First try using Duratex Cabinet paint

[herm]

I read about this new paint over at Bill Fitzmaurice's site and
decided to try it. It is not cheap, but seems well worth it to me.

http://www.acrytech.com/store.asp?pid=14119&catid=19771

I bought a gallon of the black satin, and a texture roller.

Here is my first try:

http://www.ericherman.com/images/picture%20087.jpg

I went heavy on this application, and you can see the large texture
that results.

I have since tried a little lighter application, and the texture is
smaller and a little more visually pleasing. I will post the latest
efforts when I remember to upload the pics from my camera.

It is water based so the clean-up is easy, and NO paint fumes.
So much better than truck bed liner!!

herm

P.S. I know, the image is monstrous. But I wanted you to
be able to zoom in and get a good look....

[herm]

Slowly this speaker is coming to life.

Strange - the camera hides some flaws, and magnifies others.

-herm

[nunayafb]

Looks good!
I almost hate to say it but unless this stuff has magical damping properties then I don't see the difference between it and a 5 dollar can of wrinkle paint or the textured paint you can get at any paint store.
Not trying to knock your good work though, just commenting.

[herm]

Thanks for the compliment, Nunaya!

The difference is durability - the Duratex is very tough.

It bonds to the wood very well, and can take a lot of abuse.


herm

[nunayafb]

so in other words you got what you paid for

[herm]

Well,

Here it is. This was my first attempt at veneering, and it was
fun. I made a ton of noob mistakes, but that's how you learn.

The duratex looks very good. Most of my friends think it looks
like it was professionally done. As with the veneering - I made
a lot of errors that I won't make next time...


My picture-taking skills blow. I've got to remember that flash is
terrible for shiny items...

Hi-res copy of the image below

[Keltern]

Nice!

Looks like you have quite a frequencyrange!

What kind of electronics do you run these with?

[herm]

The top cabinet is a 3 way a with passive crossover.

It's actually a Dennis Murphy MBOW-1 3 way found here:

Dennis' MBOW-1 3 way

I use an R-DES digital EQ for the low bass cabinets. They are
restricted to about 70 hertz and below right now.

R-DES EQ

I still have a LOT of adjusting to do to get them to sound good. So far
I find that stereo subs are more fun than mono!

herm

[owdi]

Looks great. More details on the stereo subs please.

Dan

[herm]

The subs themselves are Dayton RSS315HF's.

The lower cabinets are 2.5 cubic feet (70 liter) sealed,
which gives a smooth roll-off. They model at -10dB
at 20 hertz.

I run the subwoofer output from my surround processor
into the R-DES, and then the EQ fun begins!

The R-DES has several channels of EQ available. And
you can adjust the Q as necessary for EACH filter.

Very Nice!

The goal is to measure ACTUAL room response, and
correct it at line level. No matter how flat your speaker plays,
the room is going to fight you. Normal EQs do not have
the flexibilty of filter freq and Q to get the job done...

A couple of drawbacks:
1. The R-DES does not have high pass outputs. It needs
a piece of equipment upstream to seperate out the highs.
(I use my Marantz Pre-pro)
2. It has two channels, but applies the same filter to each
channel. Maybe just a minor gripe, but I can't help being an
engineer.
3. I have to get off of my lazy A** and get a measurement
system going so I can do it right.

i will report back when I actually do some frequency sweeps,
measure the response, and tailor it to my room and tastes.

herm

P.S.

Here is a picture of the R-DES interface:

R-DES Interfacce