[Jaytor]

I purchased a Bully kit and flatpack as a Christmas present for my daughter (to build with her). We tried dry fitting the pieces for one of the speakers to make sure we understood how everything goes together. The cabinet construction is considerably more complicated than any of the other speakers I have built so I have some questions.

I noticed that the flatpack is a bit different than the drawings. There are two "F" braces and no "E" brace. We test fit the plate amp with the braces installed and everything fit ok. I didn't test fit the woofer, but I assume this will fit OK as well.

Also, the front baffle is not radiused along the edges. How important is this? I don't have the tools to do this myself, so if it's necessary, I will have to find someone that can do this. Is it sufficient to do a slight softening of the vertical edges using a sander, or is a bigger radius important?

What's the best strategy to glue these up? There are a lot of pieces that need to fit together. It seems like the second front baffle piece "I" should be glued to the front baffle before doing anything else. Can the internal braces be glued separately before building the rest of the cabinet, or is the best strategy to glue everything at once and work as fast as possible. I'm planning to use Titebond III which seems to have about the longest working time of any of the high quality wood glues.

I think I have read that the inside surfaces should be painted in order to prevent moisture absorption. This is going to be pretty challenging after glue up. Is this important? If so, does it make sense to paint some of the pieces before glueing (masking the glue surfaces)?

Any recommendations on which surfaces to apply no-rez? Should the sealed section for the tweeter/midrange drivers be stuffed with polyfill? Any recommendation on how much?

What's the recommended location for the crossover network? Bottom of the cabinet under the woofer?

Thanks,
Jay

[JCarney]

Oh goody. Been waiting for one of these. I am even more excited because it is with your daughter. Memories are about to be made.

Thanks Jaytor,
JCarney

[WGH]

What's the best strategy to glue these up? There are a lot of pieces that need to fit together. It seems like the second front baffle piece "I" should be glued to the front baffle before doing anything else. Can the internal braces be glued separately before building the rest of the cabinet, or is the best strategy to glue everything at once and work as fast as possible. I'm planning to use Titebond III which seems to have about the longest working time of any of the high quality wood glues.

If you are careful you can glue up in stages. I made big, complicated entry doors for 40 years, many had to be glued up in stages. The trick is to dry clamp the outside pieces around the glued up center section, that way everything stays in perfect alignment. Always do a practice run, you don't want the glue up to be out of square, the front and back baffle should be included. This is where the careful part comes in, a few drips in the wrong places will make the next day interesting.

Titebond doesn't stick to clear packing tape or masking tape.

[Tyson]

Yep you can glue in stages as WGH says. 

No need to paint the inside of the cabinet, moisture problems is a myth. 

Norez should be used evenly, throughout.  My preference is to use slightly more norez near the drivers vs further away from the drivers.

[Kegman21]

Did you try strapping the sides to see if there are any tolerance in the braces. That way you can glue the braces in after the sides and bottom. Then the braces.

[mlundy57]

Also, I'd recommend Titebond Extend. It has a longer open time then III.

I'd put No-Rez on any flat surface.

Depending on how it fits, I'd put the crossover either behind the tweeter, or if that's not enough room, the tweeter circuit behind the tweeter and the woofer circuit behind the lower woofer.

Just like with an X-CS Bravo/Encore, I'd put 1oz or so of polyfill behind the woofers.

If you cover the inside surfaces with No-Rez, there would be much of anything to paint.

[BrandonB]

I had the opportunity to listen to the Bully's at Danny's when I was picking up my kit.  I wouldn't mind at all having the bully's instead of the speakers I got.  They sounded that good.

[Danny Richie]

I purchased a Bully kit and flatpack as a Christmas present for my daughter (to build with her). We tried dry fitting the pieces for one of the speakers to make sure we understood how everything goes together. The cabinet construction is considerably more complicated than any of the other speakers I have built so I have some questions.

I noticed that the flatpack is a bit different than the drawings. There are two "F" braces and no "E" brace. We test fit the plate amp with the braces installed and everything fit ok. I didn't test fit the woofer, but I assume this will fit OK as well.

Also, the front baffle is not radiused along the edges. How important is this? I don't have the tools to do this myself, so if it's necessary, I will have to find someone that can do this. Is it sufficient to do a slight softening of the vertical edges using a sander, or is a bigger radius important?

