[timc90]

Thanks for the pro-tip! I chose to make all the vinyl layer cuts first then break a blade off and cut all the foam. Felt it was easier to keep cuts straight and all that way.



Glue up is done. Again for some reason no matter how much I tried to tighten the clamps, I wasn't able to get a small "lip" to be routed off later like in Peter's video. Not a big deal I hope.



Pleased the no-rez pieces fit well.

I'm sourcing for a bypass caps to place in parallel with the tweeter Sonicaps but other than that, can someone please confirm whether I've got things hooked up right? Thank you!

[nlitworld]

Wiring looks correct, but you'll want to edit the photo to scribble out the values of the parts on the screen. To be courteous and maintain intellectual property, you don't want to air all the secrets.  That is super tidy inside with the no-rez so nice work there.

A few people used the no-rez on the top ramp and then tried a different material to get a little more reflectivity and airy top end sparkle. I know NXSTUDIODRUMMER posted about it a while back so I tried and liked it as well. Basically an ability to "season to taste" on how much upper treble presence you get. I'll poke through my Amazon list and see if I can find the link.

-Lloyd

[timc90]

Ah thanks Lloyd for the guidance on protecting IP! Apologies for my oversight. I've modified my post and blanked out the values.

And thank you for the confirmation on wiring being correct, I can proceed to soldering tomorrow with peace of mind

[nlitworld]

Link Here to the top ramp material mod. Get these finished and run them for a while. Then if you're curious, test it out. I liked it, but your room and your gear may prove different. We're all excited to see progress, so keep it up! Just wait til you get to first plug them in. 

[timc90]

Thanks Lloyd!

I wasn't fond of screwing the crossover board directly into the cabinet base so I decided to make a mounting base of sorts.



With the beams screwed onto the crossover board, I applied wood glue on them and placed the assembly onto the cabinet base.



Once the glue dried, I unscrewed the crossover board, leaving the mounting base in the cabinet.



I thiiink that completes all the cabinet assembly needed, so I can start sanding, staining and lacquering now.

[tom739]

Looking back at the photo of your completed speaker cables, I noticed what looks like discoloration of the copper seen in the clear jacket wire. Is that greenish oxidation on the copper wire?

[timc90]

Looking back at the photo of your completed speaker cables, I noticed what looks like discoloration of the copper seen in the clear jacket wire. Is that greenish oxidation on the copper wire?

Yes there is some discoloration though I'm not sure if it is solder or oxidation. Even though I feel I did not have the soldering iron applied for long...

Will it cause issues? If yes, should I cut off the oxided section and try again? Not sure what I'd do differently though... I'm not confident I'd be able to get a good solder joint using a cooler iron or applying for a shorter time 

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Yes there is some discoloration though I'm not sure if it is solder or oxidation. Even though I feel I did not have the soldering iron applied for long...

Will it cause issues? If yes, should I cut off the oxided section and try again? Not sure what I'd do differently though... I'm not confident I'd be able to get a good solder joint using a cooler iron or applying for a shorter time 

It's definitely oxidation. Since it's mainly at the ends, it's most likely caused by corrosive oils from your fingers when you were initially making the cables. Wearing clean gloves and/or washing your hands regularly while working on them will help prevent the issue.

It's not going to completely destroy your sound quality or anything but it will affect it, especially if it continues to get worse.

If you do decide to trim and redo them, I would recommend de-soldering the current spades as it should make it easier to solder the new wires onto them again than trying again with fresh spades.

[tom739]

Yes, it looks like oxidation to me. Not sure about the corrosive oil theory. Are you suggesting natural skin oil, or some other oil?

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Yes, it looks like oxidation to me. Not sure about the corrosive oil theory. Are you suggesting natural skin oil, or some other oil?

Yes, natural skin oils, as it's often a combination of oil, sweat, dirt. etc. which will be corrosive.

[timc90]

Thanks all for the input! Guess it must have been the blood, sweat and tears that went into stripping the 96 strands of wires and on the tube connector end, separating out the thickest two gauges and twisting those together.

If I redo them, I'd probably have to redo all 8 connectors while wearing gloves because I guess in some way or another, all of them have been affected but the corrosion is just hiding behind the opaque white sleeves/ heat shrink.

For now I have used a marker to indicate where the corrosion stops and will monitor whether it gets worse and creeps further along the cable. Eventually I'll redo them but want to first enjoy some music for awhile. All work and no music makes Timothy a dull boy.



