SMJ ET CCTT Build

[theSven]

While I was at home for 48 hours I wanted to progress the completion of the CC. After the first coat of primer was applied, I over sprayed and had some runs. I also had some tiny pockets that the primer was not filling in. I resorted to using a polyfill from 3M. Steve shared a good option which I did order, but it would not arrive till Monday and I would be gone by then to the West Coast. Lets see how bad the run in the primer was...


The runs in the primer were not terrible, it was sanded down and filler used to make sure it will be super smooth! Now lets explore these pesky little pockets.







There are some tiny pockets and my OCD wanted them to be filled in and perfectly smooth before I spray the paint. Below are two images after applying the filler, but have not sanded.





I did get the cabinet sanded after the polyfill was applied. The plan is when I arrive back home this weekend to get the last coat of primer applied on Saturday evening. One last final sanding should do the trick. If all goes well I hope to get the paint applied on Sunday. I'm estimating it will be 3 coats and I'm trying to decide on how to approach this. My current plan is to spray the bottom and legs first. Mount the cabinet to the base and spray the sides, top, and back while mounted. That should allow the best coverage and avoid awkward angles to spray the paint.

[theSven]

I arrived back in town this afternoon and got to work on applying the last (I hope...) coat of primer. Tomorrow the plan is to do a final sanding and clean to prepare for applying the color coats. Then apply the clear coat for the bamboo pieces. Getting closer to the finish line!

[JonMarsh]

Sounds like you'll have a busy Sunday Funday!

Getting close or at least closer to the finish line is always a good feeling... starting to feel that way here at Casa de Jon.

[theSven]

I have one more coat to apply and then I have to figure out how to very gently get this cabinet back inside. Then try and figure out how to gently get it down to the theater room...

[theSven]

It's now 1600 local time and the cabinet is in the garage drying. I want to let it dry for a couple of hours before I try to move it into the house. I'm not sure how I'm going to get this to the basement yet. given the size and weight, this is not as simple as it was putting the last two projects together. I may try to secure it to a dolly to get it down the stairs with straps and padding. I'm very nervous to lift and carry as I don't want to hurt the paint. Details to figure out in the next week. Lets look at where I am now.

If you recall I had some runs in the primer. After a little polyfill, sanding, and another coat of primer, you would never never know!



Smooth, just the way it should be!



More light that will show any and all defects. That is why prep work is the most important in my opinion for a good finish.



I wanted to avoid having to move this cabinet too much while painting. I laid it face down to paint everything but the front where the baffle will cover up.



Painting black colored paint can be difficult to see the shadows. I added an extra light to help ensure I get an even coat of paint.



First coat of paint applied. So far so good...



Left side close up of the first coat of paint.



Right side close up of the first coat of paint.



Looking down at the cabinet after the first coat, and there is no trace of the runs being there. Smooth!!



The top of the cabinet out of the light. I had to put the cabinet down on the ground to then put it back up to put it face down. I had stood the cabinet up to paint the front of the legs or whatever you want to call it that the cabinet will be attached to.



The last coat of paint applied to the top of the cabinet.



Last coat of paint on the side. The white at the top is from the phone flash. Even with the lighting it was hard to get a good photo without shadow.

Next up is getting the bottom plate and baffle painted with the clear coat. As well as getting this beast down to the theater room.

[technodanvan]

Looks pretty darn even to me, you're turning into a pro!

[JonMarsh]

It's really coming along nicely now!

[Steve Manning]

Looking very nice Sven. I'd give that beasty a few days at least before handling it too much. As I recall that finish takes ~ a week or so to cure.

[theSven]

I had the energy left in me, and with the weather cooling down this week I decided to get the clear coat sprayed on the bamboo and the new speaker feet for my SMJ Ardent D's. The new speaker feet will go into a separate post.

Here is how the clear coat spraying went down...



This should be a pretty familiar site from my previous projects. Using ladders with scrap boards for shelves to store the pieces while they dry inbetween coats of clear appliaction.



I started spraying the back of the baffle first. That way I don't have to flip it over or worry about any pin marks from the paint props. I placed the props in the ring of the woofers to avoid having any tiny little marks on the baffle.



It is difficult to tell, but two coats of clear have been applied to the back of the baffle. Once this dries I only need to focus on spraying the front.



Two coats of clear applied to the base. I'm using the bright light to also give off heat to help dry the coat faster. This clear formula dries pretty fast as is. It's the 3rd project I'm using with this, and I will continue to as it has a proven track record for me.



The final coat of clear sprayed on the front of the baffle. Notice that I am now using the lazy susan beneath the baffle. This makes spraying and adjusting the piece much easier to manage. Steve taught me this trick. I suppose I should ask Steve about making a heavy duty lazy susan in case I have some large cabinets to finish in the future...



