[RAW]

These have been in the works for a custom i have to admit for a few years, but not just working on these. My customer also added in a few other custom jobs on was a set of
 MONSTER sub cabinets

 

Then a small set of large MT cabinets for a pair of Accuton and LCY ribbon




Well i must say 99% of the issues I had put in my lap as I recieved all the pieces from a second party who did the CNC on all the pieces and a rough (I MEAN ROUGH) assembly of the pieces.



All of these pieces required more work than we even can think of to get them to this point, all the small pieces stacking pieces for the array were all sanded plus or minus 1 1/2" and i do mean 1 1/2".These stacking pieces are all filled with sand and dowled together.over 60hours of sanding and making the stacking pieces stack and stack straight.Then move on to the large tower pieces which again were in very poor shape to start with.

The towers.
Were to start. both of them were cut so bad we had to remove a lot of material from them as they had a u shape to attach the tweeters to but the other party cut them plus or minus 1.25" and the tweeters could not fit at all in the U mount so we had to make a few changes to the design.





So it was best to cut the tweeter U shape off



 and then we did a rabbet on the mid baffles for the tweeters to mount to.
Then the tower pieces also were not sanded even so the veneer was not going to wrap correctly. Sanding them correctly would remove to much and make them very thin in areas( as they are filled with sand) this could no be done.
So out came 2 gallons of bondo.Yes 2 gallons.(we used 3 gallons on the sub cabinet as they split all over from being stored out side)
Recut the tweeter mount straight now.




At the point of veneering we ordered several custom made book matched Paduck on a dura flex backing.
All the pieces were veneered to match grain from top to bottom





Rear view



Here is the second cabinet all during rough assembly as they are off to finishing tomorrow.


The tops of all the stacked pieces will be painted black along with the driver locations and behind the tweeters.

Next onto the woofer boxs which these arrays will sit on.

[RAW]

One thing was learned with this large stacked MDF projects.
MDF cracks
MDF is very absorbant to the ambiant air moister.Some pieces were stored outside before i got them and they cracked almost 2ft long and spread over 1/4" on the large sub cabinets.This ment we had to reglad the large sub cabinets for a total thinkness of almost 3" by the time we were done.
Never use lag bolts and tighten them un equal on cabinets.



This twists and torques the MDF in every direction.Also use them uqually around the cabinet on all 4 sides.This can be a issue as you have to cut for driver holes.As shown on the sub cabinets above.Notice all the cracks and the torqued front as the lag bolts could not be used here as the 18" sub drivers need to be mounted here.The photo shows what happened to the MDF and all the cracks 48hrs after they came to me.Moisture is killer on MDF never store MDF outside even for a short time frame.
Even using baltic birch in with MDF the cabinets split.

Just glad now these are out to the finish shop.

[S Clark]

They turned out very cool, but holy s.... how may hours are in those things???  

[RAW]

Time put into the arrays only.$$$$$$$$
Lets just say to correct the issues with what happend to the pieces before we got them from over sanding and miss alingnment of pieces Sanding only over 100hrs. This does not include all the bondo what was needed and resanding them.Sanding,sanding filling sanding.The trick was all the pieces that stack had to be sanded to sit and line up square.The towers again needed a lot of work to make them useable.

Then put in the veneering time to match all the grain.

The photos show the piece with a few sanded others had not but really they all match in tone colour.

[TomS]

Wow Al.... those are just stoopid sick 

[Bill Baker]

Wow Al,
 I hope you are being compensated for the time you have in these. What's something like that go for? Or don't you want to say.
 Hope you were wearing a mask

[RAW]

Wow Al,
 I hope you are being compensated for the time you have in these. What's something like that go for? Or don't you want to say.
 Hope you were wearing a mask

Thanks They really do look better once they are all sanded and standing together, but i was in a hurry to get a photo before they got loaded and off for finish.

Cost well the Accutons are $500.00 each plus the G1 around the same cost.$$$ The customer will be using the DEQX  for these so no crossover work    aa

Lets just say Paduck even wereing a mask,gloves and tape your sleaves.You still end up having a orange water shower :lol:Now I will post pictures once we get the finish done but my custom shop for finishing and my time frame will not see these till the new year.

Now the 4 TC 12" drivers which will sit under each side

[Hank]

Wow, Al, what a laborious undertaking, and what creative shapes!  I can't wait to see the finished cabs.