet. I played it for a couple hours last night (using Tool, Undertow as it covers a very broad frequency range), and have played it for a while today. The mids and tweets are starting to come around nicely. I listened through the CD once today, and restarting it I could hear a huge differance in the sound of the units. Dispertion is amazingly broad. Down the hallway it is still ver tonaly correct (of course reverb is causing cancellation). The crossover is very tight, the drivers stay very accurate and well controlled throughout the spectrum. So far after 2 hours or so of listening I am very pleased. They are continuing to mellow and after full break in I will comment further. While the tweet is still too bright on axis, I feel after break in and a small tweek I should be okey-dokey here is the schematic for you Chris.
I got my center channel components today (tee-hee). Very nice. I will post a pic up of the components, and you need to look at the massive inductor for the crossover... I mean this thing is massive. Pics tonight
Cinco De Maio? Si. My center channel components arrived today: All the components for the center channel. Look at the massive size of this inductor. here is the inductor on the AV8's motor. The AV8s motor is as big as the Shiva's motor, and with the bucking magnet it is even bigger in appearance. assembly of the crossover will be this week, and cabinet construction should begin this weekend. Mains will be veneered and lacquering of the mains (and hopefully the center) will begin this weekend as well.
Here are the other components. The black cloth these goodies are sitting upon is black grille cloth, that will be used to cover the center channel, Upon it you will see the heavy duty ball and sockets used to hold the grille assembly in place. And finally, we see the black chrome speaker spikes, and their recepticle pads. These are used to prevent speaker movement under heavy output. However, I just thought they would be a nice way to tilt my center to fire directly at the listener position
