DIY Gallery - Page 30

Awesome job...simply amazing

Hey guys I am building an entertainment center and want to know what I should use to get a nice mirror like black finish for the top. The top is 3/4 MDF that has been sprayed with rattle can primer thus far. Any suggestions on getting a deep shine out of it?

This question would be best asked in a new thread in the DIY section or there are plenty of established threads asking the same question, you might want to do a search. Doing a mirror finish is one of the toughest jobs in all of DIY so it would take up a lot of space in this gallery section.

When I used raw walnut veneer, I sprayed each sheet until it was damp, then went over it with an iron and a cotton cloth to "pre-heat" the veneer and dry it out a little. I immediatly rolled the heat lock glue on the sheet and let it dry for an hour or so. When I was ready to do a side, I placed the sheet on the box, sprayed it lightly with the veneer softener, and ironed it on. Seemed to work quite well, although it did curl up a little when I hit it with the iron. Work from the center out and you shouldn't have any problems.

Great looking speakers by the way.

See, right there is one error I made, I worked the veneer from one side to the other, not from the center.


Thank you sir!

Just finished this last week. 15" LMS-R powered by one channel of a Marathon MA-5050. Internal volume is around 90 liters net stuffed with 3 lbs. of Acousta-Stuf. Ended up with 28 layers of 11 ply China birch from Lowe's. I should have spent the extra $20 a sheet and got the 13 ply Baltic birch from Menards. From my experience, the Lowe's stuff has more voids and uneven plies than the Menards. Next time. Maple veneer on the top and bottom and I made the trim ring out of 3/4 maple with a 3/8 roundover on the outside and a 1/4 roundover on the inside. Finished with seven coats of Benjamin Moore Benwood Stays Clear acrylic poly, machine polished with Behlen Buffer's Polish, and hand rubbed with Renaissance wax. All in it took roughly six weeks to finish but it was worth it. I figured out a few things along the way to reduce sanding and finishing time when I do the next one. Thanks for looking.

Marc

Very very nice Young13.

Do you happen to have a build thread? I would love to ask some questions but in this thread it is not appropriate.

Thank you.

No, I do not have a build thread. I stay home with my 2, 4, and 6 year olds and the free time I do have was mostly spent building. I do plan on documenting the next build though. And feel free to PM me with any questions you may have.

Very nice, I really like that baffle and how it covers the reccessed driver. I have been thinking about doing something like that with my LMS build. I also have the same amp....I can not wait to hear it all, my build with be 3.0 cuft.

btw, you should really put that post in its own threads so others can ask questions and see it in the main DIY section. Measurements would be awesome too!!

Congrats on the kids too!! I have a 16 month and 3.5 year old

Ya, I'm going to write up a post today in the main section with more pics of the finished enclosure and some tips on what I would do differently.

Wow ... those look fantastic! Hope you took lots of pics and can setup a "post" build thread soon!!

Those Paradigm feet sure are popular!

this looks amazing. What veneer and stain did you use?

I am impressed by all the nice work displayed here...

I built these last year (Geddes Abbeys).



Then I built these bandpass subs to go with them (my own design).



Here is how they measure together in my room (with a little optimization).



Cheers, Doug

Wow.

Good work.

Thanks. I actually built the sub amps as well using a pair of 2 x 250 modules from Class D Audio. They run cool and quiet (no fans) and provide 4 channels of power at 125W into 8ohms or 250W into 4ohms - or they can be run bridged to provide 2 channels at 500W into 8 ohms. Great little amps.



(my cat wanted to get into the act)


I'm not sure what's next - probably a custom low profile equipment cabinet to replace that funky old TV stand.

WOW this thread rocks! Makes me want to start a new project!!!

