Rightbrain's Mini Statement Build

[Rightbrained]

First and foremost , a big thanks to Jim for promptly answering some questions for me in my decision making process !!!!!


The DIY bug has bitten me again and this time around it's infected me with the Mini Statement Fever

These will be replacing the Natalie P's , that I built last September as my first DIY loudspeaker project , as mains. the Nat's will be moved to surround duty .

This leaves me with a pair of Modula's I need to get rid of now. They were built in October. Hey , I am trying to stimulate the economy here !


Ok , enough rambling for now. I picked up the cabinet materials Friday afternoon , finished cutting all parts Saturday , and started gluing up Saturday night.

Here are a few pics ..

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[Jim Holtz]

Lookin' good! :T

Jim

[Rightbrained]

I am doing this project backwards. I usually order all the components first then build the cabinet . I figured I would get the manual labor out of the way up front for once.

I will be making my first attempt with veneer on this build and praying I dont screw it royally . Time to go browse Tape-ease.

[Rightbrained]

Got the baffles routered this afternoon as well as the mid T/L cut.
I did make an error in my measuring and didnt catch it till it was too late.
This resulted in the tweeter being mounted higher on the baffle than specified but I feel the biggest problem is the resulting difference in mid to tweeter placement.
I would appreciate if Jim or Curt would chime in here and let me know their feelings on this miscue.

Images not available

[Jim Holtz]

I did make an error in my measuring and didnt catch it till it was too late.
This resulted in the tweeter being mounted higher on the baffle than specified but I feel the biggest problem is the resulting difference in mid to tweeter placement.
I would appreciate if Jim or Curt would chime in here and let me know their feelings on this miscue.

I hate to say this, but yes, it will impact the sound quality. The center to center spacing is really critical between the mid and the ribbon for driver integration. I don't know of any cure beyond recutting the baffle.

Sorry!

Jim

[Hdale85]

Yeah I would say try and pry off the baffle or add a new layer and recut.

[jyqureshi]

You could make an exact circle disc for the tweeter hole using 1 1/4" thick MDF, glue it in then cut a new tweeter hole per spec, then use bondo to fill up the old tweeter recess. ops:

[ThomasW]

You could make an exact circle disc for the tweeter hole using 1 1/4" thick MDF, glue it in then cut a new tweeter hole per spec, then use bondo to fill up the old tweeter recess. ops:

Correct using a patch is the easiest way to fix the problem.

[Rightbrained]

Nice little screw up on my part. At least the baffles are not glued on yet so I might just go buy more mdf and redo both.

[john trials]

Nice little screw up on my part. At least the baffles are not glued on yet so I might just go buy more mdf and redo both.

Can you slice a section out of the baffle to bring the tweeter and mid to the proper separation? It looks like the baffle is a little tall...is there enough extra material at the top?

[Rightbrained]

I corrected the problem the right way.
My feelings are if I am going to put this much work into something then it should be done correctly!
Here is a photo of the corrected baffle.

Image not available

[Jim Holtz]

Excellent! :T

Jim

[Rightbrained]

Hey , it's only mdf and labor .
I am about to be at a stand still with these. I have yet to order all the components nor have I decided which veneer to go with.
There is another project for me to work on while I get all the components together. I am going to build twin sealed cubes for my AV15x's so that wil keep me busy a few days.
I will be doing a side by side comparison with one of my 294 liter ported AV15X's and a sealed version with eq.

[Rightbrained]

This evening I cut , routered , and laminated the bases together and cut the through hole for the port in the box bottom.
All I have left for the enclosure construction is the 3/4 round over on the baffles and gluing them on ,drilling the binding post holes ,and gluing the bases to the enclosures.

I will likely seal and prime the bases and paint them satin black prior to attaching them to the enclosures. I will be using red oak veneer on the remainder.

[jyqureshi]

The right way is more satisfying. Good job man, must be a piece of cake for you.
I have wasted a lot more MDF than you so far

[Rightbrained]

The right way is more satisfying. Good job man, must be a piece of cake for you.

Piece of cake huh? lol

I am at best a novice when it comes to woodworking but I do think I am learning a fair bit with each project I take on.

[TacoD]

Great progress, it looks your panel cuts are spot on.

[Rightbrained]

thanks Taco,
I set my saw up once for each wdth of cut and cut all pieces requiring that width before moving on. This way if I am off 1/32" or so on one it stays that way for all panels .

[wkhanna]

I V much admire your efforts to ‘do it right’.

My experience has taught me that the ‘re-do’ pays off in the end.

Your build will take a small portion of time compared to how long you will be kicking back listening, looking and admiring your efforts. In the end, we always say ‘if only I had taken the time to do this or that, they would look or sound better’. You will be glad for the extra time for the re-do.

My Dad always said to me, ‘If you are going to take the time to do something, then you may as well do it right and to the best of your ability’.

You will not regret it.

Well done!

[Rightbrained]

Thanks Bill , and those were the sentiments of my late father as well.

I continued priming and sanding the bases this evening and plan to start painting them tomorrow. I will likely be ordering the veneer for the enclosures tomorrow as well.

[Rightbrained]

I received all my components today except for the veneer which I just ordered last night.
I assembled the crossover networks into 3 separate networks .
Time to start cutting and installing foam.

