vinceb Mini Statement build

[vinceb]

Hi All, okay firstly I am a every several years poster when I set upon a new speaker project. First it was to debate with ThomasW about the merits of the Stryke 15.2 PR design (kind of stupid of me but I was younger and stupider) then briefly about the Adire Extremis and now I've stumbled on the Mini-states while goofing around looking for something small for the kitchen. Yup, looking for small and simple and saw the very interesting Statements and decided to try the minis first. I've wanted to build a ribbon design forever and here they were, had to try them out.

I'd like to express my appreciation for the forum, and for the hard work of the designers of the Statement line, the plans are extremely helpful, including the cut diagrams and detailed measurements. It's amazing how much time is saved not standing in front of the saw scratching ones head. Very generous of you all, and so I thought I'd throw up a thread so you could see another person tackle your creation. Not sure what I can add to the volumes here except maybe some details that might help less experienced builders and show some things not to do. Also, I'm trying to do everything as efficiently as possible time-wise so maybe that will help other time-challenged builders, who knows?

Okay, nuf chat, how 'bout some pics?


Lined up the pieces on one side, about to glue the other side - the one on top.



Biscuits used at the base and top to line things up and for strength. Good alignment through the assembly minimizes the work to get ready for veneer. Also religiously scrub the excess glue off.



Close-up of the mid tunnels. So nice and innocent looking.



Looking good, everything is pretty close in tolerance. When cutting I try to run all the pieces of a given dimension through the saw at once. Doesn't always work out but if you think in those terms you will have a better result.



Glued the top side down. Chisel is for cleaning glue off the outside, square for checking as you go. Kids, remember, you can't check for accuracy too much. Really, you can't, and if you look closely you might pick out what is wrong here. Did I see it at this point? Heck no. I kept going happy as pie.



Still happy. Everything looks good. Ignorance is bliss.



Here is the template I'll use for the bases. Shame I took the pic prior to rounding the corners so you could actually see how it works when you use the template cutting attachement, but you can see it on the router base. The template will be 1/16 smaller than the finished piece. This is so the base pieces will be consistent and can be veneered later. This turned out to be fairly tedious as somewhat expected, but I like the way it looks so it's okay.



Cutting bases for weight. Would have been bright to leave more at the corners for feet but it'll be okay. Constant reminder of why I don't have a high-paying engineering job. Oh well.



Gluing the second side of the first cab. Check those alignments, it's very important.



This is probably my favorite pic. This is me measuring to make sure the mid tunnel is the same distance from the top all around. Wow, it's right on the money. Bliss.



The rough bases, not glued. I'm not rounding the top edge of the base, it's radiused to share the same center as the roundover on the cabs. It'll be veneered the same way, flat on top, round edges.



Uh-oh. Well if you go back and look it's clear that somewhere I didn't add 3/4" as I measured up the cab, and thus glued the mid tunnels too low, and they can't stay. This is me sledging them out with a block of wood which turned out to be painless and quick. Painless for me anyway. Geesh, what a blockhead. Don't do this at home. For fun, go back and look at the pic of me measuring the mid tunnels to make sure they're just right. Yeah.



Yup, made it through two cabs without it sinking in. It did bug me a bit that the top woofer bay looked too small, but I had measured so much, right? This actually turned out to be no big deal and the tunnels are more square to the cabs second time around, so all's well.

[Jim Holtz]

The cabinet built looks great! :T

Keep the pictures and posts coming!

Jim

[ripcard]

Very nice job of documenting the build so far. Look forward to your next posts. I like that you share your "oops" moments as well. Makes for a more interesting thread to follow.

[vinceb]

Thanks guys, will do. Hopefully though, the build will be more smooth and boring from here

This was supposed to be a little slow project to keep me busy here and there with Mrs. Bray back in school but I can't wait to hear these.

