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My HDT are almost ready (Read 2379 times)
franksmith
Ex Member



My HDT are almost ready
01/25/06 at 23:10:58
 
I'm actualy finishing the veneer with a friend.

I expect to do the holes friday, sand them and apply the gel urethane and oil to fishish the surface during the week-end.

About the back port, I'm curious to know if there is a reason for the square hole instead of a round one ?

My room is pretty big (25' X 15') and I will probably always use the port since I read that it's recommanded for large room.

What about a round port having the same surface of the square one ?

I will post pictures of them as soon as I can install them in my living room Smiley
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Mike W
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #1 - 01/27/06 at 15:01:33
 
Cool...looking forward to the pic's!!!
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Rap
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #2 - 01/29/06 at 00:45:25
 
I think the back port is the shape it is to facilitate you´re hand fitting through to make tweaks ??? I for one would not have wanted a round hole for putting in the foam for the alternate tuning tweak Smiley
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #3 - 01/29/06 at 02:52:11
 
I choosed a round port.

the foam in the button as been installed in the assembling process actualy.

I made all the holes today, started to sand the veneer. Tomorow I will round the edges, continue the sanding to 400 and apply my first layer of eurethane gel.

The cabinets are made of 3/4 baltic birch, the veneer is 2.5mm thick solide african mahogany (acajou) and an insert of 2.5mm thick teck wood in the center.

I plan to use a marble or granit top plate and will forget about the round shape for the front grill as I never use the one on my other speakers.

Here are some pictures of the process, I'll take some other tomorow.





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Rap
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #4 - 01/29/06 at 03:11:57
 
are the passive recesses deep enough ??? But lookling nice all the same. A teck streak   Smiley Will be interesting to see the color pop out when you apply the finish.
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #5 - 01/29/06 at 04:04:47
 
They are recessed by 2.5mm but i can go deeper if it's necessary. I would had like them to be flush mounted so we don't see the baltic birch.

Is there a use to make them deeper ?

So far they are very mat because of the dust but I hope the color will be nice.

I don't want them to be gloss but more satin so I chossed a gel finish applied by hand.

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Zygi
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #6 - 01/29/06 at 04:37:17
 
Franksmith,

  Looks nice so far, I love the idea of the strip of teak up the middle. There going to be sharp.

  The big reason for the depth of the rabbet for the passive has  more to do with shipping (deep enough to be recessed) than sonics. It was also an idea that it could self center itself in the hole.

    Shoot some more pics when you have them done.

          BobZ
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Rap
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #7 - 01/29/06 at 14:08:22
 
Yeh Zygi knows his HDT´s Smiley I was mainly thinking that they look nicer with the foam of the surrounds recessed level / or just below the surface of the speaker, just a matter of taste Roll Eyes but like Zygi point´s out shipping them about will be less traumatic. Nice job

p.s Love youre old s´ moded c´s Zygi, giving them a cosmetic over-haul Smiley
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #8 - 01/29/06 at 22:44:11
 
Hi,

I finished the sanding, rounded the corners and applied the first layer of gel coating.

Here some pictures :



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Rap
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #9 - 01/29/06 at 23:47:34
 
The color looks fabulous (reads, same as mine Smiley)I would have used the veneer thats on the back on the front though ,but that´s just me  :)??? But those corners are a bit sharp for their intended purpose of minimizing baffle edge reflections  ???
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #10 - 01/30/06 at 00:23:46
 
The veneer is the same on the back than the front it's just that I bough 3 X 8 foot of the same tree.

2.5mm veneer are very hard to find and since I had 2 parts with similar pateren I used them on the back but the motifs are really nice.

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Rap
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #11 - 01/30/06 at 00:52:53
 
Ah ok I thought you had the same as mine, all came from the same tree also wide enough to cover the whole side. It would have been bugging to have one speaker looking very different from the other. Smiley

p.s have you found the marble/granit fro the top? that sounds like a great idea. Wish I had thought of that before I piano black lackered the tops Grin (thats 15 coats polished with waterpaper to a sheen Sad) Black granite would very nice
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teepeeworks
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #12 - 01/30/06 at 03:23:22
 
Looks like these are being built at an IA shop.

