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BBB - Bass Bin Build with Zebrawood


rplace

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Making some boxes with holes in the center is tougher than I thought. I always like a winter project and have admired other posts about building their custom box or Klipsch Klone. Not perfect by any means but somewhat happy with the results. Given the time, money and energy I'm not sure I'd do it again. Quite surprised how hard it is to make a speaker grills. Some pix to follow and a few comments. Not really sure why I felt the need to make them so stout, but I did. Basically a box inside a box, so 1.5" of MDF all around. Each box took almost an entire 4'X8' sheet of MDF. I like the fatter border when looking from the front with the veneer over a typical 3/4" border.

 

These are H-Frame open baffle design so the driver is on a vertical plane center forward/back in a 17.5 inch cube. Not sealed, open backs. Anything you see from a straight on shot has that much again behind it.

 

Enjoy!

 

Circle pretty easy with a router and guide. Counter sunk for the 15" Eminence Alpha

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Start gluing

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A drill press helped getting all the t-nut holes in the right spot. Slap on some black paint and give it a test. I did not want to move forward with veneer if I did not like the results. If you look close at the right edge in 2nd picture  you can see how things did not like up perfectly. Sanding and filler to follow prior to veneer.

 

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Test run for a week or so was good so now the part I was looking forward to....the veneer, not the grills. Fist up filler to ready the surface for veneer. The cane grill cloth is from Bob C. I like it a lot. Thought it would look good with Zebrawood and oil finish.

 

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I guess I didn't take any pix of the actual veneer process. I've never done it before. Not really that tough at all. Somewhat time consuming but I would not be afraid to buy a beat up pair now and slap some veneer on them. I doubt I'd ever build a set from scratch again....but you never know.

 

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8 minutes ago, joessportster said:

Boxes look Great Rich.  How about posting a pic of your router jig or what ever you used to cut the circles....................If no pic a link to the tool would help

 

Thanks Joe! It is both an edge guide and circle thingy. That little suction cup looking thing is really a plastic disc with a cross hairs cut into it. So you make an X from corner to corer of you square piece line up the cross hairs and use painters tape to hold it in place....yes I was skeptical the first time I did it. You attach the rods to your router (Bosh only I'm guessing), set the depth and have at it. Disc with cross hairs have metal tip sticking up that the router guide attached to. It works great and is simple to use.

 

https://www.boschtools.com/us/en/boschtools-ocs/router-attachments-medium-large-routers-ra1054-27229-p/

 

 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Tarheel said:

Those are nice!  Great work.  Tell us how they sound?

 

They sound good. I'm still dialing them in with the Xilica active XO and 2-way set up with the Oris. With the Oris I've tried Khorn, Belle, Forte II and Onken designed bass bins. So far the H-frames win out. One thing I don't like is they need to be pretty far from the back wall so the are deep "into" my room. Thus the other stands to move the horns back. I'm a bit worried about time alignment because I believe @Chris A once said to not to delay the bass only the high/mids. I'm looking back over my notes to confirm that. My pee-brain tells me that if the bass bins are closer the sound has to reach me first. But the horns back further and wider sound better to me.

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3 minutes ago, Schu said:

Wow... That's beautiful.

Zebra is awesome

 

3 minutes ago, The Dude said:

I always appreciate a nice custom job, great work.

 

 

Thanks guys. Notice I did not give you an super close up or detailed pix. :cool: Plenty of rooky mistakes. Like everything you do the first time, if you had it to do over there are things you would change and do better/differently. Good learning process. I'd do the veneer again in a snap. I used cold press glue which gave me 5 minutes or so to try and align the zebrawood stripes. I don't think contact cement would have been as easy (one shot to get it right). Needs about 1,300 PSI of pressure to bond for 45-60 minutes. I used 3/4" plate and wood strip to distribute the pressure with lots of clamps. Pipe/Bar clamps are really needed. The squeeze grip clamps don't have enough pressure. So far not a single edge or corner with a loose connection. It really feels as solid as the veneer did on my Khorns.

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For anyone that cares Teakwood oil finish. Sanded with 220. Flooded with the oil for about 10 minutes and wiped it off. Waited about 30 more minutes and buffed a bit with soft, old t-shirt. Very easy finish and happy with the results. Long time forum member lives close to me with factory zebrawood Cornwalls. Always loved the look so I gave it a go.

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25 minutes ago, rplace said:

I'm a bit worried about time alignment because I believe @Chris A once said to not to delay the bass only the high/mids.

That's for horn-loaded bass bins.  For direct radiators with horns on top, the bass bin will usually be nearly in alignment as-is (due to the phase delay of the crossover network itself), or a small amount of delay can be applied to bring the bass bin back into alignment at the crossover frequency.  Look at the REW spectrogram views to see if the bass bin is leading, aligned, or lagging the higher frequency horns/drivers.  If the bass bin is leading the horn, you can add delay that's read directly from the spectrogram view. 

 

Chris

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22 hours ago, rplace said:

 

Thanks Joe! It is both an edge guide and circle thingy. That little suction cup looking thing is really a plastic disc with a cross hairs cut into it. So you make an X from corner to corer of you square piece line up the cross hairs and use painters tape to hold it in place....yes I was skeptical the first time I did it. You attach the rods to your router (Bosh only I'm guessing), set the depth and have at it. Disc with cross hairs have metal tip sticking up that the router guide attached to. It works great and is simple to use.

 

https://www.boschtools.com/us/en/boschtools-ocs/router-attachments-medium-large-routers-ra1054-27229-p/

 

 

 

 

Beautiful work.  For circles, I use a Jasper Jig, the other way to skin a cat.

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6 minutes ago, capo72 said:

Nice work! There are lots of things for me to admire here, from a fellow DIY'er, Oris owner, and cyclist. I spy some fine Italian carbon hanging on the wall! 

 

Good eyes. Colnogo C-40 is probably the most iconic. There are a couple of Pinarellos, a custom Gunnar that was once my commuter now gravel bike, even an old Kestrel SC200 that I turned into a Fixie. All the Italians have Campagnolo parts while the Gunnar is SRAM. What you riding? Tell me more about the Oris. Active XO? What are you using for bass bins?

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