[vinceb]

Starting to rout the baffles using my new circle cutter. Pretty cool so far. I am going to use 10mil veneer, so I cut the recesses just a hair too shallow. The woofer recesses are 3/16 less a hair, the mid 3/16 less two hairs, and the tweet right on 3/16.



Glued up the second back, in the background you can see a baffle resting on it's future home. The darker clamps are the harbor freight metal ones with wood handles, almost work better than my old Jorgs. Highly recommend these at almost 1/3 the price.




A muwahahahahaha moment, baffle is good.




One more shot.

Is anyone aware of crossover pictures being posted for the minis to get an idea of what worked for others? I'm thinking of doing three seperate boards and putting the tweet xo up top behind the ribbon, the mid behind the upper woofer, and the woofer section behind the lower woofer, that way everything's accessible. Any comments or suggestions?

[TacoD]

Great progress! Splitting the x-over boards is a good idea. This reduces the complexity with positioning of the coils.

[Jim Holtz]

The cabinets look great so far. Splitting the crossover boards is really up to you. However, be sure that you can get them in/out of the cabinet after it's built regardless of where you position them.

Jim

[vinceb]

I ended up putting the mids on their own board and combining the woof and tweets since the mids have so many components, it was just easier to fit and I was able to lay them out intuitively.

I came up with a real question that I couldn't find the answer after some diligence! What is the target tuning frequency of the cabinets? I know I could plug in the values and get a close answer, just curious the target design goal. Thanks, very excited as the cabs are coming along, more boring pics to follow soon.

[Curt C]

Fine looking cabinetry work there Vince.:T

IIRC, the Mini's have tunings around 37 Hz. Expect the f3 / f10 to be in the region of 39Hz and 29 Hz respectively. Room effects will likely bolster this up some, so it seems unlikely you will be disappointed with their bass capabilities.

Jim did a fine job on these, although he is much too modest to admit it himself.

C

[Jim Holtz]

Right.... We know who the design genius is behind the Statements series speakers and it ain't me. I just do the heavy lifting.

Jim

[vinceb]

Thanks Curt, I can't wait to get them fired up, thanks for your (and Jim's - although from the way you guys go on we may never know who gets what credit 8O ) design!

[Curt C]

Thanks Curt, I can't wait to get them fired up, thanks for your (and Jim's - although from the way you guys go on we may never know who gets what credit 8O ) design!

The unvarnished truth: The Statement series was a collaboration of three individuals, and the resultant design was due to our synergy of efforts.

Jim was the ‘idea guy’. It was his gray matter that came up with the original concept and driver choices, as well as the enclosure design. Without Jim’s impetus, the Statement series would not have transpired.

For my part, I offered some small suggestions as to enclosure volume and tuning, and it was my idea to add those peculiar:rofl:midrange tunnels. Jim then built and brought the test articles to me for measurement and crossover design.

The third member, not often mentioned, but most deserving of kudos, is Wayne Wendel. His skills during the final voicing phase resulted in a far better sounding design than I could have done myself. Wayne and I have collaborated for several years, and all of my designs have benefited from his voicing talents.

C

[vinceb]

Thanks then, to Wayne too! Got home too late to play tonight. Man work is inconvenient.

[vinceb]

A little progress and a question if you guys can please give me some advice about grills and felt etc. I need to make grills so that younger kids that might be at the house don't damage the drivers and force me to sell them into slavery to pay the damages. I would like to do something other than the plain rectangle I use every other time, so I was thinking of angling the grills in at the top, putting them nearer to the tweeter and thus even worse for difraction. The grills will be 1/2" mdf with the outside edges chamfered. I was first going to chamfer the inside edges but thought about this and stopped until I could get some expert help. Here's a pic, would it help to put felt around the opening even if it's only 1/2" thick by 1/2" wide in spots? I'm going to use the magnets so that the grills can be chucked later, so the cabs will look clean, but just want to spice it up just a bit if possible. Should I just chuck this plan and go for the wider *possibly* less diffractive grills?




