I heard some B&W bookshelfs at a fancy Best Buy a while back, and they sounded excellent, I'd say the sopranos sound just as good but certainly different. Both are very detailed and alive but the B&W's had this "easy" sound to them, they were subtly good whereas the Sopranos are boldly good. Much as seems the goal of these designs and kits, if I added some fancy trim to these Sopranos and hung a huge price tag on them next to the B&W's, no one would question it.
Much respect and gratitude to Jeff Bagby !
The veneer, well, Ive never veneered so we're going to see what happens. If needed, I have a friend who owns a cabinet refinishing business. I can pass them to him, if I can stand to not listen to them for a little while.
Very glad to hear that you are fully enjoying these speakers. That is the most important thing of all. Going with an established design like this one from Jeff Bagby usually results in immediate success and enjoyment.
So many times people without very much experience try to pick drivers and design the crossovers themselves. I seriously doubt that many, if any, of them achieve the performance and sound quality that you now have to enjoy with these speakers.
Curious about the cutouts for the drivers. Maybe the picture is misleading, but it looks like you chamfered the front of the baffle for the driver holes. That's usually done on the back of the baffle, but the front is simply recessed flat with a rabbet to the depth and width of the driver bezel. Seems like with a chamfer the driver will not be able seal well to the cabinet.
So many times people without very much experience try to pick drivers and design the crossovers themselves. I seriously doubt that many, if any, of them achieve the performance and sound quality that you now have to enjoy with these speakers.
Curious about the cutouts for the drivers. Maybe the picture is misleading, but it looks like you chamfered the front of the baffle for the driver holes. That's usually done on the back of the baffle, but the front is simply recessed flat with a rabbet to the depth and width of the driver bezel. Seems like with a chamfer the driver will not be able seal well to the cabinet.
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The back is chamfered with a little meat left for the screws.
These photos don't do the speakers justice, the veneer looks great in real life, sadly the flash washed it out a bit in these pics. I may try to get some better pics later. The crossovers are on the back now, they were originally intended to be on top like before the veneer, but after all the veneering work, and it looked so good, I just couldn't bring myself to put holes in the veneer. The unevenness of the roundovers is completely intentional, gives it a texture and a little bit of a rustic look.
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