Hi All, This is my first post here...
I thought I would show you what I have been working on for the last 4 weeks.
I have recently become interested in working with wood and wanted to make a pair of speakers that were hand crafted rather than made in a factory. I had never made anything like this before and needed to learn a lot of new skills. they just sort of started to come out of me as the project progressed.
pic of the veneer press. I added glycerene and soaked the sheets in the pres for 2 weeks
the box clamped on both sides to laminate the veneer sheet using urathane glue
I had a helper most of the time...
Getting there...
routing these holes was an asolute ba#$ard of a job.
I built the boxes out of MDF and veneered them with Tasmanian streaky burl myrtle. Its a very rare beautiful timber that is horrible to work with. The veneer sheets are 0.6 mm thin and crumble in your hands. I had to build a press to flatten the sheets and could only veneer one pair of bookmatched sheets per day it was nigh an impossible job but the results are really worth it.
The amplifier is a push pull GU-29 double tetrode with 6n1p and 6n3P signal stage. made by Audoromy and its a fantastic amplifier once the chinese tubes have been replaced.
the specs of the speakers are
TangBand W8 1772
39.4 litre box made from 1" mdf then veneered
box tuned to 56Hz
dual front mounted turned aluminium ports
I'm not sure about the grilles yet... I made them using NOS vintage grille fabric they dont really suit the look I'm after but they look nice and vintage. they are mounted to the box with magnets. I countersunk screws in the front panel of the box before veneering and then placed magnets in the grille to clip onto the screws. it works really well and you can't see any mounting hardware.
sorry for the really longwinded post!
Stunning work! Is there any oil on the veneer? If you are looking for suggestions, if you remake the grills (which give it a great retro look), you might consider rotating the "grain" 90 degrees (up and down), unless the grain is a mere artefact of the photo.
Any circuit in use for baffle step? Really gorgeous.
Any circuit in use for baffle step? Really gorgeous.
Thanks for the replies!
There is no baffle step correction or notch filter in place currently and I am very happy with the sound.
I made a test box with resessed drivers and the high frequency needed to be tamed. I then made a round driver plate with routed edges and resessed the drivers and did not like the sound. imaging was amazing but the top end was way to harsh and adding BSC fixed the harshness but at the cost of detail. it sounded like a piece of carpet had been placed infront of the driver.
so in the end i settled for non recessed drivers and no BSC. there is also no stuffing in the cabinets whatsoever. there is some felt on the back of the drivers around the magnets but that is all.
Interestingly the sound of the cabinets changed quite a lot between MDF and veneered MDF. they have a fuller and rounded eartly sound now that they are veneered. this is probably due to the veneer acting as a dampening agent.
by the time I finished these they would have cost almost $1000 but they sound amazing. Due to their sensitivity you could easily drive them with a SE amp, they even sound good being driven with a 3 watt amp. the bass tight prominent, midrange attack is very fast and treble is very detailed and clean.
rjbond3rd
I will upload better photos, not sure what happened there! but there is a stripe in the grille material that is vertical thet you cant see. but I see what you mean about the grain onf the material. if i remake the grilles I will route the edges with a larger radius and round the corners off more so they don't look like square blocks.
The veneer has 2 coats of scandinavian oil and 2 coats of wax. the scandinavian oil has resin in it and sets very hard and the wax givesa a nice smooth satin finish.
doubtingthomas, send me a photo of dennis!
I understand why people have been raving about these drivers. they are expensive but the really do sound very nice.
There is no baffle step correction or notch filter in place currently and I am very happy with the sound.
I made a test box with resessed drivers and the high frequency needed to be tamed. I then made a round driver plate with routed edges and resessed the drivers and did not like the sound. imaging was amazing but the top end was way to harsh and adding BSC fixed the harshness but at the cost of detail. it sounded like a piece of carpet had been placed infront of the driver.
so in the end i settled for non recessed drivers and no BSC. there is also no stuffing in the cabinets whatsoever. there is some felt on the back of the drivers around the magnets but that is all.