What's the best strategy to glue these up? There are a lot of pieces that need to fit together. It seems like the second front baffle piece "I" should be glued to the front baffle before doing anything else. Can the internal braces be glued separately before building the rest of the cabinet, or is the best strategy to glue everything at once and work as fast as possible. I'm planning to use Titebond III which seems to have about the longest working time of any of the high quality wood glues.

I think I have read that the inside surfaces should be painted in order to prevent moisture absorption. This is going to be pretty challenging after glue up. Is this important? If so, does it make sense to paint some of the pieces before glueing (masking the glue surfaces)?

Any recommendations on which surfaces to apply no-rez? Should the sealed section for the tweeter/midrange drivers be stuffed with polyfill? Any recommendation on how much?

What's the recommended location for the crossover network? Bottom of the cabinet under the woofer?

Thanks,
Jay

The drawings were made so that it will be easy for the average person to build them. So all of the joints are butt joints. The CNC cut flat pack is a lot more advanced. It allows for all the braces to inset into slotted sections. The front and rear baffles use some joinery too.

On the flat pack, none of the corners are rounded so that the customers have a choice of how thy want to build it. If all of the edges were rounded then the customer would be unable to roll veneer on it as veneer will only roll in one direction. Rounded edges at least on the vertical sides are highly recommended.

Standard wood glues are fine for assembly.

You do not need to paint any inside surfaces.

It will be easier to lay in all of the No Rez before it is all assembled.

The brace at the bottom does not go all the way across. It is just a short brace on each side. That allows you to more easily slide in the crossover after assembly and mount it to the floor of the cabinet.

[Jaytor]

Thanks everyone. That's very helpful.

Danny - How noticeable do you think it would be if we didn't round the front edges? My daughter isn't going to be looking for the perfect soundstage - tone, dynamics and clarity are going to be a lot more important to her I think.

[Danny Richie]

Thanks everyone. That's very helpful.

Danny - How noticeable do you think it would be if we didn't round the front edges? My daughter isn't going to be looking for the perfect soundstage - tone, dynamics and clarity are going to be a lot more important to her I think.

It definitely makes a smoother response. I would round the vertical edges if possible.

[mlundy57]

Thanks everyone. That's very helpful.

Danny - How noticeable do you think it would be if we didn't round the front edges? My daughter isn't going to be looking for the perfect soundstage - tone, dynamics and clarity are going to be a lot more important to her I think.

You can round the edges with a sander. Then hand sand to even things up

[Tyson]

Avoid diffraction from the side edges of the speaker by rounding them over would be my advice, too.

[jeffh]

It definitely makes a smoother response. I would round the vertical edges if possible.

Just curious...Would a 45 degree chamfer accomplish the same things as a round over?

[Tyson]

No, a rounded surface is needed.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Just curious...Would a 45 degree chamfer accomplish the same things as a round over?

It's better than a hard 90 degree edge but a round over is still the much better way to go as it provides a smoother transition.

[Presb4]

Jaytor,
Take a read of my build post on the GR Brutes. Many of your questions I detailed on as I experienced them in my build, typing up what I learned and what may help others in the future.

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=186937.0

[Presb4]

Jaytor,
I was only going to only round the vertical edges of my Brutes and leave the top and bottom horizontals square. But I changed my mind after I realize the weight of the speakers and started to think about durability. Sharp edges will be easy to chip out / damage in the future if you ever want to move the speakers around. Edges that are rounded over are harder to damage, and easier on your hands when you pick these heavy speakers up. Plus if damaged, a rounded over edge will be easier to repair without it looking bad.
Go get you a cheap 80 dollar hand router and 1/2" quarter round bit and rout the edges, its an easier job than it looks, and will give you slightly better sound to boot. 

[g3rain1]

It's better than a hard 90 degree edge but a round over is still the much better way to go as it provides a smoother transition.

Isn't that frequency dependent? Longer waves shouldn't care as much, right?

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Isn't that frequency dependent? Longer waves shouldn't care as much, right?

correct, it's mainly affects the upper-mid and into the tweeters range.
(Typically within the 1-5Khz range, but can vary depending on the distance from the driver(s) to the edge)

[Tom899]

It's better than a hard 90 degree edge but a round over is still the much better way to go as it provides a smoother transition.

This brings up a question. If I order the Bully flatpacks built and ready to paint, will the edges be rounded?