Very, very nice jobs.....all of you

seem to have had enough of my 901 series VI and ready to venture out to something else. so far i want to either build a legacy baffle design or helix tower design. already have 8- eminence lab-15 subs, (10) 6.5 mid-woofers, 2 as extras, tang band 75-1558se 3" textile domes and tang band rt-1516sa ribbon tweeters. after everything i could read on both ive changed a few things on driver choices for my tastes ie, love a nice big dome midrange sound as in PMC and ATC studio monitors. baffle choices so far are using a slab of soapstone where the factory can make all the cuts that i want as long as they have specs. this would probably be the easiest build. the legacy whispers from reading seem to have a wider and more open sound but have a less solid bass response from reading reviews. the helix design using multi layered mdf and so called truck bed rhino lining adhesive inside, different driver setups, powered sub etc. would probably be a monumental task to build. so lets just assume a baffle design is in order. so here are my questions and concerns hopefully to be answered. the xilica xp-4080 is the loudspeaker processor that the legacys use, all xlr in/outs (balanced). currently using sherwood/newcastle P-965 pre/processor. this does not have xlr outs and rca output is only 1v. currently have emotiva xpa-5 and would love to use some xpa-1 mono blocks at least to drive all the subs, but have read a few clipping scenerios and am now not sure of xpa-1s. how and what is the best way to boost voltage output of p-965 and convert input to xlr to go into xilica processor. most pro/amps crown, crest,qsc etc can give great bang for the buck but have at least 1.25 and up voltage input sensitivities. is this what a rca/xlr buck booster is for? next question is freq. curve on drivers. lets say the 6.5 mid/woofers in the specs are 45hz to 10000 hz. klipsch has these drivers in the thx KL-650 speakers crossed at 1400hz with a horn to do the rest. i guess i trust klipsch in knowing this is probably best crossover freq. for that speaker and that application. lets say a woofer has a freq spec from 100hz to 2500hz but you find speaker mfg. not using the full range or not even close to the full range that driver can do. if 2500hz is the end of its upper range, and a mfg drops it off at 500hz what am i missing,if it can do a range in the specs much more then that why dont they use the full range. my subs are spec'd from 20hz to 125 hz. but on their graph they dip a little at 125 and go out to 700hz before they fall apart. i guess i just want to know what type of ranges i can play with on these subs. so subs are (8) lab 15 at 20-125hz, midwoofers are 45-10K, 3" domemidrange are 260-8k and ribbons are 2k-40k. those are the drivers so far and some of my long winded questions. subs are 600w rms each, midwoofers are 40rms each and no wattage specs for dome and ribbon in front of me. any problems someone thinks of or amp options would be great.

I couldn't think of anywhere else to introduce myself so, here we go. A couple things I've built:







Steampunk aesthetic, using copper/bronze/steel, green felt baffle facing, JSD 8 ohm 5.25" coaxial drivers. Hidden chamber vented alignment, whatever that's called in the serious engineering world. I'm not serious. Everything's scrap, I think I have 20 bucks in actual purchased parts (nails, glue, paint, etc) I call them "Earl Grey"









I call these "Takenobu" as I found myself listening to Nick Ogawa a lot while tuning them. 4" MTX automotive drivers from a buddy's car, 3" Poop Pipe Port® and some sexy fishnet material held away from the drivers with drawer pulls. I may have spent upwards of $40 on this pair.

Oh, and here's some sillyness I built for work a few months ago


(that's a 12" driver for scale)

And here's what I look like in a sombrero

So.. uhh.. I don't really take this hobby seriously, I take fun seriously and then sometimes build speakers when I'm bored. I've been reading several of the very talented & meticulous builds on here for quite a while & figured it's time to join in case I ever want to comment or ask so.. howdy. Or whatever

May I ask how much per sub?

By the way they are beautiful subs. I love silver and black. Can you even get AV's anymore?

My latest builds.





And a sub to match.

how do they sound compared to the statements?

Wow! Did you make that center, and if so do you have plans or a list of drivers you used? In fact I would love to know more about your whole setup if you don't mind. Thanks. Also did you make the stand for the center and where did you get the feet for your mains at? All I can find are pointy generic ones. One last question, what is going on with the wiring for the mains, are they by amped?

Very nice!

Never-mind, I read your sig. You have some very nice speakers and are very good.

Here's the center:
http://clearwaveloudspeaker.com/Dynamic/4CC.html

Towers:
http://clearwaveloudspeaker.com/Dynamic/4T.html

Sorry, I just now saw your post. I believe you have the speakers designs now thanks to geoffstgermaine.

I designed and built the stand for my center channel. It's just a simple mdf design covered in veneer and paint. The speaker feet are from Parts Express, but have been discontinued. And yes, the main speakers are bi-amped.

My 7. setup. They are kits from GR-Research (www.gr-research.com)



Working on the .2 part. Here is one of the 2 subs I'm in the middle of working on. They are MFW-15 drivers with GR-Research plate amps. Sandbox design.

Very nice speakers. I love that people can take such a seemingly simple thing and make it sing with beautiful music beautifully reproduced. Its almost an obsession once the DIY speaker bug bites. I know most here are woodworkers but due to the lack of skill in that area I still enjoy it by buying enclosures ready made or custom made and putting great drivers into them. Sadly I don't enjoy cheap drivers and have a taste for drivers I cannot easily afford, so building speakers isn't just about saving money for me it's about getting the best sound that I can
.

this is just a small example of my work, I am in the process of rebuilding all of my full range planars (down to 20Hz).About 20 pairs or there abouts. Have been building and re-designing over the last 20 years. Neo magnets peaked my interest, because the reduction in size and weight. From 7' monsters down to 60 x 40 cms. From 40 kilos down to5 kilos. I hope this gives you ideas for your own builds