[NBPk402]

Just got my rack back from the carpenter...turned out as good as I had hoped it would. I need a few more 8020 slide in nuts, And then it will be finished.

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[NBPk402]

Amplifier should be completed by the end of the month. We will be modifying my wall mounts for 5 channels of Atmos this month too (to get the correct angles). My authentic K402s should be here in December, so we will start the synergy build in January. My new Musical Fidelity mx5 vynl phono preamp should be here in a couple of weeks too. As soon as we get items completed... I will post pics.

Right now I am also working on my tablet templates for automating our setup, and controlling my AV Equipment. I am also trying out the new JRiver MC25 on Linux...so far it seems to be working out more relieb,e than from my Windows setup.

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[NBPk402]

We now have 4 rp150ms mounted 13' up the front, and side walls. I also have my 4 KO2 horns ready for nodding to MEH horns with a pair of 15" woofers on each horn.

Pics coming soon.

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[NBPk402]

These are my RP150Ms mounted 13' up for my front heights.

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[NBPk402]

Some progress for my new DIY Klipsch MEH speakers...

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[NBPk402]

Update... New LG 86" 4K FP, 3 MEHs completed.

 

[NBPk402]

I will be doing some upgrading over the next few months...

Ordered:
2 Minidsp ddrc88m
3 Pass ACA stereo/mono amps

Diy projects:
2 2' x 2' MEHs modeled from the small side of my k402 MEHs. These will use the same drivers,but the horn will be made of MDF.

Selling:
4 Klipsch rp160Ms
Musical Fidelity MX VYNL phono preamp
Yamaha CXA 5100 preamp
Xilica xp4080 crossover
Some Icepower asx20btl, and asx125SE/BTL amp modules
Dune HD PRO 4K PLUS media player

 

[NBPk402]

A little update... I now have built 3 DIY Icepower 50asxbtl amps(for the compression drivers), and 6 125asx2btl ampa ror the front 3 channels (1 amp per woofer). I am currently working on building some 2' cube MEHs out of MDF/Plywood and veneer.

Here are some pics..

 

[NBPk402]

I am also building a Plex Server/Roon Rock media setup in one large case. I am planning on using a 10.1" front touchscreen, and possibly having it switch between Plex and Roon via front button. I will have 2 i5 NUCs inside the case...one for Plex, and the other for Roon. I am planning on one HDD rack for now and maybe 2 in the future. The HDDs are all USB HDDs, and will be in the rack and wired either directly to the i5 NUC or via a hub. The racks are capable of having a fan if required, and the case has vents on the top and bottom for cooling. I hope to have this and at least 1 speaker up and running before Christmas.

 

[NBPk402]

Today a friend of mine helped me get the valances done for our HT.

 

[david yurik]

A little update... I now have built 3 DIY Icepower 50asxbtl amps(for the compression drivers), and 6 125asx2btl ampa ror the front 3 channels (1 amp per woofer).

@NBPk402 your manufacturing skills are off the charts! What is your background if I may ask?

Dave

 

[NBPk402]

@NBPk402 your manufacturing skills are off the charts! What is your background if I may ask?

Dave

Thanks, but I have no skills (just ideas)...I find the cases I like to start with, and then I have a friend mod them on his CNC to what I want. Then I try and wire them the cleanest I can. I took one of my modified k402 horns and modeled a template off one side and then made a mold for clamping the pieces curved. I did not like the lack of precision of my mold and took my modeled template to a friend who has a wood CNC, and he cut the pieces for me. We are now working on CNCing some pieces of Mahogany for inlaying into the case designs for the amps. None of the amps will have just a aluminum faceplate when we are done.
Next week I am hoping my new Celestion woofer arrive so we can finish the first of the mini MEHs. I will have enough of the celestions to test in 1 original MEH and 1 mini MEH...if all goes well I will build more mini MEHs, and also replace all the woofers with the Celestions. I am hoping the Celestions get me to within 5db of flat from 20hz to 20khz. Then as soon as I have enough money... I will be testing the new Celestion compression drivers which are the same ones in the $35k Jubilees.

