I am back again, this time to tell you all that I just finished making a set of AV1-RS surround speakers from GR-Research and with Danny’s guidance and patience.
Ever since I finished the center Channel I knew I wanted a pair of surround speakers and while researching the options available, the pros and cons of their offerings; well, they failed to convinced me; specially the Bipole, Dipole, Quadpole, Omnipole, whatever dispersion technics they use and the real estate some of them required. So, when I ordered the X-CS I became aware of the AV1-RS and kept those in my mind, the reflected sound idea got me, and while building the center channels, I was thinking about placement in my current room setting and because of my unusual situation, I decided that the best place will be to hang them on the ceiling. I ordered the set and began construction, everything went smooth and the only thing I did different was to calculate the sides and cut them to their respective size and use biscuits throughout to help align and hold everything during assembly. Again, I used templates for all the driver openings.
Unlike the X-CS, I decided to go with standard paper-backed veneer and French polishing; both are first time for me, but all went fine and had no major problems. Of course, I debated the idea of which glue to use for the veneer and at the end I went with contact cement….for a first time the recommendations are to use an iron and dry glue, but it did not convinced me, the glue that holds the paper-backed veneer is water-based.
I have pictured in my mind that trimming the excess veneer was probably the hardest part, but it was not so….the way I approached this task was with 120-grit sand paper starting in a 45 degree and angling progressively to meet and match the other edge, then switched to 220-grit for the final touch up; it worked out alright. The only place I use a router with specialized bits was for the connector, tweeter and woofer openings.
I did seal the inside joints with a continuous bead of silicone and soaked the internal faces with a coat of boiled linseed oil for moisture protection and then assembled each speaker with a handful of pillow stuffing. The crossover is located in the bottom and attached with brass screws to avoid problems with the inductors. I did not have any issues putting them together, except that I was a bit generous with the wiring lengths and ended up buying more from Danny.
Unless I missed something on the forum, I do not think I have seen any member mounting these on the ceiling. Here I had a bit of challenge as well; I did not want to deviate from Danny’s 45 degree design for hang them on the wall. So, while I was working on them, my head was also thinking in a way to hold them flushed to the ceiling using the same components. I thought maybe in the future I may have space and side walls and I would like to have the option to hang them there without further modifications. My solution was to slide the speakers just as they were to hang on the wall, but from the sides and ½” or so from the edge of the side that faces the ceiling, drilled an 1/8” hole thru the side wall of the speaker and ¾” into the part that attaches to the wall; once the speakers are fully in place, I inserted a #10 nail in each of these 1/8” holes to secure everything the speakers in place, so far it is been working fine.
As far as how it sounds? Well, let me tell you that most comments you have read here in the forum and others are so true, sorry, I do not have the technical verbiage to transmit my impressions, but in short I will say that these sound ESPECTACULAR!! And I am still playing around with my pre/pro settings. They have added a sort of 3-D effect to my whole set up and often times I forget they are there; I would probably ignore them had I opted to paint them the color of the ceiling. I am in a 5.1 set up due to the constraints of my room and honestly, that is just enough for me.
I idealized a more enveloping, diffused sound, concentrating more in what sounds better in my situation and in my room, a sound that is coming from all over the place; ignoring technicalities or room acoustics, positioning, imaging, etc. I think I found that and more with the AV1-RS speakers; knowing that not all speakers and their respective technologies are perfect, the selection of the AV1-RS is a very good compromise for my ears and my situation.
Interestingly, I been listening to the same content, mostly music; the X-CS brought detail to live, but these baby speakers managed to extract even more detail and I now hear new sounds, and for the few times, my wife agrees with me on this fact. On and all, thanks Danny for a great design not only for the sound they produce, but for making them so compact and wall friendly for those who do not have the space to accommodate other type of surround speakers; this fits like a glove in my place.
