[PJR]

  ... at about 2:00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on 3 June. The delighted godfather (Hugh) has been informed! The project started ages ago when I bought the kit from Hugh in Feb 08. I imported the drivers from Madisound in Aug 08, but did not begin building the cabinets until last April.

The cabinets' outer panels are 25mm marine ply, and the front baffles are 44mm thick - laminated from selected 19mm construction ply and 25mm marine ply. Both the front baffle and the rear panel are 242mm wide, to preserve the correct interior dimensions. The front baffle is full length, just like Ron's. I'd independently thought about doing so, but Ron beat me to the punch of turning the idea into reality ... by a mere 10 months. 

When building the front baffles, no. 20 biscuits were used around the edges of the mating surfaces to align the panels during the gluing process, then exterior grade PVA glue and strategically placed 35mm brass wood screws were used to hold it all together while the glue cured. No gaps were found when making the cutouts for the drivers and the bass port at the bottom of each front panel.

No. 20 biscuits were also used throughout the rest of the construction process.

The rear of each the bass driver cutouts was rounded over (combination of a 1/2" bit and a 1.0" bit - using a variable speed router at low speed and with an oversized sub-base for added stability) ... generally above and below the centre line, but not at the sides, where the cutouts almost touch the side panels.

I wish I'd been able to take photos of the reverse side of the front panels - the combined effect of using the 3 different roundover bits was positively H. R. Giger-ish to behold.

A router bit with a 10 degree chamfer and a cutting depth of 35mm (Aussie-made Carbi-Tool) was used to taper the face of the front baffle back to 230mm wide. The sides of the tops are rounded over with a 1/2'" roundover bit. I'm quite pleased with the overall effect.

The cabs were not veneered. I opted rather to make a virtue of using marine ply by applying a Red Cedar-tinted oiled finish, which nicely highlights the exposed edges. No photos as yet. Have to wait a week or two, after my wife and I buy a new digital camera!

The visible surfaces of the bass driver frames were blackened with Rust-Oleum Universal Advanced Formula Satin All-Surface Paint - in Satin Black. No primer was used or needed. And in Australia, at least, the Rust-Oleum paint is about 2/3rds the price of Hammerite, and its available from the local hardware store (Bunnings), whereas Hammerite would have to be freighted from Farnell Electronics in Sydney! I tried Ron's trick with a cardboard tube, but found the cardboard was too sloppy to hold its shape, so I had a local sheet metal shop make an open-seam (with 20mm overlap) tube out of 0.4mm galvanized roofing iron. A few tiny areas in the narrow trough around the woofer surround that the spray paint did not reach were touched up with a fine tipped artist's brush. It worked very well, and the Rust-Oleum paint sticks like the proverbial to a blanket!

The crossovers are in mini-cabinets, externally mounted on the backs of the main cabinets - easy to get at - and linked to the cabs' binding posts via flying leads. The series caps in the tweeter circuits are bypassed with 15nF 160v Vishay MKP1837's.

The sound? I'm delighted. Better bass, more detailed, more dynamic and less coloured than my 31 year old much-modified Pro9TL Kef B139-based transmission lines. More details to follow after they are broken in. 

Lastly, here's my sincere thanks to Laurie, for designing these little beauties in the first place, and also for generously answering a number of emails (re more info, especially about placement of the carpet) during the last 2 years.

[AKSA]

Peter,

Congratulations on your achievement - you have built the cabinets well and I'm confident they look better than an Italian speaker of note!  When you are ready, do please post some piccies for us to gloat over!!  Laurie, you will be very pleased with Peter's success!

Folks,

Peter and I were young Army officers in a Recruit Training Battalion in 1976.  Even then he was intoxicated with good sound, had a lovely system then, too, Phase Linears as I recall.  1976 is a long, long time ago - we have been good friends ever since.  I even changed a camshaft in his car back in 1986 when we were posted in Brisbane - I am often left speechless (!!) by the acceleration of time as we grow older...... 

Peter has recently retired. and aside from fishing, he flattered me by asking to be a part of Aspen's manufacturing outfit!  His work is of stunning quality, he is a detail man, and even as we speak is engaged in building NAKSAs!  Expect to hear more from Peter!

Cheers,

Hugh

[PJR]

 :lol:Actually, my system in those days consisted of a little British turntable and arm (Sugden, I think. I did not hear of Linn Sondek until 1977), Amcron IC-150 preamp, Amcron DC-300A, and a pair of Bose 901's . The Bose were hung by brass chains (with welded links!) and semi-concealed turnbuckles (ie, only the hooks were exposed; the rest of each turnbuckle was above the sheetrock ceiling, firmly attached to short planks placed across two adjacent wooden ceiling joists) from the ceiling of my room within the Kapooka Army Base officers' mess. The Garrison Engineer graciously gave official permission, after he'd assessed a detailed proposal and a drawing I'd prepared after scrambling around in the ceiling cavity, where I found the ceiling joists to which the chains were to be secured. But I'm rambling on. I thought my outfit sounded pretty good at the time - how innocent we once were!
And now I must return to the lounge room, where the enchanting sounds of Vaughan Williams's 'The Lark Ascending' are just starting to emerge from the VSonics. 

[Tliner]

Congratulations Peter,

As you know I have followed your building saga with much interest. Particularly with the selection of timber and its various combinations to be used in the box construction

 I'm sure that your VSonics should be the "best sounding" to date. It is the attention you paid to detail and the decision to try to better the design with a different combination of materials that makes all the difference. You had the patience and insight to take the VBSonics from an easy to build kit format to something really special. I am pleased that you did not alter any of the internal dimensions. That is what DIY is all about, making something very personal!

Sit back, relax and enjoy the music!

