The sound and the construction
They are sounding very good. We build plywood cabinets as prototypes initially. I had somewhere between 50-100 hours on the drivers in those cabinets before I took them out and put them in the mahogany cabinets. I put them into the mahogany cabinets before starting the finishing and listened to them again. Then I took out the hardware once more and did the finish on the wood. I think they sound every bit as good as the plywood prototypes and perhaps I'm hearing a little more bass. I will calibrate with some pink noise sources and my cheap spl meter to check that. I took measurements from the plywood cabinets while tuning the stuffing and adjusting the port. The denser wood and the granite base may account for a slight difference in the perceived bass response. But nothing like putting some numbers to it to see what it's really doing. This is my first experience with full range driver/mltl design. The imaging and coherence is quite impressive against my Silverline Sonatina's.
bb: Thank you very much for the abundance of information on cabinet construction. I am a novice at this. BTW, the tops and bottoms grain directions are aligned with the front and back, for better or worse and are rabbited joints on all edges. The sides are dadoed into the front and back edges. I think that's incorporating some of what you're suggesting. I also coated the the inside surgfaces and all wood edges of circular opening with wipe on poly to seal them. I hope they hold together for a while at least. I live in Vermont and we do get swings in humidity.
Due to some fear of resonance I did put three internal braces running from the front to back surfaces. That may have been completely unnecessary. My brother didn't do that with his set and I do not percieve any resonances on his speakers. They may resonate but the amplitude is so low I cannot hear it. And I sit fairly near field, only 8-9 feet away.
Thanks again,
Chris
They are sounding very good. We build plywood cabinets as prototypes initially. I had somewhere between 50-100 hours on the drivers in those cabinets before I took them out and put them in the mahogany cabinets. I put them into the mahogany cabinets before starting the finishing and listened to them again. Then I took out the hardware once more and did the finish on the wood. I think they sound every bit as good as the plywood prototypes and perhaps I'm hearing a little more bass. I will calibrate with some pink noise sources and my cheap spl meter to check that. I took measurements from the plywood cabinets while tuning the stuffing and adjusting the port. The denser wood and the granite base may account for a slight difference in the perceived bass response. But nothing like putting some numbers to it to see what it's really doing. This is my first experience with full range driver/mltl design. The imaging and coherence is quite impressive against my Silverline Sonatina's.
bb: Thank you very much for the abundance of information on cabinet construction. I am a novice at this. BTW, the tops and bottoms grain directions are aligned with the front and back, for better or worse and are rabbited joints on all edges. The sides are dadoed into the front and back edges. I think that's incorporating some of what you're suggesting. I also coated the the inside surgfaces and all wood edges of circular opening with wipe on poly to seal them. I hope they hold together for a while at least. I live in Vermont and we do get swings in humidity.
Due to some fear of resonance I did put three internal braces running from the front to back surfaces. That may have been completely unnecessary. My brother didn't do that with his set and I do not percieve any resonances on his speakers. They may resonate but the amplitude is so low I cannot hear it. And I sit fairly near field, only 8-9 feet away.
Thanks again,
Chris
Chris,
You did a good job for someone with minimal cabinet building experience!
If I understand correctly, going from one side of the speaker to the other across the top is going across the grain of the top piece. If that's so, then any cracks (knock on wood😉) are most likely to appear on the side panels, starting at the joints with the top and bottom pieces.
I live in Ottawa, which probably has about the same humidity extremes. Kind of a pain - on the other hand, I do like having different seasons.
Glad you are enjoying the speakers after all the work! 😀
bb
You did a good job for someone with minimal cabinet building experience!
If I understand correctly, going from one side of the speaker to the other across the top is going across the grain of the top piece. If that's so, then any cracks (knock on wood😉) are most likely to appear on the side panels, starting at the joints with the top and bottom pieces.
I live in Ottawa, which probably has about the same humidity extremes. Kind of a pain - on the other hand, I do like having different seasons.
Glad you are enjoying the speakers after all the work! 😀
bb
Ottawa? I haven't been there in a few years but it's one of the cities we have really enjoyed visiting. I get a kick out of the attractive black squirrels you have. The grey squirrels around our yard do not compare.
You understood my attempt to explain the directionality wood correctly. Thanks for pointing out where the stress cracks are likely to show up. I'll keep my eyes on those areas as it goes through the seasonal temperature and humidity changes.
It's been my hope the guitar speaker cabinet and amp head my brother built out of african mahogany using similar jointery would be the canary in the mine shaft for this kind of construction. They've held up for some years now without cracking. Of course their dimensions are very different too.
I will hope for the best - my only option at this point I think.
Chris
You understood my attempt to explain the directionality wood correctly. Thanks for pointing out where the stress cracks are likely to show up. I'll keep my eyes on those areas as it goes through the seasonal temperature and humidity changes.
It's been my hope the guitar speaker cabinet and amp head my brother built out of african mahogany using similar jointery would be the canary in the mine shaft for this kind of construction. They've held up for some years now without cracking. Of course their dimensions are very different too.
I will hope for the best - my only option at this point I think.
Chris
lots of cash in 3/4 mahogany. I'd try good figured mahogany veneer on outside, and make sure to balance with cheep veneer on inside, using a base of ply or mdf. You'd have a very stable panel. You'd need to mitre the corners. This is hard to get a clean joint at the corners. What I do is get it close, then use table saw to saw a kerf on the corner and then lay in a strip of matching mahogany hardwood, trim down with a hand plane. So, you veneer both sides, then cut your 45 degrees on along the long edges. Lay the panels outside up togather. Lay tape along and on top of the four panels. Flip it over. Glue the mitre, and then wrap it up into the box shape. Apply more tape. I'd use Titebond II or III on the mitres. When glue is dry, set edge on table saw and make shallow kerf cut (depth equals width of saw kerf, or so). Lay in and glue your small stips of mahogany, then plane and sand flush.
You're right, 3/4" mahogany isn't cheap. However the lumber was purchased rough cut and we did the planing and joining which saves a good piece. I actually considered to tyr veneer and would like to experiment with veneer. My fear was about not having any experience working with it and the smaller margin for error. There are some gaffs in finishing that might have gone through veneer. I would like to develop the ability to use veneer. Perhaps on the next project.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience on how to approach this next time trying for veneer. This looks like a very useful starting point to work from.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience on how to approach this next time trying for veneer. This looks like a very useful starting point to work from.
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