John's Statement build

[snmhanson]

PROBLEM SOLVED:
I just checked the Parts Express website, and the RS180-4 is out of stock until Nov 24!!!!!!!!!! Rats!!!!!!!!

I was able to get a pair by posting a WTB add here and on the PE website. I got quite a few responses. You may want to give it a try if you're in a hurry.

[john trials]

I was able to get a pair by posting a WTB add here and on the PE website. I got quite a few responses. You may want to give it a try if you're in a hurry.

Nah. No hurry. I've been building these Monitors since about Feb! I was just excited to be finished, and to try out a 5.1 system with them. I'll probably set it up with this busted woofer (or just substitute another full speaker) until PE can get a replacement.

[bigbardmusiq]

I have two questions about the full size statements, 1) The BOM says that a 56uf erse cap is needed but the picture of the crossover schematic says 60uf, which one is right?
and 2) the foam for the mid tunnels, anyone have a link or a picture of what I need? the cheap 1inch yellow foam?

[john trials]

I have two questions about the full size statements, 1) The BOM says that a 56uf erse cap is needed but the picture of the crossover schematic says 60uf, which one is right?
and 2) the foam for the mid tunnels, anyone have a link or a picture of what I need? the cheap 1inch yellow foam?

The 56uF and the 3.9uF caps are run in parallel to get the (approximately) 60uF.

Foam: I used seat cushion foam from a fabric store. Just make sure it's OPEN cell.

[john trials]

QUESTION: Can something (dust or dirt?) in the voice coil area be causing my distortion problem? What does a rubbing voice coil sound like when listening to music?

I pressed the cone of the bad woofer and could hear a gritty sound, like the voice coil rubbing. I ran the woofer some more with test tones and heard the distorted noise. I used some compressed air and blew around the phase plug, hoping to clear out any dirt around the voice coil...I played some more test tones, and after a while, there was no distortion, and I cannot make it distort any more. I'll test is some more over the next couple of days to see if it comes back...I'm hoping I found the solution.

The left woofer in my CC is doing the same thing, but at a much lower amount of distortion. The Monitor was REALLY noticeable and loud. I may try blowing air through the CC also.

These are BRAND NEW woofers, fresh out of the box from PE.

[mischmat]

Yes, one of RS180's had the same issue on my Dynamic 4T's. I don't have an air compressor so I just held a vaccum close to the woofer and moved the cone. Problem went away.

[john trials]

Yes, one of RS180's had the same issue on my Dynamic 4T's. I don't have an air compressor so I just held a vaccum close to the woofer and moved the cone. Problem went away.

Cool. The vacuum sounds like the safer way to do it. No telling where the grit goes when you just blast it with compressed air (or what damage can happen with too much pressure). One of the RS180-8 on my CC has a slight noise, too, so I'm going to have to try cleaning that one out.

[bigbardmusiq]

The 56uF and the 3.9uF caps are run in parallel to get the (approximately) 60uF.

ll.

So would it be smarter to order a 60uf from PE, it's cheaper than a 56uf?

[john trials]

So would it be smarter to order a 60uf from PE, it's cheaper than a 56uf?

If it has a similar voltage rating and is made of the same material, then probably yes. Some people prefer certain brands/models of capacitors, and can hear the difference. I have never tried a comparison of caps, so I couldn't tell you which sounds better.

[BeerParty]

Done for now! I hooked these up to an ancient receiver and let 'em rip. No surprises.

So, are you ready to rumble? :P

NE DIY is in 3 weeks, any chance of seeing these beauties there?

[john trials]

So, are you ready to rumble? :P

NE DIY is in 3 weeks, any chance of seeing these beauties there?

I plan on running these speakers again today (with the old stereo receiver) to see if I can clean out the RS180 on the CC, and test if the Monitors are still running cleanly (no grit in the RS180). I had to move all this stuff this weekend because they were in the way where I had it set up. Hopefully later this week I can hook them up to my AV receiver and try some 5.1 stuff.

I was not sure if I'd bring them to DIYNE. Yours were auditioned for quite a long time last year, and everyone seemed really pleased...I'm not sure if people would want to hear Statement Monitors again. The only differences with mine are the switchable crossover, and the lack of veneer (they are not 'beauties' visually...just audibly). When Dave starts asking 'who is bringing what', then I guess I'll let him and others decide. The Monitors surely are easier to transport compared to my 4 foot tall Tritrix TLs!

[LSV8]

Hey John,

I think I can tell you exactly what you're hearing on your RS 180.

I recently purchased a pair of RS225s from parts express, and during a low volume break in, I heard the same noise.

After some investigation, it turned out that BOTH units had the top of the voice coil former separated from the spider! There is a questionable looking glue joint connecting the two, and it seems that during manufacturing the glue was not applied evenly to both surfaces. The sound I was hearing (and assume you hear as well) is the rigid fibers of the spider rubbing against the failed glue joint.