 

[NBPk402]

Today I worked on the name plates I had laser cut for my speakers. Chris is the person who came up with the design combo and also helped me get mine done...so I put his name on the plates. The top plate is what I did today...whe I started it was a little worse than the bottom plate. I used my orbital with 150 grit for a few passes (looking to se if I could still see any pits or deep scratch still), and continued until I could see none. Then I used the orbital with 240 grit until I could not see any of the lines from the 150 grit. Once I finished that I went to some 300 grit and sanded in one direction until that is all I could see. Next I moved to 1000 grit wet dry sand paper and sanded 90 degrees from the 300...until I could not see any 300 grit marks. I kept doing this until I had done 1200, 1300, 1500, 2000, and finally 3000. I am seeing a few scratches from the 2000 layer still, so I think I need to hit it some more with the 3000 grit until they are gone, or maybe hit the whole front with 2000 again and then do 3000 again?.
Pic # 2 gives a much better look at the shine...so far.
Does anyone know if 3000 is high enough before I use a buffing compound on the copper plates?

 

[david yurik]

Does anyone know if 3000 is high enough before I use a buffing compound on the copper plates?

Even when painting some cars and motorcycles back in the day.... we never used 3000 wet and if memory is not too far off we usually stopped around 2000. Good luck with the copper!

Dave

 

[NBPk402]

Well I think I figured out a way to get it acceptable. I used a orbital sander started at 240, and worked my way up to 2k. I do not have the perfect background, but I have a textured background from the orbital...which IMO makes it look better and is much better than fighting trying to get 1 or 2 scratches out. Now I will buff it out and apply a sealer.
Top left is how it started and the others are 3 more I finished up to polishing. The bottom left is a shadow not a blemish.

Does this look better to you?

 

[NBPk402]

Today we completed all the amp front and rear panels with my friends CNC. I still have to drill mounting holes, sand, clearcoat and and then reconfigure the amp and assemble. Next week we will be working on the Roon server/endpoint CNC'd.
Here are a few pics of today's work.

 

[NBPk402]

Today, I sold one ddrc88a, and my Yamaha cxa5100, and ordered a Marantz av8805a AVP. Now I have more channels available plus Auro3d.

 

[NBPk402]

Update: I have come up with a new design for a rack inside of a cabinet. The new design will keep all the equipment concealed, free of dust (I know it will not be 100% free of dust, but it will be considerably better than my current setup), and will provide cooling . The rack shelves are made of 1 1/4" wide steel plate that has been cut, welded, and painted with charcoal grey metallic automotive paint by a body shop. The rack shelves are completed and each of the metal rack shelves will be supported by 7 1 1/4" Parota wood rods. each of the rods has a 1/4' 3" long piece of allthread, attached via threaded inserts on each end of the rods. 1st step for assembly will be to attach each of the 7 rods the topside of the bottom of the cabinet via 7 1/4" allthread and then 7 hockey pucks swill be attached to the bottom of the cabinet. once this is done, I will lay 1 metal shelf on top of the 7 Parota rods, and then lay a 1" thick Parota wood shelf on top of the metal shelf. Next, I will screw the next 7 rods through the metal shelf to the 1st layer of 7 Parota wood rods... then I will keep doing this until all 4 shelves and the top and bottom Parota is completed. Then we will measure the distance from the top of the bottom piece of the cabinet to the bottom of the top piece of the cabinet (for the construction ofslatted panels).. The front and sides will be made of 1 Parota wood frame that has black grill cloth attached to it, and then 1x1 strips of Perota wood will be run vertically with each piece separated by approximately 1". I have not decided if i want the rear to also have slats or just a frame with grill cloth, yet. The cabinet will be a bit over 6' wide x 4' high, by 28" deep. I will also be installing LED lighting facing downward from the top of the cabinet.

The end of the month we will be building a pair of Joseph Crowe subwoofers. The cabinets will be made of plywood and then wrapped with 1" Parota wood. Sometime next moth they subs should be ready for testing, and then the cabinets will be sent to my carpenter to mod with Parota wood.

Then the long awaited MEH wood horns will be started. The first 1 or 2 will be made of MDF stacked layers, and if they come out as expected, I will try 2 or 3 of them out of stacked Parota wood. The MDF versions will be painted to match the charcoal grey shelves. The last part of the the horns will be to try them cabinet less, and if i like them that way they will be complete...if not I will make cabinets out of MDF for the 2 MDF horns and paint them to match the MDF MEH. Then I will look at how the Parota horns look with a mdf cabinet. If the contrast looks nice I will most likely stop there.

 

[NBPk402]

Here is one rack shelf...the metal shelf will be suspended by Perota wood shelves and the wood shelves will rest on top of the metal shelf. each wood metal shelf combo will be clamped together by the Perota uprights. The long oval part is for the wiring and for some ventilation...the slot is on the rear side of the rack.