Sheesh! $2920 and they don't even have the foam inserts! Oh well, being a DIYer, anything over the ~$600-700 cost of parts/materials/tool maintenance allowance gags me.
GM
And the current bid is ~$2100 US without hitting the reserve yet. And the xo's have been gone refubished by the top local tube-tech.
Altec Lansing Model 19 for sale - TradeMe.co.nz - New Zealand
<sigh>
Sheesh! $2920 and they don't even have the foam inserts! Oh well, being a DIYer, anything over the ~$600-700 cost of parts/materials/tool maintenance allowance gags me.
GM
Loud is Beautiful if it's Clean! As always though, the usual disclaimers apply to this post's contents.
Yeah, I pretty well blanched at the 2k NZD starting price.
2900 NZD = 2100 USD
Prolly be cheaper to buy in the US and ship....
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Analog Addict - Jack of all Trades, Master of None
Searching for Sonic Nirvana...
eeekOriginally Posted by analog addict
GM wrote:
Sheesh! $2920 and they don't even have the foam inserts! Oh well, being a DIYer, anything over the ~$600-700 cost of parts/materials/tool maintenance allowance gags me.
I'm a cabinetmaker and quoted a pair of these for a guy recently. You're right - 6 or 700 would buy the 5 sheets of veneered MDF needed, but when you start to add any value to the 35 hours or so of labor required to build and finish a primo set of cabinets... Plus the cost of the components, 2,900 isn't looking so bad!
It probably IS cheaper to buy in the U.S. and ship.
Ed
I think 3k is an excellent deal if they are in good working order.
Money is not an issue with me when it comes to audio equipment. To date I have never heard anything better. I have seen and heard PLENTY of systems that cost a hell of a lot more than 3k and they simply wont hold a match to the Altecs.
Not everyone will agree with me and I dont care. My ears love them above all.
The day I find something better I will have them but for now.... Its Altec.
Thirty Five hours. Man you are quick. Would you do your own veneers? I think I could knock out a pair of those in maybe 100 hours, maybe 200....300 tops.
The reason I ask about the veneers is that one of my projects is to build a sled for my Mod 72 Powermatic that will cut precise finger joints out to about 25" wide. I seriously doubt I could put together all those long mitre's. never have yet anyway. After finger jointing the MDF, I would clean up the bumps with a hand plane then glue the veneer on. Laminate cutter to finish the edges? Is this plausable? Or nuts? Titebond III for some work time. Then the edge banding. Four hundred hours, no more.
Last of the World's Great Human Beings, well maybe one of the last? OK, just an ordinary slacker then.
Alms for the poor?I think 3k is an excellent deal if they are in good working order.
Money is not an issue with me when it comes to audio equipment. To date I have never heard anything better. I have seen and heard PLENTY of systems that cost a hell of a lot more than 3k and they simply wont hold a match to the Altecs.
Not everyone will agree with me and I dont care. My ears love them above all.
The day I find something better I will have them but for now.... Its Altec.
;-)
Airboss-
"Thirty Five hours. Man you are quick."
Amazing how quick you can be when you are trying to make your mortgage!
My approach starts with large, very accurate, very expensive (decent new car) saws such as: Experience perfection with MARTIN: T74 Automatic. I own 3, which accounts for my missing new cars in 2000, 2005 and 2010. The beauty of these saws is that they cut extremely square. I'd start with pre veneered sheets, sequence matched and hand selected. I'd rough size them and edge them with yellow glued veneer. The hot melt stuff seems to always fall off eventually. After edging, I'd cut all the miters to 45.1 or 45.2 degrees, so that when I glued everything up, I'd be sure that the feather edges were touching and not the inside corners. I'd dry assemble the boxes. When I got everything where I wanted it, I'd heavily masking tape the corners together, stretching the tape as tightly as I could, leaving one of the bottom corners untapped. You need a high quality tape such as 3M 233+ for this to work well. I'd also cut the front face, which in the pictures appears to be flush with the front edges of the sides, and locate it with biscuits or a spline. The only biscuit machine worth owning, in my opinion, is a Lamello. I'd unfold the box next, apply Titebond original liberally (this increases the tack time slightly) and refold the box, quickly and tightly taping the open corner. Great results assured. If I was concerned about joint strength; I'm not in this case; I'd apply corner blocking after the box set up. Repeat 3 more time, and 4 more for the base and spacer?
I think that your approach is perfectly acceptable given your machinery, and you can get a very high quality job if you put sufficient time in. Remember to veneer both sides of the wood to prevent warpage. Use raw (not paper backed) veneer. Try Berhshire veneer and tell Ben that Ed Harbur sent you - he'll come up with something special for you. A laminate trimmer is the tool of choice for trimming. We prefer Tightbond for veneering - there are more advanced glues out there, but yellow glue has worked wonderfully for us for years with a 0 percent failure rate.
Ed
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