Statements II Build Thread

[DocNice]

Starting my Statements build early. By early, I mean I don't have enough money to finish them. But I should have the money sometime in the next few months, so why not start now? My plan: Build the cabinets. Then veneer. Then do the crossovers. Attach the front. And get the drivers.

Budget:
Cabinet: $120
Veneer and finishing materials: $100-200
Drivers and Crossovers: $1000
Cabinet hardware: $150

I do have some woodworking experience, but I've had mixed success on fine furniture. Often there are small flaws that don't ruin the piece but drive me crazy. Most of my better projects are the non-precision kind, so I'm curious how I'll do on this project.

Cut down
Got ¾ MDF and ½ MDF from MacBeath Hardwood San Jose location. $34 per sheet, about half the cost of the Baltic Birch void free 11 ply. It BARELY fit in the back of the pilot and I carefully drove the 10 miles home with the back door open and some suspect looking twine holding everything together.

Now to rip it. Dang, that stuff is heavy. I got two neighborhood kids to help me get it onto the ground for cutting. I need a couple more saw horses, but the random wood strips I had laying about did the job. A circular saw and a Diablo 40 tooth blade cut through it like cream. It might be hard on tools, but MDF cuts really smoothly. 55” off the top please.




Screwed up on the second cut just a bit, but it’s straight and it's only off by a 16th of an inch. I think I can work with that. This part took me about an hour.

The rest of the cutting took an hour and a half on the table saw. So much faster and easier when you have the fence and ruler built in! This thing was built in the 60s and is an absolute tank. Cuts nice and smooth and straight! Well, when I get the fence straight. The modern fences are a bit more trouble free. I got a few snipes at the end from going too fast, but overall I'm happy with it.



Glue Up
I’ll start with the mid-driver boxes. I just let gravity do the work here rather than clamping everything, since I don't have enough clamps. A couple of them slid around. Perhaps I had a bit too much glue. Only a 16th of an inch or so, but I'll have to deal with that later. The costs of taking shortcuts.



Next came the cabinet built, starting top, bottom back and one side. The top and bottom stabilized the side while gluing it to the bottom. Once again I need to get more clamps, but I was able to get away with just having them on the bottom by letting the inward pressure press the top/bottom upward. I apparently cut my sides about a 16th of an inch too wide, so had to add a bit of wood for the clamp. Once again though, I took a shortcut and had a bit of slippage. I've been told MDF is glue-thirsty, and I'm not getting a ton of seepage, but I think I can clean it up with some routing.



Here's the uneven top. I'm not terribly worried about it as I could probably fix it, but I also am considering adding a 3/4 inch hardwood top to it and rounding all the edges. We'll see.




I then marked where the shelves and tubes went, and cut the hole for the tubes in the back with an oscillating multi-tool. It's a bit dirty (uneven) but I hope to clean it up with a roundover bit when finished.




Now to add the braces and tubes. I rounded the tubes and braces with a 1/4" round-over bit. Just enough to take the hard edges off but not significant. I didn't see any measurements for the hole in the brace, so I just eyeballed it. My last jigsaw blade broke and the store is closed, but this seems fairly non-critical, so I just free handed it on the router. You can see a couple of mistakes but it should be ok




One of the tubes is too high in the cabinet by 1/8th of an inch. I'm pretty frustrated as I thought I carefully measured. I've made a couple of small mistakes so far, but this one is the first measuring mistake and I worry it could be a material error. I considered making the front of the cabinet match by moving the top mid-driver up 1/8 of an inch, but I think the spacing between the speakers will impact the sound more than the exit tube being slightly off center. I can cut out if it doesn't fit perfectly.

On the second cabinet, my uneven gluing on the tubes came back to haunt me. I sanded down the uneven edge and then decided I would get a better seal by letting gravity push them down rather than trying to clamp them back toward the side, as I did on the first. It worked out well. There's a tiny gap where I sanded, but perhaps I will add a bit of expanding gorilla glue or silicon caulk to seal it.


Here's the gap in the tube. I don't think there's any issue with it not being securely in place, so it's purely about leakage. My guess is there's nothing to worry about but I'l fill it anyway.



I'm just about ready for the front and the base.



Definitely want to round-over those back holes. I'll probably just paint the back of the speaker.



I measured the front for the drivers and practiced with the circle cutting jig, but I don't know how deep to cut. I don't have the drivers yet so I can't measure. Can anyone tell me how deep I should recess the driver edges?



