Back in 2009 Madisound released the ‘Recession Buster Reference’ (RBR) kit, designed by Jed of Clearwave audio, featuring the venerable Scanspeak Revelator.
The kit was an absolute seal at $450USD / approximately £340GBP back in 2009, and I was lucky enough to bag one at the time. Having built Brian Ding’s excellent Rythmik DS12 sub the year previous, I expected to turn these round fairly quickly.
That didn’t quite happen! This kit has sat in the loft for the best part of 7 years….life got in the way as they say.
All of the builds posted online have been for the ported version - this is the smaller sealed version, owing to its paring with a sub and close to the wall location.
So, better late than never…
1 – Components
2 - 18mm MDF cut and dry fit
3 - Gluing and clamping the double thickness baffle
4 - Gluing the cabs
5 - Testing the components out of the box - important after 7 years!
6 - Installing the acoustic foam and crossover in the cabinet - and testing again
7 - Marking up the baffles
8 - Routing out the driver cut outs in the baffle
9 - Gluing the baffles to the cabinet
10 - I routed an 11mm round over on the vertical edges
11 - I find P38 body filler is best for filling and leveling the surfaces
12 - Next filled primer is sprayed on, rubbed down and wood filler used for any remaining imperfections, and rubbed down again.
13 - 2 rattle cans of the white primer is applied, and wet sanded flat. Next 3 cans of white paint is applied, again wet sanded flat before 3 cans of clear lacquer. I was going to wet and cut it back to a mirror gloss, but decided to leave the satin finish.
14 - Installing the drivers
15 - In their final resting place. I still need to make the grills and some proper feet.
First impressions are they sound superb - very open and detailed with seamless driver integration, even considering my less than ideal placement. Obviously these are light on the bass being sealed, but they are working well with my Rythmik sub.
Top end has a bit of bite but that should smooth over time as they get run in. Criminally, these are on the end of an AV receiver so a decent integrated or pre/power is next on the agenda.
I should have done this years ago! Thanks for looking.
The kit was an absolute seal at $450USD / approximately £340GBP back in 2009, and I was lucky enough to bag one at the time. Having built Brian Ding’s excellent Rythmik DS12 sub the year previous, I expected to turn these round fairly quickly.
That didn’t quite happen! This kit has sat in the loft for the best part of 7 years….life got in the way as they say.
All of the builds posted online have been for the ported version - this is the smaller sealed version, owing to its paring with a sub and close to the wall location.
So, better late than never…
1 – Components
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
2 - 18mm MDF cut and dry fit
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
3 - Gluing and clamping the double thickness baffle
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
4 - Gluing the cabs
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
5 - Testing the components out of the box - important after 7 years!
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
6 - Installing the acoustic foam and crossover in the cabinet - and testing again
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
7 - Marking up the baffles
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
8 - Routing out the driver cut outs in the baffle
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
9 - Gluing the baffles to the cabinet
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
10 - I routed an 11mm round over on the vertical edges
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
11 - I find P38 body filler is best for filling and leveling the surfaces
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
12 - Next filled primer is sprayed on, rubbed down and wood filler used for any remaining imperfections, and rubbed down again.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
13 - 2 rattle cans of the white primer is applied, and wet sanded flat. Next 3 cans of white paint is applied, again wet sanded flat before 3 cans of clear lacquer. I was going to wet and cut it back to a mirror gloss, but decided to leave the satin finish.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
14 - Installing the drivers
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
15 - In their final resting place. I still need to make the grills and some proper feet.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
First impressions are they sound superb - very open and detailed with seamless driver integration, even considering my less than ideal placement. Obviously these are light on the bass being sealed, but they are working well with my Rythmik sub.
Top end has a bit of bite but that should smooth over time as they get run in. Criminally, these are on the end of an AV receiver so a decent integrated or pre/power is next on the agenda.
I should have done this years ago! Thanks for looking.
Looking awesome. I always planned on making grills for my Elsinore's which I built in 2011 but never got around to it. I like looking at the drivers too much!
Being these are the 15W, they have the rep for "Best bass in 15 ltrs."
I run my 15W in 18 ltrs for a little more bottom end extension, but they only lose a couple hertz between this and plugging the port in the same 18 ltrs.
Now the 18W- yeah, larger cabs.
Later,
Wolf
Heh,I love my 18W's. I keep eyeing the Illuminators, but then am afraid to mess up a good thing. 🙂
Thanks guys.
Yes I'd like to hear the Revs in a larger cab to see what they can really do. You know they mean business with those hoofing great magnets.
I'll hold off the grill for a while, I quite like the clean look anyway without visible grommets. These will be in residence for a while anyway, and no kids (yet) to prod away.
Yes I'd like to hear the Revs in a larger cab to see what they can really do. You know they mean business with those hoofing great magnets.
I'll hold off the grill for a while, I quite like the clean look anyway without visible grommets. These will be in residence for a while anyway, and no kids (yet) to prod away.
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