Hi everyone, it's been a long time lurking, this is my first time podter.
I pursued the design, development and manufacture of loudspeakers for quite a long time. Mainly I develop products for other brands including the Hi-end speaker and mass production project. I also have my own brand, but I'm not going to disclose the brand name rightnow, sorry. I can see there are lots of philharmonic and experienced loudspeaker designer here. some are also good handicraftman, but some still can not put their idea into reality perfectly. So I think maybe I can do something about that.
See my new product attached(piano paint). There are more models in this series coming in few weeks.
I pursued the design, development and manufacture of loudspeakers for quite a long time. Mainly I develop products for other brands including the Hi-end speaker and mass production project. I also have my own brand, but I'm not going to disclose the brand name rightnow, sorry. I can see there are lots of philharmonic and experienced loudspeaker designer here. some are also good handicraftman, but some still can not put their idea into reality perfectly. So I think maybe I can do something about that.
See my new product attached(piano paint). There are more models in this series coming in few weeks.
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The finish is 16 layers of piano paint and must be polished very carefully by wool each time. I past the design to my factory to built it, and I must watch the whole process, communicated with the craftsman, explained what exactly I want, ortherwise I can't built such a cabinet by my own hands. When the cabinets were finished, I start to do the assembling and measurements, end up after a very long time of audition and fine-tune, then here it is.Landroval said:
Well, if you are interested in it, I can provide the whole kits including ceramic units and super high frequency ribbon tweeters(mounted backward) , 4 piano painted cabinets(2 each channel)and base--you can chose different colors, 6 x-overs, 30 ft14# and 18# Teflon silver wires, wool damping materials, 38 pcs aluminum components, some swichs and 6 pairs WBT binding posts, etc. It's quite a challenge to assemble all these parts together, and the cost is high, but once you finish the work and connect it to your amp, all your friends will very impress.Tenson said:
Hi Francis, what exactly you like me to divulge? I'm readly to answer your questions.francis varkey said:
Thankyou. You 're right, it isn't a DIY product strictly. This speaker is intended to design for manufacture. But still its quality was to be set as a hi-end speaker, from my view it is one of the best models in the world which adopted the ceramic units.ShinOBIWAN said:
Fung,
You have described part of what I wanted to know and thanks for the same. So 16 coats, eh.... no wonder it looks good even as a photo.
The wool you mentioned - is it steel wool?
What is the cabinet made of - MDF or Plywood or...
What surface preparation was done prior to painting - filler, sealer, epoxy....
Regards,
Francis
You have described part of what I wanted to know and thanks for the same. So 16 coats, eh.... no wonder it looks good even as a photo.
The wool you mentioned - is it steel wool?
What is the cabinet made of - MDF or Plywood or...
What surface preparation was done prior to painting - filler, sealer, epoxy....
Regards,
Francis
francis varkey said:
Its most likely to be synthetic microfibre that was use flat out the finish, definitely not steel or wire wool since that is a harsh abrasive and would leave deep scratches in the finish even after coats.
Its a lot of work to get a high gloss finish but the results are very pleasing to the eye. I'm in the process of doing a piano black:
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An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Shinobiwan,
Now, you're making me jealous.
My mains are waiting for a piano(close to/far way from) finish. At least that's what I decided to do.
Still want to get some more ideas before plunging into it. Right now it's bare-naked-MDF.
Couldn't find sanding sponge(most of u guys will admonish poor me) finer than grit-600, hope it will be sufficient.
Gonna use spray can paint so I'm sure it won't even come close to your finish.
Then, in typical DIY fashion, I'll be forced to say "it looks good to me"
Now, you're making me jealous.
My mains are waiting for a piano(close to/far way from) finish. At least that's what I decided to do.
Still want to get some more ideas before plunging into it. Right now it's bare-naked-MDF.
Couldn't find sanding sponge(most of u guys will admonish poor me) finer than grit-600, hope it will be sufficient.
Gonna use spray can paint so I'm sure it won't even come close to your finish.
Then, in typical DIY fashion, I'll be forced to say "it looks good to me"
Hi,
It does look really good! The kit might interest a friend of mine. We went to the Hi-Fi show recently and he heard the Marten Designs Coltrane speaker and really liked it. I was trying to convince him to build one but when I had to explain crossovers I think it was a bit too technical making measurements and so on.
What are the '38 pcs aluminium components' for?
Do you have an email address I can pass on to my friend?
Also, just out of interest, when you put the tweeters in the back... do you wire them in phase or out of phase with the front ones?
It does look really good! The kit might interest a friend of mine. We went to the Hi-Fi show recently and he heard the Marten Designs Coltrane speaker and really liked it. I was trying to convince him to build one but when I had to explain crossovers I think it was a bit too technical making measurements and so on.
What are the '38 pcs aluminium components' for?
Do you have an email address I can pass on to my friend?
Also, just out of interest, when you put the tweeters in the back... do you wire them in phase or out of phase with the front ones?
francis varkey said:Shinobiwan,
Now, you're making me jealous.
My mains are waiting for a piano(close to/far way from) finish. At least that's what I decided to do.
Still want to get some more ideas before plunging into it. Right now it's bare-naked-MDF.