I'm basically done with dying and lacquering the cabinets. No garage for me so the lift lobby it is. Thankfully it's an open air lobby so there's ventilation (which also means there's wind. And dust. And bugs. And...)

Determining the right length for the internal speaker wires caused me some anxiety. I was worried if I cut as I go like in Danny's video https://youtu.be/QT-GKorvjak?si=ESDg3RaSKYjLr5uR, I'd run out of wire. But if I cut what I had based on simply dividing what I had into 2 short, 2 medium and 2 long sections, that I'd find some sections were too short.

In the end what worked for me was:
- 200mm red wire from tube connector to cross over
- 500mm red wire from crossover to woofer
- 500mm red wire from crossover to tweeter
- 500mm white wire from crossover to woofer
- forgot to measure the white wire from tweeter to crossover to tube connector but there's definitely sufficient white wire for this. I referred to Danny's video to estimate the appropriate length.

For heat shrink this is what I cut:
30mm 6 red and 3 white
45mm 2 white - for the joints between wire and crossover component



Soldered the crossovers together and confirmed that the lengths of wire would work. Think I could have done a better job with the foil inductors, but connectivity test using a DMM checked out so it should work even with the ugly joints.

Letting the lacquer dry for a few days before I polish it... and move on to final assembly!!!

[timc90]

A couple of weeks ago I finally completed final assembly! One of the M165NQ drivers I had wasn't working but thanks to Danny, Hobbs and team for replacing it at no cost! It took weeks for my faulty one to reach them from Singapore and then for the replacement to reach me, hence the long interlude since my last post.

Somehow I found the screws that came with the Neo3s to be too thick to use so I used some thinner ones that were smaller in diameter than the width of the slot cut out in the Neo3 plate. The bottom two screws are really hard to drive in because there's very little access space. In hindsight, probably shouldn't have pasted the no-rez on before driver installation.





Not sure if I put enough polyfill in the cabinet...



Some photos up close. I have not yet polished them.



I nicked the lacquer on one of them while moving between rooms. Was really pissed with myself but after cooling off I decided to, taking inspiration from the Japanese practice of kintsugi, to gild it with gold leaf. I think it kind of works.



They sound amazing.



Much better resolution, tonality, imaging and top end compared to my Klipsch Forte IVs, though a bit less dynamic (perhaps due to being less sensitive than the Fortes?). I can't wait to complete the Double Troubles and fill out the bottom end nicely. And also cut out 80Hz and below from NX Studios.

My Willsenton R800i tube amp, which I use with my Forte IVs, did not synergise well with the NX Studios and bass was very very loose. So I swapped over to my solid state Roksan K3 integrated amp which really tightened up the bass. Strangely I'm experiencing distortion from the Neo3s on loud, high register piano keys (even on a 1990 recording, "Kissin Plays Liszt") which I know is anomalous. Very grateful for Hobbs and Danny for providing me with great support via email though, and a replacement pair is on the way.

Hopefully swapping them in will resolve the issue. If it doesn't, the root cause analysis is going to get a whole lot more complicated 

[Bryce22]

Hey Timothy
You may want to check how you wired the tweeter.  Yours's is reversed from most of the builds for the NX Studios.  The red Positive should go to the larger terminal on the left

[timc90]

Thanks Bryce22 for pointing that out! I believe the schematic I received called for inverting the polarity. Let me double confirm with Hobbs 

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Hey Timothy
You may want to check how you wired the tweeter.  Yours's is reversed from most of the builds for the NX Studios.  The red Positive should go to the larger terminal on the left

It depends on where the customers flips polarity, you can flip it at the crossover, or you can flip it at the drivers.

[timc90]

Thanks Hobbs for the guidance! I flipped it at the drivers I believe, as I have the red wire coming off the sonicap lead (as seen in a photo earlier in this topic).

[timc90]

So I swapped in the replacement Neo3 tweeters and the distortion remained so it's definitely not the tweeters!

The next suspect was the amplifier, so I decided to try plugging it, a Roksan K3, into my PS Audio Power Plant 5. Lo and behold, the distortion all but disappeared! A tiny bit remains but it is much much less noticeable now.

Guess I'm now in the market for a new amp  Aiming for an Orchard Audio kit.



Glued up the Double Trouble H-frames. I found the interference fit was way too tight so I had to sand the panels quite a lot to thin them down in order to get everything mating properly.



