Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

[RDR75]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

Beautiful work on the cabinets.....hideous soldering:D

[Soundslike]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

Mark,

That's a great compliment -- thank you very much. Now if I could only live up to it... By the way, as you will recall, I've seen your work and I'm very impressed. We should collaborate on something in the future...

Ron

[Mark65]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

You, my friend, are leaps and bounds, plus a few giant strides, above me in the woodworking and finishing aspect of speaker building.

I'm just slack jaw awed by your work. Seriously.

Stunning, just plain stunning.


Mark

[Soundslike]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

This is a fabulous build thread. The amount of work, quality of work, documentation, photos, creativity is just staggering. Thank you.

Coming from you, I'm very flattered, thanks for the compliment. I've followed your projects and admired them all. Outstanding work...

[MrkCrwly]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

This is a fabulous build thread. The amount of work, quality of work, documentation, photos, creativity is just staggering. Thank you.

[beemain]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

Don't use bond brand, use rage gold or a similar light weight filler. Bondo brand is terrible. Sand when it's green and it's easy to work with. With any luck I'll have some pictures on my build this weekend.

[Soundslike]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

I believe the word your looking for is BONDO! It is thought of as an automotive only product, but it works great for projects like this. Sands easy, very hard when fully cured, and doesn't shrink.

I'll give that a try. I've seen other posts where builders have used Bondo but I've always assumed there would be a problem caused by different sanding rates (I'm referring to abrasives removing material -- the Bondo probably, I thought, would be more resistant to sanding than the MDF which would leave a bump). I can't wait to try it. Thanks for the tip...

Ron

[Soundslike]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

Mr. Soundslike, oh wise one, I've been throwing this idea in my head I cannot shake so let me throw this by you...

I have thought about getting 2 TriTrix sets, using almost every piece that's already cut and creating my own Defenitive Technology BiPolar setup. I would seal off the 5 1/4's with the 2 front firing and 2 rear firing with matching tweets on each side. Using the sealed bottom to throw in a side 10" and 10" passive on the other side. With everything pre cut and using the baffles already cut it wouldn't take much to make it work. My logic is that for $400 I can use everything that's there for the top part. I've even thought about using a 8" side passive for the sealed top to get the lowest response out of the 5 1/4's. I'm curious what your thoughts are.

Brian

You're getting way over my head here, unless you're addressing how the enclosures might be modified and adapted to your project. I do pretty well with the "put it all together and paint it stuff," but as for how all these components would work together, that's probably a question best addressed by Curt. It looks like a very interesting project. Is this the concept you had in mind? If so, I'd build the enclosures from scratch, using the sealed variant, mainly because of size considerations. Were you thinking all four of the mid woofer drivers would be in the same enclosure, or were you thinking of two separate enclosures for them? I'd be curious to know how the passive radiator would work. If this is a viable concept, you ought to start a thread in the Tech Talk forum -- you're sure to get a lot of input on this one.

[AMC]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

The ideal filler is one that is strong, never comes out, and sands easily, but I've yet to find it.

I believe the word your looking for is BONDO! It is thought of as an automotive only product, but it works great for projects like this. Sands easy, very hard when fully cured, and doesn't shrink.

[Hearing Specialist]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

Mr. Soundslike, oh wise one, I've been throwing this idea in my head I cannot shake so let me throw this by you...

I have thought about getting 2 TriTrix sets, using almost every piece that's already cut and creating my own Defenitive Technology BiPolar setup. I would seal off the 5 1/4's with the 2 front firing and 2 rear firing with matching tweets on each side. Using the sealed bottom to throw in a side 10" and 10" passive on the other side. With everything pre cut and using the baffles already cut it wouldn't take much to make it work. My logic is that for $400 I can use everything that's there for the top part. I've even thought about using a 8" side passive for the sealed top to get the lowest response out of the 5 1/4's. I'm curious what your thoughts are.

Brian

[curt_c]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

Nicely Done!

Both the write up and the execution of the design are top shelf.

The brackets look well thought out and are a nice touch as well...

C

[Soundslike]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

Holy crap that's a rediculous amount of work! Wow! Fantastic build again!