And here's what I managed to get done...



Trimmed the baffles and backs where oversized, then rounded the corners front and back. I'm planning to wrap the veneer all the way around. Bondo where I set the router too deep by accident and had to fill it. Kept the bondo mostly clear of where the router bearing will come back, scraped some of this off to make sure.




Holes sanded, coated with one coat of Bin Shellac Primer (great stuff, thanks to whoever I saw who recommended it for this, I've used it before to prime varnished wood which it is also excellent for, doesn't sink in to mdf hardly at all, very good on end grain), and painted. Wiped the black paint off the baffles while wet. I always paint the driver recesses, esp with black cabs so you don't see bare mdf in the recess when done. Note some white overspray from spray primer I tried first before remembering the Bin shellac tip, Bin was vastly superior.

*edit - sealing the recesses is critical to later finishing with water based products. Dye, or any water based finish will cause the mdf to swell and can ruin the edges. Seal ALL edges that are bare mdf including around ports, the midrange tunnel, the bottom of the cab if not veneered, etc. Shellac primer plus two coats of paint is a good solution *





Liking the look so far.




On top of the cabinet, the white line is where the mdf didn't match up perfectly, so I filled it with bondo being careful to not bondo the area where a flush trim router bit bearing would ride to trim the bondo back down. Then this is a simple and quick way to recover the too-small parts without sanding which might leave the cab wavy (or more wavy).

[Jim Holtz]

The cabinets look great! I'm a bondo guy myself. A throw back from my years in the car business when I was younger.

All grills will have diffraction. However, just pull them off when you want to do some serious listening and leave them on the rest of the time. Magnets make it really easy to get them on/off.

Jim

[vinceb]

Thanks!

Totally agree, love bondo. The plasticity of it while curing is so cool, I always mention to people who don't like it to stay with it while curing to carve and machine it while soft. It's just a great thing to have around in general, kind of like duct tape :T

Pretty close on crossovers too, top is the mid by itself, bottom is the woofer/tweeter section.



Wire is 16 gauge stripped out of a 25' wal-mart extension cord. $4.87 and it totally consumed almost all the copper, with some judicious use of the third conducter even. Was fine stranded and good to work with, and cheap.




Midrange




Woofer/Tweeter

[vinceb]

Jim, this is a little crazy, but have you ever thought of a four woofer version of the mini? It would be a higher sensitivity design with two mids like the statements, but with four seven inch woofers instead. Also would allow a center design using sevens and the drivers would all match. Is this silly or do you think it has merit?

[Jim Holtz]

Jim, this is a little crazy, but have you ever thought of a four woofer version of the mini? It would be a higher sensitivity design with two mids like the statements, but with four seven inch woofers instead. Also would allow a center design using sevens and the drivers would all match. Is this silly or do you think it has merit?

It's not crazy at all. Actually, you pretty much described one of Jed's lineup series speakers if memory serves me correctly. The thing is, you aren't going to gain much in sensitivity since you have to keep impedance at a reasonable level and the F3 doesn't go any lower no matter how many RS180's you have, plus cabinet size doubles to keep the same tuning. What you do gain is the ability to move more air, but (2) RS225's aren't any slouch when it comes to deep bass and moving air. Cost is another factor. (4) RS180's are more expensive than (2) RS225's.

Using multiple RS180's is simply a different approach to the same destination. There's certainly nothing wrong with either approach.

Jim

[vinceb]

Drug the cab in to see how it is in the room. I'm very tempted to put the drivers in but resist. The bases may be actually too tall for my seats, decide to leave them separate until done just in case.



Getting closer to veneer.



Installed the magnets. Almost forgot this and would have been a drag. Trying to push on and get done. WAF for project dwindling, busy at work, need garage cleaned up, yadda. Used bondo for this, drilled bigger holes and bondo, then stuff magnet down, shave bondo, sand. PIA, next time make holes tight, use super glue to hold magnets permanently.




