Yet Another Statement Build Thread

[BigJim_inFLA]

Hi all,

After working all the recent holidays I find myself with a few extra dollars and eight, count them eight, whole days off. The weather here in Central Florida has also cooled off nicely, so working in the garage is actually quite enjoyable! So I decided to start a pair of sealed Statements. I am building myself an amplifier and need some new speakers for my office. I will most likely move the Nat P's into the office and will use the statements, on stereo subs, in the HT room. I spent most of the morning building a crosscut sled for the table saw and a router jig for cutting dadoes. Will be cutting MDF tonight, stay tuned for pics.

On a side note, for those who have used stereo subs, what are my options for 15" drivers, or can I fit 18"s under them?

[BigJim_inFLA]

Ok after a few hours in the garage I have all four of the sides cut. I gotta say sled for the table saw makes cutting large panels a breeze. Perfectly square too.



I also used a jig to cut dadoes for the braces.



Use a stop block after setting up and all the panels can be cut in no time.



I think I spent more time cleaning up the dust than actually cutting and routing.



I've got four of these ready for gluing once I cut the braces tomorrow.

[bigbardmusiq]

Looking real good so far! Keep the photos coming. This is definately not your first woodworking project, welcome to the statement family!

[Jim Holtz]

Great looking build Big Jim! :T

Regarding the subs, a pair of Tempest II's would work great as would many of the other subs. I would suggest you cross in the 50 Hz. - 60 Hz. range so you can still enjoy the excellent mid bass sealed Statements put out. The dual subs will take care of the bottom octave and shake the house on movies.

Regardless of what subs you use, the ribbons need to end up at seated ear height.

HTH

Jim

[AdelaaR]

My vocabulary of woodworking in english is limited so bare with me here.
I was myself thinking to make those cuts you made to secure the braces and the side panels.
Glued panels will always be stronger when glued on multiple sides and especially with MDF the glue will be much stronger when you remove the top layer I was told.
Nice work with the jigs too ... once set up properly they do make the work faster and more accurate.
Keep posting pictures ... they may inspire me for my build

[BigJim_inFLA]

I decided to make some full length braces instead of the 5" shelf braces behind the woofers.



Here they are test fitted to one of the sides. Very snug, these should be a breeze to assemble.



This is an idea I had for the mid tunnels. Input is appreciated if I missed something. I decided to make the upper and lower pieces go from side to side to tie things together. I then cut holes for the woofers to breathe through. I cut grooves for the tunnel sides. I thought that because of how everything will be tied together I could get away with 1/2" MDF for the sides of the tunnel to give some more space between the tunnel and the sides. I will be making the other 7 of these, and assembling them tomorrow. These take quite a while to cut out.

[AdelaaR]

I was already wondering why you had cut the grooves too long for the braces behind the woofers but now you cleared it up
Seems like a nice way to add extra bracing but I doubt it will help much though

[BigJim_inFLA]

Finishing up the mid braces.



Assembling the mid enclosures.



One set finished. They really go together nicely.

[john trials]

Nice way of assembling them, with all of those dadoes...your enclosure should be solid and square!!!! Good going!

[BeerParty]

Hmm, why does this look so familiar? Oh yea, a Statement build on a 10" Ridgid portable table saw. I knew that looked familiar (I own the same table saw)

Excellent build so far, keep the pictures coming. :T

[BigJim_inFLA]

Last one for today.



This is my first attempt building anything with dado joints. All of my other speaker projects have been butt joints and glue and screw together. I thought laying out all the dadoes correctly and cutting them would be too time consuming and prone to error. Quite the contrary I think this will not only be a much stronger cabinet when finished, but with only a couple of simple tools this was by far the easiest and quickest build I've done to date. Assembly is so much easier. :T

[Trompie]

Inspiring work BigJim. I like your matrix.

[snmhanson]

Nice work so far. I considered doing dadoed construction on my speakers but ended up not doing it because it had curves and I'm too lazy. I'm sure you will end up with some very sturdy speakers. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

Matt

[BigJim_inFLA]

Glued one up today. I'd glue the other one, but I don't have enough clamps!



Not sure if you can see it here, but I rounded over all the edges on my braces. Probably doesn't make a difference, but it looks nice.

[impala454]

That is some attention to detail.. nice!

[AdelaaR]

Attention to detail indeed ... detail nobody will ever see ... but nonetheless detail indeed.
I hope you used some kind of electric sander for that job because as you said yourself this will not make any difference.

[numberoneoppa]

Beautiful work! I'd love to hear them once you're finished!

[BeerParty]

Not sure if you can see it here, but I rounded over all the edges on my braces. Probably doesn't make a difference, but it looks nice.