I contacted PE and told them of the issue, and one of the techs told me he would personally pull a pair of RS225s, and inspect them for the same defect. He set me up with a return, and swapped them out.
So... I would suggest pulling your 180, go to a well lit area, and manually move the cone in/out and see if you have the same issue I did.

It is very upsetting to know PE is sending out so many defective RS drivers. (even if your problem is different from mine... it's still a problem regardless!) Even in my replacement pair, Sad to say the build quality looks the same, but the glue joint is at least holding together. I'm tempted to put a more secure bead of glue on mine, but do not want to void the warranty should anything else happen to them.

Let me know what you find out! It's too bad the 180s are on back-order!!!

[john trials]

Hey John,

I think I can tell you exactly what you're hearing on your RS 180.

I recently purchased a pair of RS225s from parts express, and during a low volume break in, I heard the same noise.

After some investigation, it turned out that BOTH units had the top of the voice coil former separated from the spider! There is a questionable looking glue joint connecting the two, and it seems that during manufacturing the glue was not applied evenly to both surfaces. The sound I was hearing (and assume you hear as well) is the rigid fibers of the spider rubbing against the failed glue joint.

I contacted PE and told them of the issue, and one of the techs told me he would personally pull a pair of RS225s, and inspect them for the same defect. He set me up with a return, and swapped them out.
So... I would suggest pulling your 180, go to a well lit area, and manually move the cone in/out and see if you have the same issue I did.

It is very upsetting to know PE is sending out so many defective RS drivers. (even if your problem is different from mine... it's still a problem regardless!) Even in my replacement pair, Sad to say the build quality looks the same, but the glue joint is at least holding together. I'm tempted to put a more secure bead of glue on mine, but do not want to void the warranty should anything else happen to them.

Let me know what you find out! It's too bad the 180s are on back-order!!!

GREAT INFORMATION! Thanks.

I can't eliminate the noise from one of the RS180s on the CC. I tried vacuum and compressed air. Fortunately, I cannot hear it during music now. I only notice it when playing single frequency tones (fairly high excursions on the woofers...way more travel in the woofer than when I listen to music). The RS180 on the CC is not too bad. The one on the Monitor was REALLY bad until I blew compressed air around the phase plug.

Luckily, these drivers have 5 year warranties. I'll continue to use them and see what happens (I'm about to watch a movie with them now). I will remove the bad ones and inspect them, though. Thanks for the tip.

[BeerParty]

I was not sure if I'd bring them to DIYNE. Yours were auditioned for quite a long time last year, and everyone seemed really pleased...I'm not sure if people would want to hear Statement Monitors again. The only differences with mine are the switchable crossover, and the lack of veneer (they are not 'beauties' visually...just audibly). When Dave starts asking 'who is bringing what', then I guess I'll let him and others decide. The Monitors surely are easier to transport compared to my 4 foot tall Tritrix TLs!

I was hoping you would bring your Monitors so I could hear the different between the near/far wall crossovers (mine are fixed as near wall).

Dave has already started his list of who is bringing what to this year's GTG, I'm sure he is on pins and needles waiting to hear what you will bring :W . I volunteered to bring my Statement Monitors again and my current build, the AviaTrix. If they are finished in time, they will probably still be raw plywood. So trust me, your Monitors will be 'beautiful' compared to these.

Oh, and if you really want to show off, I own a Dodge Ram pickup truck... :twisted:

[john trials]

Oh, and if you really want to show off, I own a Dodge Ram pickup truck... :twisted:

I don't understand.

[BeerParty]

I don't understand.

I mean that if you were feeling especially twisted, we could load up your big speakers (the full sized Statements and your sub) to bring to the NE-DIY GTG. I know if my AviaTrix saw your Statements there I would have to pry the AviaTrix out of my car with a crowbar.

And if you had your sub as well, even the crowbar wouldn't be enough... :P

Didn't I read earlier in your thread that you wouldn't be able to bring your Statements to a GTG because your vehicle wasn't big enough, you would need a pickup truck? Hmm, maybe I am confusing your build with a different thread. :unsure:

[john trials]

I mean that if you were feeling especially twisted, we could load up your big speakers (the full sized Statements and your sub) to bring to the NE-DIY GTG. I know if my AviaTrix saw your Statements there I would have to pry the AviaTrix out of my car with a crowbar.

And if you had your sub as well, even the crowbar wouldn't be enough... :P

Didn't I read earlier in your thread that you wouldn't be able to bring your Statements to a GTG because your vehicle wasn't big enough, you would need a pickup truck? Hmm, maybe I am confusing your build with a different thread. :unsure:

Yeah, that was me who mentioned that I definitely cannot fit the Statements in my car (even a year after I built the Statements, I cannot imagine moving them again...they are such a pain!). There is no way the sonosub will fit, either. The sonosub will have to be partially disassembled just to get it into the room where I have my Statements.

