Statements - I Finally Started

[johnastockman]

Well I am approaching completion and thought I'd share a couple of pictures... Only things left to do are paint the rear baffle opening black, add, oh, 3-4 more coats of poly, move them up a flight of stairs and install drivers.

In addition to being the largest speakers I've built they have been the most physically punishing. One weekend a drill press vise fell of the press table onto my foot, two weeks later my other foot stopped a falling cabinet. Needless to say I'm watching out for my gun boats these days. They don't look or feel so good swollen in black and blue with hints of green.....

Anyway, next pictures will be installed in my music room.

Man, Ed, sorry to hear about your poor feet! Take care of yourself! Let me know when it'll be appropriate to have Norbert do the cutting and how much $$. Feel free to call anytime and we can talk about the details, life, the universe, and everything. Speakers are looking very good!


John A.

[mattsk8]

Looking very good Ed!!! Can't wait for your listening impressions!!!!! Keep us well informed

[bungelow_ed]

Well now that they are finished and installed in my upstairs listening room, I'm calling them the "Crushers." The names is in honor of the physical pain they caused me while building and for the effect they are having on my desire to build more speakers in the near future. Let me explain.....

Stacey and I moved the driver-less cabinets upstairs on Saturday morning. Wrapped in moving blankets, secured to the dolly and lifted up each stair riser. After catching my breath I started installing drivers, while listening to my two year old Statement Monitors. The music was Eva Cassidy and Chuck Brown crooning some classics with their incredible voices and well recorded piano accompaniment. Once the Statements were ready I moved the monitors over and hooked the bi-amp wires to the Statements. First impression was that the music was not as loud but every bit as clear and detailed. Solution, turn up the volume, ahhh same volume just a little more juice. Over the next hour the music seemed to grow progressively louder as though the speakers were loosening up and coming into their own. During this first hour three things were immediately apparent; one, these guys effortlessly handle dynamics, the imaging is holographic and inner detail is the audio equivalent of listening through a 100x microscope.

After 2-3 hours of listening in awe, I switched to the tuner and left them to play at medium volume for 12 hours. Today I listened to; Alison Krause, Los Strait Jackets, 1812 Overture, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Chesky's Audiophile Vocals CD and Adele's Royal Albert Hall. Cal Tjader's vibes have an incredible attack and clarity that is as clean as it is breath-taking. Both digital and analog sources are reproduced cleanly and accurately without the over analytic attributes of some high end speakers. With two 120W/Ch Carvers configured as horizontal bi-amps there was never any sign of reaching the dynamic or SPL limits of the Statements. They simply get louder with no loss of dynamic range, resolving ability, or sign of strain. At volume levels that would have had my Vandersteen 3A Sig's wheezing the Statements are just starting to breath.

In my approximately 16' x 20' room the Statements seem to be forgiving of placement with well balanced frequency range and a sound stage that at times extends well outside the speakers. I have the backs approximately 2' from the front wall and about 3' from side walls. Bass is present in abundance when called for, capable of loading the room in a tactile way while disappearing when not present in the source material.

Getting back to my comment about desire to build more speakers....these guys make time slip by, I have to remind myself of the days to do list constantly. If I had built the Statements last June, when I bought the drivers and x-over parts, I would likely not have built the 5-6 speaker system scattered around my home.

Thanks for letting me blather. Here's the eye candy.

[technodanvan]

That finish looks absolutely stunning! It seems the pain was more than worth the effort...

[Jim Holtz]

Ed,

Beautiful craftsmanship!

Thank you for the outstanding review. I'm very pleased to hear that you're enjoying your Statements as much as I do mine.


Jim

[jinjuku]

Great review and wow, what a job you did on the veneer. Stunning.

I haven't met a single person that ever regretted building theirs. I am still floored by them to this day and I have had mine for nearly a year now. I have went out and purchased more music in the past year than I did the 4-5 previous. Still not sure what $10-15K speaker out there that would make me walk away from them.

I spent about a day with placement and the imaging is just amazing. Both width and depth. They just put it out there. I know some people have subs with theirs. For me I don't think they need it.

[bungelow_ed]

That finish looks absolutely stunning! It seems the pain was more than worth the effort...