I can tell you from experience that rounding over the internal edges makes a huge difference :rofl:

[wettou]

Very cool, wished I was that handy would save mega $$

[snmhanson]

Very cool, wished I was that handy would save mega $$

Not to take anything away from the OP (I'm sure he'll agree with me), but having the right tools and knowing how to use them helps a lot. A good drawing or CAD program to get everything planned out ahead of time is nice as well. Dadoed construction is a great way to build and as long as the dadoes are in the right place and consistent in depth, makes it easy to put together as well. It does take a special touch though to make it look as nice as this. And it is clear quite a bit of planning went into the layout and dimensioning of this build. Can't wait to see it finished. Based on what we've seen so far, it will be one of the nicer builds.

Matt

[BigJim_inFLA]

Attention to detail indeed ... detail nobody will ever see ... but nonetheless detail indeed.
I hope you used some kind of electric sander for that job because as you said yourself this will not make any difference.

I know nobody will see it, but I know its there. If I don't do something as well as I can it would bother me. It only took a few minutes with the router.

Very cool, wished I was that handy would save mega $$

All that mega $$ I save goes into tools. :B

Not to take anything away from the OP (I'm sure he'll agree with me), but having the right tools and knowing how to use them helps a lot. A good drawing or CAD program to get everything planned out ahead of time is nice as well. Dadoed construction is a great way to build and as long as the dadoes are in the right place and consistent in depth, makes it easy to put together as well. It does take a special touch though to make it look as nice as this. And it is clear quite a bit of planning went into the layout and dimensioning of this build. Can't wait to see it finished. Based on what we've seen so far, it will be one of the nicer builds.

Matt

Thanks Matt. I do agree. I never would have tried this type of construction a year ago without my table saw or router jigs. The amount of time spent laying out all the pieces is repaid with quicker and easier assembly.

Jim

[Silver1omo]

Really nice. I wish I had the skill and the tools...

[BigJim_inFLA]

Back at it after a week of work. Yesterday I got speaker two caught up to the same point as the first.



Today's goal is to get top and bottom attached, and backs and baffles cut. I'm also going to be playing around with my new toy!



Router table from Rockler. I'll be using it to cut the rabbets for the top, bottom, back, and baffles. I used it to round over all the internals for the second speaker yesterday and it is sooo much faster. I'm liking this more and more. Now I just need a larger garage!

[BigJim_inFLA]

Router table is sweet!



Top and bottom on. Baffles are glued up and clamped. Just waiting for glue to dry.



Close up of the joints at top.



Back with dadoes ready for test fit.

[BigJim_inFLA]

I cut a hole in the back near the bottom and glued a piece of scrap over it.



On the outside I rounded over the edge, this will recess where the binding posts sit so they don't just hang out the back.



Still waiting for the glue to dry on the baffles. Tomorrow I should get the backs on both and cut the baffles. I won't do the driver cutouts yet because I don't have all the drivers. Madisound is out of stock on the tweeters. :M

[Drew_V]

Really nice build and great documentation. I hope you keep it up.... I know how difficult it can be sometimes to post updates to the thread. It's hard enough to build something like this, let alone posting pictures and updates for everyone else's benefit.

Anyways, maybe you can give some other details on how you plan to finish them when you're done?

Also, you mentioned that you were going to build a DIY amplifier. Were you planning to build it from a kit or from scratch?

I'm about to start ordering parts for my own Mini Statements build, so I'm keenly interested in seeing your work. And I know about the OOS tweeters. I inquired about them and it should be about 2 more weeks before they're in stock (black finish). The silver finish version is in stock... I actually considered getting them for my build because they would match the mids. But trying to get matching silver seems more difficult to me than matching black because black colors tend to blend in better with each other. Keep up the good work.

[BigJim_inFLA]

Really nice build and great documentation. I hope you keep it up.... I know how difficult it can be sometimes to post updates to the thread. It's hard enough to build something like this, let alone posting pictures and updates for everyone else's benefit.

Thanks Drew!

Anyways, maybe you can give some other details on how you plan to finish them when you're done?

I'm not yet set on the finish. I will be doing a gloss black baffle. The top and sides will be veneer, but I'm not sure which one. My current set up is cherry and the wife and I think they look beautiful, but a touch too red. Our hardwood floors also have a bit of red to them so I was thinking something darker like walnut, or possibly padauk or bubinga. Zebrawood is also very nice looking.

I was looking at the other Statement threads and noticed Curt mentioning that using subs as stands usually means the subs are not ideally placed. This has me rethinking my plan, I may build short stands for these and go bigger with dual subs (18" or 21") that can be placed anywhere.

Also, you mentioned that you were going to build a DIY amplifier. Were you planning to build it from a kit or from scratch?

I'm building a Nelson Pass designed First Watt F5 amp. He is generous enough to supply full schematics and build notes on the same web site where he sells the commercial version of the amp. I'm using PC boards from a DIYAudio group buy, and I am sourcing all the other parts myself. I have everything I need except the heat sinks. Assembly is about 60% complete. Maybe later I will throw up some pics of my progress.

