Toni Table Radio - Build Thread...

[tomzarbo]

Looking good, Tommy! I'm interested in what you think of the GUI board on the front when it's done.

Wolf

Thanks Wolf.

I really need to get it all hooked up on the bench first and make sure everything is playing nice together before I go stuffing it in a completed box. Sounds like I know what I'm doing tonight.

TomZ

[tomzarbo]

I knew I forgot something...

Three 1/2" wide braces of 1/4" MDF.

Not that the curved sides are really going to need any bracing, but it may keep the curve flatter as it's curved/glued to the carcass, and just tie everything together a bit better.
Woulda' been nice if I remembered those when I was gluing on the top, though.

TomZ

[Jake]

Project looks great, but I would pick a different amp. That amp board is not a good design, and being enclosed in that space would worry me of failure. Also the gain is very high causing high distortion, although you won't notice as much without tweeters.

[Wolf]

I want to know why you think this. Several people have used and heard this little amp, and it sounds quite good to them.

Later,
Wolf

[tomzarbo]

Spent several hours this morning making things to finish this radio. This project has my personal record for "Jigs/Templates" made to complete, even though it's small.

Mock side panels for a dry fit-up to see how it will go.

Using a strap clamp is a good solution for something with rounded sides, but clamps are needed for the edges where they meet the cabinet.
Even with sandpaper glued to the blocks, they will have trouble staying put during the glue-up process.... especially at the more tapered back.

The solution...

[tomzarbo]

I've thought about making something like this for some time with various projects. This setup will only work for smaller pieces, but could be mocked-up to larger size easily enough.
They basically mimic the dual rotating padded plastic feet on the "four corner" strap clamps that many of us have used before... just larger.

I made four of them with rotating contact blocks held together with 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood strips secured with 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" lathe screws with a large head for good holding power.

Then I used two strips of the same Baltic Birch to make some "Can't-go-no-further" straps to keep the rear clamping blocks from spreading as they want to do when pressure is applied.

Seems to work fine so far. I had to keep the spacing between the contact blocks at a minimum for it to actually hold down the sides sufficiently. These were just test side panels of one sheet of 1/8" HDF each, the real sides will have 2 thicknesses, but they are already pre-bending, so I'm hoping that torquing them down to make contact with the cabinet carcass will not be too much of a struggle. I'll also be using Gorilla Glue so less than perfect panel-to-panel contact isn't such a huge issue as it may be with wood glue.

I'll ruminate on this a bit more before attempting a glue-up of this after church this afternoon. Dry run first of course.

(I've been kicking around the idea of modifying the driver compliment for the second one to use the ND91 and the tiny Tang Band 1/2" tweeter in a coaxial type of arrangement possibly with a rear-mounted passive radiator--just a crazy thought--for some more performance and volume. But that's a thought for down the road a little. Looks to be similar interior cabinet volume as the "Bantams" but I have not checked closely yet on that, just an idea. That would be a seriously loud table radio if so.)

Anyway, I think I've spent more time making things to make this thing than I've actually spent making this thing... D'ja get that?

Hopefully more tonight...

TomZ

[PWR RYD]

Cool build Tom! I like how you always build unique (non-rectangle) boxes. I am also interested in what you think of that GUI.

[PWR RYD]

I want to know why you think this. Several people have used and heard this little amp, and it sounds quite good to them.

Later,
Wolf

+1

We did a little amp shootout in Chicago a few years ago and that amp board was clearly the best sounding one. Only CJD's gainclone sounded better.

[tomzarbo]

Thanks Craig.

I wonder if Jake may have gotten a poorly-assembled unit and had issues with it.

I've used 3-4 of these and had no real issues with any of them, but I know that some of these cheaper chip amps can have noise issues depending on implementation and just variance of assembly tolerances. I've had a few of the cheaper PAM boards be noisy, for instance, where others of the same type were not.

I like this one though, especially for the price.
Ben, aren't you doing a nice amp project with these?

TomZ

[Jake]

Maybe I got a stinker, not sure. I bought mine a couple years ago. Gain was set way too high and in turn was the distortion. I had the same board youtube user FFcosagg does a test and review of. It's worth checking out.

[---k---]

Very cool project. I've thought about building something similar many times. Though I doubt mine would come out nearly as good as yours is looking.

Are you planning on a filter on the driver's or just straight full range?

[Wolf]

Tom- Yep! I have a pair of monoblox started, but the layout logistics currently have me thinking about it a bit more before going further...
I'm calling them the Chipolinas (Spanish for grasshoppers).

Later,
Wolf

[Squidspeak]

Tom, looking good as usual (do you ever leave the workshop?). Sorry if I missed it but what is the head/controller unit and is it from PE.

[tomzarbo]

Very cool project. I've thought about building something similar many times. Though I doubt mine would come out nearly as good as yours is looking.

Are you planning on a filter on the driver's or just straight full range?

Thanks sir!
I am figuring it will need some type of filter. I used a resistor/coil parallel in my "Sound Traveler" project, I suspect this one will need a similar filter. I plan on making grills for these which will amount to a recessed roundover for the drivers behind the grill cloth, so I'll wait till I get that far before doing measurements.

Tom- Yep! I have a pair of monoblox started, but the layout logistics currently have me thinking about it a bit more before going further...
I'm calling them the Chipolinas (Spanish for grasshoppers).

Later,
Wolf

Right, I knew I saw you working on something with them. My memory is not nearly as good as yours, though.

Tom, looking good as usual (do you ever leave the workshop?). Sorry if I missed it but what is the head/controller unit and is it from PE.

Thanks man,
except for a few 2-3 hour sessions, I've mostly tackled this 45 min to an hour or so at a time... it's taken quite a long time though, and it's easy to loose track of what you're doing that way... probably part of the reason I've made a few goofs here and there. Christmas is looking like it'll be a tough deadline to meet. :(

I'm using this head unit (if it works out okay) https://www.parts-express.com/12-vdc...remot--320-348
On paper, it looks like it will be great, hopefully it isn't noisy. I bench tested my first one a few months ago shortly when the first came out and it was a bit noisy, but I just hooked it up real quick... not a real good test... so I purchased another in case the first one was a bit off so I'd take the best one and give it to my friend. They may both be fine once I get fussy with my hook-ups though.

Time to go glue up the sides for real.

TomZ

[tomzarbo]

Glue up went well.
Dry fit first to make sure I wouldn't goof it up.

I still had to use the hammer a few times to get things lined up straight... but really, when is that NOT the case with my woodworking!
Gorilla glue is awful slippery until it starts to set up. I used a goodly amount of wood glue on the scuffed-up 1/8" HDF panels and let it set in for a few minutes before clamping this thing up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mteF...ature=youtu.be
Hey, sounds like an F# right?

TomZ