Thanks for the kind comment. And, you are right in that the pain will diminish unlike the enjoyment the Statements bring.

[bungelow_ed]

Ed,

Beautiful craftsmanship!

Thank you for the outstanding review. I'm very pleased to hear that you're enjoying your Statements as much as I do mine.


Jim

I learned a lot building the Statements. Things like wearing proper protective gear on my feet, how much weight I can manhandle, and when to use hot press glue over cold press. But most of all I learned why people rave about their Statements.

Thank you and to your co-conspirators for making the Statements available to the general public. The Statements allow anyone to move way up the audio pecking order for the price of some mid-shelf box store speakers.

[bungelow_ed]

Great review and wow, what a job you did on the veneer. Stunning.

I haven't met a single person that ever regretted building theirs. I am still floored by them to this day and I have had mine for nearly a year now. I have went out and purchased more music in the past year than I did the 4-5 previous. Still not sure what $10-15K speaker out there that would make me walk away from them.

I spent about a day with placement and the imaging is just amazing. Both width and depth. They just put it out there. I know some people have subs with theirs. For me I don't think they need it.

I know what you mean about buying music. Spent $30 yesterday just to hear more new material on the Statements and was not disappointed. This could get very expensive.

I have some Bach organ music and other stuff with 32Hz bass notes, which I want to listen to this week. What I have heard so far tells me a sub would only complicate what is a very well integrated frequency response.

[mattsk8]

Ed, your craftsmanship is stunning! Very nice work my friend. Looking at the speakers you built reminds me of this saying: "He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist."

It's an awesome thing to sit in front of, and enjoy something you poured you heart into. And enjoying it when it comes to the Statements is a very easy thing to do

Just out of curiosity, I don't have much real veneer experience at all; I've actually only recently begun to resaw my own so I really have none. I was following a thread on bending the veneer around roundovers such as the one on your front baffles. Obviously you did that well! How did you pull that off w/ such beauty and finesse?

[joeybutts]

Amazing Ed!!! Love the grains and finishes. Send em my way when you are done with'em, ok? Likkkkke......next week some time?

[bungelow_ed]

Ed, your craftsmanship is stunning! Very nice work my friend. Looking at the speakers you built reminds me of this saying: "He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist."

It's an awesome thing to sit in front of, and enjoy something you poured you heart into. And enjoying it when it comes to the Statements is a very easy thing to do

Just out of curiosity, I don't have much real veneer experience at all; I've actually only recently begun to resaw my own so I really have none. I was following a thread on bending the veneer around roundovers such as the one on your front baffles. Obviously you did that well! How did you pull that off w/ such beauty and finesse?

Matt, That is a very cool saying, which I hope to live up to someday. In the meantime I do what seems right and don't sweat the small stuff. I also don't post the warts, as anyone who has seen my work first hand will attest.

As for veneer, lack of experience and fear of unsatisfactory results are the biggest hindrances for most people. They were my biggest hurdle. The requisite tools and skills are very basic. Once you have a project or two under your belt it's really easier than high quality paint. My current favorite sources are Veneers From Afar and Rosebud Veneers, both have eBay presences.

All the veneer I've used will bend around a 3/4" round-over when the grain is parallel to the round-over radius and you are using ~1/40" thick material. If the veneer is particularly brittle or burled/pommeled veneer softener is the ticket. For the Statements I used two methods; vacuum bagged with cold press glue and ironed with hot press glue. This time the vacuum bagged baffle had to many splits along the radius that required repair. So I did the second baffle with veneer softener and hot press glue.

Hot press glue is tactile and allows more control of the finished results when doing baffles with round-overs. My first experience with it was the Statements.

[bungelow_ed]

Amazing Ed!!! Love the grains and finishes. Send em my way when you are done with'em, ok? Likkkkke......next week some time?

I'll load them in the truck and be at your house later this week!!

[pgkhorn]

Well now that they are finished and installed in my upstairs listening room, I'm calling them the "Crushers." The names is in honor of the physical pain they caused me while building and for the effect they are having on my desire to build more speakers in the near future. Let me explain.....

