[nlitworld]

My nephew is just getting old enough to start enjoying real music Last year for his 12th birthday I told him we would build a set of speakers so he can properly enjoy listening to music. I bought the Parts Express C-Note MT kit and upgraded a couple tiny things in the crossover, but not much. I finally finished them and went a little "extra" on the painting to make them fun. Still need to install polyfill and break them in a bit. I have to give credit where it's due in that for a cheap speaker it sounds pretty damn good. I think the kid is going to have some fun with these.

As for the color, he decided on a black cherry, so we went balls out with twinkle pearls and candy colors. Without the light they look almost black, but with light the sparkle can be seen from space.


No light


With light





Luckily I had all the materials around (perks of the day job) because otherwise the paint job on these would blow them out of the C&C crowd. They were a lot of fun to build and I can't wait for him to sit and enjoy them.

-Lloyd

[viggen]

You are a cool uncle.   

[Peter J]

Again, you set a high bar, Lloyd. Really gorgeous! Gives me the itch to build something...

[mgalusha]

I love the paint, super cool!

[JCarney]

My Granddaughter and I built the C-Note with internal amp. She painted hers pink and decorated it with stickers from something she likes. It is a decent little kit. Viggen is right, you are a cool Uncle.

JCarney

[nlitworld]

Gives me the itch to build something...

Well now that you have that fancy new spray gun, what are you waiting for? Lol.

My Granddaughter and I built the C-Note with internal amp.

Watching the progress on your granddaughters build was what inspired the idea. He had fun helping glue the cabinets together and couldn't understand why so many clamps were necessary. I just kept saying, "trust the process".

All in all, I think I got more enjoyment out of the building side but it was fun to rent the kid for a few afternoons and spend time with him. I hope he remembers some of the cool stuff he learned.

[JCarney]

Watching the progress on your granddaughters build was what inspired the idea. He had fun helping glue the cabinets together and couldn't understand why so many clamps were necessary. I just kept saying, "trust the process".
All in all, I think I got more enjoyment out of the building side but it was fun to rent the kid for a few afternoons and spend time with him. I hope he remembers some of the cool stuff he learned.

Wow, Thanks nlitworld, I am humbled. My Granddaughter asked me the same question. My reply was not as helpful as yours, I told her when it comes to clamping up something you are gluing together, you can never have to many clamps.    I am jealous of the very cool paint job. That is one of the sweeter painted cabs I've seen. Very cool.

JCarney

[Poultrygeist]

Another great sounding C&C kit from Parts Express are the Overnight Sensations. Didn't build them for my grandson but when he's old enough he will probably get these.



 

[TRADERXFAN]

My nephew is just getting old enough to start enjoying real music Last year for his 12th birthday I told him we would build a set of speakers so he can properly enjoy listening to music. I bought the Parts Express C-Note MT kit and upgraded a couple tiny things in the crossover, but not much. I finally finished them and went a little "extra" on the painting to make them fun. Still need to install polyfill and break them in a bit. I have to give credit where it's due in that for a cheap speaker it sounds pretty damn good. I think the kid is going to have some fun with these.

As for the color, he decided on a black cherry, so we went balls out with twinkle pearls and candy colors. Without the light they look almost black, but with light the sparkle can be seen from space.


No light


With light





Luckily I had all the materials around (perks of the day job) because otherwise the paint job on these would blow them out of the C&C crowd. They were a lot of fun to build and I can't wait for him to sit and enjoy them.

-Lloyd

Beautiful!

Is the paint itself expensive? I thought it was all the manual labor that created the costs... like what would you charge soemeon to do seomthign like that for example?

[nlitworld]

Beautiful!

Is the paint itself expensive? I thought it was all the manual labor that created the costs... like what would you charge soemeon to do seomthign like that for example?

Lol. By comparison, materials on this set weren't AS stupid over the top as I've done in the past like my NX-Studio build, but let me see if I can break down the cost/process a little bit.

To replicate this color you'd be about $500 in materials using the nicer quality materials. For labor I only had probably 25 hours into the paint job on this set. So quickly you could see a $700+ bill if I were to pay myself below minimum wage. Lol. My NX-Studios had over 50 hours of labor and I stopped counting materials cost when I was over $700 (lots of stupid sparkly special pearls and several applications of clearcoat). That one would be a pricy one to replicate, which is why I haven't fixed the couple scuffs and chips on them yet. 

To be fair, you could get a "close" black cherry color in a standard basecoat/clearcoat scenario like a normal car paint job and costs would be significantly lower, and lower quality paint would reduce costs even more. Since I have it all available in my garage, I choose to go full-tilt rediculous candy colors like (or better than) on big $$ hot rods. Most of the labor time was on sanding body filler and primer. Then spraying color on these was a long 8 hour day due to so many layers. I chose not to spend another 5-10 hours polishing this set because I knew my nephew was antsy pants to finally get his speakers and I had other honey-do list items to work on. So in the end, "something close" for color could be done on the hobbyist scale for probably $250 in materials.

I really hope this doesn't discourage you from trying it some day. It really is a lot of fun, and a real prideful moment upon completion. Plus the worst that can happen is you sand it all off and try again. If you ever want to take on this style of project, send me a PM and I'll walk you through the process and materials list for getting it done right. 

-Lloyd

[y_chromosome]

That's nice! A wonderful way to introduce the next generation to the "sport" of hi fi, and Making in general