Completed Jordan JX92S speaker

[sploo]

I recently finished building a pair of speakers for someone. The boxes were made from MDF (all parts CNC cut) and the resulting enclosures were veneered using zebrano and wenge.

The chamfers were cut after veneering, and left bare. Finally, they were given two coats of clear satin polyurethane varnish.

Thoughts/comments welcome.

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[pinkmouse]

Nice work with the veneer. Well done.

 

[Colin]

Yes, neat work. They look like you've used a traditional TL layout. How do they sound?

 

[sploo]

Nice work with the veneer. Well done.

Thanks. That was the journey into the unknown, as I've not veneering anything that size before. I understand now why the pros have bag type veneer presses.

Yes, neat work. They look like you've used a traditional TL layout. How do they sound?

I don't have any pics of the inside with me right now, but I could dig some out. I believe it's a TL design, though I just made it to the drawings I was given.

It's always hard to give a subjective opinion, as it's a sighted test, so of limited value.

Compared to a pair of 2-way ported floorstanders in the same room (with 8" Kevlar Scanspeak midbass/2905 Scanspeak treble) they lack 'kick' in the bottom end bass, and the treble isn't as clear or pronounced. However, considering it's just a single 4" fullrange (and the difference in cost of the two systems) I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[sploo]

Here's a pic of the inside.

 

[Arc]

Very very nice.

I like the routed channels on the inside. Nice work.

 

[sploo]

Thanks. I have done that sort of thing by hand, but all of those parts were CNC cut, which presented some different challenges.

Only the side panels have inside rebates, as the CNC machine cuts from one side only (the front and back panels needed to be cut on the outside face, to route the rebates for the driver & terminal plate flanges).

It does mean you can get everything nice and accurate though, and allow for the rebates to be 1mm oversized, so once glued, you can trim the extra material off using a trimming bit to get a really accurate edge.

 

[planet10]

Nice choice of veneer

dave

 

[sploo]

Thanks Dave. Unfortunately, I can't take credit for it! The aesthetic design (and veneer selection) came from the guy who I built them for.

I'm sure he'd be happy for me to post a link to his site, especially as it'll let people see his great highball design (a really attractive unit IMHO): http://www.8ballaudio.com/

 

[richie00boy]

Looking good Gordon. So you managed to solve the worry of tearing the veneer with the router bit then?

 

[sploo]

I didn't - and spent a lot of time patching up chips and tears.

Even with brand new bits (and decent quality too), running on a router table, I still had problems. The wenge is especially brittle, and chipped quite badly when I trimmed it on the driver/terminal plate holes using a rebate cutter.

I suppose the pros may get better veneer adhesion, as they can apply much more pressure while the glue sets, but I can't think of much else I could do to reduce the chipping.

 

[MJL21193]

...but I can't think of much else I could do to reduce the chipping.

Hi Sploo,
Masking tape centred on the cut line helps. Best is to score with a very sharp knife before routing.
Very nice job by the way! High quality work.

 

[pikkujöpö]

Always nice to see a new pair of Jordan's.
I like that there is metal used with the stands,matches the drivers nicely.The veneering job looks nice with two different tones.

Is it a Tidy TL,made by the plans from Sheldon Stokes ?

 

[sploo]

Hi Sploo,
Masking tape centred on the cut line helps. Best is to score with a very sharp knife before routing.
Very nice job by the way! High quality work.

Thanks John. I did try masking tape at one point - lots of time cleaning it off the router bits!

Eventually I bought a veneer saw, which, whilst slow (as it's a hand tool) made a much better job of trimming the edges than either a knife (which tends to tear or follow the grain) or a router bit (which just tended to tear).

BTW I've just updated my MDF painting thread. I'd appreciate your thoughts on the urethane.

Always nice to see a new pair of Jordan's.
I like that there is metal used with the stands,matches the drivers nicely.The veneering job looks nice with two different tones.

Is it a Tidy TL,made by the plans from Sheldon Stokes ?

These days, it's probably better to look at than Jordan's pair...

Again, the metal stands were the designer's choice. I wasn't sure if they'd work, but they do indeed look very good. We added them as I wasn't happy with the stability of the boxes (they're very tall and slim).

He did mention he got the box layout from a website, and it (http://www.quadesl.com/tidytl.html) does indeed look like the same thing.

 

[zacster]

The veneer saw works the best for home projects as you get complete control over the cut. I had bought one to use for making cuts on the raw veneer sheets for bookmatching, and then found it easier to use it once glued to the box. No router setup to deal with.