Tang Band W6 Subwoofer in Curly Maple and Wenge

[jml]

Good Afternoon!

I'm just wrapping up this project, so I thought I'd share some progress pictures.* It's a .5 cf cabinet with a 3/4" MDF inner and curly maple and wenge exterior.* It will be a down firing subwoofer for a small office powered externally by a Dayton SA230.*

It will be stained dark grey and finished in a matte soft touch finish.*

Cheers!

Joe

[tomzarbo]

Joe,

It's beautiful. The black grooves are a nice touch too.* I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking at, though. I see one big opening on the end, and two openings - one bigger than the other - on the long side. I was thinking driver and larger PR, but what's the other hole... Oh, terminal cup?*

Oh wait, . 5 cu. ft. is kind of small... That would be a driver opening on the end, and a vent and terminal cup on the long side, right?*

Allergies are holding my brain hostage I swear.
TomZ

[jml]

Tom:

You are spot on - driver hole on the end (bottom), the smaller whole closer to the driver is the terminal cup, and above that is the whole for the precision port. *

Cheers!

Joe

*

[jml]

Good Evening!

I just wanted to post a quick update photo on this project. *The finish is almost done, and then time for assembly.*

Cheers!

Joe










*

[dynamo]

Beautiful! Is that a stain or dye? Either way, what brand?

[Navy Guy]

Great work!

[a4eaudio]

Seriously? One tease picture from the back side? Looking forward to more!

[andykriech]

Really nice...but, i too, would like more details and pics* ;-)
I take it the outside is solid wood over the inner MDF box?
How is the wenge done? Inlay or strips?
How thick is the outer hardwood maple?

Did I mention how fantastic the figured maple looks dyed and finished like you have done?
How was this accomplished?
Andy.

[jml]

Good Evening!*

Thanks for all the interest in this project.* Here are a few additional photos, and some additional detail on the build.*

First things first, this is a tall thin down firing subwoofer.* The bottom is the portion with the largest (driver) cutout, and the back is the side with the 2 wholes - one for the terminal cup and one for the port.* I know that this is not an ideal driver orientation, but the application called for it.*

- The Interior box is 3/4" MDF, and the exterior box is solid maple - 1" on the sides (were you see the round over), 1/2" on the top, and 3/8" on the front/back.*
- The wenge accents were done using a 1/8' sheet of wenge laminated to the top and bottom pieces of maple.* For the sides, I didn't want to use that big of pieces of wenge, so I*made a 1/8' deep by 3/4" wide rabbit on each side of the maple side panels and glued in the wenge strips of corresponding size, then just cleaned it up with a hand plane to get the two surfaces flush.*
- I applied the exterior panels to the MDF in stages.* Applying each panel slightly oversized, and then using a flush trim bit to trim it exactly to the size of the interior box.* First the front/back (with no wenge), then the sides, and then the top/bottom.* The flush trim bit did really well to get everything perfectly flush, but I would have loved to have access to a large jointer to run each side through as well.* That would have also taken care of some of the glue spots that I only discovered AFTER applying the dye, then had to go back and sand through.* I'd love to know how everyone avoids this issue in their builds.*
- The color is a Black Analine dye powder from J.E. Moser.* I diluted it in water, which raised the grain when applied.* It covered very well, and left an extremely transparent color - far better than any stains I've used.*
- The finish is tung oil, and most of the pictures show the box with about 4 coats.* I will likely apply 2-4 more before it's done.* This was the first project I've applied oil to, and I am very pleased with the result.*

My wife likes the look of the build so much that she has requested a new pair of speakers with similar construction and materials for our living room, so I'm going to chalk it up as a win HAHA!*

My apologies for the image orientations - I tried resaving it a few different ways, and the chat board always reverted the orientations back.*

Cheers!

Joe

[skatz]

The curly maple in grey is a very exotic look!

[jml]

[randyohoh]

Simply Gorgeous!*