dave_k's mini-statement build

[dave_k]

Hello everyone. I'm almost done my mini-statement build and thought I would post some of the things I've learned. It sure made things a lot easier seeing how everyone else did their builds. I must have looked at BeerParty's thread 20 times at various stages in the build.

Thanks again to Jim and Curt for the design.

So, first off, there two things I did differently. Being Canadian I used different parts (of the same value of course) given that I was ordering everything from Solen. Main difference was an aircore coil instead of the I core inductor. In hindsight, I had to get the port kits from the US, so I could have got most of the crossover parts from PE at the same time. Being in the Solen office, I wanted to get EVERYTHING. Pretty neat seeing a wall of coils.

Second thing was I used Baltic Birch instead of MDF. I have to do all my routing on my sundeck and I have my tomatoes out there too. Wasn't fancying spraying my tomatoes with fine MDF dust so Baltic Birch it was. I'm pretty happy with the choice.

Now for some of the things I would have done differently. I didn't realize that you need to cut a rebate on the top of the mid tunnel to allow the ribbon to fit. At least on mine, the bottom heat sink of the ribbon hit the top of the mid tunnel. I didn't realize that until I was about to glue on the front baffle. Easy to fix with a chisel, but it would have been nice to do a more pro job with the router. I've seen others cut that rebate on some of the larger statement builds. Next, I was trying to be all fancy screwing in the crossovers with brass screws so I could remove them. Of course I didn't think about how much a pain it would be to install them so those suckers are never coming out. Next time, I'll glue them in or maybe velcro.

I'm almost done with the veneering. I'm using some 10mil paper-backed teak (which wasn't cheap) from Exotic Woods in Burlington. I'm using the Iron-on method using the Titebond Original (yellow) glue. Going well so far. I have to wait for it to cool down and then check to make sure all the corners and edges are adhering - I've had to go over some areas twice. Maybe I'll try Heatlock next time.

D

[dave_k]

Here are some pics.

Here's the pre-cut pieces from the lumber yard. $20 to cut it. The tolerances weren't great - most pieces were 1/4" over - but better long than short. They were able to get all of the 3/4 out of a single 5' x 5' sheet of baltic birch.



Next is the mid-tunnel. I liked the round-over that I saw in BeerParty's thread, so I copied that.



Here's the glue up. I glued up the whole thing at once, rather than gluing the ends to one side, then the other. In hind sight, I'd do the 2 step. I had the sides clamped on for maybe a minute, then went back to re-adjust and everything was already stuck fast. I was a 1/16th out and trimmed that with a router. Still, not the swiftest move.

I got a deal on those Bessey Clamps - they're fantastic.

[dave_k]

And here's my crossover. I thought I had a nice piece of orange lexan, but it turned out to be pink when I pulled the protective paper off. I liked the idea of having orange crossovers than nobody would ever see inside the cabinet. Now I have pink ones. I'm happy with them, even if they are pink.



The woofer is on its own board. On the mid/tweeter board the source is at the top of the pic and the tweeter out is at the bottom middle. The mid out is under the board around the mounting holes on the bottom left and right (you can just see the wires running under the board to around the holes. There's a pair of holes drilled in the mid tunnel that line up with the mounting holes on the board and a pair of binding posts that run through those holes (and hold the board down). Then there's a short wire run to the mids. This is the cleanest method I could come up with for bringing the signal out to the mids, but was certainly overkill and was a bit fussy.

On any future builds, I'll stay away from the style of terminal block I used. The set screw doesn't do a good job of locking in smaller wires if you have some larger gauge wires mixed in. I think I'll just solder everything next time, or use those terminal strips that Troels uses.

[Jim Holtz]

Looks great Dave! :T You're almost there...

Jim

[LuncHwagon]

Are my eyes bad? or are these statement MONITORS rather than the Statement MINIS?

[dave_k]

HA! Yes they are. I guess the heat is getting to me.

[LuncHwagon]

they do look good. nice work.

[BeerParty]

I am glad my build thread was able to help you out. Lookin' good so far - keep the pictures coming.