Final coat of clear applied to the base. I slowly spin the base around to apply heat from the light.



The front baffle drying on the top shelf. Once it is movable, it will be relocated into the house to dry for the week along with the other pieces.



Last up was spraying all the new speaker feet. Each foot had two coats of clear applied. Using the lazy susan made spraying these simple and fast. The hardest part was carefully moving them to rest.

Looking very nice Sven. I'd give that beasty a few days at least before handling it too much. As I recall that finish takes ~ a week or so to cure.

That is what I had in the back of my mind too, that it takes a week. All pieces are in the house and drying. The plan is to star the assembly next Sunday and give the speaker a test drive for Sunday night movies...

The speaker feet shipped last week and should hopefully arrive this week. Once they come in I can post some photos to show the size.

[JonMarsh]

Excellent spray work and setup - you are no longer a Padawan Painter!

And yes, Ladders are useful for so many things...

[JonMarsh]

They're like routers and guitars... you can never have too many of them!

[theSven]

The speaker spikes arrived today. Here are some photos to share.



The spikes were sent in 4 padded bags and a fifth thin bag.



The edenSound label on the top of the box.



The spikes are packaged nicely in the box in bubble wrap and a plastic bag.



The spikes are in a plastic bag that was wrapped in bubble wrap.



Size comparison of a computer mouse with the spike.

These spikes may not be big, but they are heavy. In fact if you dropped this on your toe it could break your toe! They have a very nice feel to them when you pick them up. I think I found a great replacement for the ViaBlue I had used for previous builds. Thanks for the suggestion Steve Manning.

[Steve Manning]

Those are a pretty good size! They look nicely machined as well.

[theSven]

After 1 week of waiting I spent the afternoon assembling the supreme CC. Lets take a look at what this process looked like.



For the last week the cabinet has been resting here, and everyone was told to stay far away, do not go near this.



I had my son help me carry the cabinet down the the theater room very carefully. I wanted to get a photo of the cabinet close to the current subwoofer and center channel setup. You can see that the new center channel is pretty big!



All the parts are now ready to assemble the center channel. Let the fun begin!



The cabinet is empty, the first thing to start with is getting the wires setup.



Tweeter and mid cables installed. As I learned now I have the wires mixed up. The wire on the left where the tweeter wire is should actually be on the right. I got these backwards which means the mid is out of sync. The mid is reverse. The cables would line up, but I wasn't paying attention to detail... I was over excited.



Next I had to fish the wires through the back where the terminal will be installed. There is another pair of wires for a jumper.



These wires hook up to the crossover for the tweeter and woofer. There is another wire set that will connect this crossover board to the other crossover board.



Close up of the terminal that will get connected and mounted to the cabinet. It has a nice weight and feel to it.



Secure the wires to the terminal. There is a tiny little hex bolt that holds the wires in place.



Terminal is secured in place. I used a screw driver to manually install and it was pretty quick. I didn't want to take any chances with a drill, thus all screws were manually tightened.

Next up the build continues...

[theSven]

Continuing with the assembly...



The wires are installed in the cabinet. It's time to insert some stuffing. It's best to do this before installing the crossovers, it's a tight squeeze! Next the crossovers need to get wired and secured into the cabinet. The crossovers are large, and have to weigh over 10 lbs each.



When I picked the speaker up from Steve, he taught me the easiest and safest way to install/remove the crossover is to put the cabinet on the side. The mid crossover is the first that shall be installed.



I have to share a bunch of the crossover photos, for some reason I really like them. It's like an art form in of itself.



The mid crossover installed. The wires to the mid speaker need to be secured next.



Steve had this great tool to make the crossover install/removal easy. I ordered one for myself off Amazon. This tool made it simple to get the crossover installed and the terminal screws tightened.



Flip the cabinet over and it's time to connect the wires to the 2nd crossover which is the crossover for the woofers and tweeter.



The terminal connection and the wires to the other crossover along with the jumper are all connected now.



This was probably one of the hardest parts of the assembly to get the wires secured for the tweeter that were under the tweeter board. This was one of the fastest builds for me. All credit to Steve for making this an amazingly smooth process!!!!



Both crossovers are now installed. Next up is the base...

[theSven]

Continuing with the assembly...



The base is easily attached with the hex bolts and an allen wrench.



The base securely attached. Time to add the new shiny spikes.



The spikes out of all the packaging and ready to attach to the base.



A closeup of the spikes in an artistic lineup before being attached to the base.



Spikes attached to the base. How do they look up close?



This is how the spikes look with a closeup. They attached perfectly to the base.



The base attached to see the legs. Sometimes the legs don't get much attention. I'm giving them some attention in this image.