Next steps.
It might be a while before my next update. I need to get some money to go past Home below.
1. Route the front panels and round-over the edges (need help here, see above)
2. Build the base (need to know the port size to cut correctly. I'll order those parts next)
3. Veneer the cabinets
3. Build the crossovers and add the drivers

Potential veneer designs
I'm hesitant to post this, because when I fail fantastically it will be quite humbling. But you gotta aim high. Here are the veneering designs I presented to my wife. She's somewhat skeptical, but I think I can get her there.
The sides of this design would match the dark brown furniture.


The sides of this one would match the brown on the front. I might give it a hint of stain to darken it.



Any votes for one or the other? Or neither? :-)

[BobEllis]

Like you, my woodworking tends to please me most when it's non precision. I like that way of describing it. Yes, seal those leaks. It will affect box tuning and may lead to audible wheezes.

I like your first pattern best. Both are nice, I just tend towards lighter. If this is your first foray into raw veneer I strongly suggest doing some practice panels of similar size. Use plenty of veneer softener and flatten well. Practice panels should be similar size so you can prove out your clamping process. Very flat substrate and cauls are needed for large panels like the sides.

It seems to go against a tight budget build, but having done both, I strongly recommend using a vacuum press. I got much better results with it than clamp and caul on my Ardents. If you don't already own a boatload of clamps the price difference isn't that big. I used 14 heavy duty bar clamps on my 42" tall Ardent sides, cauls were 4 layers of mdf (3" total) and a couple of 2x4s. I still had bubbles to repair. Vacuum bagging with breather mesh was not without its hiccups but bubbles in the veneer weren't an issue. Except when I put the vacuum port on the clamped surface.

Enjoy the build and keep the progress pictures coming. Cabinets first, drivers later wouldn't have worked for me. There were so many frustrations along the way that if I hadn't already sunk the money into the driver's the build likely would have died on the vine. Stay motivated. If the practice panels work out well you have a table top or equipment rack side.

Edit: I'm a happy customer of www.veneersupplies.com. You may find your veneer and finishing budget is a bit light. Jon Marsh recommends Mirka Abralon and Abranet abrasives. Looks like they would make finishing easier, but I already had a good supply of traditional fine wet or dry papers. I'm very happy with the way General Finishes High Performance Gloss rubbed out if you're after a glossy finish.

[scottvalentin]

Great progress!

As Bob mentioned, sealing things up is important. I usually run a thin bead of silicon around the inside edges and flatten with my finger. It's like $3 a tube, and really is just cheap insurance against an air leak and doesn't take long at all.

Your veneer ideas are absolutely beautiful. Remind me of Ken Smith bass guitars, and it's weird because I probably haven't thought of those in about 10 years, so it really stood out. Both options are beautiful, I think I like the first option.

[Steve Manning]

+1 with Bob on where to get veneer stuff. I have also bought stuff from this place, they tend to have some good pricing, at least the last time I purchased from them. Of course I was purchasing paper backed veneer not raw.

[flamethrower1]

Those designs are nice looking, they are going to be tricky to get the seams to match up straight.
You will also have to purchase a full sheet of veneer just for the center sections of each cabinet, so that is going to add some more cost.
Also, look into the application methods as there are other options that are more cost effective and forgiving than the one mentioned above.
If you go back and read his posts, he had several problems from slippage to bleed through (very bad, as the veneer will not take stain at this point) all of which resulted in more work fixing mistakes.
I have used HeatLoc on all my cabinets with ZERO issues, no softeners, no flattening.
Pretty much took the veneer out of the box, cut it a little over sized, taped it face down to either a sheet of cardboard or a piece of plywood (this prevents getting the glue on the wrong side of the veneer) rolled a coat on both the veneer and the cabinet and let it dry.
Then you use a iron to apply the veneer.
You can see the results in my Anthology build.
Anyway, good luck with your build
Greg

[flamethrower1]

As far as the port hole size, I used this one from Parts Express 268-350, it says on the product page that it needs a 5 1/4" diameter cut out

[flamethrower1]

Another option for venner, http://www.tapeease.com/, better prices

[BobEllis]

Yes, if starting again I would use conventional glues rather than epoxy, which really bled through given the wild grain of my veneer and that the epoxy is designed to soak into the wood. With epoxy, you are pretty much limited to a film finish because you must coat the surface to get even finishing. The learning curve was steep, which is why I suggested practicing before veneering the real front panel.

The one slipped piece when applying to a facet was another hiccup, caused more by inattention than the process itself. I thought I had it down and didn't check thoroughly. That does not affect my overall preference for vacuum bagging. One of my clamp and caul applied sides slipped so that the bookmatch line isn't parallel to the long edge, so slippage can happen anywhere. As Joe Woodworker points out, using conventional glues an advantage of using breather mesh is that any glue bleed through (it happens with many types of veneer) will tend to be a small vertical column rather than spread around. This minimizes the finishing impact of bleed through.

