Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

[fastbike1]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

I thought maybe grain raising. Here's some steps to consider. The first couple are for next time.
Regardless of what the manufacturer says, my experience says 220 better for general staining. I typically don't go finer for color coats.

1. Once you're down to 150 grit, wipe the surface down with water. Doesn't need to be soaking. You will feel the raised grain.
2. After the grain is raised, knock it back down w/ 150 or 220.
3. Scuff in between every coat or two of gel. Use a 0000 synthetic steel wool.
4. Do the same w/ your clear coat.

You shouldn't need more pre-conditioner. Just deal with the raised grain. 220 will be fine. Gel works best for me w/ rags. I know some folks that use paint pads, but that's a lot messier.
I often use a small measuring cup to get the gel from the can to the surface, then rub out w/ the rags. I do like gel for non-figured woods.
FWIW, I use rags to rub out all my staining, regardles of application method or type of stain. I feel like I get more even coverage and color.

I tried several methods to apply the stain, I had the best luck with plain old socks. Gel stain is weird stuff, imagine (literally) wiping on chocolate pudding.

While pre-conditioning the cabinets last night, I determined what is showing in the pics is the wood surface. Even though I sanded with the called out for 150 grit, the surface has the etched/scratched look, which is then coming through in the pics (and its over exaggerated in them).

The surface is now actually rougher now due to the grain raising after the pre-conditioner. I am wondering if I should just knock everything down to 220 grit, and then apply a light coat of pre-conditioner to replace what I remove during the process?

[rvsixer]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Fastbike thanks for all the tips! I'll experiment on the bottom of the mains before moving on to visible surfaces.

[rvsixer]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

NOW PLAYING !!!

And they sound great!

I finished the build yesterday afternoon. Hooked them up, some quick SPL matching and buzz/rattle sweeps (the mains reach DEEP, my ears started hearing output at ~19Hz, come on stronger in the high 20's, full on in the mid 30's). Started going through my reference music. Next thing I know, my wife (who normally has little interest in audio) comes upstairs. Eventually she has the remote, and we started going through our somewhat disparate music tastes together, which was great.

Mind you I only have a few hours on them now, but my general first impressions:
1) Hard/impressionable vocals are stellar. Krall, Raitt, Cash, Dion, Knopfler, Bennett, Cole. Beautiful. Soundstage is very wide. Imaging is spot on. Both of us noticed a wide "sweet spot", it all sounded good wherever you sat on the sofa. No head locked in vice feeling.
2) Bass is great.
3) Sensitive to source material. Great recordings sound great. "Not so good" and or highly compressed stuff sounds like just what it is.
4) And a big drum roll for Paul, your center design matches VERY well. Comb filtering seems minimal, center voices are clear and easily heard. I have a test DVD where a voice "walks" around the room, sweeps between the mains and center are virtually identical in voice/timber. I have the sealed ~9.5 litre CC box highly stuffed (on the order of 1.5 lbs/sqft poly fill), I am going to try and remove a bit to see if it might open up just a bit.
5) Did I mention bass is great?

Thanks to everyone who helped me along (special kudos to Fastbike who saved my final finish; wound up sanding with 180 to knock off the pre-conditioner raised grain, then 220, three coats gel stain followed by three coats flat clear poly, 0000 synthetic wool between all coats). Next up is finishing the impulse buy OS MT surround speakers (I decided to try monopole surrounds instead of my old dipoles, if I prefer the dipoles the OS's will make great desktop or garage speakers), and measurements/tuning/tweaking.


Pics attached to prove it happened :D . For some reason the stain looks much lighter in the pics than in person, in person it is quite dark.

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Those look sweet! Definitely going up on my site!

[fastbike1]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Well done. I particularly like that you finished the backs nicely including the wire wraps.

Glad the finish advice helped.

. . .

Thanks to everyone who helped me along (special kudos to Fastbike who saved my final finish; wound up sanding with 180 to knock off the pre-conditioner raised grain, then 220, three coats gel stain followed by three coats flat clear poly, 0000 synthetic wool between all coats). Next up is finishing the impulse buy OS MT surround speakers (I decided to try monopole surrounds instead of my old dipoles, if I prefer the dipoles the OS's will make great desktop or garage speakers), and measurements/tuning/tweaking.


Pics attached to prove it happened :D . For some reason the stain looks much lighter in the pics than in person, in person it is quite dark.

[rvsixer]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Well done. I particularly like that you finished the backs nicely including the wire wraps.

I too am glad I finished the open backs, as they seem to be a point of curiosity to those unfamiliar. I used whatever I had on hand to finish the wiring up, eventually I want to replace with black wire/wraps/loom.

[rvsixer]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Those look sweet! Definitely going up on my site!

Nice! Thanks for the designs, I will really enjoy them.

[WernerM]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Very nice, so glad to hear that they sound so good. This build is definitely on my wish list. Very nice finish as well, I agree with how nice the backs look. Do have one question though... It looks like you are using binding posts up to the mids, and tweet, but are those spring terminals on the rear of the sub enclosure???? :p:eek::D

[rvsixer]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Oh oh. Are spring terminals bad :o ???

[WernerM]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Oh oh. Are spring terminals bad :o ???

Not necessarily, there are arguments about thier connectivity/clarity differences, but that is what my budget TMWW design is using, I just thought it was funny, and was teasing you... :p

[rvsixer]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Got it, though I'm sure comb filtering will make them sound different .

I saw Dayton used them on the RSS HF subs, so thought I might try them on the speaker wire/box interface as well (after measuring contact resistance, and performing a not so scientific grunt pull test the connectors would not give).

[soundfrenzy]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Wow... those look incredible. At the end of the day, how many hours ad how much money do you think you put into them?

[envisionelec]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

Ah, beautiful. I've wanted to duplicate Paul's gorgeous Sunflowers since I first heard them several years ago.

As the Aussies would say, "That's s.e.x on a stick." :D

[rvsixer]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

At the end of the day, how many hours ad how much money do you think you put into them?

Thanks for the compliments all. My tally shows $1692 usd total for building the five pieces. My last project cured me of keeping build logs, but I estimate 10 weeks at ~ 10-15 hrs/wk so around 125 hrs total for the Sunflowers (plus design/drawing time, time spent selecting/ordering parts, etc.).

[soundfrenzy]

Re: Sunflower HT/Music LCR Build

five pieces? Unless I'm being temporarily stupid (never discount this possibility), I only see three (L,C,R).