Covid had one good outcome for me ... I fell back in love with music and hi-fi. I somehow stumbled upon Danny and Research, watched all the videos, and decided, why not. I watched Peter's cabinet building videos, and ending up ordering the flatpack from him. How to finish? Black or some other paint? Heck, I can barely work a rattle can. Veneer? No experience, and I sensed anyone can have nice wood covered speakers. So, I thought and thought and ... how about I just express my love and appreciation of some some the albums and artists that have made an impression on me since I was a kid. You will note below my tastes are kind of eclectic.
The Peter's flatpack arrived, and after a weekend was done.
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I had to wait a little while for the GR Research parts. I went ahead and ordered the upgrades recommended by Danny. I took some screen shots of Danny's videos to make sure I had the right connections, and within an evening the crossover were wired, tied down to the board, and the wires connected.
I added a few coats of white primer to the cabinets, installed No Rez and some poly. Tube connectors and port tube installed, and crossover installed. At this point I added just some temporary crimp connectors, installed the drivers, and then had a moment of truth test--did they work, and the braket set-up I had rigged up support their weight. Test passed, removed the drivers, and went back to cabinet finishing.
Then got serious with the artwork. Lots of scissor work! I wanted some to be more prominent than others, and also wanted to have a nice mixture on all panels. I even had to worry about the bottoms given the installation.
Modpoge was the glue/sealer I used. I spent lots of hours trying to make sure things sorta lined up. If I had it to do all over again I might have done some things differently, but perfection doesn't live at my house.
Several coats of modpoge, with some sanding between coats over several days. Probably 7-8 coats in total, over a week. They say it takes up to a month for the stuff to fully cure. I plan on later hitting it with some poly.
Placement of the speakers in my home office has been a challenge as I am constrained by the layout and furniture to put them up on the wall. So, I made some bracket extensions, used Rockville adjustable brackets, and ...
So, far, probably have about 100 hours on the Encores. Clarity in tweeter and midrange, and a very wide sound-stage is what I notice more than anything. I have a small Emotiva SE-8 sub to help out at the lower end, but the Encore bass isn't boomy, a fear I had since they would be near back and side walls.
So all in ... I probably have about $850 in the project to total, including shipping, the parts, flatpack, then glue, paint, sandpaper, etc. I know I could have bought several different speakers at various price points between $600-$1000, that might be as good or even better. That said, this has been a fun project that kept me occupied for several weeks, allowed me to practice my home improvement skills, learn in detail about things like capacitors, resistors, drivers, cabinet construction, and in the end let my very limited bit artistic expression show through. Plus, they sound better than any speaker I have owned. I know I can't put these speakers up for sale on EBay, but maybe someday my daughters or grandkids will be fighting over this one of a kind speaker set.
David