Flattening and softener requirements depend on the veneer chosen. Burls are the toughest, and one option shown uses a lot of burl. I haven't used Heatloc. It requires a porous substrate to bond - if you end up using a non porous filler on your end grain or less than perfect joints you may have adhesion problems. I tried iron on using yellow glue on a previous project that didn't turn out well, so I guess that is the source of my trepidation about iron on veneering. Others have had good luck with it. I was following Jon's epoxy sealing process so conventional glues and heatloc weren't an option on my Ardent build.

Whatever method you choose to apply your veneer, practice first. Raw veneer is a bit more difficult to apply than paper backed. Veneersupplies sells a veneer saw that is almost a requirement for getting a good joint between the various veneers in your pattern and the bookmatch on the sides (assuming that you're doing that).

Since you're getting fancy, not just applying straight veneer there's this from the HeatLoc page: (emphasis mine)

Tips from Joe: Heat Lock is a superb adhesive and takes only a small amount of practice to master. I recommend experimenting with veneer scraps before tackling your first project. Be sure to keep the iron moving at all times and, of course, be careful to avoid burning yourself. For best results, apply two coats of Heat Lock to the veneer before ironing. Lastly, an old cotton or flanel Tee shirt between the veneer face and the iron will prevent the veneer from burning. Bookmatching or any other veneer seaming technique can be difficult with Heat Lock due to the method of application. If your project involves a veneer seam/joint a vacuum press would be ideal. Check out the Heat Lock FAQ before ordering. Heat Lock is not suitable for use with crotch grain wood veneers.

[DocNice]

Thanks for the comments. As for the veneers, I have done some veneering, but nothing nearly this complex. I think, as you guys said, that the long seams will be quite challenging, particularly keeping the burl in line, and not getting bleed through. With light right next to dark colors, darker or lighter glue won't save me either.

I appreciate all your recommendations. I had been planning on buying from VeneerSupplies.com. They're about half the price of Woodcraft and better stuff. I'll have to check out Tape-Ease. I had considered a veneer press. It looks like it will run me about $500 between the press and the bag. I MIGHT be able to talk the wife into that, but it could mean waiting until my bonus comes in in a few months. I have been reading a good veneering book, and he goes through the advantages and disadvantages of the different glue types. I had been doing contact glue based on the recommendation of my local hardwood company, but I now realize that's the hard way to do it. He really recommends Titebond Type III. Seems like it might allow me to move it about a little more to get it just right. I think that will be the trick. It's unlikely I'll get the seams perfect on the first pass, so the ability to just slightly adjust them would help. My guess is bleed through would be the major problem in that case. I'll look into the heatlock as well.

[DocNice]

Any thoughts on the depth of the driver recess?

[flamethrower1]

The attached photo is my Statement II center with a seam right in the front face of it done with Heat Lock, not impossible and certainly doable.
It is not going to be any easier if you would use a vacuum press

[BobEllis]

Read the www.joewoodworker.com articles on bookmatching for instruction. I got near perfect seams on the bookmatch the first try following his directions. That narrow strip makes it almost marquetry, you might want to read up on those techniques as well.

Another option might be to inlay the strip - use a router bit as wide as the strip to cut a groove after applying the two other veneers. Guide the router on the edge of the cabinet. Again, trial and error to find what works for you.

For vacuum bags, I used 3.5 mil sheet sold as rolls of drop cloth. Pretty much single use, but way less expensive than the good stuff. You might be able to rent a vacuum pump locally - that's the biggest cost driver. An oil-less pump is preferred.

IIRC, RS225 flanges are 6 mm thick. Flange thickness is often given in the datasheet mechanical drawing.

Nice work, Greg. I was just showing some of the information that led me to the direction I took.

[flamethrower1]

Any thoughts on the depth of the driver recess?

I will pop a driver out of my cabs and get some dimensions for you

[DocNice]

flamethrower. I found that the thickness is 5mm. Any idea how much to add for gasket material? Perhaps the veneer would just offset that.

[flamethrower1]

I was just going though some of my drawings for the Anthologys and I cut the recess at .196" deep.
The RS225 come with a foam gasket on them so I did not add anymore.
Keep in mind, this was for paper backed veneer on the outside of the cabinet which is 1/32".

Greg

[DocNice]

Thanks. I also liked your advice in the anthology build to screw down to some backer plywood. I'll do that as well.

[bobyoungren]

Gorilla glue has no gap filling properties, so calk is a bether option. Also the mid tunnel edges will be hidden by the 1 inch foam that lines the tunnels.

I vote for the top veneer design.

