Originally posted by soho54
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Thanks I might just have to try that
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Mmmm...those look nice all finished up in your room.
I bet they sound excellent too.Comment
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My opinion, I like the screws. Great looking speakers overall, really. A couple questions:
Are the crossovers removable to be altered? If so, how are the boxes sealed? Also, did the tweeter get a small seperate compartment, or is the back open into the cabinet?Comment
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Appreciate the compliments cobbpa and Willy! :T
The port back plate I have is airtight and removable. It's attached using four wood screws. If you look at post #22 you can see how I did it. Nothing fancy.Originally posted by cobbpa
Tweeter is open into the cabinet, no separate compartment is necessary as the tweeter itself is sealed.Comment
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Ahh, I gotcha. Are they painted over or just countersunk? (Since we can't see them in the finished pics) Won't those screwholes eventually get loose if you pull it out more than once or twice? Or did you use a plastic threading?Comment
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Will you post some thoughts on how they sound, and with what amp/source you are using?Comment
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They're countersunk. I'm using woodscrews with pretty deep threads for my drivers. I've mounted and unmounted them several times and they seem to fit just as tight as the first time I mounted them. I see a lot of people use t-nuts and bolts for this kind of thing but wood screws work just fine for me.Originally posted by cobbpaComment
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I've tried em with both a Peter Daniel LM4780 Gainclone kit as well as my Rotel RA-01. The Nat P's walk all over my B&W 600S3's in terms of dynamics, detail, and clarity. I don't know what else to say other than they are very very clean sounding. I'm looking to buy a more powerful amp for extra headroom, but with the 40 or 50W I have now, I can still drive them louder than I'd ever need in their current setting.Originally posted by WillyD
Note that I am no golden ear, far from it in fact, but I just absolutely love my pair. Once I've got my dual RS 12" subs built and actively crossed over to my Nat P's, I don't think I'll be upgrading any time soon. That is until I get my own place and have space for a set of Arvos..... :TComment
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Looking very nice Anthony. You must have a fair amount of woodworking experience to pull off such nice looking set of speakers for your first attempt. I'm glad you like them.
BrianComment
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I love hearing great regards to these...
sence I am on my way to start e set shotrly...
congrats man, they look great...
where did you get pearl black ?
chrisComment
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Originally posted by opt-e :T
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If by fair amount of woodworking experience, you mean building a pair of Zaph's little Hivi B3N fullrangers, then yes, I doOriginally posted by Brian Walter
I've always been good with my hands though and I took a woodworking class in high school. I can only wish I still had access to such a fine woodworking shop now. 8O
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Thanks! The paint is just regular interior acrylic latex paint, with a pearl finish which is somewhere between eggshell and semigloss. Applied with a roller, you get a nice subtly textured surface which hides some minor imperfections. I considered spraying my cabinets, but I couldn't justify the cost in the equipment I'd have to buy, not to mention the wasted paint and extra effort in clean up.Originally posted by yousuredo2Comment
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Just signed up after reading for days about the Nat P's. I'm about to start ordering parts and your posts help a lot. If I have questions I will be sure to bug you :P Those turned out great, how are you still liking them?Comment
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Damn, those are some awesome looking speakers. Very nice job opt-e!
I'm planning on building a shorter, sealed version of these, and I've got a few questions...
First, is that cut sheet for one speaker only?
-If so, that means it's 1.5" thick all around, but you say it's only .75"
-If not, where does the double thick baffle come from?
Second, do you think I would be able to get by using just a jigsaw and a compass, or will I need to find a router to buy/rent?
Third, these are just wired to my receiver with speaker wire, correct? :x (Yes I know it's a dumb question... I'm making sure)
The crossover looks excellent, and with that diagram I should be able to figure out how to wire it... These really look nice, and I imagine they'll look even better in piano black
Again, excellent job... Truly gorgeous speakers you've got there."Measure twice, then measure again before even thinking about plugging the saw in."Comment
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A jigsaw is fine for cutting baffle holes, but you need a router and circle jig to properly do a flush mount, and the NatP design assumes flush mounting. However, there are people out there who can do this for you ...
