Wardsweb Big Speakers

[Wardsweb]

I thought I would post on my DIY horns. I actually started these around January 2006. Once they were built and dialed in, I didn't want to take them back apart for veneer because I was enjoying listening to them. Well having to take the speakers out of my living room for a new floor was the perfect time to actually finish the job.

To start, here is a picture of some of the internal construction; part MDF and part Baltic birch.

 

[Wardsweb]

The sides are four layers of kerf MDF that I filled with glass microbeads used in bead blasting.

 

[Wardsweb]

Here they are with the raw Sapele Pommele veneer on.

 

[Wardsweb]

This is with three coats of DEFT gloss lacquer finish. I will apply a few more coats, sand, polish and buff for a piano gloss.

 

[Grainger49]

Awesome!  The veneer and finish are gorgeous! 

 

[Wardsweb]

By the way the drivers are: JBL 2235H woofers, Altec 802-8G driver mounted to Altec 511B horns and JBL 077 slot tweeters.

 

[glynnw]

Stunning.  Courrently I am trying to learn how to veneer and finish several pairs of my speakers.  Please post pictures when finally done.

 

[Wardsweb]

Stunning.  Courrently I am trying to learn how to veneer and finish several pairs of my speakers.  Please post pictures when finally done.

This is raw veneer that I used Better Bond Heat-Lock

 

[glynnw]

I can pretty much get the veneer on now, doing it just as you say.  But I am still fighting the finish.  Current method is to use sanding sealer, then spray on lacquer with HVLP sprayer, sanding between every two coats. Getting the right ratio of thinner to lacquer is so far sheer guess work. Then finally polish using an orbital car polisher and Griot's different levels of machine polish.  My finished product looks OK, but not like the dash on a Rolls Royce, which is what I aspire to. There are still small errors, both in the wood and in the lacquer, that show on close examination.  I have been practising by refinishing the bases of my Bottlehead gear (you can sand away like mad, which you cannot do on the veneer), and am now making a small pair of veneered speakers on which to experiment further.  Have also ordered a book from the library on refinishing, so eventually I should be able to do it.

 

[Wardsweb]

I can pretty much get the veneer on now, doing it just as you say.  But I am still fighting the finish.  Current method is to use sanding sealer, then spray on lacquer with HVLP sprayer, sanding between every two coats. Getting the right ratio of thinner to lacquer is so far sheer guess work. Then finally polish using an orbital car polisher and Griot's different levels of machine polish.  My finished product looks OK, but not like the dash on a Rolls Royce, which is what I aspire to. There are still small errors, both in the wood and in the lacquer, that show on close examination.   I have been practising by refinishing the bases of my Bottlehead gear (you can sand away like mad, which you cannot do on the veneer), and am now making a small pair of veneered speakers on which to experiment further.  Have also ordered a book from the library on refinishing, so eventually I should be able to do it.

Like a car finish, 90% of the work is in the prep. The smoother the surface the less you will need to work the finish. If you want the lacquer to level out your veneer, you will need to spray several very heavy coats or use the brush on and sand it smooth. Now this is somewhat old school. The same look can be achieved with more modern methods like urethane.

 

[ironbut]

That looks awesome!
Really nice veneer. Did you buy that locally or maybe online?
I've only done a little veneer work but I've finished miles of it. The trick is to sand the piss out of it without burning through it. The outside corners are the really tricky parts.
Getting a level finish is really dependent on the grain. Woods with open grain really take a lot of extra coats to level it out (I've never used a brush on filler but I know they're out there. You just need to be sure that it's ultra clear or your finish will start looking muddy.). There's a lot of sanding sealers that powder up really nice and don't take more than a couple of swipes with some 320 grit to sand most of it off. I've always done the sanding by hand but I did work on a Zebra wood table top that we used a random orbital on the last ten coats (used 5000 grit last).
Man, was that an expensive table when we got finished with it!

The amount of thinner you use depends a lot on personal choices. I used to add about a 1/2 gal to a 5 gallon can and add more along the way (with pre catalyzed laquer). You just don't want a bunch of sags to have to sand out. Take your time and be safe! (always plug your sprayer into an outlet outside of the spray booth. If the plug gets kicked out by accident,.. boom!)

 

[Wardsweb]

I'm also turning some 3" x 2" billet feet for them.

 

[Steve Reese]

Beautiful speakers Wards..... are you able and/or willing to share dimensions and speaker impedance and sensitivity measurements? Perhaps the plans? I understand if not.

 

[Wardsweb]

Beautiful speakers Wards..... are you able and/or willing to share dimensions and speaker impedance and sensitivity measurements? Perhaps the plans? I understand if not.

The speakers are 44 1/2" tall by 25 1/4" at their widest point and 22 1/2" deep.

I don't know their actual impedance but know all drivers are 8 ohms and the crossover is based a combination of an Altec and JBL crossovers; both of which are  8 ohm.

Sensitivity I've never measures but it is high. The original 2-way I started with was around 104dB. I added the JBL 077 and swapped the Altec 416-8C for the JBL 2235H.

 

[dmannnnn]

I've held my tongue long enough...


Those look freakin' awesome!

 

[Wardsweb]

FINALLY they are back playing in my living room. I was going to leave the grills off but you will notice the left dust cap is dented. That is compliments of our 6 year old grandson and his marshmellow gun. You can't leave kids alone for two minutes.

My wife said she wants the full grills cut down so the big horn is showing. Sounds like a neat look. What do you guys think about a 3/4 grill?

These have not been polished yet. I need to let them cure for a few weeks before I do that.

 

[Dr. Toobz]

I think they look awesome as is, with no grills. I'm surprised that your wife actually wants the big horns showing - that's the opposite response from what I would normally expect (i.e., "cover those damn things up or get rid of them!"...)

 

[Paul Joppa]

I think a 3/4 grill, curved to match the horn lip, would look great. You can get (if you look around) metal perforated plate with a large percent open area, I think over 60% is available though not common. That's fairly transparent acoustically, especially below 5kHz. Perhaps a bit of black or gray soft felt between the grill and front panel would help minimize any residual cavity resonances...

 

[Wardsweb]

I think a 3/4 grill, curved to match the horn lip, would look great. You can get (if you look around) metal perforated plate with a large percent open area, I think over 60% is available though not common. That's fairly transparent acoustically, especially below 5kHz. Perhaps a bit of black or gray soft felt between the grill and front panel would help minimize any residual cavity resonances...

Way ahead of you Paul. I made full grills that follow the 22 degree arch of the speaker fronts out of perf metal, some JBL blue grill cloth and automotive trim edging. These are the ones my wife wants cut down so you see the Altec horns.

FYI: The perf is steel, 22 gauge, 1/4" hex x 0.285" on staggered centers. This makes it 77% open area. Purchased online from http://www.perf-plus.com

 

[xcortes]

They are just spectacular. Can you share your crossover?

Thanks