Bob

[flamethrower1]

Thanks. I also liked your advice in the anthology build to screw down to some backer plywood. I'll do that as well.

Yeah that little trick can be a project saver.

[DocNice]

For vacuum bags, I used 3.5 mil sheet sold as rolls of drop cloth. Pretty much single use, but way less expensive than the good stuff. You might be able to rent a vacuum pump locally - that's the biggest cost driver. An oil-less pump is preferred.

Bob, how do you seal the bags and attach the hose? This seems intriguing to me.

[BobEllis]

Interesting, veneersupplies doesn't seem to carry the bag fitting I bought from them anymore. It's a threaded barb with a couple of washers and gaskets. As I found out, you can't have it directly on the surface or it causes bubbles. The current flush mount stem eliminates that issue, but must be glued to the bag. Not as easy to use cheap plastic like I did.

The bag is self sealing, you just need to ensure there is enough flange width to get started. When veneering facets and the top, I just used 3M painter's tape where I had enough room and a mastic tape where I didn't. Leaks usually resolved themselves with a bit of massaging to get the plastic to lay flat. That worked even for corner folds. Blue tape them together and most of the time they sealed up without any attention from me.

JWW sells a pipe based bag clamp - wrap the bag around a pipe and clamp with a slit pipe. Almost as easy is a couple of 1x3s and a string of one hand or spring clamps.

[DocNice]

I have used HeatLoc on all my cabinets with ZERO issues, no softeners, no flattening.

I'm leaning towards doing the heatlock. Thanks for the advice!

[DocNice]

I'm working on designing the base. My intention is to mount it on rubber feet, with wheels in the back that will touch the ground if you lean it backwards, so that I can move it away from the wall.

How much clearance from a hardwood floor is needed for the bass port? I see the schematics call for 2" spikes, but rubber feet are not that tall. If more space is needed, should I carve out some wood in the back to get more air movement space?

[Jim Holtz]

I'm working on designing the base. My intention is to mount it on rubber feet, with wheels in the back that will touch the ground if you lean it backwards, so that I can move it away from the wall.

How much clearance from a hardwood floor is needed for the bass port? I see the schematics call for 2" spikes, but rubber feet are not that tall. If more space is needed, should I carve out some wood in the back to get more air movement space?

The simplest way is to simply rear port it. Then you can do anything you want to the base without concern. If you want to do the down firing port, Get it as high as possible off the floor with your rubber feet and cut a 5"-6" wide section out of the back of the base. That'll provide plenty of breathing room.

Jim

[DocNice]

More progress

Still waiting for more budget to finish these babies. My guess is it will either be next week or November, but keeping my fingers crossed for next week!

In the meantime, here are my updates.

My router wouldn't fit the circle cutting jig, so I drilled holes the best I could and strapped it on there. I hate that router. "But honey, don't you already have a router?" I also created marks for my front baffle and routed it out.



But it wasn't without issue. My crappy router slipped it's depth adjustment and went deeper than I wanted on the last circle. I contemplated fixing it, but decided to just go buy $40 worth of wood and do it over again. It's not like I can move forward anyway.



But it still gave me problems. The new wood I got was warped, and I couldn't see that until I got it home. So I place the 3/4 thick piece in opposition to the natural warping tendency that it gets when it glues and weighed it down. This, didn't quite work as it really wants to pull away from the other board. I think perhaps I didn't put enough glue this time and when I routed it, the pieces got a bit of a gap. Ugh!. I have enough wood that I could rebuild it again, but what a pain. So I took an old turkey injector and put glue in the gap and clamped it. The glue went in all directions when clamped and the seal is tight and seems to be holding up well to the vibration of the sander, so I think it's ok. Chime in if you think this is a serious error and I should scrap it.



Next, I had just a bit of cleanup to do. The edges weren't quite flush. So I used a combination of top and bottom bearing flush trim bits and clamped on boards as necessary to ensure all the tolerances were going to be nice and tight.




You can see the seam in the wood that the router bit put into the side. I had to sand this down, but at least my edge stays clean vs. trying to sand right up to the edge. I think the slope is gentle and even enough that it won't show when I finish it.



Lastly, I put in the silicon caulking. I REALLY should have done the tunnels before I added the sides and bracing. Very difficult to even get my hands in there. I've never been good with caulk even in the best conditions, but I've never had to get it around corners in tight quarters like that. The caulk is a mess but I tested it with both a light and an air gun and it appears fully sealed.



Next step, order the foam and other cabinet hardware. If I can buy everything next week then great, otherwise I'll just get the hardware and crossovers and get it ready to veneer and drop in the drivers.