Rescued a refrigerator shipping box from the dump downstairs to use as a drying "booth" so I could let lacquer dry in the lift lobby. Thank lady luck for sending the box my way!

I wasn't so lucky with installing the SW-12-16FR subwoofer drivers though...



Somehow the screw holes in the baffle did not align with the holes in the driver so all the screws were going in very slanted. In an email, Hobbs acknowledged it's a known issue that they've been trying to resolve for awhile. So if you encounter this, please PROCEED VERY CAREFULLY.

While tightening the screw, I was simultaneously trying to twist it into a perpendicular position to the front baffle. My screw head slipped out of the screw and... I tore the cone surround...



I was distraught.

Unfortunately purchasing a replacement is too costly. Thankfully with the help of some friends, I found a shop that repairs speaker drivers. I brought it in and they helped me to bond it back.



I'm not sure what adhesive the shop used, but Danny suggests using clear silicon (though I hope you, reader, will never have to go through this ordeal).

[dayneger]

I wasn't so lucky with installing the SW-12-16FR subwoofer drivers though...



Somehow the screw holes in the baffle did not align with the holes in the driver so all the screws were going in very slanted. In an email, Hobbs acknowledged it's a known issue that they've been trying to resolve for awhile. So if you encounter this, please PROCEED VERY CAREFULLY.

While tightening the screw, I was simultaneously trying to twist it into a perpendicular position to the front baffle. My screw head slipped out of the screw and... I tore the cone surround...



I was distraught.

Wow, that seriously stinks!     There's no way a stable CNC kit should be messed up like that.  Not cool.

Had you posted earlier with this challenge, I'm sure you'd have received guidance to rotate the driver and drill new holes.  No, you shouldn't have had to have done so, but as a rule forcing screws off axis rarely succeeds in a pleasing manner!  Trust me, I've tried too many times in my life... 

Glad you found a solution, and congratulations on the excellent progress you're making with your builds!

[Nick B]

So I swapped in the replacement Neo3 tweeters and the distortion remained so it's definitely not the tweeters!

The next suspect was the amplifier, so I decided to try plugging it, a Roksan K3, into my PS Audio Power Plant 5. Lo and behold, the distortion all but disappeared! A tiny bit remains but it is much much less noticeable now.

Guess I'm now in the market for a new amp  Aiming for an Orchard Audio kit.



Glued up the Double Trouble H-frames. I found the interference fit was way too tight so I had to sand the panels quite a lot to thin them down in order to get everything mating properly.



Rescued a refrigerator shipping box from the dump downstairs to use as a drying "booth" so I could let lacquer dry in the lift lobby. Thank lady luck for sending the box my way!

I wasn't so lucky with installing the SW-12-16FR subwoofer drivers though...



Somehow the screw holes in the baffle did not align with the holes in the driver so all the screws were going in very slanted. In an email, Hobbs acknowledged it's a known issue that they've been trying to resolve for awhile. So if you encounter this, please PROCEED VERY CAREFULLY.

While tightening the screw, I was simultaneously trying to twist it into a perpendicular position to the front baffle. My screw head slipped out of the screw and... I tore the cone surround...



I was distraught.

Unfortunately purchasing a replacement is too costly. Thankfully with the help of some friends, I found a shop that repairs speaker drivers. I brought it in and they helped me to bond it back.



I'm not sure what adhesive the shop used, but Danny suggests using clear silicon (though I hope you, reader, will never have to go through this ordeal).

I have the Orchard Starkrimson Ultra amp that I bought when I auditioned it during the tour. I continue to be amazed how good that amp is. If you get the kit, pls let us know how you like it.

[timc90]

Thank you @dayneger for suggesting rotating the driver and drilling new holes. Will definitely try to remember that solution if I ever run into such a situation again.

Great to hear that you love the Starkrimson Ultra @NickB! What speakers are you driving with it?

Been busy finishing the last leg of the build.



Wired up the woofers. It was hard to access the solder tabs on the woofers after mounting them so I just used the spring loaded plunger slot things (I'm sorry I don't know what the proper name is).

Might not be the highest quality connection method but with the male speak-on head plugged in, at least the connectivity check passed.



Unlike the NX-Studio's cabinet's slightly irregular inner surface areas, it's easy to plan out the No-Rez pieces needed for the Double Trouble because it's all just rectangles.