Cinema F-20 build thread

[Mallette]

The top goes on...

[Mallette]

...and that's it for the day!

[Mallette]

Only had a few minutes to introduce Carl to the Frazier Elevens, and spent quite a bit of that chasing and fixing two different channel drop outs. Good thing the primary reason for the trip wasn't listening! However, he got a couple of pieces and commented mainly on the size of the things. Well, they ARE big!

So, I am left to get the lip inside the access plate so it can be screwed flush and sealed once the driver is installed. Luckily, I can screw this up several time before getting it right without much chance of hurting anything. That's GOOD thing in my case. May be a couple of weeks away as the schedule is pretty busy, but I am looking forward to it.

What I am NOT looking forward to is getting this beast up the stairs where the listening areas are. It's going in the Family TV room for a while as a table under the TV and working with Frazier Mark Vs for TV and music. Still not sure when the new music room will be available, but once it is the Cinema will be used with the Klipschorns. Pipe organ is gonna be AWESOME!

Final finish will probably be Formica, as that is a material the PAW and I have used with good success in the past and makes for a durable and reasonably attractive covering one doesn't have to worry about someone setting a beer on. Of course, if it's working, that beer is going to go flat in a hurry!

Thanks again to Ron and Carl both for the masterful work and letting me watch!

Dave

[CECAA850]

A few comments/observations:

First, deviating from the plans had it's plusses and minuses. Working from the walls in made sure everything was square, which is more difficult than working from the inside out. The downside is that when you get to the small fold of the horn, it's impossible to get the tools that you would like to use, where you'd like to use them. Between the two of us, it wasn't much of an obstacle though.

Next, I've never built a sub with someone before. It's amazing how fast it can go together. Taking out for lunch, we went from rough cut plywood to a box in about 5 hours.

Lunch. It was awesome. Home made guacamole and home build hoagies were an awesome and unexpected treat. Two large loaves of bread sliced down the center and stuffed with goodies. Just cut what you can eat, dress it and stuff your face. Great concept for feeding several people. I'll have to try that in the future. There was something just right about eating subs while building subs.

Of the two of us, Ron definitely had the edge as far as woodworking goes. I have to give him props. Glad to see him NOT on crutches also.

Overall, I had a blast. I came over, made a mess and didn't have to clean up! Got an awesome lunch to boot. I think I clocked it at 78 miles door to door. Really not a bad drive.

Carl

[TasDom]

I love these DIY threads................someday, someday soon!

[Turbox]

Looking good, with carl on the job, im sure that helped.

[Quiet_Hollow]

Very cool!! Awesome work guys!! Glad to see Ron up and about. [Y]

[Thaddeus Smith]

fantastic work guys. carl worked out all the kinks on my build, so he should've been a pro when it came to yours.

an appliance dolly would probably make short work of getting that sub upstairs. the size makes it unwieldy, but it shouldnt be too heavy for you and another guy to muscle it up.

[CECAA850]

but it shouldnt be too heavy for you and another guy to muscle it up.

I was amazed how much lighter plywood was than MDF.

[Audio Android]

I love these DIY threads

Me too!!....Great pictures also....Good lookin' box there boys!!!...[H]....It's always nice when you have more than one person helping you to get things done fast and accurate when building a box, or building anything for that matter.......Those sandwiches looked VERY delicious...I'm so hungry right now. Thanks for sharing your day with us.

[Turbox]

Mallette,

Do you have any pipe organ favorites we could try out?

[Mallette]

Do you have any pipe organ favorites we could try out?

On CD, this is one of my favorites. The Franck B Minor chorale is the finest performance of that piece I've ever heard and features that "quiet" bass that, to me, requires a horn loaded sub to get just right.

Digital Fox Volumes 1 & 2 are outstanding, though the Laserlight reissues aren't as good as the Bainbridge...the Bainbridge can be pricey and hard to find. I think I've heard about an EMI release of this as well, but don't know it. These were done with a gen 1 Soundstream recorder at 32 bit. Might throw up a red flag for those who think of 44.1 as the absolute bottom, but bear in mind the organ doesn't have the high freq harmonics of a piano, strings, and the like. It sounds great!