In the meantime, I've started to get a matching center going, more on that in the next post.

[DocNice]

Regarding the centers, I didn't see the Statement II Centers on Curt's website, but I did see it on Meniscus and a google search brought up the rough plans. My guess is Meniscus would get more business from having the plans available on Curt's site, but I understand this is a hobby and he's got a real job.

I like the idea of the sealed enclosure, so I'll build those, but my setup has a quirk that's led me to experiment with some changes. That quirk is that I have a 1-5/8" curve in the top shelf of my TV furniture where I want my center channel to go.



This means that the bottom speaker(s) on the center channel get a little crowded, especially if the tweeter is on the bottom and meant to face down to me. It also means I'm getting a bit of diffraction right there. I'd also like to do a bit of my own speaker design. I've actually studied up quite a bit on designing my own from scratch, but given the investment I decided to go with Jim/Curt's design for the towers. But maybe the center would give me that opportunity? In particular, I hoped to get a lower height profile and spread it out horizontally. I ultimately gave up on that idea because the designs I wanted weren't going to work from a driver spacing standpoint or from a voicing standpoint (smaller woofers, but then the Vifa's were nearly the same size as the woofers). So I came back to Jim/Curt's design, but with some tweaks. My intention is to make the speaker blend with the furniture and address some of the potential diffraction issues, while not having to redesign the crossover.

In this picture, the dark brown are the braces (front and back) of the shelf. The yellow is the MDF of the speaker box.



A couple of notes. The spacing between the drivers is the same. The tweeter is on the bottom due to the intended position above the speaker. The bottom of the front baffle is cut to match the arc in the shelf brace, so that it's only 1/2" in the area below the speakers. I intend to make this a tight fit and use some kind of foam or gasket to prevent vibration between the shelf and the speaker baffle. Also, the distances from the tweeter to the bottom of the shelf and the mids to the top of the speaker are quite similar to the original design, so I expect no need for a baffle compensation. The mid chamber is within 2 square inches of the original chamber volume, and the woofer chamber is within 10 square inches, including the additional volume from the arc and the revised volume of the bracing. Final dimensions are 10.5" high at the edges, 11.3" high at the middle, 35" wide, 12.75" deep.



Any concerns with these revisions?

[Jim Holtz]

Doc,

The changes you're making in the cabinet don't strike me as being a problem as long as the RS225 compartments are close to original design volume. The tweeter on the bottom will work fine as long as the speaker is positioned high and above the TV. By turning the speaker upside down, it will down lobe downward rather than upward.

However, if you're planning on mounting the speaker on the wall, that's a problem. Bass will be enhanced upsetting the balance between bass and mids. Deep male voices can be very "chesty" sounding when mounted against the wall behind. I honestly can only guess at recommendations since mine sits about 2' from the the wall behind it which is the way it was designed. You'll have to experiment with positioning if you have a problem.

HTH

Jim

[DocNice]

No, it won't be right on the wall, but I might be able to get the back a foot away from the wall. Is that still a concern with the sealed enclosure?

[Jim Holtz]

12" is fine Doc.

Jim

[DocNice]

Catching up. I've been sitting on some posts for a couple of weeks, so I'll do a few in a row:

Since I had to wait on the drivers and I had extra wood, hey why not build the center speaker? First, I had to mirror the curve of the front railing. I used a top bearing router bit to reverse that curve. Only, yeah, not so much.



Thankfully this is hard to see since it's up high, and a bit of stain ought to make it mostly invisible. The bit couldn't handle the top and bottom load. I tried a couple of jigs to make it work, but ultimately ended up tracing it with a pencil and using a jigsaw. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close. Then I used the router bit to match the top curve, being a bit more careful this time.



Here's the glue up on the center speaker. This time I used small clamps to keep the edges from sliding inward and got much better results.



On the top, I originally did 1/8" MDF layers, but I wasn't happy with the wood glue and clamps. No matter how many clamps I used I just couldn't get it all even. Lacking a vacuum press, I went to a new strategy, trying contact cement, which worked wonders. You can see the first layer is glue and the last several layers are contact cement. However, I didn't want this one layer being loose, so I scrapped it and bought a $5 1/4" 2' x 4' board. Since the curve is so slight it had no problems and the contact cement again did a great job.



The center speaker cabinet, with the redone top, probably took 5 hours.

Back to the main speakers, the feet started coming together once I decided what to do. I'm using 1" rubber feet (hardwood floors don't like spikes) and then 1/2 in wheels in the back, so I can tilt it back. I'll show more of this later.

[DocNice]

Woohoo, the drivers are here!



