Xover

Hear hear on the sexually oriented postings Gil. I don't understand why someone would drag that kind of stuff into a loudspeaker forum. Something else that annoys me is the group of folks that exhibit behaviors behind the cloak of anonymity the forum provides that they would never show in an open enviornment. Nuf said, Good work Gil and thanks for the entertaining delivery.

Ooooo Sweeet sometimes just nekked plywood looks good.

The answer is yes of course speaker cabinets can be constructed of plywood. The considerations for you to ponder are cost, ease of construction, durability and rigidity. Cost: Self explanatory, sometimes surplus plywood is available. Ease of construction: I hate the itching from cutting MDF but it is a good compromise. Durability: MDF does not do very well with moisture and if dampness is a possibility then plywood might be a better solution. Rigidity: This is an area where science gets blurred by all the basement artists. You need rigidity to prevent the cabinet sides from acting as a diaphragm and to move the resonant frequency of those panels up as high as possible. While mass is commonly associated with rigidity mass itself is not desirable. Mass can store energy and cause a blurring of the sound. I have constructed panels out of a relatively light material then braced the inside with a "egg-crate" made of Masonite strips on edge and held with a rubber based glue that remains tough and never fully hardens (good quality construction adhesive). The resulting panel is very rigid without much mass and without robbing interior cabinet volume. Now speaking of cabinet volume be sure you engineer your box to the T&S parameters of the driver. If you have trouble with this there are plenty of knowledgeable folks on this forum to help. Listen to experience, I measure the T&S parameters myself and find it common that the results of testing (either by added mass of known volume methods) will vary from the manufacturers advertised parameters by as much as 30% on quality drivers. The experience of others will help. You mention that you'd like to build the box a little deeper, changing the depth even a little will dramatically change box volume. Good Luck and enjoy!

By the way did you all know that there was an original member of PF named Sidney (maybe Sydney)? I've always thought of Roger Waters as the artist and the other three as his magic instrument. While PF without Roger is good to me it lacks the creativity of the master artist and Rogers work without them is interesting but lacks the magic in performance. BTW Syd Barrett's name is not Sydney, Syd is just a nickname his dad tagged him with.

Here's kind of an obscure one for ya, have you heard David's performance with Atomic Rooster? Pretty goodstuff.

Pauln said: "I buy a wharehouse in the old part of town. The seller says it is full of junk and trash that will need to be disposed of so I get a bargain price. I pick up some laborers to help clear the space and find there are some boxes in the corner - a lot of boxes that have 'Klipsch' printed on them. I think, nice boxes, maybe they will sell on ebay. Closer examination reveals that these are unopened boxes full of old Heritage. I take an inventory and find:" I question where Pauln is going and what he bought is it a warehouse or is it a who.....then it occurs to me he said it was a fantasy it can be both!!!! What a deal!!! How convenient when suddenly you discover you gots big horns ... lots of 'em.. []

AD said: "Men dont need (*think they dont*) to converse in order to express opinion because they develop opinion on their own." I can converse a bit but I'm married and not allowed to have an opinion......I can share her opinion if I want well actually I'm better off sharing it even if I don't want to...

So....Def are you saying that Eclipse has superior imaging??? []

Ahhhh but the aroma-therapy is heavenly. Obviously you need an itch to scratch. Enjoy!

OK life's a birch then ya dye.....or just bleach, bleach, bleach.

Ok let's make that optional and spend some money on a protective cover for the woof.

The triangle sounds like a good option to me. A couple less parallel sides and plenty of room for a passive radiator if you so desired. The face and top could be nice hardwood veneer the other three sides won't show so MDF would be fine. And corner placement usually doesn't offend the decor or mama. Duh-O forgot about amp placement on the corner option......

Gary Re: A Nice Pair I don't believe I've ever seen that one is it an import?

"can someone post the original Pink Floyd LP cover to "Pros and Cons Of Hitch Hiking". I had the orig. uncensored, but gave it away. I always liked the cover." Roger Waters would probably take offense to this Gilbert. BTW have you ever heard this album over AM radio?

