Just finished my Jazzmans (I use that name pending approval by Charlie...) The "cabinets" are 1/2" oak, stained with Minwax cherry. Very high WAF, compared to the Lucas ESLs (the big panels.) Still have some finishing touches to do, and still need to transfer the electronics from the Lucas ESLs ( now 15 yrs. old.) They are crossed over at 330 hz. to VMPS Tower 2s which provide the bass (midranges and tweeters removed, so they are bass speakers only.) I use a DBX 223xs electronic Xover, absolutely essential. The next upgrade will be to go with toroidal Xfmrs. IN the meantime, these sound absolutely wonderful, and they are brighter sounding than the Lucas's, which is good. I have had some diaphragm/stator arcing at high volume which is distressing, but it seems the occurrences are diminishing the more I play them. I have observed the arcing (playing them in the dark...little pinpoints of purple light) and am certain it is being caused by debris I missed on the stators while painting them in my haste to get them done. Advice to those planning to build ESLs: take the time to insure the stators are clean before painting them (duh.) Go over them with a magnifying glass hole by hole if you have to.
More advice: lining up the foam tape on the rear stator with the front is difficult to do precisely-that's why you can see some white streaks in the otherwise black stators. Obviously this can be avoided by using black tape... I didn't know it was available at the time. Also, whatever tape you use, once it is applied to the mylar (on the Licron coated side) the tape cannot be repositioned without lifting the Licron (if this happens, you can "re-paint" the lifted area with some Licron and a small brush, but this could be a source of arcing if you're not careful.)
These were a blast to build and I highly recommend Charlie's "Jazzmans" as a great ESL project.
More advice: lining up the foam tape on the rear stator with the front is difficult to do precisely-that's why you can see some white streaks in the otherwise black stators. Obviously this can be avoided by using black tape... I didn't know it was available at the time. Also, whatever tape you use, once it is applied to the mylar (on the Licron coated side) the tape cannot be repositioned without lifting the Licron (if this happens, you can "re-paint" the lifted area with some Licron and a small brush, but this could be a source of arcing if you're not careful.)
These were a blast to build and I highly recommend Charlie's "Jazzmans" as a great ESL project.
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Very Nice Work!!!
The one thing I always try to stress is to test the stators in a real world mock up situation before mounting the diaphragms.
The little purple arcs are a sign of the coating being slightly on the thin side.
When in Doubt put another coat on them, It can never hurt!!
Great Job!!!!
jer 🙂
The one thing I always try to stress is to test the stators in a real world mock up situation before mounting the diaphragms.
The little purple arcs are a sign of the coating being slightly on the thin side.
When in Doubt put another coat on them, It can never hurt!!
Great Job!!!!
jer 🙂
Congratulations on a fine project!
Don't get discouraged if you get some arcing. My first panels played wonderfully for about 30 seconds before going up in smoke (that's how I got so anal about sharp edges and coating thickness on the stators).
Don't get discouraged if you get some arcing. My first panels played wonderfully for about 30 seconds before going up in smoke (that's how I got so anal about sharp edges and coating thickness on the stators).
The coating may be thin perhaps. However, I built the Lucas ESLs with only one coat of Rustoleum, and they worked with no arcing. (The Lucas ESLs use Lincane stators which come from the factory gold-anodized and therefore clean of debris (so said Lucas.)) Next time I will definitely use more coatings: probably two coats red primer and then black to finish as per Ger. I know there is a lot of back and forth on this...
An anodic coating is itself a very good insulator, so less paint coating was needed for the Lincaine.
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