CR Treatment and Tuning---The home stretch!!

Chomping at the bit over here!

Yesterday was a public holiday where I live, so this has been a nice long weekend for us! Sorry: I should have warned you about that in advance... The good news is that I'm almost done with the changes to the enclosure box, and the "ultra-secret-highly-confidential-super-eyes-only" Sorbothane pad system. (So please don't send that to Hillary's e-mail server! :) ) Stay tuned.... hopefully in a couple of hours I'll have it all done. So warm up your table saw and tape measure! Actually, I'd suggest using a fine-toothed blade for this part, and a very accurate steel ruler marked in 1/64 inches: precision is important with Sorbothane to get the deflection right, especially considering that you are using only the 1" pads. with 1-1/2" pads you can relax the precision a little, but they take up a lot more space, and you don't have that luxury! So you'll need to mark and cut with 1/32" precision... But that shouldn't be a problem for you, since I know you are somewhat of a perfectionist! :thu: Do you have a belt sander, by the way? Or a bench-top or stationary planer? If so, you can cut the panels slight larger on the table saw, then sand or plane the edge down to the exact measurement. - Stuart -

I have a belt sander, but I think what I'll do is cut everything close to dimension within 1/8". Then do a finish cut. Should work fine. Actually I'd probably be safer with Hilary's email server. Those are the 30,000 emails they still haven't found. :lol: If the Republicans keep it up, Putin might be our next president...He's already gained control of our foreign policy. :shot: I digress though- politics are an ugly business and this is one place that brings me the exact opposite, hope and joy. After the pain and suffering of course! :P

hope and joy. ... pain and suffering ...

You mean, something like politics, then? :) - Stuart -

har har

Check the server directory: I just uploaded a bunch of images with the dimensions for the enclosure box. Take a look to see if it's all clear, and I'll get back to you with assembly instructions later. If it all makes sense then go ahead and start cutting the MDF pieces for the enclosure boxes, but don't put them together yet! There's a boring, intricate process to that, to make sure the Sorbothane compression is correct on all pads, and that the speakers also sit flat and level in the boxes... It would be nice if speaker manufacturers balanced the weight so the center of gravity is over the middle of the base, but they don't, so there a bit of trickery to make the speakers sit flat and level with equal compression on the pads ... Magic! :) - Stuart -

All pieces are cut. Ready for the next. :thu:

I just e-mailed you the detailed instructions for the next steps, so check your e-mail, Frank! It's rather long and involved and boring, and is very specific to your room and your speakers, so I'm not posting that here. It's no use to anyone else. - Stuart -

Not sure if you saw my email, but I wanted to make sure it was ok to do 5/8" holes in the box tops. Thanks

5/8 is pretty large. Does it need to be that big? As long as you have clearance of about 1/16 all around, that's enough. The ID on your washers is 1/2", so if you make the holes 5/8 then some of the washer will be sitting over empty air, not in contact with the wood. I would try to keep it to 1/2", max. - Stuart -

The hardware is 3/8, so 1/2 is fine then. Was just feeling concerned that a smaller diameter would be easy to mess up or unwittingly make contact with.

Was just feeling concerned that a smaller diameter would be easy to mess up or unwittingly make contact with.

There are ways of dealing with that... :) 8) When we get to that point, I'll send you some tips... - Stuart -

So I spent the better part of today getting this done. Running around to get tooled up to drill holes and such. The new plate is 3/16 as opposed to 1/8 and weighs about 1/2 lb. more at 2.5 lb.. The original is about 2 lbs..

Looks good! That new plate is fine. The extra weight is probably helping, certainly not harming. So all is good! :thu: - Stuart -

Still here....Just tweaking away. The detail level here is slowing me down quite a bit.

I must say, it's looks pretty good! :thu: And as they say "Rome wasn't built in a day".... :) - Stuart -

Well it would have been if it didn't have to be 1/32" accuracy and I had a better saw, that's for sure :jammin: I'm running into squaring issues. Think I can manage though. This will be the last major slow down at least. Once I get these boxes in place, things will speed up lots! Gonna use a router to bring in the final dimensions on the baffle cutouts. Can I just do a bead of caulking around the MLV layer and speaker? Getting it perfect will be nightmarishly hard otherwise.

his will be the last major slow down at least. Once I get these boxes in place, things will speed up lots!

Yup! After this, it should go faster for sure.

Gonna use a router to bring in the final dimensions on the baffle cutouts.

Right! Try to find a router bit that matches the curve on your speaker cabinets, or at least gets fairly close. It's not critical acoustically, but is important aesthetically, I think. Have you decided what wood and final finish you want on the front faces of your baffles?

Can I just do a bead of caulking around the MLV layer and speaker?

You can, yes, as long as you don't mind caulking your beautiful new expensive speakers! - Stuart -

Gonna try a dark stain (Espresso) that I've used throughout the studio already. Its the same stuff that's on the tops of the slats on the back walls. Gonna be maple veneer plywood. We'll have to see how well it takes stain....plywood is tricky! I don't mind caulking the speakers. I Don't think those cabinets are ever coming back out. The resale would be less than stellar either way.

Hi Stuart, Could you verify the top and bottom cut out sizes for me? I see 12.5" on the top and that's it in the pictures I have. Got the boxes all square now. I'm happy with em. As long as the Sorbothane behaves as expected, This could be coming together...

It's not critical. Measure 3/4" in from the inside face of each side panel, and that should give you a slot 11 1/32 wide. But like I say, it's not a critical dimension: the only reason I made that 3/4 is to have enough MDF to keep the upper layer or the bottom reasonably strong, but once it is glued/screwed to the lower layer, it's going to be fine. As long as that slot is 11" or so wide, that's enough. Your amps aren't going to be on the back of your speakers, so there's less heat to dissipate in any case. So the slot is oversized really, as I originally designed it that way before you decided to take the amps out. But don't make it too much smaller, as it also has acoustic purposes: not just ventilation... - Stuart -

sent you an email....