[MichaelHiFi]

Michael, 

You have lots on your plate.  I'm impressed with the speakers, the preamp and the room.  If you ever feel the need to get out of San Jose and come north to take a break from the build we're here for you. 

It is another weekend of barrell tasting.   

On my way Cheeseboy. Need to get out of dodge.

That's what everyone is talking about at work - my overflowing plate!

Every person that sat around my office including those who used to sit next to my office got terminated from work Monday. Now I have a .4 billion dollar project weighing rather heavily on my shoulders    But at least I didn't get laid off!

What a minute, did I read "barrell" tasting? Should I BYOG? (bring your own glass).

And now that I received my amps, I'm inclined to build some nice boxes 

I'm getting closer but building boxes isn't something my feeble carpentry skills wants to do.

Is it easier to laminate or stain   

[Jonathon Janusz]

Michael, for what it is worth, I was very happy with the cables I got from Jason at Virtue Audio that I used to connect my servo subs.  He will do custom lengths and the price is very reasonable.  Keep in mind that your "subs" are actually playing all the way up to 200Hz or so,  not just doing "sub" duty, if that changes your thoughts regarding cabling.

Good luck with the sub boxes. 

[MichaelHiFi]

Michael, for what it is worth, I was very happy with the cables I got from Jason at Virtue Audio that I used to connect my servo subs.  He will do custom lengths and the price is very reasonable.  Keep in mind that your "subs" are actually playing all the way up to 200Hz or so,  not just doing "sub" duty, if that changes your thoughts regarding cabling.

Good luck with the sub boxes. 

200Hz on the servo's? Thanks for the good advice Jonathon. I'll check them out. 

[Cheeseboy]

BYOTB - Bring Your Own Turkey Baster.  Gotta get the wine out of the barrell somehow.

And now back to our regularly scheduled speaker build. 

[MichaelHiFi]

Update:

The binding post screws on one of the top mounted drivers has the wrong size screws as in, too short. These are the screws that attach the voice coils to the binding posts. When I received the driver the posts were dangling with the voice coil wires and associated hardware which are the little plastic washers werre found floating in the box. I think I've retrieved those little washers (bummer if one is missing). The problem that I've discovered is that the screws are simply too short.  You cannot isolate and attach the binding posts which is why they fell off in the first place. They were maybe being held on by one thread. Now I need to replace the screws which involves resoldering or recrimping the voice coil wires. Not that big of deal but another task and hope I don't screw it up. That would be bad. 

One of my power wires is about 3" too short to the post.  I can either crimp to extend wire or replace entirely from the cross-over which is painfull because it attaches in 2 places on my cross-over components. The logical side of me says crimping and soldering to extend the power wire would make no diffrence in sound. The anal side of me wants to spend an additional hour replacing the wire and possibly harming the components on the board.

Last night I realized that their are 2 open panels that attach to the back side of the speaker. (So that's where those panels go )

It also looks like they would attach by dowels located on the brace that accepts the speaker and amp terminals. I assume the upper attachment is via screws and not glued in case of any need to replace the sub(s). It looks like one could add grill cloth to the back aside as well - kinda cool.

I think I have enough bits and pieces to get these speakers playing Saturday. I'm taking tomorrow off to help out the wife unit so I'm hopeful to progress on building some boxes and assembling some interconnects.

Wish me luck.

[jtwrace]

The anal side of me wants to spend an additional hour replacing the wire and possibly harming the components on the board.

Yes, you should do it.  I'm sure your little man will gladly help.   

[MichaelHiFi]

OK so I replaced the wire.

Trying to wire a speaker and watch over my 21 month old boy leads to mistakes. Mistakes cost you wire and sooner or later you run out of wire. I ran out of wire 

The amp boxes are built. I stained them with Sedona red. Tomorrow I'll begin the polyurethane coats, maybe 4. Took most of the day to build the boxes but I have very little woodworking talent.

Here are some pics for sharing.

[corndog71]

Everything looks fantastic.

[SoCalWJS]

Looks like you're getting real close Michael!
Hope it all comes together and you get to listen to them soon.
Good luck!

[MichaelHiFi]

I'm spending way too much time on these. What did they say "the devil is in the details".

