[monkeypimp]

 

So I managed to put these together out of some old scraps lying around in the garage.

Actually the cabinets are from john over at diyspeakercabinets.com.....great guy to work with!! Highly Recommend!!  But wait till he finishes the matching Zebrawood stands!

Here is what they look like.  The Marantz gear just arrived and I put it in place temporarily but it is not hooked up yet. I am getting a new dresser/chest saturday and once  that arrives I will take a pic with the whole setup in place. I am also saving my impressions until I let them break in.  But off the bat my impression is WOW! And the next thought is how much are those sonicap platinum bypasses?

this is the right one:


and the left one:

[cujobob]

They turned out very nice...he does good work.

[Ron]

 Great looking speakers! John did a very nice job building them. Anxious to read your listening impressions and see the pictures of the finished sysytem with the matching stands .

[RogerB]

WOW!!  Those are beautiful!!  John did my cabinets also in cherry and i love them.

Love the Marantz equipment!!!   Just bought a Marantz 2220B receiver that should arrive in a few days.  Started a thread a few days ago inquiring about how a vintage Marantz receiver might sound with the N2X's.

Looking forward to your impressions of this combo!!

Roger

[dvenardos]

 

[Ron]

  What performance upgrade options did you install?

[monkeypimp]

  What performance upgrade options did you install?

Mills resistor, sonicaps and No-rez

[Ron]

Monkeypimp

 The .1 uf Sonicap platinum bypass caps are $29.00 each + shipping cost. You need a total of four (4) for the tweeter high pass filter. If you want to do the woofer low pass filter too you will need an addition two ( 2) caps. The platinum caps make the most noticeable improvement in the tweeter circuit. What I did with my N2X's was install the .1 uf platinum bypass caps in the tweeter high pass filter and .1 uf Sonicap Gen. 2 bypass caps ( $2.70 ea)  in the woofer low pass filter. This combination sounds really great. I highly recommend the platinum bypass caps especially in the tweeter circuit. They really do take resolution and detail up to a whole new level.

[corndog71]

For those who want to ease into these upgrades, I've found that bypassing just one of the tweeter caps (I went with the closest to the tweeter) with a platinum and the other tweeter cap with a gen2 still makes a significant improvement. 

[grubyhalo]

Those are pretty! 

[monkeypimp]

Well I finally got it all in the semi permanent setup. Once I get my Speaker stands then the Speakers will move off the left and right of the dresser.  The lamps will then be on the dresser.  Oh and to talk about the sound....I have never had such a satisfying listening experience.  Before I hooked up the Marantz gear I had a Class D amp hooked up with 14 watts per channel, it sounded great but once I hooked the Marantz up to these I was BLOWN AWAY. The bass output tightened up and the overall sound became more balanced.  I am not great at explaining what I hear but the entire wall sounds like the music is coming from it. It is awesome!!!  Here is what is in the system:

Marantz 3200 preamp
Marantz 140 amp
Thorens td166mkII
Superdac 707 usb from Computer (all flac)
UFW-10 (with 650 watt amp, the good one)
N2X monitors

[Ron]

 Your setup looks very nice. I am sure it will look even nicer when you get the new matching stands. Please post pictures when you get them. I have a question about the damping material in your N2X's. In addition to the No-Rez what other type of damping material did you use?

[tesseract]

Wow, nice setup, dude! Digging the vintage Marantz gear, they look new.

[monkeypimp]

Wow, nice setup, dude! Digging the vintage Marantz gear, they look new.

I really was amazed at how new they looked when I got them.....There are ZERO scratches on the front, back, sides and bottom.... I might have paid a little more than I should have but....they even came with the original manuals and schematics that don't even look like they were touched. 

[monkeypimp]

Your setup looks very nice. I am sure it will look even nicer when you get the new matching stands. Please post pictures when you get them. I have a question about the damping material in your N2X's. In addition to the No-Rez what other type of damping material did you use?

I didn't use anything else.    I actually intend on putting something on the inside but don't know what is the right thing to use....Danny is sending me some screws that were missing for the terminal cups. I could only find zinc  locally so he si sending me some that are black...when I get those and have to open them up I will just take the woofers out as well and put something in. Not sure what I should use, Danny recommended poly fill or fiberglass insulation.  Any other suggestions?

[Ron]

 You can use either poly-fil or fiberglass but I suggest Acousti-Stuf. Madisound and Parts Express both sell Acousti-Stuf. The way I install it is as follows:

1. Weigh out 1 oz of Acousti-Stuf per speaker using an ounce scale. You can find ounce scales at places like Walmart, Kmart, or Bed,Bath,and Beyond in the house goods section.

2. Tease out the Acousti-Stuf so that it is fluffy.

3. Evenly fill the back half of the enclosure ( center brace back) from top to bottom. If you use Poly-Fil use the same method. I don't recommend fiberglass.

 You might want to experiment with both Acousti- Stuf and Poly-Fil to see which one you like best.