[PhilMiller]

A year and a half ago, my college-age kid (Josh) and I started on a great father-son project:  two pairs of HT3s.  Josh picked up the kits from Al on his way back from downhill biking in British Columbia.  An audition of the final product whetted his appetite for the speakers, but interruptions (summer school, school, summer internship, more bike trips) limited our work time to a few days during each school break.

This winter break, though, we got his pair just about done -- sanded and ready to finish -- before he had to head back to school.  This pair is in birdseye maple, with solid wood baffle/base and veneered sides.  I built up a vacuum bag system for the veneering (plans from joewoodworker.com) and it worked great - highly recommenced.

We had the speakers playing briefly before starting starting the veneering.  As expected, they sounded great!     They're now in Josh's garage in San Diego, waiting for 8 coats of wipe-on poly.

Hopefully, during spring break we can finish my pair in movingui (Nigerian satinwood).

Phil

[yooper]

Nice! 

What an awesome project to share with your son.  
Here is to a great memory the two of you have made together...... 

Mark

[poseidonsvoice]

Gorgeous, simply gorgeous! 

Anand.

[Daygloworange]

The tapered miters on the front baffle are a nice touch. Not easy to do.



Well done. 

Cheers

[Carl V]

The tapered miters on the front baffle are a nice touch. Not easy to do.



Well done. 

Cheers

Yeah any tips on doing that.....I've done a few with a jerry rigged sled for a table saw
but there's gotta be a better way.....& I would never want to attempt this a'la Avalon
with multiple tapering miters...and expect them to be perffectly symetrical.

Nice job.

I need to do a nice birdseye maple again.  Can a dye be used to darken the tone
with out losing the nice birds eye....figuiring?

[PhilMiller]

I considered doing it on my tablesaw, but instead invested in a trim router (Bosch Colt) with tilting base.  This made the job a lot easier, and practically foolproof.  I made a guide trimmed for the angle of cut (37 degrees), and a bunch of spacers in thickness increments of 1/16 inch, plus a few even thinner.  This let me take 1/16 deep cuts - necessary with the 1/4 shank bit cutting over its full 1 1/4 length.  Final cuts were even lighter, at a low speed, to minimize chatter marks.  No burn, and almost no sanding required.





I once used dye to darken some birdseye maple plywood.  It still had plenty of figure when done.



Phil

[TerryO]

Phil,

Very nice work indeed!

RAW Acoustics's HT-3 speaker is one of my favorite speakers of all time, and that's with the "old" crossover, as I haven't heard the updated version yet. I can well imagine that you'll spend many years with your pair, as will your son with his.

What gear do you plan on using with your new speakers?

Best Regards,
TerryO

[PhilMiller]

It took so long to build the speakers that I upgraded to the new crossover before getting around to assembling the originals. 

My current setup is pretty old - Hafler preamp and DH-200 amp, Dahlquist DQ-10s, Rotel CD player and Sangean HD tuner.  After I finish the speakers, I'll be building a Tripath-based amp -- a pair of 41Hz Amp10's, bridged, in a dual-mono configuration.  I'm not sure what I'll do about a pre-amp replacement.

Phil

[dorokusai]

Absolutely stunning.

Mark

[saisunil]

It took so long to build the speakers that I upgraded to the new crossover before getting around to assembling the originals. 

My current setup is pretty old - Hafler preamp and DH-200 amp, Dahlquist DQ-10s, Rotel CD player and Sangean HD tuner.  After I finish the speakers, I'll be building a Tripath-based amp -- a pair of 41Hz Amp10's, bridged, in a dual-mono configuration.  I'm not sure what I'll do about a pre-amp replacement.

Phil

Hi Phil,

I'd upgrade the CD too. I have had rotel in my system before.
I highly recommend Modded CD Player from TRL - Tube Research Labs. Paul is a great guy. You are looking at about $1200 to $2000 for one of the finest digital playback. He makes a great Pre-amp too.

http://tuberesearchlabs.com/contactus.htm

The website has not been updated for years now - give Paul a call - he is a gem.

All the best
Sunil.

[TerryO]

I have to agree with the poster's recommendation of Tube Research Labs. I know a fellow that has a pair of their GT-800 amps and they really sound good. BTW: Paul was the guy that recommended my Radio Shack CD player at VSAC a few years back (no, I'm not kidding!).

Another possibility is John Tucker's modded Player which is also highly thought of.

Personally, I'd just buy a good DVD player, as most of them will play everything except SACD, and that format's not going anywhere. They can be bought cheap enough that you can just buy another one if a superior chipset hits the market, instead of having spend even more on expensive "upgrades" that probably won't sound much, if any, better.
However, YMMV.

Best Regards,
TerryO

[RAW]

Phil
The father and son team did a stunning job.
The over all look of the narrow front baffle and the edges nice work.

So how is the progress on your pair of HT3, I know you have had the kits for a long time.

When the finished HT3 are broken in LMK what you think of the over all project.

 

[PhilMiller]

Al,

We worked on both pairs in parallel for quite a while, so my boxes are built and crossovers are assembled.  I still have to machine the baffles and then do the veneering.  However, I've got to catch up on a lot of errands (not to mention my day job) before I get to log more garage time, so it will be several months before they're done.

Thanks again for all your support.

Phil

[Wind Chaser]

I had the privilege of hearing these with the EnABL treatment in Al's home and they sound great.  They have deep and weighty LF extension that takes you captive into sub territory without the sub.

[PhilMiller]

Do you have any sense for how much/what kind of difference the EnABL treatment makes?

Phil

[Wind Chaser]

Do you have any sense for how much/what kind of difference the EnABL treatment makes?

Nope.  Only heard with the EnABL drivers.  Nice looking speakers.  I would have been tempted to take them home but a doctor beat me to the deal.  My room is a little too small for them anyhow.

[RAW]

We will soon have a pair of the drivers treated and untreated in the same cabinets full range for people to listen to side byside.