Stacey and I moved the driver-less cabinets upstairs on Saturday morning. Wrapped in moving blankets, secured to the dolly and lifted up each stair riser. After catching my breath I started installing drivers, while listening to my two year old Statement Monitors. The music was Eva Cassidy and Chuck Brown crooning some classics with their incredible voices and well recorded piano accompaniment. Once the Statements were ready I moved the monitors over and hooked the bi-amp wires to the Statements. First impression was that the music was not as loud but every bit as clear and detailed. Solution, turn up the volume, ahhh same volume just a little more juice. Over the next hour the music seemed to grow progressively louder as though the speakers were loosening up and coming into their own. During this first hour three things were immediately apparent; one, these guys effortlessly handle dynamics, the imaging is holographic and inner detail is the audio equivalent of listening through a 100x microscope.

After 2-3 hours of listening in awe, I switched to the tuner and left them to play at medium volume for 12 hours. Today I listened to; Alison Krause, Los Strait Jackets, 1812 Overture, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Chesky's Audiophile Vocals CD and Adele's Royal Albert Hall. Cal Tjader's vibes have an incredible attack and clarity that is as clean as it is breath-taking. Both digital and analog sources are reproduced cleanly and accurately without the over analytic attributes of some high end speakers. With two 120W/Ch Carvers configured as horizontal bi-amps there was never any sign of reaching the dynamic or SPL limits of the Statements. They simply get louder with no loss of dynamic range, resolving ability, or sign of strain. At volume levels that would have had my Vandersteen 3A Sig's wheezing the Statements are just starting to breath.

In my approximately 16' x 20' room the Statements seem to be forgiving of placement with well balanced frequency range and a sound stage that at times extends well outside the speakers. I have the backs approximately 2' from the front wall and about 3' from side walls. Bass is present in abundance when called for, capable of loading the room in a tactile way while disappearing when not present in the source material.

Getting back to my comment about desire to build more speakers....these guys make time slip by, I have to remind myself of the days to do list constantly. If I had built the Statements last June, when I bought the drivers and x-over parts, I would likely not have built the 5-6 speaker system scattered around my home.

Thanks for letting me blather. Here's the eye candy.

Thanks for a great build story Bungelow_ed and the pictures are amazing, you are truely gifted!! I am seriously wanting to either build a pair of Statements or the ER18 MLTL featured in the forum threads as well--both projects are First class and I'm looking for a full range speaker system that I can live with for...perhaps--ever....or at least until I get the itch to build again. Comments welcome but thanks agian for your review of their sound. I have a tough choice to make, or I could just build them BOTH!! Take care, Pete

[bungelow_ed]

Hey Pete, Glad my review was helpful. As for your quandary, I say build both! You can never have to many great speakers, and I suspect the ER18's have a different personality. They gotta be smaller.

[pgkhorn]

Hey Pete, Glad my review was helpful. As for your quandary, I say build both! You can never have to many great speakers, and I suspect the ER18's have a different personality. They gotta be smaller.

Your veneering skills are excellent, I may need to confir with you when the time comes for that part of the project. I have done some on past projects Top/bottom "Endcaps" small surfaces and have only tried the "Iron-on" style as I call it.
I think that the ER18 is slightly smaller by about 10 inches in height and a couple of inches in the overall width but they both are amazing designs--ultimately I would like to build the pair I WON'T need a subwoofer with, as I'm not a fan of those for music --movies they are just fine for of course!! I want this pair to be just for music, two channel stereo, the way I prefer my music. When only two speakers can create an emmense accurate soundstage--now that is a great design!! Modern HT 7.1 is now moving towards 11.1 channels--really? I think either the
design(r) and/or the drivers are lacking or the industry is trying to make more money!
There is also another intriging design thread on the PE forum: MLTL BUild with RS225x2 Looks to be awesome and uses the same woofers as the Statements. Decisions, decisions! I'll have to document the build here though as this is a great forum, with absolutely a great bunch of folks!! Thanks again and enjoy your statements, Pete

[bungelow_ed]

Pete, Always willing to share my opinions! Just give a holler if I can be of any assistance.

[dunnmike]

Wow... Loving the statements!

[BusterIrvine]

These really are beautiful, congratulations on the build.

[bungelow_ed]

Hey thanks for the kind comments! I am still very much in love with the Statements.

They have launched me into another very expensive music buying spree.