Have fun,
FrankComment
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I think that's brilliant. If you don't mind the look of a small plate on the back, I can see this as a brain-dead easy way to mount a port so it fits the inner hole/support. Instead of having to make sure the back and brace (with the inner support hole) match up perfectly the plate will allow the port to "float" slightly to align perfectly even if the holes are slightly off.Originally posted by opt-eComment
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Thanks ezcl. Still love the speakers however I have a small urge to kick it up a notch and build the Statements.Originally posted by EzclDamn, those are some awesome looking speakers. Very nice job opt-e!
I'm planning on building a shorter, sealed version of these, and I've got a few questions...
First, is that cut sheet for one speaker only?
-If so, that means it's 1.5" thick all around, but you say it's only .75"
-If not, where does the double thick baffle come from?
Second, do you think I would be able to get by using just a jigsaw and a compass, or will I need to find a router to buy/rent?
Third, these are just wired to my receiver with speaker wire, correct? :x (Yes I know it's a dumb question... I'm making sure)
The crossover looks excellent, and with that diagram I should be able to figure out how to wire it... These really look nice, and I imagine they'll look even better in piano black
Again, excellent job... Truly gorgeous speakers you've got there.
The cut list is for 2 speakers. I believe I just used some scrap for the double thickness front baffle. Note that I only doubled up the top half of the baffle where it is weakest.
What fbov said about cutting the speaker holes is all true. You'll need to get a router or find someone who can do it for you to cut the recesses to flush mount the drivers.
Regular speaker wire to connect the speakers to the receiver.
Out of curiousity, have you priced out the cost to build the pair? I'm curious as to how much prices have increased.
AnthonyComment
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If there's a Harbor Frieght in your area, I'd highly suggest you take a look at their router. Dirt cheap and gets the job done. As long as you aren't building a ton of boxes it should do you just fine. When I built the statements I used a jigsaw and compass for the holes and the used a rabbiting bit to create the recesses. This was a terrible idea! No matter how careful I was, the holes were never perfect circles and required me to use bondo and a dremel to get the holes perfect. I suggest that you make yourself a circle cutting jig to mount on the router. Saves a lot of time and makes the job more professional and less bondo intensive... You'll also need a 3/4 round over router bit for the baffle edges. This has been proven to improve sound quality.
In short, grab a router, rabbiting bit (match the depth size to your individual speakers), and 3/4" round over and build yourself a circle cutting jig out of some plywood. You'll be much happier trust me .
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Thanks for the answers, both of you. I haven't priced the components yet, but I will once I've got a computer in front of me, and I'll get back to you on that.
Good to hear about the Harbor Freight router... I love all their clamps.
Turns out my family has a paint sprayer, which will be quite helpful when I go for my labor intensive finish. Actually, does anyone have tips/a link to a guide on how to get a mirror black finish?
All that's left now is the money. Good thing my birthday is coming up.
"Measure twice, then measure again before even thinking about plugging the saw in."Comment
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This is a very very good guide to a great finish and probably tennis elbow.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...threadid=83141
Personally, I got about 90% there with 50% of the work on my statements. I can see reflections in the paint but it has a bit of orange peel. Looks like black car paint IMO. Good enough for me. Here's what I did:
1. Bondo your MDF end seams and sand them smooth. MDF is very coarse and does not take to any sort of paint very well.
2. After your seams are smooth, use oil based primer (water base will ruin MDF!) and put 2 or 3 coats on with a fine brush. Let this dry for a week or so to ensure that it's completely hardened.
3. Sand the heck out of it. I used a palm sander with grits starting at 150, 220, then 400. This is key! The smoother you get your primer, the better your finish will be! I can't stress the prep work enough here...
-Side tip: between runs of sandpaper, take a tack cloth to the surface or use a moist cotton rag. Primer produces a very fine dust and is a PAIN to get off the surface. This will also greatly increase the finish quality.
4. Get rid of every speck of dust you can with a vacuum, especially off the ceiling. MDF dust gets everywhere and can drop down from the air or the ceiling even a day after you vacuum. Walking upstairs can even knock some dust off rafters in your basement. Dust will ruin all your work if you aren't careful.
5. Buy some lacquer. I used a rattle can called valspar lacquer. I got this at Lowes. It's a very high quality spray (IMO) and I had great results with it. It did get pretty expensive (about $70) to do 3 coats on all 5 statement faces. You'll probably be able to get by with less than 10 cans on the Natalie P's.
