Center channel build

[Flash]

I have gone in for Butt joints as well. However one of my plans is to use Fiberglass sheets on the entire enclosure apply wood putty and lots and lots of sanding before going in for the final Paint job
Fiberglass sheets will/may help in deadening the Cab

That's an option though.
I have some other options piles up as well . Will have to post that up and see what makes sense.

 

[Gijo George]

I have gone in for Butt joints as well. However one of my plans is to use Fiberglass sheets on the entire enclosure apply wood putty and lots and lots of sanding before going in for the final Paint job
Fiberglass sheets will/may help in deadening the Cab

That's an option though.
I have some other options piles up as well . Will have to post that up and see what makes sense.

The fiberglass, putty sanding route is the route taken by T.Antony for his MTM's and I've seen only photos of it & it looks awesome. Do shed some light on this fiberglass sheets used if you have any.
Thanks
gijo

 

[navin advani]

I would have really loved a Veneer finish. Since the front baffles have been rounded over in a 1" radius only a veneer skin is possible. But I cant seem to find any good ones here. ... Some of the speakers finished by Walnut veneer on DIY is just too beautiful.

Try Truwood. Truwood - Products

I have used their Flexply (Tru-Flex ?) to get curves.

But the edges will remain very sharp like a laminate finish where as I prefer a slightly rounded finish on all the edges. I'll have to see if I can maybe leave a small space on the straight edges after...

We get 0.8 mm veneer skin in Mumbai in a variety of shades and textures. Also most carpenters use a solid wood strip to cover the end so this can eb rounded and polished to match the veneer. I know of a carpenter who claims (yet to see his work) to be able to make this solid wood strip indistingushable from the veneered wood.

Ask for paper veneer, not the std veneer, but you need to be very careful in handling else it may break..

I have tried papaer veneer some years ago. Rajiv DSouza of Lithos fist sent me a sample. I found it even more delicate and diffcult to work with than 1mm veneer. Companies like KEF etc.. manage using machines.

I have gone in for Butt joints as well. However one of my plans is to use Fiberglass sheets on the entire enclosure apply wood putty and lots and lots of sanding before going in for the final Paint job
Fiberglass sheets will/may help in deadening the Cab.

Fiberglass is stiff but more resonant than wood. So use it to stiffen the cabinet but not to damp resonances.

 

[Gijo George]

Went the easy route and opted for painting. Got the cabinet back after the paint job today. Pretty happy with the matt finish. The surface preparation was done as when the painters got some free time from their regular work. So I wasn't in a position to take photos of WIP. Here's some of the completed built.

By gijogeo at 2012-02-02

By gijogeo at 2012-02-02

By gijogeo at 2012-02-02

By gijogeo at 2012-02-02

The XO. The physical connections between components done. Need to do the wire connections tomorrow.

By gijogeo at 2012-02-02

By gijogeo at 2012-02-02

By gijogeo at 2012-02-02

Should have the speaker set up by tomorrow. Magma is making a tailor made stand to suite the size of this center. Should have it by next week.:yahoo:

Will post finished pics asap.

 

[manniraj]

Superb build george..

The matt finish is looking gorgeous, way to go..

Thanks

 

[borg]

awesome finish geo, great work,
in the last pic it seems the inductor leads are not void of enamel and tinned(may be just the pic i am not sure), make sure the enamel is removed from the choke leads and apply solder before twisting and soldering together with other component(resistor and capacitor) leads

 

[Flash]

Love the Paint Job...
Are you planning on adding a Gloss Coat ?

 

[Gijo George]

awesome finish geo, great work,
in the last pic it seems the inductor leads are not void of enamel and tinned(may be just the pic i am not sure), make sure the enamel is removed from the choke leads and apply solder before twisting and soldering together with other component(resistor and capacitor) leads

Hi borg
With regard to the last pic both ends of the inductor, one leading to the 3ohm resistor and other connected between 12uf cap and 3ohm resistor have been devoid of enamel. What you see is just slight coloration of the removed enamel. I scraped off the enamel as much as I could with a blade like how we did last time. And yes the flux I'll be applying just before soldering. Thank you for your inputs borg. After the last build and modding my bluray player I'm pretty confident of the soldering part now. Lets see how it goes.