Even better, and perhaps the best if you can find them, are the Fox Touch direct to disc LP's. The engineering on these is phenomenal and Fox's interpretations fiery and passionate. New life for the old Bach D minor war horse! NM and M versions can be hard to come by and pricey, but well worth it even if you are not a pipe organ fanatic but want a demo disc that will rearrange stuff on your shelves and threaten your windows.

Many of the E. Power Biggs recordings are excellent, but pressings and CD transfers vary considerably in quality. This one, SACD of the Freiburg Cathedral 4 organs played simultaneously, is running north of 300 bucks! I've a quad pressing of this that decodes reasonably through Dolby, but would love to hear the SACD which is reputed to be one of the best issued on that lamented medium for which we can thank Sony (think Betamax) for keeping DSD out of reach of most recordists until it was too late to matter.

I consider George Mimms one of the greatest living organists, and the instrument he designed, the Glorei Dei Schoenstein Opus 145 one of the finest instruments in the world. It's dynamic and polyphonic range is breathtaking. One of the few organs with a double expression swellbox...a swellbox within a swellbox that allows a range from scacely audible through very loud indeed. Recordings can be had through the St. Martin's bookstore. I wish I could recall the title of George's last CD but I am sure the bookstore ladies can identify it. For either the seasoned organ lover or newcomer, it's a tour de force both of the organ repertoire and the incredible muscianship of George as he explores all the nooks and crannies of the Schoenstein's nearly unique range of tones and colors. There's a piece or more than one on that disc that will move you unless you just really don't like organ at all.

Hopefully, something in the above that will work for you!

Dave

[Mallette]

I'd originally thought to go ahead and commission this thing before finished it out. However, Formica can be messy and the PAW says she'll help do it before we haul it upstairs. Probably prudent.

Will likely do a matte black Formica. Be able to wipe of the beer rings, donchaknow.

This will be at the PAW's convenience, so it may be awhile. I'll check back in at that time.

Dave

[chrapladm]

So when are you going to build a Micro wrecker or a Lilwrecker
subwoofer? One is a bit hotter from 20hz and up and the LW has more
extension and spl then the F20. Just saying is all.

[CECAA850]

So when are you going to build a Micro wrecker or a Lilwrecker subwoofer? One is a bit hotter from 20hz and up and the LW has more extension and spl then the F20. Just saying is all.

I guess when the mood strikes me!

[CECAA850]

I'd originally thought to go ahead and commission this thing before finished it out. However, Formica can be messy and the PAW says she'll help do it before we haul it upstairs. Probably prudent.

Will likely do a matte black Formica. Be able to wipe of the beer rings, donchaknow.

This will be at the PAW's convenience, so it may be awhile. I'll check back in at that time.

Dave

Have you fired that thing up yet?

[CECAA850]

Chad, please move this to the subwoofer section. Thanks.

Dave, you REALLY need to finish that thing and FIRE IT UP!!!

[CECAA850]

Bump for Taz.

[Thaddeus Smith]

Holy cow, has it really been almost 2.5 years since I picked this up? Let's review..

• While there are subs that definitely go lower I certainly don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.
• Even at my loudest moments I think I've yet to really stress the sub.
• It's been a truly wonderful "set it and forget it" piece of gear. Every once in a while I'll go in and play with trim levels during a certain movie, but by in large I haven't touched the amp or any other settings since getting it dialed in.
• Since adding Cornwalls to the mix, I can definitely tell a difference between running full range vs. small + sub. The sub seems to add bass from all around the room, where as running the Cornwalls full range is more punchy and directional from the front. I like both, and tend to change it up for different types of music.
• Oh yeah, the sub seems very adept at handling both movies and music.
• At first, it seemed like a giant obelisk in my room's corner. But now my eye barely even notices it. Since acquiring I've added a 73" tv and Cornwalls, so maybe it's just relatively not as big - but I really only pay attention to it when new people come over and make a big deal about it.
• My wife started to gripe about the Cornwall footprint a couple of weeks ago. I redirected her attention to our fridge sized sub and said "are they really that big?" Haven't heard a peep since.
• So yea, why don't you have one yet?

Probably my only grievance is with network channels. This thing massively magnifies wind noise and other low level artifacts during on-location news reports and such. Stuff that they probably don't filter out because 90% of the population doesn't have gear capable of reproducing. Wheel of Fortune always seems to have a low level rumble as well. Drives me nuts, but never enough to actually go and turn off the sub amp. So there's that.

[CECAA850]

Great summary Michael.