Starting my N3 build

jeffh · « **Reply #60 on:** 6 Sep 2012, 05:54 pm »

You might want to check with a couple of your local spray in bed liner companies. They might spray them for you cheaper than you think. I took a wagon to one a while back and they only charged me $30.

jparkhur · « **Reply #61 on:** 6 Sep 2012, 07:14 pm »

Ditto. I took a set of speakers to the motorcycle shop and they sprayed it candy blue when they had a car come in. 50 bucks and a sixer of beer... JP

Captainhemo · « **Reply #62 on:** 6 Sep 2012, 08:52 pm »

Thanks for the tips guys... I may look into that although transporttion is tough for me. I'm legally blind so no driving for me and I don't know many folks with trucks anymore.
I can pick up a quart for $4 0 or the spray bombs are $10/can. I used 2 cans on my sub so I'd gues 2 or 3 cans / speaker.

-jay

Captainhemo · « **Reply #63 on:** 11 Sep 2012, 07:39 pm »

Well, after a weekend of many blunders, I finally got these cabinets painted this morning. It was all supposed to be done by Sun eve but that just didn't happen.

Inded up finally spraying them with the Home Depot truck bed liner, the same stuff I used on my sub. It isn't rubbery at all and gives a nice satin black, lightly textured final finish. The TBL sprays on surprisingly thin and soesn't hide imperfections as well as you'd might expect so getting the cabinets prepped well is key.
After spraying them with 2 coats, I'm pleased with how they turned out. Here are a few pic...

Going to go work on getting the xo's mounted to the access panels and installing the elecra tubes

-jay

django11 · « **Reply #64 on:** 11 Sep 2012, 09:05 pm »

Looking good...

Ron · « **Reply #65 on:** 11 Sep 2012, 09:31 pm »

Your N3 TL's look great Jay. I like the satin black finish. Great job!

Ron

Captainhemo · « **Reply #66 on:** 14 Sep 2012, 12:07 am »

Got a quick question about the poly fill behind the top woofer and the tweeter....
I can see from the diagram where the poly fill needs to be but how loose do I place it in there ? Just loosely fill the chamber ?
Also, I'm assuming that the rear holes in the br ace B's get covered up with poly fill ?
Thanks guys

-jay

Ron · « **Reply #67 on:** 14 Sep 2012, 12:14 pm »

I recommend lightly filling the back half of the cabinet with poly-fil. By lightly filling I mean the poly-fill should be fluffed out and not compressed.
The rear hole in the brace will be covered but this is not a problem.

Ron

lacro · « **Reply #68 on:** 15 Sep 2012, 11:46 am »

Jay,
They are looking great! You are really moving along.. How did the glue slurry thing work for you, was it difficult to sand, any problems with paint adhesion?

Larry

Captainhemo · « **Reply #69 on:** 15 Sep 2012, 04:09 pm »

Quote from: lacro on 15 Sep 2012, 11:46 am

Jay,
They are looking great! You are really moving along.. How did the glue slurry thing work for you, was it difficult to sand, any problems with paint adhesion?

Larry

Hey Larry
Yes, the finish turned out really nice. I'm glad I covered the cabinets with the glue/water mixture. It rolled on very easily and once it was dry it sanded very easily. I started with 240 grit and did a final sand with 400 before priming.
No issues with the primer sticking to it.
Surprisingly to many, the truck bed liner from home depot sprays on very thin so having a well prepped surface is important.. Also worth noting, the TBL from home depot is not "rubbery" at all. It drys to a hard , durable finish. I ended up using about 2.5 can on the 2 speakers.
Almost done, just need some help with the soldering and it will be payday

-jay

SteveRB · « **Reply #70 on:** 16 Sep 2012, 05:26 pm »

any chance we can get a close up photo of the finish, maybe under a couple different lighting scenarios...?

Captainhemo · « **Reply #71 on:** 16 Sep 2012, 11:49 pm »

Quote from: SteveRB on 16 Sep 2012, 05:26 pm

any chance we can get a close up photo of the finish, maybe under a couple different lighting scenarios...?

Here's 1. I tried to get more but my battery died in the camera. I'll get a few more later. It's tough to get many different lighting conditions in the garage, it's either flash or no flash

The finish is quite textured. When you run your hand over it, it feels like say a very worn sheet of 240 grit sandpaper.

There are also a coule shots of my sub in my gallery that show it not too bad.

-jay

Captainhemo · « **Reply #72 on:** 17 Sep 2012, 06:38 pm »

Here are a couple more close ups. Sorry the lighitng isn't a whole lot different

And here is my first attempt at a grill. The front side definitely looks better than the backside ! I used contact cement to attach the cloth and found it difficult to keep things neat . Hopefully I'll do better on the next one.

-jay

jparkhur · « **Reply #73 on:** 17 Sep 2012, 07:01 pm »

Sometimes this works sometimes not.. I cut a grove in the backside of the grill with a table saw or skill saw and then use window screen rubber to push in the fabric to hold it in. I also then hide small staples in the grove to keep the kids from tearing the fabric off.

JP

Captainhemo · « **Reply #74 on:** 24 Sep 2012, 07:55 am »

man , I am so happy and sooo impressed

I finally finished up the N3Tl's this afternoon Unfortuinately I had to go with terminals to connect the wires to the drivers for now as I haven't been able to line up anyone to do the soldering for me. I did solder the terminals to the wires as I was able to do this out in the open where I could easily use a magnifying glass to see what I was doing When I line someone up to solder the drivers , I'll have that done but for now this will do.

Once the drivers were installed, into the basement they went

Final touich was to put the badges on

These sound better than I could have ever hoped. I haven't heard a lot of "expensive " ( i know it's realative) speakers so I'm not able to make comparisons but these reproduce so much more than I have ever heard. There is a lot of really tight bass that blends great with my sub. There is definitely more "punch" in the room. Mids and highs are amazing as well. I'm hearing symbols in music that I had never heard before. It's great
hehe, I'm so friggin happy, perma grin for the evening

Got to go listen to some more tunes !!

-jay

TrungT · « **Reply #75 on:** 24 Sep 2012, 08:15 am »

^^^^^
Great job, looking good.

Ron · « **Reply #76 on:** 24 Sep 2012, 09:45 am »

Your finished N3 TL's look great Jay!! Good job !

I knew that you would be very pleased with their sound quality. The N3 TL's are really wonderful sounding speakers. Very clean and detailed. Thanks for all the pictures you posted during the build for others to see.

django11 · « **Reply #77 on:** 24 Sep 2012, 11:27 am »

I'm glad you like them J. Nice job too!

rajesh · « **Reply #78 on:** 24 Sep 2012, 06:37 pm »

Great job Captainhemo. You guys rock.

lacro · « **Reply #79 on:** 24 Sep 2012, 09:22 pm »

Jay,
They look great parked next to the TV

. Are they for double duty, HT and music? When are you going to build a center to go with them? Unlike me, you sure made quick work of those cabinets. Glad they sound good, that's the most important thing. Those are on my short list now that I have been bitten by the bug....

Larry