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DIY build - need help/advice


MercedesBerater

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5 minutes ago, MercedesBerater said:

@CECAA850  yes, i already have a few quotes.  i'd rather spend the money and have it look the way i want, versus learning on the job and trying to paint it myself.   

well, i did try it myself - and that sealed the deal to send it to a body shop. 

 

i figure,  i  did everything else in the theater exactly the way i wanted - no sense in half-a$$ing this step.   🤣

 

plus --  i sold my Denali pickup  and my 30 foot Monterey boat this year-- so i have more cushion before the wife gives me the side-eye. 

I'd wager that the finish will cost more than the sub does at this point.

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I'm sure you've thought this out but you're going to have a real challenge on your hands getting it from the body shop to your living room without scratching or chipping it.  You cant use anything that will make an impression in the mdf as that will crack it.  A smaller sub would be easy but you're has a lot of gravity and will need a creative way to move it while keeping the finish intact. Duratex can easily be touched up in place, a sprayed finish, not so much.

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$500 +/- a little wiggle room.   not bad for a body shop paint job.

 

and yes,  i have dozens of moving blankets -  i'll load into the back of the truck and then drive behind house and unload directly into the basement, and carry into theater. 

 

shouldn't need any straps, loading dollies, or anything other than two fella's and a pick'up.    (i hope)  

 

 

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1 hour ago, MercedesBerater said:

$500 +/- a little wiggle room.   not bad for a body shop paint job.

 

and yes,  i have dozens of moving blankets -  i'll load into the back of the truck and then drive behind house and unload directly into the basement, and carry into theater. 

 

shouldn't need any straps, loading dollies, or anything other than two fella's and a pick'up.    (i hope)  

 

 

I'm also assuming you'll run a round over bit on all the edges?

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@CECAA850  yes,  front has a 45* around perimeter to mimic the 45* around the baffle woofer relief.  the rest of box will get a roundover.

 

before i send to bodyshop,  i'm going to give it ONE MORE attempt.  i really want to make this entire thing DIY....  so far i've only hired someone to lay the carpet.   

 

stubborn, but i want to get it figured out.   but, if it comes down to it - $500 isn't too bad for a good paint job. 

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Decided to paint myself.... came out good.

 

used

1) high build primer.

2) sanded with 320grit

3) 6 spray cans of duplicolor flat black base

4) tack cloth 

5)  4 cans of USC 2K clear coat

next— let cure a week+  and then wet sand and buff/polish the orange peel....get that mirror finish.

 

 

— wish I could figure out how to rotate images.

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2 hours ago, MercedesBerater said:

wish I could figure out how to rotate images.

 

See if you can find yourself a copy of "Picasa 3"  It was a free photo editor, but no longer "supported" by google... but I still use it.  It's simple and does everything the amateur photographer needs it to do.... plus a whole lot more!  I think they no longer support it because it allowed you to keep your pictures on your computer without uploading everything to the cloud... like they want you to do nowadays!

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@Iteachstem   It’s weird, all the photos are normal orientation in my phone & when I send them via text or any other program like say, Facebook messenger. 
 

once I load them into this forum... they’re normal when I click re-size... and then poof! Once it’s posts it rotates my photos all the same direction 90*  

what the heck. 

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10 minutes ago, MercedesBerater said:

@Iteachstem   It’s weird, all the photos are normal orientation in my phone & when I send them via text or any other program like say, Facebook messenger. 
 

once I load them into this forum... they’re normal when I click re-size... and then poof! Once it’s posts it rotates my photos all the same direction 90*  

what the heck. 

Modern technology= trying to think for you...but failing miserably!

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@CECAA850  yes, very happy with how it came out.   a little wet sanding and buff/polish this coming weekend should really help too. 

 

anyone else reading or following along --- the USC  2K high gloss clear.   =  incredible. 

 

 

now if only Marantz could get their supply chain sorted out so the backordered pre/pro and amps i have on order would come in so i can get the whole room working. 

covid has forced me to practice patience.... that's for sure. 

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Test fitting in theater.... put one woofer in with just two bolts to get a feel for it. 
 

SpeakerPower amp ships tomorrow. 
second woofer arrives Saturday (hopefully)

 

hmm... what to do with a pair of 15’s.... maybe center of rear wall to maybe smooth out some room modes/nodes

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@Marvel  Exactly.  and the whole room is DIY... none of it is 'perfect'  but it's 99% for my tastes.  I see the flaws, and to me they are glaringly obvious.  but in the grand scheme of things, they're minor. 

like on the sub - my 45* corners the router had a little wobble in a few places causing some chatter and it's not perfectly smooth.... oh well.  looks good enough for me - and when the lights are dimmed,  it's all gone.   plus the lights in the photo are MAX brightness, so that helps hide everything too. 

 

ugh,  now i have to get through 2 more days of work and hope everything shows up for a test drive this weekend!! 

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3 hours ago, MercedesBerater said:

my 45* corners the router had a little wobble in a few places causing some chatter and it's not perfectly smooth...

Bondo works great for minor imperfections.  You just need to be careful when sanding it as it's slightly harder than MDF and they sand at different rates.  Wood filler works well also.

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the SpeakerPower  SP1-4000  arrived yesterday. 

shipped by UPS -- only one small dent in the metal protective/vented back cover.   no damage to anything important. 

 

installed -- need to shave a little to get a clean fit, but it was in enough to test it out. ~kindof~ 

 

 

it was 10pm, and kids were asleep so i kept it quite low volume.   normally my receiver set at 48-52 volume (of 100) when watching movies.  So i turned it to 20 of 100. 

very quiet.   and i wasn't sure where to start with the gain knob on the amp.  so i turned it to 0, and then up 1 click. 

put on a few sine waves just to see what it would do.  

 

EVEN at   20 of 100 volume    and only the first click up on the gain knob   - these things have some serious power.   I could hear air chuffing out of the loosely installed amplifier - but wow.   I may have went a bit overboard with everything.  woofer size,  box size,  amp size, etc....... and i love it!!   🤣

 

 

now -- question time. 

How do i test the actual tuning the box turned out to be?   I designed it to 17hz...can i use REW to run a sweep and just compare the graph and the lowest peak is the tune?  Obviously modeling software could not factor 'room gain' in -   not that it really matters, this thing has so much overhead i'll be able to cut away any peaks with MiniDsp  and get a nice house curve i'm sure. 

 

 

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