Wood is a living breathing thing or maybe a dead breathing thing but anyway when it is humid it swells and when dry it shrinks. Putting protective finishes on wood helps to lessen the moisture transfer but it still happens and sometimes splits happen. Minwax stain is linseed oil based but it is intended to be top coated with additional protection. BLO is a misnomer in that it is not boiled but has ingredients added to expedite curing. BLO is normally reduced to 1/3 with (2/3s) mineral spirits, turpentine isn't used much anymore because of it's pollutants. The ready to use topcoats like Watco oil are already thinned. Polyurethane despite the fancy name is a seed oil finish as well it is made from cotton seeds. Tung oil is of course a seed oil finish also. I would apply a oil coat as described as described by Tom above. I would not use any glue unless the veneer is lifting. I would not use any filler either at least not until after you have a coat of oil finish on it I'd let the oil seep down into the crack for protection against the moisture. BTW you might want to drip a spot of stain in there to help hide the split.

BTW I agree with not using steel wool. Scotchbrite will work and no metal shards to find magnetic fields or to turn black if you happen to be doing oak. I rarely use steel wool for applying stain.

The color in stains is usually dyed clay particles so if the original stain was lacquer based then lacquer thinner and a brush should be able to remove the streaks in the grain of the wood. Most stains can be applied with fine steel wool what you are doing with the steel wool is roughing up some of the wood fibers to give the clay particles a place to stick. this gives a more uniform color to the overall finish. Conversely if you sand smooth with fine sandpaper wiping the stain on will give more contrast between the annular rings (grain). The newer gel stains are also good at allowing you to control the uniformity of color. Now if it is acceptable trying to match the original stain color will probably yield the easiest and most risk free path to favorable results. As for mixing the ebony and Watco stains I'd definitely try that on some scrap wood first. Mixing stains sometimes yields strange results. As for thinning the stain I can't comment on that I've never done that. You can manipulate the coloring by wiping the stain at different stages of curing with a dry lint free cloth ( old Bose t-shirt) or one very lightly dampened with mineral spirits.

If it is (was) truly a lacquer finish the stain is probably lacquer based as well. Lacquer doesn't cure like enamel ( seed oil finishes) it just dries as the carrier evaporates and thus remains soluble to that solvent. So just try some lacquer thinner to clean up the remaining streaks, won't hurt the wood. I have used the Minwax Ebony stain a number of times and the picture in the above post is a very good representation of what the finish looks like. BTW sandpaper tip. Last summer I did a job in Arkansas where I built some custom birch furniture and discovered Norton 3X sandpaper, this stuff is amazing in how fast it cuts. I used 220 then 320 and it produced a super smooth finish fast. Bought it at either Lowes or Home Depot.

Gil you're OK.....well maybe not really OK but this is cool anyway.

No No I think it's for real because it's listed under "Nonfiction".....

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

My best side.

Since I have been popping in and trying to answer some of your questions here I am again. So all I really know about horns are those horns lubricated by testosterone. So I wouldn't be taking any of my advice in this area. I like you many years ago studied horn designs and after it all my conclusions were just summed up pretty well by Dr. Who. Keep picking other folks brains and sort out the chaff then let your own ears decide. Last horns I used were EV 8HD with 1824M and T350 thought they were good. I did like the sensitivity of the T350. I did think that there were some very efficient direct radiating drivers that were better than the 8 HD/1824M but they were very expensive.

"Another question re the one port width rule of thumb, I am assuming that is side to side. Further assuming a front firing port, is there a rule of thumb re how much space is needed between the butt end of the tube and the back cabinet wall?" I agree with Dr. Who on at least one port diameter from the butt end of the port but do not agree on the same rule for sides and bottom. Try it for yourself. I do agree that position of the port may change the length in final tuning but so long as the end of the port is not obstructed it will work fine. Consider ducted slot ports in this regard, they work fine. Another consideration it is a good idea to put damping material on one of each opposing side of the enclosure. Do not put any damping material close ( a port diameter might be a good rule of thumb here too ) to the butt end of the port however you do want damping material directly behind the woofer.

BTW Made in this country Yes. Developed in this country Nope.