[jsalk]

Tom ordered a pair of SoundScape 8's and was trying to decide what kind of veneer/finish he wanted.  Driving home one day, a Mercedes in a very unique color pulled up alongside.  He researched the finish on that Mercedes and found out the color was Designo Magno Manza Matte Gray - a nice warm pearl gray with an extremely dull matte finish - very unusual as far as automotive finishes are concerned.  He asked if we could do it.  No problem we said.

Well, we had never done a totally dull matte finish before.  When we shot the color coats, things really looked great.  But when we shot the matte clear, all the pearl disappeared.  I touched the finish and it left a fingerprint.  When I went to rub out the fingerprint, the gloss level changed in that area.  And the only way to repair the damage was to re-shoot the matte topcoat.

We did a little research.  Some Mercedes owners asked, on line, how to clean this finish.  The advice they got was to never let anyone touch it and never use polish, wax or any other cleaning material.  Simply brushing up against the finish would leave a mark that cannot be repaired without refinishing.

We checked with our coatings experts and were told that a true matte finish is indeed very fragile.  Rub up against it and the matte in that area will become higher gloss.  And there is no way to fix this without re-applying finish. We didn't think we should ship a speaker with a finish that fragile, so we looked for an alternative topcoat and came up with a "semi-matte" option.  It worked out just fine - not as matte as the Mercedes finish, but much more durable.

Here are some photos...

 

And a close-up...



By the way, Tom also decided to upgrade the caps to Clarity MR's and they sound real nice.

Happy listening Tom!

- Jim

[robcentola]

Slick. Looking forward to pics in the room. Very interesting!

[Art_Chicago]

whoever came up with the name of this color is a remarkable person 
but they look great.

[Tomy2Tone]

whoever came up with the name of this color is a remarkable person 
but they look great.

I think it's spelled "magno" but it's all good cause I'm pretty excited! Thanks to Jim and the crew for making these SS8's a reality for me!

I went back and forth a dozen times about what color to go with. My Songtowers are natural bamboo so I wanted something a little different than a wood veneer or basic paint color.

I spotted this Mercedes and thought it would make a great speaker color choice.

[ZAKski288]

 Tom, Congratulations on the speakers.  Awesome looking, I'm sure your going to enjoy!!    ZAK

[SCompRacer]

Congrats on your SS8's Tom! Nice color choice! Great work as always, Jim and company!

[Tomy2Tone]

Tom, Congratulations on the speakers.  Awesome looking, I'm sure your going to enjoy!!    ZAK

Thanks ZAK! Would love to see how a pair of Ncore's sound on these, but until then the crown's will have to do. 

Congrats on your SS8's Tom! Nice color choice! Great work as always, Jim and company!

Thanks man! Believe it or not I only looked at the "Project Tracker" like 10 times, thanks to my Songtowers holding me over.

[SCompRacer]

Thanks man! Believe it or not I only looked at the "Project Tracker" like 10 times, thanks to my Songtowers holding me over.

Grams would say a watched pot never boils.... We'll need pics once set up.

[JonnyFive]

Those look great, congrats!  Looking forward to seeing them setup in home! -Jon

[Tomy2Tone]

Thanks guys! It might be a while before pics but I will post them when the time comes. I will be moving this spring and will be designing the living room around the SS8's. 

[Tomy2Tone]

Grams would say a watched pot never boils.... We'll need pics once set up.

  Your Grams sounds like my Grams.

Do you still have the Innersound Eros speakers? If so, do they compare to Martin Logan electrostats?
A friend of mine still can't believe I went with the SS8's over a pair of ML's we heard at BestBuy a while back. Don't remeber the specific model. He never heard the SS8's like I did at a owners house so he wanted to know why the SS8's would be better.

I couldn't remember who use to have a pair of ML's and then switched to Salk but I thought I'd ask you if you had a comparison you would be willing to share. Thanks!

[woodsyi]

Looks great.   

Let's see: exotic veneers, auto paints and copper cladding.  What else is there?  How about stucco?  Has anybody requested stucco?

Great job, Jim. 

Congrats, Tom.

[Tomy2Tone]

Looks great.   

Let's see: exotic veneers, auto paints and copper cladding.  What else is there?  How about stucco?  Has anybody requested stucco?

Great job, Jim. 

Congrats, Tom.

Thanks!

The thought did cross my mind to go with an industrial type look and try a stainless steel veneer or something similar. Of course it would be only to match a beer fridge in the listening room. 

[mzbrahce]

What's next?  Check out ratso's hmmm topic....http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=130909.0

Several colors available:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BNEXD7E/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00BNEXD7E&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwmichaelsau-20&linkId=4GGRYER5R64PTPG7

The possibilities are endless!  Especially with a CNC router.

[JP78]

RE: matte detailing

http://www.drbeasleys.com/blog/2011/11/03/matte-car-detail/

This stuff works well, I've witnessed firsthand.

[jsalk]

RE: matte detailing

http://www.drbeasleys.com/blog/2011/11/03/matte-car-detail/

This stuff works well, I've witnessed firsthand.