I had wanted to complete the cabinets and just pop the drivers in, but I noticed that different speakers on Jim and Curt's site ask for different sized holes for the same driver. This gave me pause. Also, I didn't know where the screw holes are, and wanted to use t-nuts to make it easier to take drivers in and out if necessary. I'm glad I did, because the speaker mount holes were not necessarily the right size. So I used an old cutout and used spacers on the sides to re-center it and then made the holes bigger as needed. Worked pretty well.

I also used t-nuts to reduce the risk of stripping if I put the drivers in and out multiple times. This didn't go as smoothly as I planned. I can get the screw in each of them, but if I put the driver in, the angle being off just slightly can keep me from being able to get it to engage. Hence, I had to abandon a few of them, and in this case, since I had already drilled a hole larger than a wood screw could use, I inserted drywall anchors and it worked pretty well for those few occasions. That's gorilla glue you see around the t-nuts.



Now, time for electronics. I gotta say, I am very impressed with Meniscus Audio. Very responsive. One of the capacitors was missing (these things happen to the best of us) and he emailed me back within minutes and overnighted the part. Also, I absolutely love how easy they made it to do the crossover. They give you precut 1/4" MDF boards with matching stickers. The stickers tell you exactly where to put each part, and where to solder. Almost idiot proof.





Building these was much easier than I expected and took about 2 or 3 hours plus time for the glue drying.

I tested the crossovers outside the cabinet to ensure they worked.



And then put the foam and crossovers and wiring into the cabinet, using industrial strength velcro to attach the crossover to the shelves and bottom. The foam took about half an hour per cabinet (1.5 total), and installing the crossovers and wiring took about 2 hours per cabinet. Did not expect that amount of time commitment. But if you think about it, you have to cut, strip and solder almost 100 connections across the 3 speakers. That takes a bit of time.

[DocNice]

Veneering time! This is my first veneer project aside from tiny little projects and I definitely learned a bit. After discussion on this forum I decided to go with Heatlock. Isn't that some pretty veneer?




I started using a veneer saw to cut things down to size and then a flush trim router bit with the veneer clamped between two boards to get a straight edge. By the end I was just cutting it with a straight edge and an exacto knife, but still using the router for the final straight edge.

After testing a couple of pieces I set out on the real deal, starting with the center strip.



I learned a couple of lessons with the HeatLock right away. First, let it dry all the way or almost all the way. The stuff acts like contact cement if it's still milky white in color, and my center strip was slightly off center because I couldn't get it off. Like an idiot I just did the rest of it with the same offset thinking it was only off 1/8 of an inch, but in the end it bothered me enough that I stripped it off (thank goodness it actually came off without ruining the box) and re-glued it. A little bit of sanding and it re-applied fairly well.



The bigger sheet really took me by surprise. I tried to apply it when it was still a little wet and it curled up on itself and stuck like contact cement. I tried for a while to get it unstuck but ultimately ripped the Walnut and had to let it go. Ironically, it went back to being completely flat and non-sticky in another hour. I was able to salvage a few pieces for the back and sides of the center speaker but I had to order another piece to replace it.



Once I learned to let it dry, I was able to reposition the veneer easily and didn't have to worry about it rolling up. After ironing on, I trimmed the sides with a flush trim router bit and sanded it down a bit further by hand.

After applying a second time, including ebony inlays from Inlays.com (great prices), I was ready to start finishing. Well, finishing what I could. I still am waiting for the replacement Walnut piece from VeneerSupplies.com. Great veneer but I'm spoiled on Amazon, not used to waiting a week for shipping! This part took about 10 hours, but spread over several days as I need to let the glue dry about 1 to 1.5 hours per application rather than the 20-30 min they say on the bottle. Just don't leave it too long or it's hard to activate.

[DocNice]

And finally I'm ready to finish the cabinets! Oh my goodness, you have no idea the patience it takes not to get ahead of myself and test these speakers. I did lay the driver in the cabinets before they were glued up, but it's not really fair without being sealed and without a tuned port. I'm probably rushing a bit and making mistakes, but I'm like a kid the night before Christmas!

I researched a lot of options tested several finish options before deciding on Dark Walnut Danish Oil for the Walnut and Clear Shellac with added Amber for the center strip. Here's my test board part way through testing.



The wife signed off on the colors, but they look darker when they're covering the whole speaker. It's like painting a room. Always darker than you expected. But when I add the top coat I think it will look really good, and you can definitely see the grain. If I had to do it again, I would have done the Light Walnut or the Natural, but I'm happy with the result. The quilted maple is more orange than I wanted, but hard to go back now, and it actually matches the floors better.