The grill template laid out. This worked well for me before so I did it again. A template of the grill is handy for marking the magnets/grill attachements, and later clamp it to the grills so the router can ride on it to cut the grills and round/chamfer the edges.




Wrapped in veneer.




Veneer goes all the way round. Couldn't get as close as I wanted, one cab there was extra that overlapped ever so slightly and one there is a gap. I pulled the veneer tight, taped it together, then clamped a straight edge and used a knife to cut it. Still happy with this, I like the back edges round. The thin ash veneer is a pain due to waviness and shrinkage when ironed.




Thanks to you guys' posts I found, ground down a router bit for cutting the veneer back out of the holes, what a pain. Finally resorted to spinning the router bit in the router and using the 120 grit of my diamond sharpener to grind it. Pretty much wore out the diamond pad but here it is, shouldn't ever have to do it again.




Getting there, just need the tops of the cabs and the tops of the bases veneered.




Wow, what a mess. Have to have faith here, the stain is bad on ash as it sucks out of the grain and leaves white streaks when drying. Found that aniline dye is well known for this and had success with a test using very dark minwak Jacobean stain afterwards *edit-this had a brown tint to it that I decided I didn't like, two coats very wet of black works out fine*. Geesh. Also the veneer bubbles where it wasn't attached seen below. Kind of nervous, but so tired of the veneer that I don't care anymore, it'll be okay.






*edit - the way to prevent this is to iron better. Iron should be on high, not med-high as the glue instructions say. There are a couple of ways to tell when it's stuck, you can hear it 'snap' as you move the iron on it when it's still loose, and second dragging your fingers lightly across it will have a higher frequency sound on areas that are not stuck. Misting with water will cause this swelling situation without the dye stress, just be sure any bare mdf edges have been sealed/painted esp around driver holes where the swelling of the mdf below the veneer can ruin the edges*

[Hdale85]

Yikes! That's painful.

[vinceb]

Yes and (hopefully) no. The veneer glue says you can wet the veneer to cause it to bubble so you can re-iron the parts that aren't tight. I thought I did better than this but it's really this one panel. It must have been the first one and I didn't re-iron it like I did everything else. I found the iron works best on HIGH and using the edge to push the veneer down once it is hot. Faith baby, faith.

[Hdale85]

Yeah when I did mine I ended up going over it quite a few times. I've been considering reveneering them though and this time I'm going to do like 2-3 coats of glue on the speaker and then a coat on the back of the veneer. I haven't stained mine but I don't know if I'd have the same issues you did. I hope it works out for you.

[vinceb]

Thanks. I put two coats on pretty much everything so I don't think that's it. I think the iron needs to be on high, with steam and plenty of pressure. Using the edge of the iron seemed to help a lot as it concentrates the pressure. Just like using contact cement to veneer, same issue. Your cabs look great, I'm inspired to do a version of the states that looks like that. You might want to try dye on the bamboo just to see, I mean what have you got to lose if you don't like it now?

[Hdale85]

Well like I said in that post its not the look of the bamboo that I have issue with. It's where it screwed up all over the place. I like the look of the bamboo it's just the nature of bamboo and I didn't think bamboo veneer would do that but apparently it does.

[Jim Holtz]

Hi Guys,

This may help. It's instructions for ironing on veneer from Oakwood Veneer which I've found to be spot on.

Jim

[vinceb]

Thanks Jim, I feel pretty good about it - I think I didn't iron that part enough. I hope that the dye doesn't interfere with the glue sticking later. I'm "fully committed" as the firemen say - full steam ahead.

[vinceb]

Tops very wet, sides more dry, just damp. The grain may be okay like this, I'm going to sleep on it. The flash exaggerates the lightness of the grain, in person it is more subtle and looks pretty cool. I may just finish them after this once dry. Transtint dye pretty cool to work with, just a pain since to flood each surface you can only do one side at a time until just damp, then turn the cab. Still not too bad. Splotches at top should dry out and not be noticeable, they are still wet.