The sonosub would be great in the back of a truck. It'd probably rock the truck like a lowrider!

[janczyn]

Here's a (somewhat) unrelated question regarding the statement monitors.

I'm about to begin building 2 pairs (for myself and a friend) and was wondering what kind of amplification they work best with?
I'll be going SS, just was interested what their power req's looked like.
Thanks for any help, or links to any threads I missed with this topic.

[john trials]

Here's a (somewhat) unrelated question regarding the statement monitors.

I'm about to begin building 2 pairs (for myself and a friend) and was wondering what kind of amplification they work best with?
I'll be going SS, just was interested what their power req's looked like.
Thanks for any help, or links to any threads I missed with this topic.

I'm currently using an 80's Marantz receiver (200W/channel) with my Monitors. I'll be changing my Monitors to surrounds on my Onkyo TX-SR707 next week. I've been listening to my full-sized Statements with a Yamaha R8 receiver (200W/channel) from the early 80's for a year, but these are now the mains on my Onkyo. The Onkyo will be in a fairly small room, so I don't think I'll need more power...but it has pre-outs in case I need to get a power amp.

The more power your amplifier can supply, the less likely there will be distortion (clipping) from it. You could run them with an amp that has little power, but then don't crank up the volume. My Marantz has analog power meters. They indicate I'm running about 20W peak at a fairly loud, but comfortable listening level (room size about 13 x 16 x 8 ). Since this is a 200W/channel amplifier, I'm nowhere near clipping. If I had a 20W amp and ran it at 20W, there would probably be a whole lot of clipping and I'd ruin the tweeters in my Statements.

Make sure whatever you get is 4 ohm compatible...that's mandatory with the Statements.

[janczyn]

Thanks John, that was exactly the information I was looking for!

[richnen]

Janczyn.... I have my Monitors set up at my shop in San Marcos, you are welcome to come by and have a listen. They sound amazing, you will not be disappointed!

Send me a PM if you want to swing by.

Richard

[john trials]

who needs shielded drivers any more??????

I'm glad I bought the RS180S before they were gone. Eventually I'd like to arrange the CC under the TV (actually, eventually I'd like to have a flat screen LCD!), but I still haven't wired up all of the speakers yet. I just thought the photo was funny, with the current elimination of shielded RS drivers.

[Solid7]

Looks like a great picture to start a caption contest with.

Or a good children's book. (Which object doesn't belong?)

:B

[B Spank]

John, I think the finish on your statements is amazing. I read that you used cherry veneer. Did you use any stain to get that color? Where did you get the veneer from?

Thanks, and nice work on your speakers!

[john trials]

John, I think the finish on your statements is amazing. I read that you used cherry veneer. Did you use any stain to get that color? Where did you get the veneer from?

Thanks, and nice work on your speakers!

Thanks for the compliment.

The veneer is paper-backed cherry (flat cut) from veneersupplies.com. It was fairly inexpensive (for cherry).

I used PURE tung oil. It takes a LONG time to dry after each coat (over a week, but more like 10 days). I can't recommend it unless you have a lot of patience. Some day I may do a final coat of wipe-on poly (just to add a little shine...right now it's a matte finish), but for the past year, it's been just the multiple coats of pure tung oil and that's it.

I chose tung oil because it seemed like an easy finish that I wouldn't mess up (and the manufacturer said that it dries in 3-4 days, which I found wasn't true). Pure tung oil is also really easy to reapply any time there needs to be a repair or refinish...just wipe it on. After all the cabinet work and veneer, the last thing I wanted to do was end up with a sloppy finish (and I'm not a finish-type guy, so I wanted something simple). You may want to try some kind of polymerized tung oil, but I don't have any experience with it.

My warning about cherry (and this may happen with other woods, too...I'm no wood expert): It darkens from sunlight. I had the grills off my speakers most of last year so they would darken evenly. For the past few months, I've left the grills on, and the area behind the grills is lighter than the exposed areas.

[john trials]

A funny situation happened yesterday. I've got the new Onkyo 707, and a new Panasonic S58 DVD player. The 5.1 system has been set up for a month or so. I've got full-sized Statements L&R, the Statement CC, Monitors for the surrounds, and my Monster Sonosub to handle 80Hz on down.

Sometimes when I watch movies I noticed a strange smell. It reminded me of small electric motors overheating (like slot car motors when I was young). I started to think about the smell and I realized that I never noticed it when I watched a movie with my daughter...only when I watched a movie by myself...so I figured maybe it was because I really crank the system when I watch a movie by myself (it's usually in the middle of a rainy day when no one else is at home).