To apply the Danish Oil, I flooded the unsanded veneer for 30 minutes and then sanded with 220 grit sandpaper using a random orbit sander, fairly aggressively. The slurry of oil and dust filled the pores nicely. Then I flooded again and after 20 minutes sanded by hand with 320 grain and lightly wiped away the slurry with a paper towel, leaving a smooth surface for the lacquer which will come after the oil dries thoroughly. I'll probably let it go 2 weeks to be safe since it's wet weather here this week. I may add a layer of shellac over the oil and let that dry as well to ensure there's not cracking of the lacquer.

I also finished the center speaker and put it all together. The silver screws will be replaced by black screws when they arrive in a couple of days. You may also notice the TV is a bit on the small side for the space. If I haven't used up all my wish list for the year on the speakers, I'm hoping I'll get one under the tree. We'll see :-)



I'll leave listening impressions for when all of them are working together, but I'm pretty happy with it. Again, a tad darker than I had planned, but I think when I get the lacquer on it, it will look very nice. And most importantly, the wife seems to be happy!

Almost there! I need to glue the final piece of veneer and oil it. Then add the top and base and then I can assemble! Eager!

[Steve Manning]

Wow someone has been busy ..... looking very nice. Maple and walnut is always a nice combo.

[DocNice]

Oh. My. God. And lest you think that's taking the Lord's name in vain, that's taking the Lord's name in praise! Wow!

Check this out.

I don't know what the XMax is on these but that's gotta be pushing it.

As for other listening impressions, I'll give a summary and then something more in-depth for those that really want more info.

I listened to a lot of speakers between $1,500 and $8,000 last year as I was thinking of buying a set, and my sense is these would fall between $5k and $7.5k equivalent. A score of 10 on the scale below is the best that I've ever heard, but not necessarily the best that's possible, because I've never listened to, say, $25k speakers. Anything over an 8 would make me satisfied that I had bought or built a very high quality speaker.

Overall: 9.5
Treble: 9.0
Mid: 9.5
Bass: 9.0
Clarity: 10.0
Accuracy/Responsiveness: 8.5
Sound Stage: 10.0

They're not perfect in every way, but when I stopped being a critic and just listened to them, I just melted into the armchair and had a big smile on my face. The sound just soothes and pierces you and brings the music alive. I'm really happy with them!

My test music:
For mid-range I like female vocals, and it doesn't get any better than the Wailin Jennys. I particularly like "Across the Sea" because there's an acapella part at the end where the harmonies give bad crossovers fits, and you'll hear spikes at certain frequencies. The Statements didn't do this perfectly, hence the 9.5 on the mid-range rather than 10, but it's so close you have to REALLY listen for it to hear.

Other female vocalist tracks I listened to:
Adele - When We Were Young
Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now

For clarity I like Brazilian Jazz. Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto: Desafinado or Girl from Ipanema. There's so much texture in the instruments and voices. Statements KILLED this. As good as I've ever heard. Ray Charles has several tracks that are good for this as well, including Fever.

Treble:
The sound stage is nothing short of stellar on these. I can't tell where the music is coming from, and speaks to solid tweeters. I have a hard time putting my finger on why I didn't score this a 10. It's more that I didn't feel that sense of magic in the high end that I know I've heard before. But certainly there's nothing lacking or defective at all. Additionally, they're not taxing on the ears like some speakers that are very bright can be. To test this, I listened to Rush. Just leave them on for a half hour. If my ears are tired, then it's too bright. No problems here. And the treble really sparkles in "Must Be the Feeling" by Nero.

Bass:
My only possible drawback is that sometimes, not often, the bass is just every so slightly loose. It's possible I don't have the port tuned correctly maybe? Or possibly I'm just not used to this much bass at my disposal. I'm definitely clipping my amp when I run these loud for too long, maybe more power would help. That said, the bass is also pretty awesome at the same time. It doesn't dominate in tracks where it shouldn't, but it's readily available when the music calls for it, both on volume and in depth. The video above bears that out. In addition to the 1812 overture, I listened to:
Massive Attack: Unfinished Symphony
Drake: Up All Night
Home Free: Ring of Fire (Acapella version) - There's a part at the end where the bass singer hits a long low note, and it's shocking how well the Statements hit that
MLK: by the King's Singers. This is my go to song for F3 bass extension. At the end of the song the bass singer goes really low, but unlike Home Free's Ring of Fire, it's very subtle. If you can hear the timbre in the bass singer's voice, then you know the speaker can go pretty low. The Statement's only did middling on this test, which is interesting because I know they go get that low from other tracks. Must be a dip in the response curve at that frequency. However, most speakers, even really good ones, just flat out fail this test, so not much to complain about.

Overall, I'm really happy and it's definitely a great value. Thank you so much Curt and Jim!!!