[Hdale85]

I think it would look cool if it looked like that in person

What did you mix the dye with?

[vinceb]

dsc03028.jpg Image not available

The backs, I like the looks of the open mid tunnel. I'm planning to use Linacoustic in here and in the cab since I have it, it's black, and it'll sound good. I'll do something at the edges to stop raw fiberglass.


dsc03029.jpg Image not available

I recessed the precision ports - this is something I regretted not doing on the adire 61s I built, so easy just one little step to make the backs slicker.


dsc03030.jpg Image not available

The port is centered 6.625" off the bottom of the cab (the 39" high box). I cut the recess 6.25" x 0.125" deep and the hole 5.375". It clears inside but as you can see it's a bit close. I'll mount a jumbo PE "supreme power" binding post beneath it. I like the "supreme power" posts, they're chunky and satisfying and very, very easy to get wires into, and very secure. "Supreme Power" has a nice ring to it too :twisted:

[Jim Holtz]

Just a thought. I'm not sure what Linacoustic is but the crossover was designed with 1" foam. Even the 1" foam *has to be* held back from the rear of the driver about 2" and beveled 45 degrees to get the right balance and not kill the mids. Give it a try but if things don't sound right, go for the foam.

Jim

[vinceb]

Good note Jim. Thanks for following the thread and trying to keep me straight, what a great bunch of guys and forum this is!

Linacoustic is black 1" med-dense fiberglass acoustical duct lining that is/was popular for lining walls for HT use. It has a more rigid fiberglass layer that is installed away from the duct wall to constrain the fibers. It's less dense than OC703 but more so than batt fiberglass. I'm not a foam fan so I figure it's worth a try. I'll definitely adhere to the plan of staying back from the mid and tapering the lining.

The cool thing about it is that you can peel away the inside fiberglass and it'll taper down and attach the firm outer layer to the wall, it'll work I think.

I think it would look cool if it looked like that in person What did you mix the dye with?

Well it looks like that but not quite as contrasty. It looks cool. I'm leaning towards not staining the grain again, just have to see when it all dries. I don't want the grain to disappear and the sample I have with the secondary stain has a bit of issue with that. Surface tension in the grain causes the dye to 'pop out' for lack of a better term, it's there and black when wet, but when dry the grain can get light again. It's mixed with tap water, two quarts to one 2oz bottle trans-tint. I've not even used half of it so far, surprised how far it goes. It looks better on the cabs than the samples I've done, wasn't expecting that but I'll take it.

I should have burnt up more veneer to get it to match better but I was trying to maximize what I could get out of two sheets. These will likely end up as surrounds anyway so it won't be a big problem. I'm starting to fall in love a little with the stealthy black and wood grain.

[Curt C]

Linacoustic is black 1" med-dense fiberglass acoustical duct lining that is/was popular for lining walls for HT use. It has a more rigid fiberglass layer that is installed away from the duct wall to constrain the fibers. It's less dense than OC703 but more so than batt fiberglass. I'm not a foam fan so I figure it's worth a try. I'll definitely adhere to the plan of staying back from the mid and tapering the lining. The cool thing about it is that you can peel away the inside fiberglass and it'll taper down and attach the firm outer layer to the wall, it'll work I think.

I think so as well, but you may need to adjust the lining depth and/or thickness to emulate the absorption characteristics of plain ol' foam...

C

[vinceb]

this is a better picture of what they look like.

[vinceb]

Finally finished the minis, some pics of the final stages...

Finish is two coats of transtint black dye mixed per the label with water, followed by two layers of danish oil done in one evening, followed by two coats of wipe on poly three days later. Sanded with 220 grit very lightly before dye, then 400 between danish oil and poly. Grain could be smoother and there are some areas where the finish is shinier, probably could use more wipe on and more sanding. I really like the finish though, the matte woodgrain is a great match to the woofer finish and has a very stealthy look. This is the best finish I've done, and for real wood the least expensive.