Curt , forgive me for butchering your network designs. I just cant seem to make them look pretty ops:

Image not available

[BeerParty]

Curt, forgive me for butchering your network designs. I just cant seem to make them look pretty ops:

If you want them to look pretty, you have to use some additional wire between the pieces in (my build). If they are going into the cabinets, you don't need to worry about it since you will be the only one to see them (unless, of course, you do something foolish like take pictures of them and post the pictures on multiple forums where everyone likes to look at pictures. Oh. Oops. :W )



Just make sure they are small enough to go through the woofer holes and the wires are long enough so you can install and remove them after the front baffle is attached.

[Rightbrained]

I am not afraid to post my ugly but functional progress on multiple forums lol.

[Rightbrained]

Tonight I installed the crossovers and the foam.

Image not available

[Jim Holtz]

looking good! However, you do need to cover the back where the crossovers are mounted with foam or the sound waves will be reflected straight into the back of the cone of the woofers.

Also, can you get the crossover for the ribbon through the ribbon cutout in the baffle? I'd strongly suggest you be able to get all of the crossover boards out after the speaker is assembled, just in case. :W

Jim

[Rightbrained]

Thanks Jim,
I will pull the tweeter board back out and trim it down some to be sure it will fit through the cutout .

[lundowner]

looking good! However, you do need to cover the back where the crossovers are mounted with foam or the sound waves will be reflected straight into the back of the cone of the woofers.

Jim

I assume what you mean here is that you just put a removable piece of foam in front of the mounted crossover. Do you just wedge it in there? Trying to decide where to mount mine.

JS

[brianpowers27]

I would SERIOUSLY consider redoing the xo boards. They look like they are well constructed but without a removable baffle you will not be able to get those out. Trust me when I say that a time will come where you wish you could get at those. (:

[Jim Holtz]

I assume what you mean here is that you just put a removable piece of foam in front of the mounted crossover. Do you just wedge it in there? Trying to decide where to mount mine.

JS

With the crossovers mounted directly behind the drivers, wedging foam or fiberglass around and in the crossover boards is about the only solution. I prefer to mount my crossovers low and on sidewalls. That way they're mounted below the drivers and it's easy to apply deadening material behind the drivers.

Brian is also correct that the crossover boards should be sized to allow then to slip through the driver cutout. I've had to take out many crossovers for "tweaks" after the speaker was completed.

Jim

[Rightbrained]

I ended up moving the ribbon boards and installing foam in front of the boards.
Saturday I tested all drivers and crossovers with the open baffle and then glued the baffle on.
My veneer should be here today so hopefully I can get that on in the next few days.

[Rightbrained]

My red oak veneer came in this afternoon from tape-ease. I have to give them applause here , this stuff looks to be excellent quality.

I got all pieces cut and will start the glue up/iron on tomorrow. I am using a single piece to wrap the front and sides , so a total of 3 pieces per enclosure.

The bases are painted gloss black . I sprayed and sanded 3 coats of primer/sealer before applying the paint.

[Rightbrained]

This is my first veneer job but it is looking pretty good so far.

Images not available

[jyqureshi]

How difficult was it to bend the veneer around the round edges?
Also what is the thickness of veneer?

Thanks

[Jim Holtz]

Excellent! :T

Jim

[Rightbrained]

The veneer is the 10 mil paper backed from tape-ease.

Honestly , I dont see how it could have been any easier to bend over the 3/4" round overs. The back was first up then I ironed the front first then worked over each round over , then down the sides.

From now on , I will not paint another set of speakers . I just figured veneer would be too easy for me to screw up but after reading all the DIY tips on the web I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did .

[jyqureshi]

Hi Rightbrained,

Thanks for the quick reply, I've been thinking of doing the same thing.
Which glue did you use for iron-on method?

Thanks, and hope you don't mind my questions.

[Rightbrained]

I dont mind at all.

I used Original Titebond wood glue .

[john trials]

Nice veneer photos. That oak looks very nice.

My plan is to veneer my Statements, too. I've never tried veneer.

What is the best order in which to apply the veneer, and how do you treat the edges? I plan on painting the rear black, so no veneer there. Cover the top and bottom first, then the front/sides? Then trim the front/sides flush, or cut at 45 degree angle all around? I plan on using a light-colored maple, ash or oak, so I can't hide the seam with stain.

[wkhanna]

Your veneer looks great!

Progress, Progress, Progress!

[BeerParty]

What is the best order in which to apply the veneer, and how do you treat the edges? I plan on painting the rear black, so no veneer there. Cover the top and bottom first, then the front/sides? Then trim the front/sides flush, or cut at 45 degree angle all around? I plan on using a light-colored maple, ash or oak, so I can't hide the seam with stain.

The suggestion someone made to me in my build thread was to apply the front and sides (as a single piece wrapping around the 3/4" round-over) last. After it has set-up, sand the edges at a 45 degree angle to hide the seam.

[Rightbrained]

As Beerparty suggests , the veneer will have fewer seams if you wrap the front and both sides with one piece.

I used a veneer edge trimmer to trim the veneer after it had cooled completely. I will hand sand what little material is left at an angle to blend the pieces together

[john trials]

Thanks Beerparty and Rightbrained. I'll have to do some practicing first with some scrap veneer.

[Rightbrained]

Today I finished my Mini's and my sealed twin AV15's. I have not listened to them yet , too many other things going on .

Images not available

[Jim Holtz]

They look awesome! Great job! :T

Jim

[Rightbrained]

Jim ,
Thank you , and Curt as well for sharing your designs with the DIY community ;x(
I am giving the mini's some low volume play time with an SACD all night long. Tomorrow I will put a little more power to them and see what they sound like.