Thanks for the compliment greywarden. Way up in Alaska I see, wow...

[Soundslike]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

Continuing with the painted trim pieces -- these are the ceiling trim pieces. Unfortunately, the primer is causing problems again. I used a better paint on the trim pieces, but for reasons I can't recall, I stuck with the shellac based primer. The paint this time, was an automotive urethane type. The paint flows out nicely, produces a very shiny finish, and it's tough. I plan to talk more about painting later, but if you want to see what it's capable of, look at the subwoofer photo at the start of this thread. Suffice it to say, I'll be reluctant to use anything else on a painted project...



Here's a close up of a painted dog bone (strap cover) for the sides. Although I didn't quite achieve perfection, you can see that with better surface preparation, the urethane paint is capable of producing a very nice finish. I used a detail gun for these smaller parts.



The next few photos show, what I had so hoped to avoid. Some things young people should never have to see. My welding... If nothing else, this should eliminate any doubts that I'm hiding anything.

In this photo I'm holding one of the steel strap pieces that will be used to make the center junction where the horizontal and vertical rods pass through the same point, inside the horizontal pipe. My thumb is partially covering the center hole where the vertical rod will pass through. The notched out area at the top of the strap is where the threaded rod will be attached by a weld. The photo was taken before removal of the leftover shards that will be removed with a file. The other end, of course is also notched where the other half of the threaded rod will be attached.



In this photo, you see the assembled (the observant will note that I avoid the use of the term "welded together") horizontal rod. Let's move on, shall we...



Here, I'm hold the smallest of the many MDF discs I made for this project. This one will be used to keep the horizontal rod centered in the horizontal pipe.



The disc as used in the horizontal pipe cross piece.



And finally, here we see the bracket and speaker assembled together, ready to be hung on the ceiling. I was looking at Curt's website recently, and noticed that an enclosure drawing, showing a vented enclosure, had the tweeter offset towards the top. Hopefully, I don't have the orientation wrong here, but if you're making a set, you might want to check. I could just flip these over, but that will leave the crossover networks hanging upside down from the roof of the enclosure. Gravity always wins, eventually.



Although shown earlier at the start of this thread, I thought this would be a good time to show the speakers mounted on the ceiling. It's a pretty poor photo, and honestly I'm capable of better, but it does show how the speakers fit into the room. The vantage point for the photo is a few feet in front of the TV.




And here's a closer view of the left surround. Black is such a difficult color to photograph well.

[RINNAV]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

Holy Cow! The detail and time spent on mounting system—much admiration for your patience and outstanding work! I can’t wait to see more…WELL DONE!

[Soundslike]

Re: Tritrix HT Build with Ceiling Bracket Design

The design also called for a trim piece that would fit on the ceiling and provide a base for the column. The piece improves the appearance of the installed bracket system, but perhaps more importantly, it adds stability. In the following photo I'm using the drill press as a lathe again. I guess it's obvious, but I used a wood rasp, files, a sanding block, and a flexible sponge sanding block. It's also pretty obvious that one of the main products of this process is sawdust.



In this photo, the trim parts are painted with primer. By the way, something that bears repeating: Try to use a primer that comes as close to the finish color as possible. The oil based paints sold in the home improvement centers aren't very durable. Maybe it's fairer to say that the paint chips easily when it's coating something relatively soft underneath, like MDF. If the primer color is close to the paint color, the inevitable dings and scratches won't be nearly as noticeable. The more contrast between the two, the more noticeable they will be. Lessee, black over white -- spose' that might be a problem? Many primers can be tinted by the paint store.

You'll probably recognize everything in the photos except for the two little round thingys that look like offspring of the two ceiling trim pieces. They're just to the left of the pyramid gismo. I'm tempted to claim that the pyramid focuses the energy of the universe onto ..., but that's been done elsewhere on this forum by another poster. Any way, the little round things I started to explain are trim pieces that are intended for the bottom of the column, between it and the enclosure. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use them because there was less clearance than I anticipated.

The two columns are missing in this photo...



And here are the painted trim pieces. Now the columns are there, but the knobs are gone. It's so hard to get all of the family together for a photo. Sigh...




Here they are. A close up view of the painted knobs.