[Danny Richie]

Dang that is a lot of snow.

[Light-Echo]

Every once in a while you get a good idea. I am going to copy more or less Ed's front baffle idea as seen here.
What I'd really like to do is take Ed'd idea and do it in granite. http://www.graniteland.com/stone/alcantara-black-granite-exclusive Cool or what!!

I sent an e-mail to John tonite. I'm expecting this is a really expensive proposition. If it's do-able though...

regards
Dave

[Light-Echo]

It's been a while since anything exciting has happened but the Ninja has finished my outboard crossovers and they're in the (gasp) mail. He sent me along this pic which is much like showing a piece of art off without taking the canvas all the way off. Can't wait to get them so I can decide on a final pedestal for them.



I'm off to the east coast in 14 days to visit the in-laws and finish off the cabinets!

KFD

[Light-Echo]

OK then. 1st question. I received this sheet amongst the paperwork for the N3. What is it for? The black spot with the red dot in the middle(ish) isn't center.

 

Now. I have had my cross-over network down with Sean for sometime whilst we played with different ideas about presentation, as I was going to mount them outside of the cabinet for a few different reasons. First let me say that it was a pleasure dealing with him and what he created for me is a work of art:

 

I set it on my M-901 so you can get an idea of the size.

Secondly let me add that if you need that extra touch, the Skiing Ninja is the place to go ( http://www.skiingninja.com/ )  He know's his (and Danny's) stuff.

But I have a further question now that I have received the network. This is obviously wired so I can bi-amp if I choose correct? It's shown as such now that I finally got around to looking at Danny's wiring diagram. I don't seem to recall anyone posting about this. Opinions on the matter would be greatly appreciated. I am going to mount this network on some kind of old petrified wood display / stand with the wires going thru immediately terminating in some Vampire binding posts. If there's a viable option to bi-amp then I will need several more sets of posts.

I'm heading out on vacation tomorrow to the east coast. John and I are going to finish the cabinets!


Regards
KFD 
 

[The Ninja]

Dave,

For your first question, the sheet allows you to line up the posts on the network with the block you are going to mount it on.  Check out the install guide for the speaker these were originally designed for:

http://www.skiingninja.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/xstatik-nm-qxx-guide-v1.pdf

You can ignore the off-center dot in the middle area.  Remember this design was adapted from another network but parts of the linked guide are still applicable.

Bi-amping - yes, you can however most do not.   It is up to you if you want to try out different amps for the tweeter and woofers.  There will be lots of differing opinions on this one

[Light-Echo]

Ok. I'm on the East Coast, weathers been not so conducive to golf so we've pounded in some good hours on the speakers. The wifes on her way back here but I've got a few minutes to post some pics so:
First the Team:

That's John on the right and myself on the left. Like the zoot suits eh!!


We've been using biscuit joints to put a lot of it together. For the speaker baffles I'm going with Purple Heart.

Stuff ways a ton and is hard on the blades!


I laid out the No-Rez as per somebodies cut sheet but that didn't add up. I had more than enough in the end though.



The wife has shown up so one more pic untill tomorrow(ish)



I've learned a lot so far. Amongst other things: the devils in the details!!

Dave

[Light-Echo]

Well. I'm going to do a detailed description of the build process sometime in the near future. Share some of the mistakes that happened along the way and things I'd do differently. I DEFINITELY have an appreciation for the fine art of cabinet making and veneering. We had at one time considered going with a Bubinga veneer and John had a specific paper backed version in mind but we were short on time so we ended up getting a walnut at a local lumber store. Not paper backed. And definitely not the way to go if you are trying this kind of thing for the first time. This stuff is a PAIN. And we had straight edges. I can't imagine the finesse needed to work this stuff around a beveled or rounded corner.
Today we got far enough where we could finally get a first coat of clear gloss on one of the speakers.




These speakers are akin to being identical twins in that no other pair of speakers in the world will look quite like these two, yet because of our build process where we would work to a certain point on one speaker and then move back to the other, they are not exactly the same. Sometimes we would decide to do something a little differently because the results would still be the same but we learned from the first attempt. Sometimes we would make a blunder on one and have to repair it, where we would get it right on the next try. I don't know that I would use Purple Heart again either. Wickedly hard stuff with tricky grain to work with when using the router. It holds a screw like nothing else though!

More to come.

Dave

[ebag4]

Very cool going with the solid PurpleHeart for the baffle Dave, I like that a lot!

Best,
Ed

[dvenardos]

Wow, looking great!

[Light-Echo]

Thanks Ed, Don.

We're going to clear-coat 'em to the nines. What's really going to finish off the overall appearance are the Purple Heart bases John is finishing up for these. Then we have to crate them up for their 7700km trip back to Yellowknife. Then I have to install the speakers and wiring and figure out how I'm going to do Sean's outboard network. Something like this maybe;



More to come.

