A5 cabinet project grows heavier!!!

[dooey263]

Altecians...

My A5 cabinets are coming along. I'm the nutjob who decided that in order to brace them properly, I wouid use 3/4" MDF as an inner core, 2"x2" hard maple bracing "all round" and a 3/4" oak veneer plywood outer shell.

Well, I went a little nuts on the maple, ended up using 3 2"x12"x12' pieces I had laying around, ripped it into 2"x2" and used it ALL! There isn't a 6"x6" bit including the bottom flare that is unbraced.If I were a thinking man,I would have realized hey, I can barely lift one piece of this maple, and there's 1.5 pieces plus 2 sheets of mdf plus 2 sheets of plywood in each speaker.Man, are they heavy!

Even the horn flares I built as individual pieces,full size mdf patterns spaced 4" apart with 4 layers of 1/4"plywood laminated for the curved surfaces.Each layer meticulously hand planed to fit each enclosure... Holey time consuming!

I found some old Altec handles and laminated 2"x 12" x 12" Tiger stripe white oak blocks to be routered out to accept them, Then bolt them to the sides. I was going to inset the handles but don't want to mess with that bracing! Same idea for the speaker cable connection plate. Even these plates must top out around 20 lbs.

There's still many feet of white oak trim to go to hide the corners of the 3 1/4" walls,plus top and bottom trim. The 515b's,288c's, and 1005 horn's, as you all know, are no lightweights either.I guesstimate each speaker will top out around 350+ lbs apiece!!!

I am reassured in the knowledge,that when I finally get them in the house, a would be thief will need a crane to get them out.

I have taken lots of pics, but haven't had the time to figure out how to post them or write the text. I intend to do it. I have gleaned a ton of knowledge from helpful postings from this board and others, and hopefully can give back a little to the community including pointing out the mistakes I made along the way.

I am at the point where I need to put the damping material on the interior walls. My gut feeling is to do the entire interior, But don't know if this will kill the sound coming out of the vent. Any advice?

Cheers.... Scott

[Kinnick]

Dooey,

I am a long time listener, sometime caller to this web site... I did alot of what you did on my a7 project...
http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ult...&f=3729&t=1755

I have not a lot of time lately to do anymore, I still need to brace the back panel and mount the darn things on spikes.

I built 828 cabinets out of 3/4" MDF, then surrounded them with 3/4 Oak ply. THe hornflares are solid 3/4" mdf stacked from bottom to top cut with the horn flare.

Yours will end up being heavy as heck. I would guess mine wieght in at about +300 lbs. each. I just moved to a new location and i can tell you my movers hate me. But now i have a much better listening room. Don't under estimate the effect of your listen room.

[Kinnick]

Dooey,

I am a long time listener, sometime caller to this web site... I did alot of what you did on my a7 project...
http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ult...&f=3729&t=1755

I have not a lot of time lately to do anymore, I still need to brace the back panel and mount the darn things on spikes.

I built 828 cabinets out of 3/4" MDF, then surrounded them with 3/4 Oak ply. THe hornflares are solid 3/4" mdf stacked from bottom to top cut with the horn flare.

Yours will end up being heavy as heck. I would guess mine wieght in at about +300 lbs. each. I just moved to a new location and i can tell you my movers hate me. But now i have a much better listening room. Don't under estimate the effect of your listen room.

[Kinnick]

Dooey,

I am a long time listener, sometime caller to this web site... I did alot of what you did on my a7 project...
http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ult...&f=3729&t=1755

I have not a lot of time lately to do anymore, I still need to brace the back panel and mount the darn things on spikes.

I built 828 cabinets out of 3/4" MDF, then surrounded them with 3/4 Oak ply. THe hornflares are solid 3/4" mdf stacked from bottom to top cut with the horn flare.

Yours will end up being heavy as heck. I would guess mine wieght in at about +300 lbs. each. I just moved to a new location and i can tell you my movers hate me. But now i have a much better listening room. Don't under estimate the effect of your listen room.

[bfish]

Scott & Dooey,

I guess it's true that misery loves company........I've been working on a similar pair of black holes for quite some time, and occasionally wonder if I'm getting carried away. After reading your posts, I'm relieved to know that mine will only top out around 250 lbs each, less drivers.

Don't really think spikes are needed for boxes of 300 lbs or more.......the cabs will probably work their way to the floor anyway, then watcha gonna do?

To verify you did a good job, get hold of an old stethoscope to test with. Listen with the pickup on a small scrap of wood to obtain a background reference level, then go over the cabs while playing fairly loud, varied program material, or even better, step through sequential sine waves up to XO. Cab noises are easy to pinpoint this way. By removing the pickup and using just the hose, you can find any air leaks from sealed chambers too. Be VERY careful, as you can do hearing damage this way, even though you're probably gonna have it anyway soon......

(Bet nobody ever buys THESE cabs on eBay! We'll probably have to be buried in them.)

Hang in there guys, we may be crazy, but at least we're not alone!

[dooey263]

It is VERY reassuring to hear from others who spend/waste their precious time on similiar projects.

I know my room is not really big enough to really let these things 'sing", so I think I have two options....Buy one of the many RC churches that are closing around town for lack of parishioners ,nice big open livingroom there! Or boot the desdbeat boy out who "hasn't decided whay he wants to do with his life" and rip his bedroom walls down to double the size of my listening room. Probably easier and immensely more satisfying!

I'm pretty sure I won't need spikes, but am contemplating installing a few more floor joists in my livingroom. Our bedroom is directly underneath, so not only will the wife and I be buried in these things,we might be crushed and killed by them as well!

Solid mdf horn flares... Even I'm not that crazy!

Love the stethescope idea, will have to give that a try. I have been buying some old audio test equipment, magnificent old handmade Hewlett Packard stuff that probably cost a fortune in its day, but in today's throw away society, they practically give it away. Intend to do lots of testing/playing with that.

Kudo's to all that still build things to last.

Cheer's.... Scott