Pictures of my Thor project

[BrianGT]

I measured the response of my Thor TL speakers last weekend, and just got the pictures sent to me.

Pictures are in my gallery at:

http://brian.darg.net/thor?&page=3

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Brian

[BrianGT]

First speaker: (for those having browser problems with the gallery software)

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Brian

[BrianGT]

Second speaker:

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Brian

[BrianGT]

This is with only 10hrs of breakin time, and the bass is getting much stronger now, as they are getting broken in more.

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Brian

[Pete Fleming]

When I first began in hi-fi, a “few” years ago I was infatuated with the idea of bass, the more the better. However once I began to delve further into things, really listen to the music, and compare with what I heard from live musicians I realised that what I was hearing was really nothing like the natural acoustic versions at all. What I was listening to was instead a poor “plastic” imitation. This is fine if you listen to “artificial” music, but I feel tends to lead to disappointment if quality is sacrificed for quantity in more natural pieces.

Likewise when I first started working with wood I would finish my pieces with a thick layer of polyurethane, and stand back and admire the gloss. Once again it was only after some experience that I realised that I’d used wood to produce a piece of (attractive) plastic. Nowadays I’ve begun to appreciate wood for what it is, a tactile natural material, and try to keep that in mind when finishing a piece. Personally I rarely use poly these days, instead preferring an oil based finish, in particular Danish oil. It leaves the tactile grain of the wood clearly visible, but still protects the surface. As a bonus it’s easy to apply with a rag, and is virtually “idiot proof”.

If, on the other hand, you want to achieve a mirror surface, I suggest sealing the surface with a shellac based sealer. There is little point in providing brand names on an international board, but you will recognise the sealer by the fact that it is diluted and cleaned up with alcohol. After applying the sealer the grain will be raised slightly and quite brittle, so knock it down with fine abrasive paper. The beauty of a shellac based sealer is that it is compatible with most other finishes.

The Thors shown look great, but thought other readers may like to consider an alternative when finishing.

Cheers,

Pete

[BrianGT]

Pete,

Thanks for the advice. I am beyond the excessive bass phase, and like natural bass. I was just noting that the Thor TL speakers are a little lean on bass before you break them in. Once they are broken in, there is no excessive bass, but it is almost a perfectly flat response. The bass sounds like it was intended to sound. I built a subwoofer also, which I will use for movies, which is the only place that I like excessive bass.

Regarding the finishing, I had a hard time deciding what kind of finish for the wood, but I had two friends build a pair before I did and I like the glossy finish they used, so I followed.

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Brian

[Pete Fleming]

Oh don't get me wrong Brian, I was just using the Bass analogy to illustrate how my own tastes and expectations in musical reproduction had changed. I wasn’t actually referring to your own comments about the Thor.

Further up this thread comments were made about how to finish these, and other speakers in general. Unfortunately I was away during that period so my post above is a delayed response to that topic.

Wood is a wonderful material, I really like working with it. For those not so familiar with it, I hope my comments may inspire alternative finishing techniques. In addition to the Danish oil, I finish my projects with a coat of wax, the brand of which gives the piece a lovely smell (well I guess if you like that sort of thing). There is certainly something to be said for a piece of furniture that looks good, smells good, makes you want to run your hands over it, and in the case of the Thors, sounds good. Stimulating 4 out of the 5 senses isn’t a bad effort after all.

Cheers,

Pete

[jgwinner]

Very nice!

[janneman]

Originally posted by BrianGT
This is with only 10hrs of breakin time, and the bass is getting much stronger now, as they are getting broken in more.

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Brian

Brian, your speakers look pretty good as they are! It would be interesting to repeat the measurements in a few weeks to see just how much extra bass has come out of it.

Jan Didden

[MJK]

Brian,

Were your speakers the ones int he DIY Atlanta eveny? If so, what was your impressions after listening to your Thors and Bob Brines' Peerless TLs.

Martin
www.quarter-wave.com