Crossovers installed, left is the woofer/tweeter and right is the mid. Woofer crossover installed behind the lower woofer, mid crossover behind the upper woofer.




Two layers of Linacoustic in woofer areas. One layer all the way to front baffle which is well clear of the woofers, and one layer set back two inches. Two layers in the back in front of the crossovers. Some wood glue and some hot glue holding the fiberglass in, wood glue works well just has to dry, but there is less burning of the fingers if you goof up.






Tweeter installed, did a tiny countersink of the screw holes to avoid the mdf pulling up and stopping the drivers going flush. This also makes the screws much easier to install since the small holes are easier to ring with the screw. Used #6 on the mids and tweets and #8 on the woofers. These are the black oxide pan head screws from PE, work very well and much easier/faster/cheaper than t-nuts. 1" screws in thick baffles can be removed a number of times and if they become slack you can add glue to the hole later.




The tweeter and mid finished. I'm contemplating painting the outer ring of the mid black since the cone looks very cool and not just flat silver like the frame. The frame is the one thing that sticks out in a dark environment, not bad but would look better black.






The finished mini hanging with the HE15.

[Jim Holtz]

They look great! :T

Jim

[cobblepots]

They look fantastic! I especially love the bases. Make sure you add the pictures to the statement finishes thread. Welcome to the family (Now you just have to build the center and monitors of course :T )

[vinceb]

Thanks! I really appreciate your kind comments, I'll post on the other thread as well.

Actually I cheated a bit and bought FroDaddy's center channel. I'm planning to make a new cabinet to match the mains (sorry Fro, man the cab looks great and maybe someone else can use it then) and I have to say it was a diy joy to plug it in and fire it up. Took awhile to get the extreme-bubble wrap off the cab but I managed to get through it (nice packing). It's very tempting to build another matched set of minis for the surrounds, it just wouldn't cost a lot more. Gotta think on that and that's okay since my wallet is pooped.

[Jim Holtz]

So, after all this work, how does it all sound?

Do they meet your expectations?

Jim

[vinceb]

The sound is fantastic. I guess I'm in the camp with someone else who felt a little not qualified to comment beyond the basic superlatives but I'll give it a go for my initial thoughts. I just this morning got the second layer of fiberglass in the woofer chambers which made a big difference, also wrapped a piece 18" x 6" around the port, well not around it but in a sort of arch that starts at each bottom corner and goes over the top of the port tube.

I'm running them as small (don't cringe) because it measures much better in my room with the subs and I have eq for the subs but none for the mains. They excite the 70-90 hz range really badly. This also helps since I have plenty of sub amp and a receiver for the mains. They are about 4db more sensitive than the Adire 6.1 I've been running which helps too.

The midrange is the first thing that jumps out - vocals and speech are very clear and defined. Watched Troy and the dialog was crisp and clear but not fatiguing. Bass is very tight and defined. Listening to Zappa in NY The Black Page Drum Solo is unreal, this is a great test due to xylophone and all sorts of drums. Xylophone is totally not ringy or sloppy and an absolute pleasure. One thing I'm interested in is the tendency to localize high frequency to the speaker (this is a phenomenon for me on every speaker I've heard) where vocals and other instruments float in stereo space but high-hats are pinned on the speakers. Good vocal recordings like the blu-ray of the Stones 'Shine a Light' are amazing and will make you get up to check that the center is off. Far Away Eyes is a good example of this. I have to get within 3-4 feet to tell the center is not on. This is a fun test for people, put it on in two channel and put the listener in the sweet spot and ask how many speakers are engaged, they will immediately point out the center, then the mains, and start wondering about the surrounds. Total amazement when they find it's just the two mains.

So that's the quick and dirty, totally worth the effort and I don't feel like they've gotten broken in yet since I have not had the chance to crank them up too much and just had to go fiddle with the subs in the meantime. I want to dig up more stuff to listen to....

