This is reads more like a novel than a description...
I ordered 2 AV3's, 2 AV1's, 2 AV1RS's, 1 AV3S, and a 12Asub/pr combo. I also ordered 2 sheets of bookmatched walnut from Joe woodworker and other goodies.
I had already built the sub box, its a vertical tower similar to North Creek design I liked. Both sub and pr are foward (corner) facing with 4 baffles in the box. Box construction went flawlessly. The same can be said for the 7 boxes I built for all the speakers. Jasper Jigs are a life saver. I cut everything too long and hit it with a flush trim bit and that system served my very well.
I was thinking this was a good sign. So I then started to finish the box, it was going to be low gloss black. During this time I was also finishing the bases for the AV3's and sand filled stands for the AV1's (center surround). I started with a sanding sealer, followed by a primer (all brush on). Then moved to a black spray bomb. That took waaaay to long and after sanding between coats it was just too much. So i moved over to rustoleum black, that took OK, but didn't have the finish look i wanted after I tried my poly. So After sanding and refinishing 2 times at this point, I moved to milk paint and a good old foam roller. Paint covered really well and looked really good. After 3 coats all was smooth and sanded, i hit it with poly. I used varathane blue diamond and it looked good wet, but when it dried, it didn't absorb since the paint sealed the finish.
At this time our basement decided to draw water into my MDF for the Finished but not yet veneered boxes for the AV3's, AV1's, AV3S, and bases for the AV3's. So I took a nap and rebuilt 5 boxes and 2 bases. MDF expands to over 1" when it gets wet and flakes off. So I had to compensate with sanding and durahms rock hard putty. Boxes built a second time. Back to finishing.....
So i sanded back down and tried to wipe on the H20 based poly. No luck. Sanded again and bought minwax wipe on oil based poly after repainting and sanding the finish was just how I wanted. Brilliant. It only took me 2 weeks to build the sub box and bases and 4 months to put the finish on them.
Now on to the veneering process. Which by the way i can give lots of not to do or to do tips. I layed down glue on the cut veneer panels and on the boxes. A ok at this point. I now veneered the AV1's AV1RS's and AV3S. I HATE to veneer rounded edges with wood on wood veneer. If you round your edges, use paper backed. Got thos done and trimmed. Now I had serious issues trying to roll the edges on the AV3's. I couldn't hold the roll for 43" and it got whacked out. So i just stopped and quit for a bit. I emialed danny, who sent me to al, who suggested the roundover trick. So i bought a 5/8" round over it, cut up my AV3 panels and went to rouding over. And viola....it worked. So I now had all 7 boxes ready to stain.
I laid down some dark walnut, wiped it dry, waited a week and then laid down 2 coats of my blue diamond. Looked wonderfull. I was a proud papa. I sanded with some 600 grit to get the peeks down and a smooth finish. Cleaned with water and wet rag. Let it dry and hit it with a final coat. Chaos. Something crazy happened between sanding and the last coat of poly. This isn't my first rodeo and I don't know what happened. Still to this day don't know. So I cursed, very carefully sanded everything back down to bare wood and laid down more walnut. Took really well since I used the painting technique. Laid down my poly again and the same thing happened almost instantly. So I then sanded the finish with 600, hit it with my trusty wipe on poly (minwax wich i will always use on my speakers until they stop making it or i die) and viola. The end result is about 70% of the orginals, but good enough for me becuase i spent more time re-working the boxes then I did building them. All in all about 6 months of building, rebuilding, finishing, and refinishing.
The next chapter in this is the sound....
Thanks,
Jeremy