I'd get the smell, and run around to every speaker port and tunnel and give a sniff...nothing. Nothing from the amps, DVD player, surround receiver...nothing. Maybe the wiring?

So yesterday I solved the mystery. When I watch a movie in the daytime, I usually pull the window shades to remove the glare on the TV. When I watch with my daughter, it's at night, so I don't pull the window shades down. These window shades are almost always rolled up. I hardly use them. They have a strange plastic smell when they are pulled down, and it smells similar to overheating slot cars! So fortunately, I won't be setting the house on fire with my home made speakers!

Also, I've started looking at LCD TVs (it's about time...right?).

[Curt C]

I'm glad to hear we don't have another overheated crossover on our hands...

You are dating yourself John. I don't think kids play with slot cars anymore.- At least not like I, and apparantly you, did in our misspent youth, anyway.

Now that I think about it, DIY speakers and DIY audio in general is a natural progression from the slot car days. The old timers may recall you could build your own car from scratch, with custom frames, tires, motors, bodies, etc. Great memories of the smell of ozone and oil...

C

[cbark]

Also, I've started looking at LCD TVs (it's about time...right?).

Maybe...

I love the picture above! I would carry this picture around and when you get the "what gives you the biggest impact from home theater, audio or video"? Wham, whip out the picture....nuf said.

It has always made me chuckle when someone is showing me their system that they spent $10k on the video and about $500 on a complete sound system. And then proceed to ask, what do you think? I suppose everyone has their own ideas as to how to spend the money.

[john trials]

I'm glad to hear we don't have another overheated crossover on our hands...

You are dating yourself John. I don't think kids play with slot cars anymore.- At least not like I, and apparantly you, did in our misspent youth, anyway.

Now that I think about it, DIY speakers and DIY audio in general is a natural progression from the slot car days. The old timers may recall you could build your own car from scratch, with custom frames, tires, motors, bodies, etc. Great memories of the smell of ozone and oil...

C

Yeah, I didn't pull a 'Dave Pellegrene'

I'm a mechanical designer with an electrical engineering degree (and I've played in a few garage bands, too). With all that, I've caused enough smoke in the past to know that resistors should be out in the open in power situations! My resistors are all spaced apart for cooling, but I was pretty nervous about the smell. If I made smoke with my Statements, my wife wouldn't be too thrilled!

[john trials]

Maybe...

I love the picture above! I would carry this picture around and when you get the "what gives you the biggest impact from home theater, audio or video"? Wham, whip out the picture....nuf said.

It has always made me chuckle when someone is showing me their system that they spent $10k on the video and about $500 on a complete sound system. And then proceed to ask, what do you think? I suppose everyone has their own ideas as to how to spend the money.

I have four direct neighbors who have huge LCD TVs, and listen through the TV's speakers. I'm the exact opposite. 20 year old CRT with a kick-a** sound system. Once I get an LCD, I can at least invite friends over for a movie. Right now it'd be embarrassing!

[BeerParty]

Also, I've started looking at LCD TVs (it's about time...right?).

I don't know, I think you might get a better looking image if you finally finish that center channel (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)... :

[sawdust]

I have four direct neighbors who have huge LCD TVs, and listen through the TV's speakers. I'm the exact opposite. 20 year old CRT with a kick-a** sound system. Once I get an LCD, I can at least invite friends over for a movie. Right now it'd be embarrassing!

John,

Forget the LCD, move the left speaker to the left and project a 100" image on that white wall in between!

http://www.amazon.com/Epson-PowerLite-Home-Cinema-V11H373120/dp/B0044UHJWY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290546198&sr=8-1

[john trials]

John,

Forget the LCD, move the left speaker to the left and project a 100" image on that white wall in between!

http://www.amazon.com/Epson-PowerLit...0546198&sr=8-1

Ha! That's about twice my budget (I'm still unemployed, so I'm kind of having a hard time justifying an LCD TV, but I'm calling it a Xmas gift for the family, and everything I've read/heard mention that LCD prices have never been this good). Plus, if I had a projector, I'd have to pull the shades all the time and deal with the smell!!

[john trials]

I don't know, I think you might get a better looking image if you finally finish that center channel (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)... :

Also, the Monitors are unfinished. :P

My full-sized Statements ended up a lot darker than I wanted. I'm thinking of veneering the CC and/or the Monitors in maple (or some other lighter shade wood). I'm not sure if that would look strange having the CC and surrounds veneered in different woods...but probably not as strange as having them unfinished. My plan is to finish them in the summer. Warmer weather for veneering and finishing...and I watch fewer movies when the weather is warm outside, so I won't miss the speakers while they are taken out of the system.