[Folsom]

It's a good idea to get it to cure, maybe with a little warmth too. I had a minor amount come off that for no reason that was obvious to me, liked to stick to some other veneer. And it was quiet awhile between the time it was applied and when it happened.

[borism]

We returned home today from a few days in Vermont. We finished the speakers in a couple of hours  and let me say, clearly from a biased point of view, they look very cool. The duratex paint and the drivers match well.





We rushed to hook them up to the Dayens, fed by iTunes/Pure Music via Music Streamer and selected Billy Joel's the Piano Man. What a great experience when both speakers came to life. The little amplifier was driving the speakers in a 12x25x7 basement room to very loud levels with the volume set to less than half.



First sound impression in this improvised set-up is that the piano seems very life-like and that the music has great dynamic range. Of course there is some harshness and clearly the speakers need braking in but overall the sound is very nice. Best of all my son was very happy. He actually seemed transfixed. What a great adventure!

[rajacat]

Ah, just as I expected . IMO, DIY Sound Group, http://www.diysoundgroup.com/, has some of the best bargains consisting of well designed CAD kits for those not afraid of a little diy.

[borism]

Just some tech info from the DiYSG web site.

[gab]

Ah, just as I expected . IMO, DIY Sound Group, http://www.diysoundgroup.com/, has some of the best bargains consisting of well designed CAD kits for those not afraid of a little diy.

Yup. Best value in audio kits IMO. Jeff Bagby is a master crossover designer and I am not at all surprised that Borism and his son liked them so much. They will only get better. Get your hands dirty folks and do some DIY!

gab

[borism]

A brief update.
As expected with a few hours of music the harshness I initially heard is disappearing and the speakers are starting to open up. Another interesting aspect is that the soundstage is quite stable when moving to the side from the center point.
Also want to add that I really like the little Dayens amplifier.

[JLM]

Most highly cool   

[jk@home]

They turned out real nice, congrats!

[borism]

Thanks JLM and JK!

The final step in our project was protective grills for the speakers. The kit does not come with any. I ended up ordering 2 custom grills from Speakerworks. They have a wooden frame. The question was how to attach them to the speakers. The waveguide is somewhat raised from the front baffle and most grill guides don't provide sufficient clearing.

We came up with replacing the two top screws on the waveguide with large cap-head wood screws and putting 2 cap-head screws below the woofer. The attachment is with magnets that we glued into the grill frames. The attachment is secure and the grills are easily removed.

This is what it looks like.



Now the only thing missing is some cool badge.

[monte]

They look awesome.

[Guy 13]

Borism those are really simple and nice looking speakers.
Congratulation.

Guy 13

[Brad]

Thanks for the link - they had a couple of projects there I'm interested in building 

[jk@home]

I plan on also making some cloth grilles for my DIYSG subs. Our nearby Harbor Freight sells inexpensive rare earth (neodymium) magnets, perfect for this.

http://www.harborfreight.com/10-piece-rare-earth-magnets-67488.html

Plan to drill shallow holes with a forstner drill bit, on both cabinet and grille frames, to mount the magnets. Did this on a previous project, worked great. The magnet material is not that hard, can be cracked if not careful. But wow, do they have a strong pull.

[borism]

Thanks Monte and Guy13.

Brad, they definitely have some great DIY projects. My experience is only positive. Who knows, a subwoofer might be next for me.

JK, I got my neodymium magnets from Parts-Express. In fact they are so strong that it was hard to pull them apart. Also, they attach very securely to iron screws and it is not always necessary to have them on both the baffle and grill.