I wouldn't want to try that on a pair of speakers.  Water and speakers don't do well together.

- Jim

[DEP14]

Those are very cool looking.  I dig 'em

[SCompRacer]

Your Grams sounds like my Grams.

She used to tell me idle hands were the devils workshop too. 

Do you still have the Innersound Eros speakers? If so, do they compare to Martin Logan electrostats?
A friend of mine still can't believe I went with the SS8's over a pair of ML's we heard at BestBuy a while back. Don't remeber the specific model. He never heard the SS8's like I did at a owners house so he wanted to know why the SS8's would be better.

I couldn't remember who use to have a pair of ML's and then switched to Salk but I thought I'd ask you if you had a comparison you would be willing to share. Thanks!

The InnerSounds had a very well integrated transmission line bass module. Wonderful bass! Horizontal bi-amped with remote control adjustable active crossover. The SS8's did replace them. I gained in bass and mid bass dynamics. The ESL's had the edge with soundstage. The SS8's do better with rock and small amounts of dubstep I listen to. Towards the end of ESL, I had treated the rear dipole reflection which really narrowed the sweet spot. ML's have the curved panel (which Roger Sanders of InnerSound had first designed but didn't patent; he preferred the flat panel). The flat panels have a narrower but better sweet spot IMO.

I had asked Jim's input before purchasing the SS8's and he pretty much nailed the differences without any insult to what I had. It was a very professional response that earned much respect. Some of my audio friends applauded the change, some prefer the ESL's. Sometimes we chase different and call it better. I don't argue anymore, I just enjoy my choice. Oh, failed to mention how much I love the look of my black limba veneer. High WAF too.

[Tomy2Tone]

She used to tell me idle hands were the devils workshop too. 

The InnerSounds had a very well integrated transmission line bass module. Wonderful bass! Horizontal bi-amped with remote control adjustable active crossover. The SS8's did replace them. I gained in bass and mid bass dynamics. The ESL's had the edge with soundstage. The SS8's do better with rock and small amounts of dubstep I listen to. Towards the end of ESL, I had treated the rear dipole reflection which really narrowed the sweet spot. ML's have the curved panel (which Roger Sanders of InnerSound had first designed but didn't patent; he preferred the flat panel). The flat panels have a narrower but better sweet spot IMO.

I had asked Jim's input before purchasing the SS8's and he pretty much nailed the differences without any insult to what I had. It was a very professional response that earned much respect. Some of my audio friends applauded the change, some prefer the ESL's. Sometimes we chase different and call it better. I don't argue anymore, I just enjoy my choice. Oh, failed to mention how much I love the look of my black limba veneer. High WAF too.

Your veneer is awesome, I love the contrast of the 8" drivers it gives.

The ML's I heard were at a Magnolia store and the sales kid gave us the room to do what we wanted. So I moved stuff around to get the best possible soundstage and though they were clean and detailed I felt they lacked the emotion I heard with the SS8's. I couldn't get that out of my head, thus the purchase.

Do you run any tube gear in the chain? I'm wondering what a tubed dac would do, but will wait till things settle down. That new Lampizator Amber sounds intriguing.

[SCompRacer]

Thanks for the kind words! I see so many finishes here that I would love to have!  SO many choices, so little money and time…lol

ESL’s are particular to gear, so it depends on what they had them powered with. Usually it’s receivers.  But I agree, the dynamics are much better with the SS8’s!

Currently I am running some older all Class A SS gear (Krell KRC-HR pre and KSA-250 amp).  My DAC is a diy Twisted Pear Buffalo III dual mono with discrete balanced output DAC. One 8 channel DAC combined per channel with separate shunting power supplies. Output section has separate shunting power supplies for R and L channel.

I’ve owned quite a bit of tube gear prior. Gear that had lots of pleasing second order and very little distortion. I preferred the latter. Only tube gear so far on my SS8’s was a friend’s DIY phono stage. I strive to avoid the use of never in audio, so someday a balanced tube pre may be back in the mix.

My DAC. It sports remote control, LCD display and all DAC chip settings are accessible. Chassis is an Italian made Hi-Fi 2000 Pesante with their modushop machining. They will machine both sides of front panel and will anodize after machining; not everyone will do that. (I wanted the LCD screen close to face of front panel, not 10mm back).  I did the color fill of the front panel machined letters. I modded a Denon 3910 to export I2S ( CD) and DSD (SACD) to my DAC. Mostly it is fed with flac from hard drive. My Squeezebox Touch is also modded with I2S out. I2S is the serial interface used in players where data and clock are separate. SPDIF has clock and data combined and the DAC chip must sort it out. IMO well configured I2S sounds cleaner and clearer than SPDIF. It's the closest to vinyl sound I could get, but my diy turntable sounds better.




Configuration has changed with single output board and USB to I2S input, but all power supplies retained. Two linear power supplies are used to power display and input boards.



My photobucket page of the build.

http://s417.photobucket.com/user/scompracer/library/Buffalo%20III%20Dual%20Mono%20Build?sort=6&page=1