Cheers,

Laurie

[Tliner]

Peter,

I have checked out the xovers in my VSonics and design notes. My Xovers are far from standard in that they are hotted up. I have standard xovers for reference use.

Your decision to use the Vishay MKP 1832 caps as bridging caps is very wise move.  They make the attack/slam and decay of notes more "real". I suppose that they actually add that bit of extra to the fine detail too. I also found that the 1832 caps used in shunt on the mid/woofer cleaned up female voices, making them sound warmer. IMHO using the 1832 caps on the Zobel for tweeter and mid/woofer made no identifiable difference to the sound.

Using such small value caps doesn't alter phasing or driver group delay significantly. If you decide to use say, an absolute premium and very expensive grade of 14 AWG inductors their values have to be reconcidered as they would change the phasing and group delay of the Xover sufficiently for the xover to be redesigned.

Ah yes, tweeking, tweeking how far do you go?

Have fun,

Cheers,

Laurie

Don't forget that in a two way speaker the mid/woofer provides the sound from 32Hz to about 2600Hz. It is in this region that the bulk of music and voice is reproduced.  As rule of thumb the tweeter contributes about 20% to the ovrall "sound". But that 20% is very vital component for a good sound.   

[hybride]

Laurie can you provide a picture of the xover and point which caps to bypass with the mkp1837?

thanks

Hans

[PJR]

Laurie

Thanks for your support and for this latest tip - ie, using a Vishay MKP 1837 (not a 1832, unless its another manufacturer's part no.) in shunt mode across the mid-woofer. Must try it soon! That'll be my first practical reason to be thankful for deciding to mount the crossovers externally!

For the rest of you folk out there - if you had not already heard of the uses of small value Vishay MKP 1837's, it may be worth your while to check out the capacitor heading on the Humble Homemade Hi-Fi website. 1837's - as small as 10nF - across a larger cap (and now apparently in shunt mode across a mid-bass driver, as well !) may significantly improve sound, for a relatively small investment.

Peter 

[AKSA]

Peter,

When you tell Hans about the xover, would you mind please doing it with PM or email?

I'm leery about publishing this detail on the crossover in public because this crossover took Laurie almost 18 months to hone to a fine pitch and it's very valuable IP,

Cheers,

Hugh

[PJR]

Hugh

Sorry if there is any misunderstanding. I was merely responding to Laurie's post, and the only info I contributed is already in the public domain.

Peter

[AKSA]

Peter,

Absolutely no problem!!  I'm just a proud Dad looking out for the interests of his Baby, and Laurie's too!     


Hugh

[hybride]

Laurie provided my the ideas for the xo in privat. Thanks Laurie.
I added some 1837's on the xo and it sure seems that there is some little more fluid ambiance and more natural 'dying out' of  sound. Do i say that right?
     
The Vsonic's are very fine speaker to listen to. Very musical and complete. I don't regret buying them (blind and overseas).
 

[AKSA]

Hi Hans,

I'm so pleased Laurie gave you the good oil!  I'm very impressed with your determination to get the absolute best in everything you do.

And yes, you expressed it very well, you Hollanders all speak outstanding English, light years ahead of my Dutch!!   

The Vsonic's are very fine speaker to listen to. Very musical and complete. I don't regret buying them (blind and overseas).

To me, this is the most wonderful comment, indicating that the VSonics are right up there with the best around.  I suspect you have heard the best speakers in audio, Hans, so this is high praise.  And if you have no buyers remorse, it really is the acid test.

Thank you, Sir, you made my day!   

 
Hugh

[PJR]

Hi all

Just added some images - which might be of interest.

Peter

[AKSA]

Peter,

Congratulations, wonderful construction, I'm think others here, Laurie, Ron, John, will agree, it's beautifully finished.

Thanks for the piccies, they look very nice.

I guess with AC induction motors these days you need three phase power.  The switchboard is extremely well executed.......

Cheers,

Hugh

[PJR]

Hugh

I am absolutely amazed at your powers of perception! How could you so easily discern that the gray plastic lids on the boxes housing the external crossovers were made from insulation material recovered from a de-commissioned switchboard cabinet - for a sewage pumping station, of all things? My hat's off to you .. well done indeed!

Mind you, some of my less insensitive local friends would assert that the choice of a source for the aforesaid plastic was inevitable - given my tendency to give them a friendly wind-up during card games, by playing tunes such as Jim Reeves's heartrending versions of "The Blizzard" and "Blue Side of Lonesome".

Peter

[RonR]

Hi Peter,

I'd like to add my admiration for your Vsonics build. I especially like the external crossover idea, and that dual-thickness front baffle will be very stiff indeed.

I'm just off to order some Vishay MKP1837s.

BTW, did you try them in shunt mode across the Mid/Woofer?

Cheers,

Ron.

[PJR]

Hi Ron

I haven't yet tried placing a shunt cap across the woofer, but of course the external crossover means that it would be very easy to do as an experiment - just loosen the woofers' binding posts, etc.

BTW, I've edited my original post, because I'd mis-identified two of the router bits used on the front panel (1", not 1.5" roundover on part of the rear of the woofer cutouts; and 10 degree, not 15 degree chamfer on the front.

Regards, Peter 

[Johnny]

Very nice build Peter!
I was looking forward to seeing your photos since I had considered marine ply as well. I ended up going with Baltic birch ply which presented some problems, but it all ended well.
Happy listening!
John

[PJR]

Hi John

My VSonics are now "run in", and the results are still delightful to enjoy, especially now that that they are being driven by a NAKSA (module built by Hugh). Now that I'm familiar with the sound, I might experiment with adding a 10nF MKP shunt cap across the mid-woofers.

Regards, Peter

[hybride]

Hi Peter. I sended you a PM. Did you read it?