6. When spraying, I got my best results when I let the paint nearly pool on each face. The pooling effect eliminated almost all the orange peel as gravity forces the liquid to flatten. However, this proves very difficult around corners and requires some creative tape work to eliminate seams.
7. Let the lacquer dry for at least a few weeks. It will take a while for it to set up and shrink back completely. At this point, I stopped and just sprayed on a coat of clear lacquer. It was pretty close to a mirror and the thought of sanding for hours just didn't appeal to me.
I have some high res pictures of the finish that really shows off the shine that I can email to you if you'd like. The ones I posted on the forum were on my old camera that was pretty bad at taking low light shots. PM me if interested. Good luck!Comment
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Be aware that you can spend as much on rabbeting and round over bits as you do on the router. I've been relieving my driver seats with an ordinary square-edge bit, and a beveled edge is sonically very similar to a roundover. There are lots of options, if you don't want to spend more on tools than the speakers (I planned for $100 in tools for each of my early projects.)Originally posted by cobblepots...In short, grab a router, rabbiting bit (match the depth size to your individual speakers), and 3/4" round over and build yourself a circle cutting jig out of some plywood. You'll be much happier trust me .
Have fun,
FrankComment
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Okay, good to know Frank, I'll look out for the cost of those. Could I get away with using my RotoZip? My dad says it has a router attachment, and I can buy a circle jig for it... Would it work the same?
Opt-e, sorry for somewhat hijacking your thread here, heh... I did go check out pricing, and it's not much more than what you paid, thank goodness.
Image not available"Measure twice, then measure again before even thinking about plugging the saw in."Comment
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I've tried the Rotozip circle cutter and its a pain. The Jasper jig works wonders. But if you don't have it or do not want to spend the cash for router and jig, try hitting a pawn shop for a router, be aware that they try to sell them for the atual cost in the store. If you get one with a removable plastic base, then you can drill a small hole in the base and it works just like the Jasper Jig. A pivot hole is all you need. I've made bases with 1/4 plexiglass. Any chunk of plastic will work fine. The key is getting the router.Comment
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Wow, thanks for posting that nicely itemized BoM. I'm very seriously considering building some NatPs here pretty soon, probably in the next 90 days I just have to get my budget situated and make a final decision NatP vs DaytonRS TMWW, the cost and the number of satisfied customers will be a factor, so far the NatPs seem to be winning and knowing just about exactly how much $$$ I'd be in for really helps
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That pretty much settles it for me then Dry, thank you. I'll be heading to Harbor Freight, their 1-3/4 horsepower plunge router seems fine, and nice and cheap
Glad I could help evil, I just copied opt-e's and updated the prices basically. Just note that my BoM doesn't include the PVC for the port, like opt-e used. I also didn't include the part descriptions for the crossover parts because that would've been a lot of typing :P"Measure twice, then measure again before even thinking about plugging the saw in."Comment
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I built a set, with alot of kind help from the guys here.
Best thing I ever did, I love mine.
FWIW you can see my build thread hereComment
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opt-e, nicely done.Comment
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I'm trying to design a dual ported sub into the base of an entertainment center. I modeled everything in WinISD, but when I reduce the enclosure volume by the port volume, the port length has to change to get the tuning, which changes the enclosure volume again. So I'm stuck in a cat and mouse trying... -
The speakers I'm building have a triangular port in the lower corner, i.e., the port shares two enclosure walls. However, they are monitors not subwoofers, and as such will be elevated on stands rather than be placed on the floor. My question is what k (end correction) value to use in calculating... -
Hi all.
A couple years ago I built a subwoofer using the Dayton 15" DVC driver and a 240 watt Dayton plate amp. I don't remember all the exact measurements now, but it's about a 225L enclosure with two 4" flared ports. I think tuning was to about 19Hz.
I've... -
This coming weekend im going to be finishing my coffee table/sub. All I have left to do is paint. While I am home, I will also take on the challenge of building the cabinets for some Nat Ps. The problem is I am a college student without the funds of buying any of the electronics. I won't be buying... -
My Nat P's are currently in sealed enclosures modeled on the .75 cubic foot PE enclosures, but I'm thinking of putting them in towers. I understand about 50 liters net, as the archive thread mentions, is ideal, and with a 3" port; I've got a 3" flared port kit on the way from PE. So :...
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