Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

[JDCrae]

Just finished these up last night. A few house issues caused some unplanned intermissions but I am very pleased to have finished them. These are for our bedroom as we listen to music every night going to sleep. Will be nice to have some small speakers putting out great sound, once I find an amp to drive them anyway. Hooked it up temporarily to the Marantz and they sounded amazing. Had them sitting on my Core's for testing and both my wife and I thought the sound was coming from the Core's. Huge sound from such a small package.

Specs for the design can be found on Paul's website here... https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/sprite

I built mine as separates- using Paul's schematic I literally cut the design in half. Had to go 1/2 inch wider on each though as his design had one shared partition in the middle.

I used the Aura NS3- cut a 3 inch hole and then rounded over the edge. Interesting method employed to rear mount them. Was initially going to wrap the baffles in a faux leather, but it did not like the rounded over opening, so I ended up covering the whole baffle with speaker grill cloth. Thanks to contact cement- went on pretty well.

Veneers are heavy flake quartersawn oak, aniline dye- 2 colors- 5 coats danish oil- natural and 4 coats of paste wax. Very pleased with how they turned out- nice satin finish and the grain and flake just pop.

Pictures below.

[JDCrae]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

More pictures

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

Wow! Those look sharp. Off the charts WAF for you! I like the look of quartersawn. I have a large sheet in the stuff just sitting in the garage. Seeing your build motivates me to put it to use.

[JDCrae]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

Thanks Paul ! My Dad is an Antique Dealer who specializes in mission and arts and crafts furniture so I have a soft spot for the quartersawn oak. Think you'll be pleased putting it to use. If you're wanting any other shade than natural definitely go with aniline dye. Night and day difference from stain

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

I can't get over how good that looks with the grille. So how is the baffle attached? Is everything glued together? Is the grille cloth tucked in around the edges? It looks like it is somehow.

[JDCrae]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

Thanks Paul- Was a little nervous how it would all work out.

So for the baffles they were rabbeted all the way around giving me a very snug fit, I wrapped the cloth around the whole face and used contact cement on the rabbeted edge. After it dried I trimmed back the cloth revealing half the rabbeted edge and still had the perpendicular face of the rabbet. Put glue on both those surfaces, pressed in and voila !

[Carbon13]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

Very nice build! +1 on the grill covers. Looks really clean.

What are you using to drive them? Listening impressions? Reason I ask is I did a sprite build with the internal 15W Dayton amp (same as Paul's) and found that it seems a bit underpowered to me. But I was surprised by the amount of base these little speakers put out.

[JDCrae]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

Very nice build! +1 on the grill covers. Looks really clean.

What are you using to drive them? Listening impressions? Reason I ask is I did a sprite build with the internal 15W Dayton amp (same as Paul's) and found that it seems a bit underpowered to me. But I was surprised by the amount of base these little speakers put out.

Thanks - Currently I am in search of a power source. Am strongly considering the dayton DTA-120. I hooked them up to my Marantz Receiver I drive my Core 2-Ways with, turned it up pretty loud and was very impressed with the sound. I just hate to drop 100 dollars for this. I feel like I should be able to find a small 40-50wpc amp for around 50-75 bucks but all the other amps like Kinter etc are pretty ugly lol.

I looked at Sure amps- they have a kit with power supply for 77.00 but they won't start shipping until the end of the week and I would like to get something sooner than that. Have been looking on ebay for a micro stereo I could use for the purpose but they all wanted way too much money.

[JDCrae]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

Sorry forgot about the listening impressions. These things put out sound far surpassing my hopes. The sound is full and real, Diana Krall to Nico and Vinz and everything in between sounded fantastic. The bass is surprising, much more than I expected. We put them on top of the cores to test and both of us thought the Cores were still playing at first. Hugely impressed.

[kiteflyer]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

+1 on the grills! Do you have any more pictures of them? I'm still trying to figure out just exactly what you did to make them.

[MrkCrwly]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

Thanks Paul ! My Dad is an Antique Dealer who specializes in mission and arts and crafts furniture so I have a soft spot for the quartersawn oak. Think you'll be pleased putting it to use. If you're wanting any other shade than natural definitely go with aniline dye. Night and day difference from stain

I too have a soft spot for QS Oak. I will have to try the aniline dye. Your results are fantastic.
Mark

[JDCrae]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

+1 on the grills! Do you have any more pictures of them? I'm still trying to figure out just exactly what you did to make them.

I looked through my phone- but didn't take any pics during the cloth process. With contact cement my window was pretty short but I tried to draw, as best I could to explain what I did. Hope it is helpful. Hopefully seeing a drawing of the rabbeted baffle helps what I am trying to describe make sense.

SpriteDocs.pdf

Thanks Mark! The best part about aniline dye is you make it whatever strength you want- so you can go as dark, or light as you want. The ratio is 1oz dye to 1qt solvent. I used a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and lacquer thinner. Made approx 1pt. Have to do a little math but with a glass precision turkey baster, beaker and a plastic syringe for the dye, I was able to mix up the dye within minutes. The best part of the mixture I use, is the surface is dry within 15 seconds and also, because the mixture contains no water- it doesn't raise the grain. Makes getting a finish you like pretty quick. Just make sure to start lighter and get darker gradually. Once you have gone too dark, it takes quite a bit of sanding to get down to bare wood. With veneers already being thin, this can ruin the veneer pretty quickly. A little dye goes a long way. When dying heavily figured wood, you will find the dye soaks into the grain ruts and lines, but leaves the flake etc alone for the most part, so it gets you a good amount of contrast. Scuff with 320 or so between coats of dye and you are good to go. You will want to let it sit for 24 hours before applying any finish coats of danish oil, poly etc.

[generic]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

Sorry forgot about the listening impressions. These things put out sound far surpassing my hopes. The sound is full and real, Diana Krall to Nico and Vinz and everything in between sounded fantastic. The bass is surprising, much more than I expected. We put them on top of the cores to test and both of us thought the Cores were still playing at first. Hugely impressed.

I built a pair as well and only got to listen to them for a few hours before I sent them away as a gift. I recall them putting out a larger sound then I expected. I'm gonna have to build a pair for myself. If spring ever comes.....

[JDCrae]

Re: Newest build- Paul Carmody Sprite Separates

Ended up going with a Sure Electronics Amplifier and power supply. The amp is slated to be good for 100 watts per channel, not that I have any intention of using all of that. Got it hooked up and was listening last night, and it puts out very clean power. For only 76.00 with shipping, I really couldn't ask for more. Had to buy a power cord as for some reason it did not come with one. The "breathing" power light is a bit strange but I am pleased with the sound and size. May end of building a small box to house the amp and ps in the future just for looks. We will see