The amp boxes are complete unless I decide to add a 5th coat. If they look any better, I might have to make jewelry boxes out of them.

Wiring is complete except for the cables that exit the amps. Still waiting to polyurethane to dry. Then I wire up those ends and test.

One issue I have is that the preamp has only a single RCA output. The amp has only an RCA input as do the sub amps. I have a pair of Monster Y connectors and have some long runs of DH-Labs BL-1's cable I can terminate with RCA's and at least have connectivity.

I stuck a pair of Electra cable interconnects that Danny sent me and did some listening with the family. At first I was enthused. Then I stuck my MAC pallidiums back in and didn't note much of a difference that I thought I heard. It hard comparing cables! You just cannot make snap judgements especially when the new set isn't settled in. So back in went the Electra's.

We listened. Damn my turntable sound great after a rebuild of the cartridge. 

I mean really good. We compared TT to DAC on when I queued up a Journey file. It sounded pretty thin so I queued the same song from the Journey album then switched back and forth. Guess you know what one. It was unanimous. Damn that cart is sounding good.

I played some Joan Osbourne "Relish" on my digital setup. I don't actually believe I've heard her sound better. I swear I saw my Tyler Decades perform a high 5 after playing Crazy Baby and bow after Dracula Moon. It's as if the Decades know they're in for some serious competition.    I swear, I would have not even thought about building these speakers if the Decades sound as they do with tubes. Even the modest amp that's so graciously on loan is sounding great through the Decades. With my critical ears I can hear a bit of glassyness, probably attributed from the Onix and the soundstage isn't so precise. probably attributed to my room, and sure there could be a little more separation with instruments, probably attributable to my analness. So I'll play with those Electra's for a bit then swap back in the Pallidiums and see what I hear.

Sometime tomorrow the V's should be playing. I'm hopeful the Decades don't pull any funny business while were asleep.   

[MichaelHiFi]

Sub amps are completed. Just need to assemble 2 sub interconnects, test and ready to fire.

Wiring on sub amp question

Servo coil - thin black/red wire on amp
Servo coil + thin red wire on amp
Driver coil - goes to black wire on amp
Driver coil + goes to red wire on amp

Can I get some values using my ohm meter to check? Anotherwards, turn amp on and check voltages at speaker drivers? That would be cool. 

[Danny Richie]

Your ohm meter will just measure resistance, not polarity.

Plug it in and send it some test signals to check it out.

[MichaelHiFi]

The Super V's are playing 

 

[jtwrace]

The Super V's are playing 

 

and?

[Guy 13]

The Super V's are playing 

 

So ?

[SoCalWJS]

The Super V's are playing 

 

Congrats!!!



(.........and the early impression verdict is....???????  )

[Tyson]

If they are anything like the v2's were, they sound very good, very dynamic, but a bit thin out of the gate.  They keep getting better for about 200 hours and then level out.

[PDR]

If they are anything like the v2's were, they sound very good, very dynamic, but a bit thin out of the gate.  They keep getting better for about 200 hours and then level out.

Exactly the same with my V-1s.........ENJOY!!

[MichaelHiFi]

OK quick mow the lawn and 1st impressions break.

Me. Neil Young Prairie wind "Dreamer". Warm enveloping sound. Begin dialing in the subs. RTA on a iPhone showed about a 15% hump between 100 and 240Hz. Not bad. DIaled down the sub a little more but haven't yet returned to RTA. Hung a few more Indian rugs at the request of my wife. Next up, let's see how the bass works, Porcupine Tree. Bass works. 

Very tuneful bass, I'm impressed. Warmer sounding the the Decades and of course we expected that. No subs needed here!

Next up Sarah Brightman. Wow, frickin awesome. Voice is a little rough from raw electronics but wow. Wife told me these are the best speakers she has ever heard. I told her she can't say that because they are not broken in yet. 

She's excited 

We got better staging too but still have to play with placement.

I need extra ears!

No no rez has been applied yet. Still gotta spike em too.

I'm using some Monster subwoofer cables that are about 1.34 miles long. Is that bad 

I hear music - gotta go!

[SoCalWJS]

I got extra ears if you ever have another GTG!! 

Glad to hear that the initial impressions are good - they are only going to get better!!