Dave

[Light-Echo]

Here's a couple of pics of the rough finish before they get crated for their journey home:





Lot's to do yet but it sure nice to see it this far along. The table to the left there has a finish of what I'm looking for. Any thoughts on where to go from here to accomplish that would be most welcome. The veneer is Walnut with several layers of poly clear coat at the moment.


Dave

[ebag4]

Looks like you are making good progress Dave!  I hesitate to ask at this late juncture, but the width looks wide (probably due to the contrast of the Purple Heart and the black/gray of the drivers), they are 8" outside width, correct?

Best,
Ed

[Light-Echo]

Crazy good eye Ed ....  The speaker cabs are 8". The baffles are 8 1/8' - a 16th over on either side and the top. We weren't absolutely sure how much to allow for the veneer so we left a little and were at one time going to flush router it even. We had a nasty experience though doing the bevel on the top of one and had to do some surgery to repair the damage. I haven't clear coated that baffle yet, just the speaker. We'll see how it turns out.The Purple Heart grain is pretty wonky in places. We decided not to chance flush routering. It looked pretty good anyways. How did you do yours?

Dave

[ebag4]

Crazy good eye Ed ....  The speaker cabs are 8". The baffles are 8 1/8' - a 16th over on either side and the top. We weren't absolutely sure how much to allow for the veneer so we left a little and were at one time going to flush router it even. We had a nasty experience though doing the bevel on the top of one and had to do some surgery to repair the damage. I haven't clear coated that baffle yet, just the speaker. We'll see how it turns out.The Purple Heart grain is pretty wonky in places. We decided not to chance flush routering. It looked pretty good anyways. How did you do yours?

Dave

Ahh, good Dave.  I was afraid it was wider than that.  I don't think it was so much a good eye as I was just mistaken.

If I remember correctly I believe I made my baffle with just about 1/16" reveal on each side, so my baffle was just a bit shy of 8".  Not necessarily right, just the way I did it.

You're in for a treat once they have broken in a bit!  Enjoy!
Best,
Ed 

[Light-Echo]

I see where you are coming from Ed. If you look at Danny's pics of the N3 on the GR site, there appears to be very little room between the speaker and the edge of the cabinet. When I compare that to your speaker shown earlier here, there does seem to be a bit more room. My pics seem to exaggerate this even more. They are on route right now. When they show up and I get the speakers installed again I'll take some pics with a tape measure or something of the sort and share.

Dave

[Light-Echo]

I'm a picky old fart and it took me a while to find the right boxes for the N3 cross-overs that Sean built for me. I think I nailed it. I haven't soldered the posts yet and it will clean up better than what's shown. I left extra so I could pull the wire through the box a tad to do the soldering on the outside as I have no soldering skills that I'm aware of.




S'cuse the dust

(A bit later....)








Regards
Dave

[Light-Echo]

Close to a year in the making, all this. Actually it probably started a long time ago, this fetish of mine, but it's taken on a life of it's own recently that I'm sure many of you can relate to. I have my listening room set up quite nicely, and I know there's lot's I could do to make it better ... room treatments and the like. But it's so very cool and I love my wife dearly for putting up with my passion. I most certainly will be upgrading equipment sooner or later... now and then.... speakers, amps, dacs, wires, stuff. But I need to say a few things about the N3 and the M-901. What a friggin incredible speaker. What an equally wonderful amp. I know this is Danny's forum, but if you really want to hear his speakers perform, the amps that Seth put's out really bring them to life. I had a friend over last nite. A musician. He was somewhat skeptical of my passion. I had him over previously to listen to my K-701's and he couldn't quite figure out why I had spent so much on them.... but last nite he was pretty much dumbfounded by what he heard. I chose some songs that exemplified the system and that I was pretty sure he hadn't heard before; Vienna Tengs 'Gravity', Roger Water's "What God Wants", Sarah Brightmans Gothica - Fleurs de Mal. Then we played some of Jeff Becks new disc: Live at Ronnie Scott's. I can only say that this speaker sucks you into the music. You don't 'see it'. You just hear the musicians. I have a couple of NAD THX certified amps that love to push these N3's, and playing something like La Villa Strangiatto or Parabola is quite satisfying punch-wise, the songs previously mentioned have a much more satisfying presentation on Seths M-901. Here's my sound room today:
The crossovers were built by the Ninja and I put them in those cool boxes. I was inspired by other to build the cables betwixt the cross-overs and the speakers. I'm pretty proud of the whole set up.





Please excuse the mess of wires back there.


The M-901 on battery power simply blows any  PSU out of the water by the way. NO background. Nada.

[chronicali]

Those are simply beautiful...