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Well, it's hard to believe that it's been nine months since I built these. Shortly after I got them completed, I was in the throes of training for a two day, 180 mile charity bicycle ride, and then two major work projects hit back-to-back. I am only just now crawling out of the impact crater on the second one, looking around to see what I've missed/neglected. Chief among them for my speaker-building purposes has been a follow-up edit of a write-up for a webzine on my experiences building speakers. In deference to that effort, let me give an abbreviated version here.I have pretty high standards for my equipment, but I tend to focus on value-for-money, rather than on absolute performance. Having a number of expensive hobbies (e.g., cycling) means that I have to be a bit strategic in where and when to invest. With the Minuet5 project, I wanted to replace my 10 year old B&W speakers with something that would perform at a much higher level, but that would also give me another 10 years of trouble-free performance. On that front, they deliver in spades. For those who have auditioned a fair number of commercial speakers, you can probably already tell where my preferences lie. Several of the major manufacturers end up with fairly distinctive sound signatures that you can usually readily tell in an audition. Klipsch just tends to have a sound. The same goes for Martin Logan, Magnepan, etc. B&W is no different. It's signature sound tends to be relatively "warm", with a rich bass (some may say "thick"), and a bias towards imaging versus depth/width of the soundstage (these are often tradeoffs in most designs in my limited experience). This last trait is most evident in the speakers that are my favorite (that I can afford) in the B&W range: the Nautilus 805s, which have pretty sharp imaging, but tend to be more of a jazz club soundstage, and not a full orchestra. At $2k+/ea., they are also squarely on the first rung of "expensive", rather than that wonderful word that audiophile snobs use: "mid-fi".For the Minuets, the target was then clear. Give me all of the things I like about the N805s, with the rough edges mitigated, and do it at a price point where I can tell SWMBO that I am honestly "saving money" even after factoring in all of the tools and toys I bought to go along with the project. As my British friends say, "job done". I don't think that Jed had honestly had the N805 specifically in mind with the Minuet5, but it is definitely an N805 killer in my book. A rough comparison:The use of the paper cone woofers and soft dome tweeter in a MTM configuration give a very forgiving design that is less susceptible to placement than many other TM designs, including the N805s I've had in the exact same spot.Dynamic range is quite excellent above an 80 Hz sub crossover, with an ability to play loudly when called upon from my 11' listening distance. You have to turn the volume control way past painful to get the speaker to stress audibly.The width of the soundstage is superb, making these especially well-suited as mixed HT/Music speakers. The clarity and dynamism go all the way across my 8' couch and into the room next to our living room where we have the speakers located.My wife is a huge Rush fan. She has a pair of Neil Peart's drumsticks she got from Neil at a concert. She has a Rush guitar pick. And she has every tour book since the guys had long hair. The speakers handle Rush very well. They also handle orchestral well, and opera will be as enjoyable as you find opera (Don Giovanni is a favorite, so sue me).While the above is a pretty impressive list for me, there is a downside, and you probably can see it coming. You need a sub, or in my case, two. If you are into Home Theater, though, you knew this already. Even big 2-channel oriented multi-way behemoths tend to benefit from a subwoofer if you are trying to hit sub-20Hz rumbles from Iron Man at reference levels. The physics just work in their favor. As a result, for a mixed HT/Music system, it became hard for me to justify a full-size, full-range speaker in our significantly space-constrained bungalow. In my case, each Minuet5 sits on top of a close-out S-80 from NHT, giving me four 12" sub drivers to handle material below 80Hz. They are a superb combination once the EQ was tweaked correctly (Audyssey combined with a Behringer DCX-2496 helped here).The Build: This was relatively straightforward, though I never could get the blue masking tape to cooperate fully to protect the finish on the front baffles from scratches from my router. I have to admit to having had to do the baffles twice, and I'd even go for a third round except Richard from Rock Your Home (aka Granite Guy here) is doing a set of granite baffles for me to fit into the PE maple curved cabinets. The effect should be stunning once I get the new baffles installed.Where to next: center channel. Definitely a center channel.
