A/V-1 cabinets

wmeckle · « **on:** 12 Feb 2006, 12:34 pm »

Hi Gang:
Am building cabinets for a pair of A/V3 towers, a pair of A/V-2 MTMs, a A/V-3S center and a pair of A/V-1 rear/side speakers. I have the pair of A/V1s almost finished. Pix at:

Anyone interested in seing the rest of the cabinets when complete ?

Cacophonix · « **Reply #1 on:** 12 Feb 2006, 03:28 pm »

Quote from: wmeckle

Hi Gang:
Am building cabinets for a pair of A/V3 towers, a pair of A/V-2 MTMs, a A/V-3S center and a pair of A/V-1 rear/side speakers. I have the pair of A/V1s almost finished. Pix at:

Anyone interested in seing the rest of the cabinets when complete ?

Those are very fine looking speakers!
I too am in the midst of building av/3. Just yesterday i finished cutting all the ply, and hopefully will start the assembly today (if the weather holds good). Using a circle saw to make the cuts is such a b****!

Please post rest of the pictures.

Watson · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 Feb 2006, 04:13 pm »

Those look GREAT!

Just curious, what finish did you use on those?

Danny Richie · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 Feb 2006, 06:08 pm »

The solid inserts in all the corners look great. Nice work! Thanks for posting the pics.

MaxCast · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 Feb 2006, 06:27 pm »

very nice.

wmeckle · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Feb 2006, 07:16 pm »

Quote from: Watson

Those look GREAT!

Just curious, what finish did you use on those?

These (and all cabinets) were made with 3/4" Baltic Birch, with 1/2" MDF on the front and the entire cabinet covered with 1/4" MDF core, red oak plywood. And solid oak moldings in all corners. Finish was lacquer sanding sealer and semi-gloss clear polyurathane.

wmeckle · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Feb 2006, 07:19 pm »

Quote from: Cacophonix

Those are very fine looking speakers!
I too am in the midst of building av/3. Just yesterday i finished cutting all the ply, and hopefully will start the assembly today (if the weather holds good). Using a circle saw to make the cuts is such a b****!

Please post rest of the pictures.

If you have a router, it is easier to buy or make a "circle attachment" for it, and use that for the holes. Since I had lots of holes the same size to cut, I made a jig (pattern) for each size hole.
Hope this helps.

Loftprojection · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 Feb 2006, 10:38 pm »

Quote from: wmeckle

Anyone interested in seing the rest of the cabinets when complete ?

Yes yes, very interested. I received my kit (pair of AV3, one AV3s and pair of AV1rs) a bit more then a week ago. Bougth my wood and I'm gonna start building them this week so I'll watch this thread. If you have pictures of "in process" work it would be really nice. I like the way you've made those round courners. Mine are going to be pure MDF 3/4" and I'm still debating how I'm going to make my corners.

Very nice work you've done for sure.

Ho, and how do they sound? What speakers do they replace?

Cacophonix · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 Feb 2006, 11:04 pm »

Quote from: wmeckle

If you have a router, it is easier to buy or make a "circle attachment" for it, and use that for the holes. Since I had lots of holes the same size to cut, I made a jig (pattern) for each size hole.
Hope this helps.

I have a router and circle jig, and cutting the woofer/tweeter holes weren't an issue at all. It was all other cuts that frustrated me. I could never get consistent cuts. Most of them are off by a 1/16" or so. Hopefully a flush trim bit will solve the problem.

Keep us posted of your progress....

wmeckle · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 Feb 2006, 11:47 pm »

Quote from: Loftprojection

Quote from: wmeckle
Anyone interested in seing the rest of the cabinets when complete ?

Yes yes, very interested. I received my kit (pair of AV3, one AV3s and pair of AV1rs) a bit more then a week ago. Bougth my wood and I'm gonna start building them this week so I'll watch this thread. If you have pictures of "in process" work it would be really nice. I like the way you've made those round courners. Mine are going to be pure MDF 3/4" and I'm still debating how I'm going to make my corners.
...

