rcarlton

I used SEM Color Coat Satin Black (15243) to paint the woofer cone. The original cone was gray, maybe...it was discolored by too much cigarette smoke and looked disgusting.

New dustcaps and paint on the woofers.

Used brush on semi-gloss lacquer to finish the bases.

Fimished the second long side. Testing the layout for the top veneer. The mess of veneer tape is to reduce the amount of checking I get with the Rosewood. The tape is located along areas that have checked on other pieces, pre-existing cracks, and across the grain. Looks awful and can be a bit of a pain to remove, but I hope it saves me some work. After I put down the veneer, I went over it again with the iron to make it a relatively uniform temperature, so that it would cool evenly (or so I hope). That might reduce checking.

Still pushing on.

Should work well with your system.

Aren't these a photos from the Corporate Jet?

Heresy. No brainer.

Saw him in December. Terrific show. He also tours with one terrific drummer (Kenny Aronoff ). Make sure you bring your ear plugs. He can be loud! The LP is pretty good.

Looks like he is trying to unload them all. Definitely not a true believer!

Interesting...that rascal got them for $1,500 and is trying to flip them for $3,000. And he seemed so sincere![] Good luck with all of that. Can't blame him for trying!

Saw this on Craigslist. Looked cool. I wonder how they must sound? Wouldn't a khorn deliver a better sound? Looks like he has one pretty good corner. Can't see him getting more bass that way. Oh...the Craigslist listing.

Nice to have another pair of khorns restored from the dead!

When I was in the oil business we would start a conference in one location and fly to another. Lets see...tour the factory, jump on the company jet at the Hope International Airport for a trip to Indianapolis. Sounds like a wonderful plan.

Actually cutting across the grain has proven to be fairly easy. Let the weight of the blade cut the veneer, may take 5-7 slices but it will cut nice and true. Santos Rosewood has some undesirable qualities that has given me some headaches. It is an oily wood which means Tung Oil will not work. I tried it on some scraps and it made a very uneven, sticky mess. Brush on semi-gloss lacquer and wipe on gloss polyurethane have done well. Also have a problem with checking (cracks along the grain). What I have done to minimize the checking is to be careful with the amount of glue used, veneer tape on any places that might check. Since the veneer is bookmatched one of the pieces will tend to check more. When veneer is rotary cut minute breaks or splits known as lather checks are apparent on the concave side. This is commonly referred to as the "loose" side as opposed to the "tight" or convex side. I found a veneer conditioner that has helped somewhat. The veneer and substrate are stored in the same room, 78 degrees, and 50% humidity. The photo shows a check that I hilighted with water so you can see it better (circled in blue). The compressed joints have proven to be difficult. I use the 1/8" rod but can't seem to get the joint perfect from end to end. Allow 2" from joint to remain untacked down, allow the tacked down veneer to cool (don't want it to move). Start from the middle, work to the right (I am right handed) get that side down pretty good but notice the left side has opened up some despite taping it together. We are talking about 1/32" but it seems like the Grand Canyon to me. Fortunately it can be fixed by gluing a sliver in the gap. Once sanded you can't see it unless you know what you are looking for. The top of the picture has a perfect compressed joint. I'm hoping things start to move faster now that I have a lot of the problems figured out.

Going slow. One more side.

March will work for me!

Hope all went well with the surgery![Y]

Bob, According to the chart with the ESR meter the 2 ufd capacitor would be considered bad if it had a reading of ~60 ESR Ohms.

Getting the compressed joint has proven to somewhat of an art which I haven't mastered yet. Here is a closeup of the joint after I repaired it. The repair consists of a thin sliver of veneer in the joint. It is almost invisible.

Finished the second bottom surface.

Mapleshade sells a similar system for $150. Probably worth a try. http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/deepcleaningsystem.php Which system? Walgreens or Mapleshade?

Capacitor ESR Ohms XOVER 1 ESR Ohms XOVER 2 2 MFD 0.86 0.94 2 MFD 1.0 1.0 2 MFD 0.90 0.91 8 MFD 0.24 0.26 8 MFD 0.21 0.21 30 MFD 0.15 0.15 All passed the test based on the chart with the meter.

None that I can tell. I hold the tip ~4-6" from the record. Works pretty good for me! It has cleaned up several of the records you have given me. Not 100% quiet but getting there.

Anytime I hear the same paradigm trotted out about the importance of changing capacitors in a crossover, I wonder. I had not tested this truism until now, and held it to be good advise. My testing is limited (OK, extremely limited). I built an ESR meter to test the capacitors in my 1989 LaScalas. Guess what? They all tested good! Could replacing capacitors be unnecessary? More testing to follow.