The baffle has an easy install gasket to seal the cabinet and the baffle together. This was awesome and so easy to do! Great idea on this one Steve as the baffle evolves with each build we do.



The gasket installed. Now it's time to mate this with the cabinet. Lets continue that in the next post.

[technodanvan]

Those spikes look fantastic on this, perfect size and color!

[theSven]

I'm really impressed at how good the quality is.

[JonMarsh]

Continuing with the assembly...



The base is easily attached with the hex bolts and an allen wrench.



The base securely attached. Time to add the new shiny spikes.



The spikes out of all the packaging and ready to attach to the base.



A closeup of the spikes in an artistic lineup before being attached to the base.



Spikes attached to the base. How do they look up close?



This is how the spikes look with a closeup. They attached perfectly to the base.



The base attached to see the legs. Sometimes the legs don't get much attention. I'm giving them some attention in this image.



The baffle has an easy install gasket to seal the cabinet and the baffle together. This was awesome and so easy to do! Great idea on this one Steve as the baffle evolves with each build we do.



The gasket installed. Now it's time to mate this with the cabinet. Let's continue that in the next post.

Totally agree about the gasket and front panel design work Steve did! He's da man!

[theSven]

I've got a few minutes inbetween calls, lets continue the assembly journey!



The baffle is attached with lock nuts and bolts on the baffle side. The screw or bolt or not sure what it is called when there is no head on the bolt is threaded in then a lock waster with bolt are installed and tightened.



The nut tightened, there are a total of 4.



All four nuts are tightened and now the baffle is ready to mate with the cabinet.



As mentioned before this cabinet is heavy, therefore I'm using gravity to get the baffle lined up with the cabinet. The bolts will be finger tight to hold. Then it is a matter of tightening each bolt to securely mate the baffle to the cabinet.



Now it's time to tighten the baffle. Starting to resemble a center channel now.



This center channel is deep, it may look small in the photos, but it is not small. Also note that I seem to have a thing for bamboo baffles and black cabinets. I blame this bad habit on Evil Twin and his obsession with black. It has worn off on me...



The previous center channel required the wire to be bare to use. The new center channel supports a proper banana plug. I'm a HUGE fan of the Blue Jean Cables banana plugs. They are my favorite to use!



Next I very carefully moved the center channel to the location it can call home. I pulled out the tape measure to center it in the room. The spikes go right through the carpet into the concrete floor. The only way to move the cabinet is to lift it carefully!



The speaker lineup from the top view. Hard to tell the size, but they are larger.



A side view lineup of the speakers to show how tall they are.

The progress continues!

[theSven]

The last post for the assembly! A few more photos to share...



The spikes sink in about 1/2 inch into the carpet. I don't plan on putting anything underneath the spikes at this point. I think it's good to go unless someone speaks up to share their thoughts.



As noted, Steve used connectors on all the wires to easily connect the speakers back up. Where is the easy button emoji?



The right woofer is installed, two more drivers to go.



All drivers installed and the cable connected.



This photo is taken from the platform in the back to give more perspective. I will get the mess cleaned up and move the sub tube out of the room. I will be starting a new sub project in the relative future with SMJ Audio. Looking forward to a test drive!

[technodanvan]

So, what's the first movie to run through it?

[theSven]

So, what's the first movie to run through it?

hmmmmm, about that movie... Unfortunately I blew the tweeter on the new speaker and had to order a new speaker Sunday. I'm not sure what I did, but there was a burnt smell. I'm working with Jon and Steve to troubleshoot. The good news is I'm now the proud owner of Fuzzmeasure and I ordered a preamp to test with. I may end up having to invest in a better mic too. Baby steps I tell myself... Anyhow I think the first movie will be Man of Steal in 4k.

[Scareurpasenger]

That looks amazing! Great job on the finishing touches. If I wasn’t so stubborn, I would use SMJ. Great job as usual on design and shaping.

[theSven]

That looks amazing! Great job on the finishing touches. If I wasn’t so stubborn, I would use SMJ. Great job as usual on design and shaping.

Thank you. I had to give up being stubborn if I wanted to accomplish anything. My work schedule does not leave me with much free time at all these days. It's 2144 local time and I'm still responding to emails. Steve did an amazing job, and each project improves over the last with cool new ideas like the ribs, baffle, bracing, etc. I love the innovation and getting to actually do, not just talk about it. Looking forward to my next DIY the sub build!

[theSven]

I realized I never posted a photo of how the center channel looks in the room now that it is done. The photos is a bit older pre-new processor if you notice the remote 😃.



I'm still working someday on getting some slabs of rock that are smaller to put the Ardent D's on instead of the wood panels I had from an old shelf that used to be on that wall where the speakers are now.

[letiennam]

I'm really impressed at how good the quality is.

[theSven]

That's why I love DIY and working with SMJ Audio.