[Jim Holtz]

Hi Doc,

The system looks great and based on your listening impressions sounds great too. :T

You might try sliding them out further to eliminate blocking the the back wave of the mids by the big cabinet. Imaging and midrange will improve without the blockage between the speakers. Also, I'm not sure what electronics and front end you have but the better it gets, the the Statements sound.

Enjoy!

Jim

[flamethrower1]

Nice job, very nice work.
I really like the way they turned out.
To be honest with you, I was a little skeptical on how that splicing was going to go.
Now I am envious, wow

[flamethrower1]

Very nice looking cabinets, great job.
I was a little skeptical on the splicing and how that was going to go, now I am envious.
May try that on some future cabinets.

[flamethrower1]

Sorry for the double post, computer wouldnt update and I did not think the first one went through

[DocNice]

Thanks Jim. Yeah, I was thinking last night that the bass issue might be caused by placement. They're both kind close to the bookshelves and one of them is in a corner. Maybe a bass trap in that corner might help. Overall excellent thought. I had people over last night and their jaws just dropped!

[DocNice]

flamethrower, to be honest, it was a little sketchy. The shrinkage issue was definitely a problem. I had to replace a couple of pieces, and at the end I was giving it about a 1/32 overlap and then letting the shrinkage bring it level. It worked much of the time, but I had a sand down some overlap, and there's a still a few high spots. I'm going to put a topcoat on in a week or two, we'll see how that makes them look.

[Jim Holtz]

Thanks Jim. Yeah, I was thinking last night that the bass issue might be caused by placement. They're both kind close to the bookshelves and one of them is in a corner. Maybe a bass trap in that corner might help. Overall excellent thought. I had people over last night and their jaws just dropped!

That's the feedback Curt and I always enjoy hearing.

It's fun showing off something you've done yourself when you get that kind of feedback.

The ideal placement is about 18" - 36" from the back of the speaker to wall behind and the side walls with nothing between the speakers taller than the bottom of the lower midrange driver. I realize this doesn't always happen but they sound best when positioned that way.

Anyway, enjoy your new speakers. Its usually a great excuse to listen to all of your music collection.

Jim

[jwanck11]

Your write up was fantastic - as is the look of your speakers! Great job.

I am also a fan of Home Free (had them on less than an hour ago - God Bless the USA starts with a select note from Tim that shakes my Family Room) and the King Singers - try Blackbird or New Day - the ribbon tweeter and miss really shine. W.R.T. the bass, I think the corner placement is trapping the bass and the waves are muddy and a bit confused as a result. You described how mine sounded in my old place where I too had one of them placed in a corner. Now in open space, the bass from mine are tight, fast and work as a true compliment to the rest of the sound.

As for the tweeter, Jim or Curt could answer, but I thought they are controlled to be less bright. Compared to my BWs, which are highly tweeter focused, the Statements are as accurate without being harsh - as you said, I listen for hours and have no fatigue whatsoever.

If you can spare somehow to give them a bit more room on the sides and from the rear, I think you will find the soundstage even more immersive. Mine too completely disappear - for instance when watching a movie, I am never localizing sound which is startling on occasion.

The statements absolutely love a good amount of clean power. I have 200W/channel all channels driven supplying them and there is no sound that should not be there and plenty of raw power when the piece and mood calls for it. My amp is an Outlaw 7700 which is a phenomenal power plant, though anything comparable will assuredly make a difference. If I recall correctly, the statements are 4-6Ohm speakers and ~87db sensitive. It is good to have power in reserve when you are cranking a favorite selection. I have also found that the quality of the recording makes a huge difference - more so than many speakers that hide sampling difference effectively.

And, wait until you have 40+ hours run on them. That is when the drivers really start to come into their own.

Congrats!

[DocNice]

Thanks jwanck11, sound advice. I don't imagine too many people will read the whole build thread in detail, if any, but I thought it might be useful for someone to see what the build was like that didn't have everything figured out going into it :-) I also have a hard time with listening impressions, so at least this way people that are familiar with those artists and songs could know what I was listening for.

I've heard good things about the Outlaw amps, as well as Emotiva. The wife knows that we need more amp (not to mention the TV looks a bit small next to them), but she's still getting used to the massive speakers dominating our living room, so I'm going to wait a bit before bringing that up! My friends came over Friday night and the wife turned to her husband and whispered, "I'll never complain about your speakers again." LOL. I have a good wife.

[flamethrower1]

Docnice, just throwing this out there, I have a couple of XPA-100 amps BNIB listed on Emotivas emporium.
I am currently driving my Mini Statements with an XPA-200 and it pushes them quite well