Wardsweb Big Speakers

[Wardsweb]

Here they are with full grills.

 

[Mudhiker]

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.

What kind of lacquer are you using and what are you thinning with?  If you find yourself thinning quite a lot try moving up to a bigger nozzle on your HVLP.  Are you using a turbine or compressor driven system?  Nothing beats practice.  And a bright halogen shoplight illuminating the work from the side can show imperfections and dust on your work that are otherwise invisible to the hands and eyes.  Buy some good cabinet grade plywood to practice on and cut it into several chunks.  Sand it with a random orbit 120-180-possibly 240 but no higher. Tack it off good, apply thinned vinyl sealer, scuff sand, and then start lacquering.  If your shop temperature is reasonably close to 70 F, you should be able to sand and recoat within an hour or two.  Let the final coat harden 24 hours or more before you try polishing.  Unless you are sure of what you are doing it is a good idea to do your between-coat sandings by hand.  3M makes some foam rubber sanding pads that are fantastic for this step.  I use the Superfine.  They are about 3/16" thick and rectangular, grey in color with red lettering on the back.  Their rectangular shape will just fit on an old-fashioned quarter sheet sander, which is what I use to speed things up.  3M scotch-bright pads can also be used, the gray ones are about right.

Gloss shows everything, and like a previous poster said, preparation is key.  If there is a scratch, swirl, or dust spec in the sprayed finish, polishing will not make it go away.

 

[2wo]

Wow, looks great,  I am with you on the

 

[Paully]

Do you have a schematic and/or picture of the crossover you used?  I think I read on another site that you used an adjustable L-pad.  Do you have any idea what frequency cut-offs you ended up at?

Those look like something that would be fun to try to build over time.  If I was going to do it I would end up doing a regular square cabinet.  I barely have the skills for that, but boy I would love to try.  I find the Altec 846A I use are wonderful but they lack something in the bass, which isn't a big deal, but much more noticeable is the compression in the highs in complex passages.  Whole bits of high frequency music are just missing when the musical passages have a lot going on.  I imagine a tweeter could go a long way to remedying this.  I would love to take a shot at something like what you built but toned down to my skill level.  How about a consulting fee? 

 

[Wardsweb]

Do you have a schematic and/or picture of the crossover you used?  I think I read on another site that you used an adjustable L-pad.  Do you have any idea what frequency cut-offs you ended up at?

Here is the final schematic.

 

[Paully]

Very helpful.  I am seriously considering giving this a go, though the cabinet and quality of the actual components would have to be a little bit reduced from yours for the woofer and tweeter.  Might try a super tweeter on my current Altecs first.  But that looks like it would just be an absolute hoot to build and try out.  If I go vintage the only truly sunk costs will be the cabinets.  Everything else could be resold if it didn't work out.  We'll see if I feel like I have the hutchspa to take on such an in depth project, my fear is screwing up the basic design of the cabinet.  But thanks for posting the crossover!

 

[Tube Newbie]

Here they are with full grills.

I have to agree with your wife WW.  I really like horns, they're kind of like breasts, I gotta see 'em.  Does that make me horny.....  Just askin'.  Here I am, new to the forum, and I'll probably get myself in trouble.

Sorry, if I offended anyone!!

Ron

 

[Wardsweb]

Let's just say we like things in pairs: speakers, amps, tubes...

 

[Grainger49]

Wardsweb,

The speakers really compliment the flooring.  I recognize the table (where are the cold cathodes?), the CDP and I think I see a PS Audio P-??? at the bottom.  But what are those amps next to the speakers?

 

[Wardsweb]

Wardsweb,

The speakers really compliment the flooring.  I recognize the table (where are the cold cathodes?), the CDP and I think I see a PS Audio P-??? at the bottom.  But what are those amps next to the speakers?

The cold cathodes are there (turntable & amp stands), just not turned on in the picture. The power conditioner is a PS Audio Quientessence. I swapped the Shanling T-100 for a C-T1500 a few months ago. The amps are Shanling SP-80 fitted with 6CA7EH. The biggest changes since that picture are the McIntosh C-36 and Juicy Music Tercel have been replaced with a SST Ambrosia preamp w/built in phono.  The rack now uses one less shelf.

 

[Wardsweb]

Here is the new pic

 

[Tube Newbie]

WW,

They're beautiful!!!!  I have always envied your collection, and it seems it just keeps getting better.

I bet you're proud.

Take care,

Ron

 

[Grainger49]

You did get the Ampzilla 2000 ! ! !  

Awesome ! ! !


  .  .  .    Wait, they are hooked up to the horn?  That is blood curdling!

 

[Wardsweb]

You did get the Ampzilla 2000 ! ! !  

Awesome ! ! !


   .  .  .    Wait, they are hooked up to the horn?  That is blood curdling!

The Ampzilla 2000 mono blocks are pushing the Martin Logan Prodigy's in the den. I use the Ambrosia preamp in the livingroom.