Joe wanted HT3's in a dark walnut burl.
The problem with most burls is that the sheet sizes are quite small. Which normally means a lot of splicing and a lot of waste. So with two criteria as our goal (dark and large enough for HT3's), we set out to locate the just the right batch of burled walnut veneer. The search took a while, but a veneer vendor I really like dealing with let me know when he was about to get a batch that met our requirements.
As soon as it arrived, he shot a photo and I passed it along to Joe. Joe emailed me immediately and said "go for it!" Since I had some very nice claro walnut I had already purchased for the project, as soon as the veneer arrived we went straight to work.
As the project was nearing completion, Joe decided to pull out all the stops and have the cabinets hand-rubbed to a high gloss finish. When the speakers were done, a high-end woodworker friend of mine stopped by and commented, "they look like they should be on the dashboard of a Jaguar." You know, he had a point. They did remind me of trim in a high-end car.
Notice that the grills are not in standard black. A gentleman who applies grill cloth for us happened to have some very expensive grill cloth left over from a high-end home theater project (where it was used to cover entire walls). I thought it would be a very nice match with the burled walnut. So we took a gamble which I think paid off handsomely. Joe thought so too.
Happy listening Joe!
- Jim