Hi Loft:
I built a home theater for a friend, using G-R speakers several years ago,
the construction details are at http://www.wmeckle.com/Greg1/Greg1.htm

wmeckle · « **Reply #10 on:** 14 Feb 2006, 06:23 pm »

Hi Gang:
Posted some pix of the cabinets (A/V-1, A/V-2 and A/V-3) on my web page:

http://www.wmeckle.com/G-R/Pix.htm

There is no link there yet, and the A/V-3S cabinet will be posted when complete.
Have pix of all the construction details and will create a Web page with that info when I have the time (weeks ?).
Comments welcome.

Loftprojection · « **Reply #11 on:** 14 Feb 2006, 07:43 pm »

Wow, very nice. I'm actually considering your method for the round edges. I was going to try wrapping veneer but I have yet to find a 3/4" rounding router bit and I'm afraid it's going to be quite difficult to wrap the veneer. Your method seems quite a bit more "idiot" proof and I am an idiot! haha

On your AV3, isn't the TL hole supposed to be at the bottom? Your enclosure for the xover is a slick trick though!

Thanks for posting all this.

Joey Skinner · « **Reply #12 on:** 14 Feb 2006, 07:59 pm »

I believe there is a false bottom containing the crossover underneath the port.

wmeckle · « **Reply #13 on:** 14 Feb 2006, 08:40 pm »

Quote from: Joey Skinner

I believe there is a false bottom containing the crossover underneath the port.

Correct, there is a 4" (3 1/4" net) false bottom to house the Xover. The cabinet was extended 4" from the recommended plan, but the net interior volume is the same the cabinet drawing.

wmeckle · « **Reply #14 on:** 14 Feb 2006, 08:43 pm »

Quote from: Loftprojection

Wow, very nice. I'm actually considering your method for the round edges. I was going to try wrapping veneer but I have yet to find a 3/4" rounding router bit and I'm afraid it's going to be quite difficult to wrap the veneer. Your method seems quite a bit more "idiot" proof and I am an idiot! haha

I used 3/4" and 3/8" quarter-round oak for the edges, so there was no shaping involved.

Blaine_M · « **Reply #15 on:** 16 Feb 2006, 05:49 pm »

You don't need a 3/4 inch router bit, a 1/2 inch will work fine if you use the right veneer. I used the buble free stuff from Oakwood Veneer and did a 1/2 inch radius. Although I'm not sure mine look as nice as the others shown above.....

http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00022bw.jpg

Loftprojection · « **Reply #16 on:** 16 Feb 2006, 06:36 pm »

Quote from: Blaine_M

You don't need a 3/4 inch router bit, a 1/2 inch will work fine if you use the right veneer. I used the buble free stuff from Oakwood Veneer and did a 1/2 inch radius. Although I'm not sure mine look as nice as the others shown above.....

http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00022bw.jpg

Well they sure look pretty good to me, if mine look like that I'll be soooo happy!

So you were able to bend the veneer with 1/2 radius, good to know. Is there also an effect to the sound? I think I read somewhere a while ago that rounded corners provide a better sound quality then square ones although 1/2 vs 3/4 corners is probably totally insignificant for the sound quality...

Blaine_M · « **Reply #17 on:** 16 Feb 2006, 06:39 pm »

I've read that somewhere also. No idea if 1/2 inch radius would be different than 3/4 for sound. I know I really like how mine sound though! I'm in the process of doing some room improvements with bass traps and wall pannels, should be even better when I'm done, sure blows the old B&W's I had away......oh, I also added 3 inches to the bottom of the speaker, didn't change the internal volume or dimmensions any, just wanted the tweeter to be a tad higher and below the ear.

gprro · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 Feb 2006, 07:57 pm »

What kind of veneer and stain did you use? They look really nice.

Blaine_M · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 Feb 2006, 08:12 pm »

I used a 2 tone pecan veneer found at Oakwood Veneer. It is what they call the bubble free stuff. I did not stain at all, just poly. I used a wipe on poly from General Finishes. 3 coats of clear gloss and one final coat of semi-gloss, didn't do much sanding until right before the final coat, the finish turned out great.