A/V-1 & A/V-C Completed (Long) - Pictures Available

tasievert · « **on:** 7 Mar 2003, 07:02 pm »

Most of you guys have probably forgot more than I'll ever know about Home Audio, but a friend of mine, Jonwb, gave me the audio itch. One day, Jon sent me to the GR Research website and said I should build myself some A/V-1's. I've always enjoyed hearing good music or a good movie on a great system, but when to vast majority of the sound running through our speakers is Barney and Power Rangers (I have a 5 year old, 3 year old & twins 11 months old), I just couldn't justify spending major $$$$$ on some speakers. To make a long story short, I typically buy what I want when I want it, so I have trouble coming up with ideas for what I'd like for Christmas other than a Ferrari F-40. Since the F-40 isn't going to happen, I told my wife it would be cool if Santa would bring me the kits for a pair of A/V-1's and an A/V-C. Well, Santa brought me what I wanted

. The last couple months, my wife has been cool enough to give me an hour or two here & there (remember, I have 4 kids 5 and under) to work on this little project. Attached are the results.

click here

Although Brian Bunge's patented full wrap veneer design looks great, I didn't want to have to pay him royalties.

Therefore I did my own little thing with these. I call the front edge treatment a "Variable Bevel". Anyone out there wishing to do this can feel free to do so without worrying about me looking for royalties.

How do they sound you ask. Barney never sounded better!

Special thanks to guys like Danny Richie who are willing to offer cheapskates like me an opportunity to listen to a high quality sound by investing a little sweat equity. He's been extremely willing to help. Also thanks to the other guys like Brian Bunge out there for making me realize I can do this and offering advice at no cost. Thanks to Jonwb for talking me into this, but most of all, thanks to my wife for being so cool to have Santa bring the kits and give me the time to act on them.

randog · « **Reply #1 on:** 7 Mar 2003, 07:17 pm »

Solid Oak???

They sure look nice.

Randog

tasievert · « **Reply #2 on:** 7 Mar 2003, 10:11 pm »

Quote from: randog

Solid Oak???

Not exactly Solid Oak. I made 3/4" MDF boxes to the plans provided by GR Research. I then wrapped those boxes with with solid oak to get the appearance I wanted. I don't have calibrated knuckles, but I'm pretty sure they pass the knuckle wrap test.

Thanks for the compliments!

Tim

randog · « **Reply #3 on:** 7 Mar 2003, 10:51 pm »

Pretty damn sneaky Tim!

Bitchin too, I might add!

So, you hollowed out the oak to fit around the mdf, or is the whole box bigger?

tasievert · « **Reply #4 on:** 7 Mar 2003, 11:12 pm »

The exterior of the box ends up slightly larger than you would get with the patented Brian Bunge full wrap veneer method. The MDF box I started with is the same size as the standard. I then put 7/16" thick oak panels on the back, top,& sides and 3/4" oak on the front. If you don't consider the thickness of the veneer, my finished box exterior sizes are roughly 7/16" taller, 7/8" wider and 1 3/16" deeper than the standard veneered box.

If you look closely @ the pictures, you can see the overlaps of the oak panels.

Tim

Danny Richie · « **Reply #5 on:** 8 Mar 2003, 02:00 am »

They look good.

What a great wife you have.

I believe I remember her calling. I don't get a lot of female callers wishing to place orders.

I recall a really strong Wisconsin accent.

She probably hung up the phone thinking I was the typical Texan with my slow talking/red neck/John Wayne sounding voice... and probably thought I had all but a sixth grade ed-ge-ca-tion.

I am really glad to hear you loved the speakers.

Thanks.

tasievert · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 Mar 2003, 01:20 pm »

Danny, Thanks for the compliments!

As far as the accent goes, I have no clue what you're talking about. My wife doesn't talk with an accent. It's the rest of "all y'all" that talk with an accent.

Actually my wife said you were very helpful and she enjoyed talking to you. You weren't hitting on her were you!?!

Speaking of my wife, we sat down to watch a DVD the other night after we got "the tribe" put bed. At the beginning where the THX screen comes up my wife looks at me and says "WOW, our old speakers never sounded like that! This is cool!"

Thanks again for doing all the hard work to make it possible for DIY guys like me to hear great sound at a reasonable price! Keep up the good work! Next Christmas, I'm hoping for Santa to bring me a kit for a pair of the A/V1+'s (When is the 8 ohm version going to be available?) . Then the A/V1's can get moved to the back for Rear duty.

Bones · « **Reply #7 on:** 11 Mar 2003, 05:17 pm »

Very nice work! You should be very proud of how well they turned out.. especially considering how tough it is to find time to get anything done with the little zoo at home! I've only got 2 kids under 4 yrs.. and I go nuts.. I cannot imagine having 4! hehe

I have a question for those in the know... regarding the hardwood fronts... since the box was made to dimension with MDF.. and the oak was added to it, would the sound change much due to the drivers being mounted into the extra oak panel in front?

Nice work.. and I'm hoping to get started on my AV-1+ set soon.

Jamie