Boy, if I knew then what I know now I would have been building a pair of Imperials in shop and damaging something.  :)

Take care,

Corey
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change_out
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #13 - 01/30/06 at 04:21:49
 
Howdy Franksmith,

Your HDT's are lookin good! I just noticed your equipment and must say you have a great set up to compliment the HDT's. I once had the Joule pre - what a honey - keep up the posts and let us know when you get them singing.

Tim
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franksmith
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #14 - 01/30/06 at 04:40:41
 
Hi,

The joule is my baby, the system is buid arround Smiley

I just received a new cartridge for the TT (denon dl-103) and this will force me to build a new mc phono stage soon. Next project.

I builded the speakers at job place, in a R&D laboratory Grin
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #15 - 01/30/06 at 04:45:15
 
RAP : I didn't had the time to look for the top plate so I will use some temporaty baltic birsh.

I will call some place tomorow to see how much it would cost me.

The other solution is solid 1" mahogany wood (around 60$ for the twos)

60$ more or less... just the veneer cost me around 300$ Smiley

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Rap
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #16 - 01/30/06 at 10:43:44
 
[quote author=franksmith  link=1138234258/15#15 date=1138596315]RAP : I didn't had the time to look for the top plate so I will use some temporaty baltic birsh.

I will call some place tomorow to see how much it would cost me.

The other solution is solid 1" mahogany wood (around 60$ for the twos)

60$ more or less... just the veneer cost me around 300$ Smiley

[/quote]

Now that mahogany would look nice Grin I´d go over 1" if you can(sorry want).I built a 1" first but a 1 1/4" looked much better, more solid.
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #17 - 01/30/06 at 19:02:41
 
I found a piece of solid mahogany 15" 1/2 wide, 1.25" thick by 84" long. premium quality.

But my question is, will it keep it's form once planed and sanded or it will twist in a couple of months.
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Rap
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #18 - 01/30/06 at 20:39:17
 
If it has been properly dried (kiln-dried )it should keep nicely. Also something to consider is how the veins are oriented. Is this a cut length-wise from the center ? If you look at the end you don´t want to see a lot of angle in the veins running through the plank but mahogany is very resistant to warping Smiley hence it´s wide use in fine furniture.
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #19 - 01/31/06 at 01:54:29
 
Thanks for the help, it's suppose to be premium quality but I will go see this by myself.

I called for granit or marble and it's arround 200$ for the marble and 260$ for the granit.

Pretty expensive.

With the 84" long mahogany I can make 2 top plate but also two buttom plate. It would be really nice I think.

Tonigh I applied a second layer of gel coating after a little sanding of the first layer. It look even greater now.

Not sure if I will use 3-4 layer and after that I will apply some oil (probably parafin or baby oil).

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Chris K
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #20 - 01/31/06 at 02:23:34
 
I have a piece of 45" x 36" 3/4" thick red brass plate! I'll cut you out a pair in the dimensions you want but you round off and polish it yourself.
$265/pair plus shipping! It is a deep golden color.
I bought the plate for just this purpose. The finshed weight would be around 42-45 lbs.  ;D The mass/damping to the cabinet would be an asset IMHO. But it would look cool to have polished plate on top too! Cheesy
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Chris K
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #21 - 01/31/06 at 04:10:55
 
BTW My idea would also include laminating a piece of appropriatly contoured 1/8" or 1/4" thick black "Sintra". It is a sign making plastic sheet that is available at any local sign shop and is inexpensive and easy to cut and sand. Glued to the bottom of the brass top plate with a thin coat of urethane based adhesive any ringing tendencies of the brass would be soundly, silenced. Grin
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #22 - 01/31/06 at 19:25:19
 
Thanks for the offer Chris but I would prefer finished granit for mass loading, concidering the price.



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Chris K
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #23 - 02/01/06 at 00:39:19
 
[quote author=franksmith  link=1138234258/15#22 date=1138735519]Thanks for the offer Chris but I would prefer finished granit for mass loading, concidering the price.