[FroDaddy]

No problem about the center channel vince, I was sad to see it go but it went to a good home. Perhaps in the future someone could enjoy the mini center cabinet and speed along the DIY process. No need for apologies

I was a little late finding this thread, but wow your mini towers look fantastic. Nice work, I see why you want to build a matching center cabinet now! :T

[vinceb]

Wow thanks Fro, I guess you could always go spend some quality time with that freak of a center you replaced it with if it starts to get to you. It was killing me to watch movies and the old center (not bad but I'm staring at the minis just sitting there) is doing a lot of the work.

On another more familiar note, I am officially a dumbass. Well sort of. It was bugging me the other day because some things I listened to had really solid imaging like the Stones but others were lacking which I chalked up a bit to sloppy placement etc. So I did a quick check then of the wiring to make sure in phase and all that, but didn't catch that one of the (cheap) wires was originally wired wrong into bananas that are color coded and thus don't get enough examination later. So now that's fixed and things are as they should be, and wow. I also took a minute to measure and align the spacing and toe of the mains, and check that my chair is close to center.

I've been on a big Zappa bent lately and I pretty much like it all, but for a real treat in stereo, check out Green Rosetta on the end of Joe's Garage. It's like a surround fest from two speakers, just amazing. Detail, imaging, effects, width of soundstage extends to the sides as though you had surround. Whizzy little effects rendered in 3-d space and the usual amazing playing from the band. This should seriously give you the willies. And if you like Zappa then the Zappa plays Zappa deluxe set is a must-have. Steve Vai playing on Zombie Woof might be my favorite electric guitar ever, one of those moments and on video, he does this twitchy thing at the end of the solo and it is like a full body guitar experience. Can't brag on the imaging here it's the included cd with the dvds but the dvd is awesome to watch. Maybe they will release it on blu-ray one day.

Diana Krall, The Girl In The Other Room - listened to several tracks and I think this is the most 3-d soundstage I've ever heard. Instruments are anchored in space very clearly on several tracks and you can tell that she is singing from the piano for example, very cool.

Going to bed with a giant grin.

[Jim Holtz]

Excellent! :T

That's what you should be hearing. :B

Jim

[ahaik]

I also took a minute to measure and align the spacing and toe of the mains, ....

Great Job and congrats :T
Just to clear things, as far as I know the minis aren't supposed to be toed in.
With my Statements it made a big difference not having them toed in.

[FroDaddy]

Jim,

Since the Mini's don't have to be toed in, how would you suggest alignment if the Mini's are used in a surround application? I adhere to the Dolby 7.1 specification and point the front face of my surround speakers at the correct angles per the recommendation.

I'm guessing that not toeing in the Mini's also applies in a surround configuration as well?

Thanks

[Jim Holtz]

Jim,

Since the Mini's don't have to be toed in, how would you suggest alignment if the Mini's are used in a surround application? I adhere to the Dolby 7.1 specification and point the front face of my surround speakers at the correct angles per the recommendation.

I'm guessing that not toeing in the Mini's also applies in a surround configuration as well?

Thanks

Hi Frodaddy,

All of the Statements series speakers are designed to have the flattest frequency response off axis to accommodate positioning them straight ahead when used as mains. Correct imaging is critical for the mains to recreate the sound stage on the recording. Surround duty will not be nearly as demanding in placement.

Surrounds create ambiance, offer directionality for moving vehicles and explosions etc. but aren't required to correctly place a drum or guitar player in relationship to the rest of the band. I hope this makes sense.

I would position the Mini's just as you would any other surround speaker while observing the minimum clearance requirements of the open back transmission line design and you should be fine. I'm using Statements Monitors for my surrounds and find them to work better than my previous surrounds which I thought were pretty good. The open back helps create the "bubble" of sound that encompsses the listeners.

HTH

Jim