Interestingly the sound of the cabinets changed quite a lot between MDF and veneered MDF. they have a fuller and rounded eartly sound now that they are veneered. this is probably due to the veneer acting as a dampening agent.
by the time I finished these they would have cost almost $1000 but they sound amazing. Due to their sensitivity you could easily drive them with a SE amp, they even sound good being driven with a 3 watt amp. the bass tight prominent, midrange attack is very fast and treble is very detailed and clean.
rjbond3rd
I will upload better photos, not sure what happened there! but there is a stripe in the grille material that is vertical thet you cant see. but I see what you mean about the grain onf the material. if i remake the grilles I will route the edges with a larger radius and round the corners off more so they don't look like square blocks.
The veneer has 2 coats of scandinavian oil and 2 coats of wax. the scandinavian oil has resin in it and sets very hard and the wax givesa a nice smooth satin finish.
doubtingthomas, send me a photo of dennis!
I understand why people have been raving about these drivers. they are expensive but the really do sound very nice.
the ports came from Home they are velocity stacks for use in racing engines!
they were not cheap but were the exact diameter i needed and they looked a lot nicer than plastic. I cut them to length to tune them to the right frequency.
The speaker cutouts and the port cutouts were done woth a router and a routing template. I used a straight cutting bit with a round guide to get the holes perfectly round
then changed the depth to suit the cutting depth for the ports and cut the countersink holes. the holes are perfectly round and accurate to 0.5mm
I used a flushcut bit to trim the veneer on all the sides and the holes once the box had been veneered.
Thanks for the comments!
they were not cheap but were the exact diameter i needed and they looked a lot nicer than plastic. I cut them to length to tune them to the right frequency.
The speaker cutouts and the port cutouts were done woth a router and a routing template. I used a straight cutting bit with a round guide to get the holes perfectly round
then changed the depth to suit the cutting depth for the ports and cut the countersink holes. the holes are perfectly round and accurate to 0.5mm
I used a flushcut bit to trim the veneer on all the sides and the holes once the box had been veneered.
Thanks for the comments!
alrighty,
after changing the driver valves in my amp for new ones, there is definatly to much top end. I am going to measure it this weekend and add BSC back in. it must be atleast 3db to high by 7k
my preamp uses a 5670 5 star that was starting to sound a bit static so I replaced it with a 6n3p - EV. my driver tubes in the power amp are also 6n3p -EV's and the combo is now way to harsh. WE396 a's are not an option as people want stupid prices for them, I can't find new 5670 black plate 5 stars and the JAN ge 5670's are really harsh...
I don't want to dampen the sound but it has to be tamed somehow. I will keep this updated with a response map of the speakers in the room and post the specs for the BSC i end up with.
cheers!
after changing the driver valves in my amp for new ones, there is definatly to much top end. I am going to measure it this weekend and add BSC back in. it must be atleast 3db to high by 7k
my preamp uses a 5670 5 star that was starting to sound a bit static so I replaced it with a 6n3p - EV. my driver tubes in the power amp are also 6n3p -EV's and the combo is now way to harsh. WE396 a's are not an option as people want stupid prices for them, I can't find new 5670 black plate 5 stars and the JAN ge 5670's are really harsh...
I don't want to dampen the sound but it has to be tamed somehow. I will keep this updated with a response map of the speakers in the room and post the specs for the BSC i end up with.
cheers!
That's what happens after 6 years.
Still, it's also why I hate 3rd party hosting, because as soon as those pictures go for whatever reason from the host site (often a matter of just a few weeks), the thread is ruined / rendered meaningless. It happens all over the place & it's a real shame.
Guys -if you're going to post pictures, do everybody a favour & actually post them here so they don't go anywhere.
Still, it's also why I hate 3rd party hosting, because as soon as those pictures go for whatever reason from the host site (often a matter of just a few weeks), the thread is ruined / rendered meaningless. It happens all over the place & it's a real shame.
Guys -if you're going to post pictures, do everybody a favour & actually post them here so they don't go anywhere.
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