Love the Paint Job...
Are you planning on adding a Gloss Coat ?

No flash. What you see is the final coat. Isn't the gloss coat applied for the piano black finish or to get a glossy finish? I don't have a lot of knowledge about finishes that we can get so just asked the painter for a matt finish.

 

[borg]

good,
once the enamel is scraped off the exposed copper will start discoloring, so immediately after enamel removal just apply solder (tinning) on the leads, this way you will get perfect contact,

 

[sunilj]

Very nice outcome. Good DIY job on the x-over.

Regards,
Sunil

 

[iaudio]

Gijo,That looks awesome:clapping:! I am catchin a flight to come and check out that baby!

 

[hydra]

O_O That is a monster center! I knew it would be big from what you told me, but this is something else! The finish looks awesome. I'll pay a visit with Titus when he's here

 

[TheCoolestOne]

The speaker is huge and the paing job and finish looks absolutely amazing.

 

[az2325]

Gijo,

Waiting for the final pics

Regards,
Antony

 

[t.antony]

Excellent job with the finish, I am thinking about matte for my next project

 

[Gijo George]

Gijo,

Waiting for the final pics

Regards,
Antony

Hi Antony
I've finished with the build and I'm quite happy with the way it looks and sounds. As per what I've read in another forum the drivers need some burn-in.

My Dcamera is not functioning properly else would have put in the pics by now. I'll get a friend's camera and do it in a couple of days and post my views on the center.

 

[navin advani]

$550 for kit and $170 on Borderlinx

Did this cover shipping, insurance and duties and was it delivered to your door?

As per what I've read in another forum the drivers need some burn-in. .

Most woofers atleast do need some burn in. Run them in with low level LF for a few hours. The Fs and Qts will drop a little.

 

[Gijo George]

Did this cover shipping, insurance and duties and was it delivered to your door?

It covered shipping and duties and it was door delivered.

Most woofers atleast do need some burn in. Run them in with low level LF for a few hours. The Fs and Qts will drop a little.

Is there some kind of a audio file available in the internet that produces the LF required for burn in? Let me study what Fs and Qts are
Thanks

 

[Gijo George]

Some updates on the build.

This think really dwarfs the TV.

By gijogeo at 2012-02-13

By gijogeo at 2012-02-
13

By gijogeo at 2012-02-13

I don't know if you've noticed few red patches along the rim of the tweeter. I didn't find the gasket that goes behind the tweeter in the package so I made do with this Gasket Maker.

By gijogeo at 2012-02-13

The fact that the red paste could squish out from the tweeter cover when pressed and dirty the cabinet didn't cross my mind. Anyway I've cleaned it as much as possible and touched up the tweeter edges.

Now on how it sounds.
I've been using my cousins Paradigm S60 towers in my HT for some time now. My cousin seems to get by pretty fine with my Mordaunt Short towers.
While these speakers are OK for music it really whips ass for movies. YOu can almost live without the sub with these beauties. Almost. Along with these I had been using my Mordaunt short center which were seriously outdone with the Paradigms. And lo, I came across the LS-C. I'm a bit too lazy for detailed explanations on sound dynamics but I'll just say that this huge baby now gives the Paradigms a serious run for their money. I was a bit let down initially coz I had to really crank up the volume in getting some serious sound from the center but now its definitely better. (Ofcourse the fact about the speaker needing burn in or my ears did cross my mind but thats another thread.)

For now I'm going to enjoy this monster as & when I get time.:yahoo:

 

[baijuxavior]

Congratulations. That is one monster center channel.