[/quote]

Well I understand what you mean  Frank, but I priced 3/4" Brass plate new and it turns out to be only available as naval (red) brass and it is in the neighborhood of $7-$9/pound. At 90 lbs. for (2) pieces 13.5"x13.5" if you can even find it that thick on the used market I got it for under $3/pound. It took me over a year to find a single piece on EBay that would yield two pieces big enough for HDT top plates. No salvage yard around here has ever seen a piece this big. Turns out I got a piece big enough to get 3 sets of HDT top plate out and leftovers for feet "pucks" or other decorative trim. The piece I have would have cost $3K + or - a few hundred if it was new. It aint gold (well it is) but it seems like it when you spend hard cash for it. I will likely have to hear the MkII to see if I want to do a build of it with the brass top plate and polished brass tube quarter round corner capping (1" radii). This is a serious back burner project considering what I have coming up.

PS granite is not nearly as heavy is it?
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Rap
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #24 - 02/01/06 at 08:13:18
 
If shipping weren´t an issue, I´d buy that slab of copper of you Chris Smiley what happened to youre hdt´s? Sad

Here is a link to respective material weight´s http://www.reade.com/Particle_Briefings/spec_gra2.html

That Brass is about 4 times heavier than granit for same volum
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #25 - 02/04/06 at 19:27:28
 
Here they are ready to go home with me tonight.

I still have works to do like top plates, a base, hiding the wood in the ports ...

But this will give you an idea

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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #26 - 02/04/06 at 23:12:11
 
Here they are ...

Finaly at home with temporary top plate (flat black birsch ply)


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Chris K
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #27 - 02/05/06 at 00:17:00
 
So how do they sound to you?
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Rap
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #28 - 02/05/06 at 15:37:05
 
Have you dopped the cones at all?
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #29 - 02/05/06 at 17:02:38
 
I will give comment on the sound soon, I want to  live with them for somes times before.

For now I really like them, I'm listening to the music instead of focusing on the caracteristics which is a very good hint of their qualities.

The cones are like them when ordered from decware, they are suppose to be coated but I don't have clues that they are.

Like discussed before, decware can't gel wax them anymore because of the new cone material or something like this. I'm not sure that the gel waxing was the major factor of the alternative tuning having heard the original ones.
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Rap
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #30 - 02/05/06 at 17:15:32
 
Good time ahead Grin congratulations.
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franksmith
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #31 - 02/05/06 at 19:32:49
 
I really need a new camera Sad

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teepeeworks
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #32 - 02/05/06 at 23:24:24
 
Hooray!  :D

Those look really good. I like the dark stain on speakers. Good stuff Frank!

Take care,

Corey

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franksmith
Ex Member



Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #33 - 02/07/06 at 16:56:47
 
A friend, who know wood way more that me, corrected me about the mahogany on my speakers. It's not the african mahogany but the "swietenia mahagany".

For the sound, they please me in every aspect so far. I think they seriously need more than a couple of watts to be authoritative and seem to like a good 20watts and more of amplification. Specialy for opera or loud classical passages.

At home with some positioning the completly diseaper and you forget very easily about them. The mids doesn't make me regret my electrostatics.

A friend as builded the mkII version and seem to be disapointed. I will be able to listen to them soon but he want to go back to the mkI and do the alternate tuning. He describe me the sound to be too polite (slow bass) and less vivid than the fostex driver. Tendency of the current market probably but it's not the sound he seem to be looking for, same for me.
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teepeeworks
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #34 - 02/07/06 at 21:12:59
 
Frank,

What amplifier is your friend using for the MKII?

Take care,

Corey
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gexter
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #35 - 02/07/06 at 22:44:13
 
nice work franksmith.

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Daze
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Re: My HDT are almost ready
Reply #36 - 02/09/06 at 02:49:54
 
I've built the Mk2s. I am using a Croft preamp and DoubleDarling amp (1626 triodes). On mine, the midrange is somewhat recessed and sometimes things seem a little slow...

I do have a pair of 206 (stock) and I should put them in nesxt week-end... More to come.
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