Couldn't find sanding sponge(most of u guys will admonish poor me) finer than grit-600, hope it will be sufficient.
Gonna use spray can paint so I'm sure it won't even come close to your finish.
Then, in typical DIY fashion, I'll be forced to say "it looks good to me"
Be sure to not use that 600grit, whilst its more than fine for sanding flat primer and basecoats it isn't OK for the laquer. I'm speaking from experience here because when I started doing all this spraying I made a similar mistake and used 800grit wet sanding and I could never get rid of all the swirl marks and scratches left in the finish and that was no matter how much rubbing compound I used.
Nowadays I use the finest sand paper that I can get hold of - 2000grit and I wet sand to help smooth things further. Afterwards I then use a fine cutting compound such as Farecla G3 and then a wax based polish such as brazilian Carnauba wax. It is a lot of work and your surface must be thoroughly preped before applying the base and clear coats. Use copious amount of high build primer and then sand flat after several heavy coats, then repeat once more. Only after you've got a rather thick film of primer should you move onto the rest of the coats. Be sure to lay down at least 7 coats of clearcoat/laquer otherwise when you come to flat and polish you'll push through the laquer and wreck the whole thing, meaning you'll need to sand and then re-apply the base and clearcoats again.
Whatever you do make absolutely certain that you've got a grease/dust free surface when you apply coats, especially if you've left the cabinets for an amount of time and then proceed to apply more coats. I'd recommend using a specially formulated panel wipe that's made for just that purpose.
Perhaps the best advice I can give is to practice thoroughly on some scrap material and be sure to try it out on joints because you'll be surprised at how much primer you need to use before the joints stop reappearing through the finish. If you take your time and be meticulous then you'll have a superb finish at the end of it all.
francis varkey said:
The location where I living is at least 6 to 10 hours time difference between all you guys' country, so when I online you must be sleeping.
Back to your question, the wool I'm using is a kind of industrial raw material directly from New Zealand, like the picture shown below.
The cabinet is made of 4 different thickness layers---2 HDF, 1 MDF, 1 plywood.
That's a little hard to explain. I can only say that the accurate worked, fine polished and dust-disposal roughcast is crucially, a dust-free painting room is also a key point to the goal.
ShinOBIWAN said:
I must point out that the real piano paint is flat and transparency has essential difference.
Tenson said:
The Marten Design Coltrane is using a diamond tweeter, ours is a T224 special version. In my view, I found that the diamond is very good but a little bit overprice, C224 is the best choice considering.
You are right, x-over is the most important part especially for the Accuton units.
38 pcs aluminium components are 38 different functions and sizes aluminum parts, some of them are over 2 feet long and 12 mm thickness.
My email: glen_info@yahoo.com.hk
It depends on different case. In this case, inverted polarity.
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http://hk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gl...dnm=82c0.jpg&.tok=phlALrEBvxyI8dyy&.src=mail#
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http://hk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/glen_info/detail_mail?.dir=.ded6&.dnm=6d66.jpg&.src=mail#
http://hk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/glen_info/detail_mail?.dir=.ded6&.dnm=b2bd.jpg&.src=mail#
http://hk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/glen_info/detail_mail?.dir=.ded6&.dnm=7426.jpg&.src=mail#
http://hk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/glen_info/detail_mail?.dir=.ded6&.dnm=6d66.jpg&.src=mail#
fung said:
Yep agreed, I only refer to it as piano black on occasion. Its really just a high gloss 2pack automotive finish. The results are arguably just as beautiful though and, as always, its difficult to get a photo that does justice to the real thing.
The other essential difference here is that I did all that by hand rather than in a dedicated production facility. Not bad at all considering it rivals proffessional finishes and was done in the garage during my spare time.
ShinOBIWAN said:
Yep agreed, I only refer to it as piano black on occasion. Its really just a high gloss 2pack automotive finish. The results are arguably just as beautiful though and, as always, its difficult to get a photo that does justice to the real thing.
The other essential difference here is that I did all that by hand rather than in a dedicated production facility. Not bad at all considering it rivals proffessional finishes and was done in the garage during my spare time.
I admit its not easy to do the painting in you situation and you finished it not bad.
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Fung,
Welcome out of hiding. Your speaker design looks very elegant and the finish detail is superb. I have some appreciation to the effort going into hand application of a nice piano black finish. The only time I have done this is shown here. This is my one-of, massively redesigned MingDa 300B driving 805 SET amp. The custom case is hard maple and has 18 coats of hand rubbed lacquer. I would not have the patience, or stamina in my aging hands to do large cabinet surfaces in this manner. I made this amp two years ago and it is my pride and joy.
I wish you best on your own brand speaker business venture. What is the efficiency rating in dB/watt/1 metre?
Welcome out of hiding. Your speaker design looks very elegant and the finish detail is superb. I have some appreciation to the effort going into hand application of a nice piano black finish. The only time I have done this is shown here. This is my one-of, massively redesigned MingDa 300B driving 805 SET amp. The custom case is hard maple and has 18 coats of hand rubbed lacquer. I would not have the patience, or stamina in my aging hands to do large cabinet surfaces in this manner. I made this amp two years ago and it is my pride and joy.
I wish you best on your own brand speaker business venture. What is the efficiency rating in dB/watt/1 metre?
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