[BigJim_inFLA]

This morning I finished all the last little sanding needed to fit the backs on. Once tapped on with a rubber mallet these are very tight! Got out the flush trim bit and made the rear cut outs for the mids.



The holes gave me access for more clamps!

[BigJim_inFLA]

Done for today. The backs are on and I am quickly approaching a stalling point. Until I can get the drivers I can't do much to the baffles, and until I get veneer I can't do too much more to the cabinets. I will finish sand them and maybe start thinking about painting the back and bottom.

[Jim Holtz]

Exceptional workmanship! ;x(

Jim

[tchaik]

i agree, exceptional workmanship. would love to have that router table.

tchaik..............

[Ezcl]

That is some excellent joinery, BigJim... Keep up the excellent work, and keep those pictures coming!

[Fishy]

Loving the way you're recessing the speaker posts. one qeustion thought, why the two holes though?

Fish

[BeerParty]

Loving the way you're recessing the speaker posts. one qeustion thought, why the two holes though?

Fish

I know, I know! :P

These are Statements, the mid-woofer drivers (Tang Band W4-1337s) are installed in a transmission line (open in the back).

[Maklar]

Looks nice! How deep are you routing your dadoes to?

[BigJim_inFLA]

Thank you all for the compliments!

Fishy, BeerParty has it right, the holes are for this design's open backed mids.

Not much accomplished this weekend, but I have decided that these will be getting a veneer of zebrawood when they are finished. So has anyone ever worked with zebrawood? I have heard it smells, like bad?!?

[DeathMonk]

Hmm, why does this look so familiar? Oh yea, a Statement build on a 10" Ridgid portable table saw. I knew that looked familiar (I own the same table saw)

Excellent build so far, keep the pictures coming. :T

I also built my statements using the same saw ;-)

Great job on these so far!

[BigJim_inFLA]

Well it has been a while with not much progress. I have been getting through some other projects. I have finally finished my very first speaker build that started somewhere back in 2006. They have been making sweet music for years but were always bare MDF until now.





I have also been able too get some of the hardware for the Statements. Tweets are on their way to me now, and the mids arrived last week. Also waiting at my front door last week was the zebrawood veneer! It looks sweet!! :B



Progress on the speakers themselves is still slow. Today I am filling in all the seams with body filler. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to paint the back and bottom.



I have decided not to put these atop stereo subs, but have instead designed some cool stands.

[Txgrizzly]

very good looking build, cant wait to see the finished product...

[dadstv]

Great looking build!

I also have that table saw, and I have the same exact router table from Rockler too. That is a GREAT setup, my favorite tool in the shop! If you're going to get casters, get the ones from rockler even thought they are kind of pricey, they are far better than cheaper ones you can get at HD.

Are you going to finish your subs to match the statements? How about the amp, wood veneered enclosure on that too? :E

[BigJim_inFLA]

Great looking build!

I also have that table saw, and I have the same exact router table from Rockler too. That is a GREAT setup, my favorite tool in the shop! If you're going to get casters, get the ones from rockler even thought they are kind of pricey, they are far better than cheaper ones you can get at HD.

Are you going to finish your subs to match the statements? How about the amp, wood veneered enclosure on that too? :E

Thanks!

Part of the reason I haven't been making much progress on the Statements is I've been playing around with the router table quite a bit. It has become one of my favorites in the shop also.

I will be finishing the subs in zebrawood to match the Statements, but that could be some time in the future. I will be traveling quite a bit this summer. I just hope to have the Statements finished before then. I will be building a black anodized aluminum case for the amp. All of my other components are black, and they are on a rack back behind the speakers and TV. I like the way they kind of disappear.

[Drew_V]

Like the finished speakers. What paint did you use on the baffles?

[BigJim_inFLA]

Like the finished speakers. What paint did you use on the baffles?

The baffles are finished with Rust-Oleum Textured paint in Aged Iron color. Two coats makes all the sanding scratches and first time mistakes disappear. It really covers well. Inside it looks almost black unless it gets some direct sunlight, then it appears dark gray.

[BigJim_inFLA]

Its primer time! Got the backs and bottoms filled, sanded smooth, and primed. Hopefully I will be able to start the veneering process early next week.

The more I look at the Modula MTs that I just finished, the more I like that textured baffle. I was planning to do a piano black lacquer finish on them, but this is very attractive, and quite a bit less work. Are there any downsides to having the a fairly rough baffle?

[oneplustwo]

I used a similar Rustoleum textured paint on my ZDT3.5. It is so much easier and definitely hides some mistakes! The one and only downside that I've found is that dust collects on it and is kinda hard to remove unless you use a vacuum/brush attachment. Trying to wipe it down with a cloth or tissue just leaves more residue. Not a big deal... just FYI.