The Gym The Gym The Gym WoooooHooooo!  :D

Heres the pictures.  Haven't finished the front grill yet.

I painted my imperial white as well.  Thought I might be the only one, but I guess not.

Anyway, I'm not sure how you painted yours, but here's a hint for anyone that wants to paint one of these.  Don't try to paint the inside with a brush.  It took me 20 or 30 minutes per coat just to do the inside of the horn with a brush.  It's not quick or easy, as you have to get right up inside there and twist your body in ways it does not want to go.  For the last coat I smartened up and used a roller.  If you do it that way it's a 2 minute job (just remember to do the corners first with a brush).

Geoff's imperial looks great now, and since mine is white too and I've never posted a pic of mine you can get a good idea of what mine looks like as well.  Mine does not have the dual driver, or the bracing on the back wall and my wood is almost 3x thicker, making the entire box a few inches larger overall, but other than that mine is exactly the same!

Hiya BIG_GEOFF,
I guess my reply is a little late coming, with all sorts of things happening around here my pc time is limited. Interested to hear the various comments re: painting the imperial. I too rollered mine, seeing as I used particle board for the panelling. Jake and I painted many of the interior panels before assembly, leaving only narrow, bare strips where the panels and the braces would be glued and screwed. After filling all the screw heads and seams, our choice of colour was black undercoat, followed by a rich black hammer finish gloss. I think it looks superb. Definately roller is the way to go. I only wish I thinned the hammer paint slightly, it had a tendency to pull some fluff off the roller brush here and there.

I've done a few speaker grills in the past, it's not too difficult. I bought the cloth through the various electronic hardware suppliers here in Oz, it is is invariably black. I had a browse through various manchester stores in town and never saw quite the same cloth, some might do the job, but perhaps not look quite right. Of course, you don't have to use black!

I use 1/4 round wood, about 3/4 radius. Glue and screw the corners. Extra bracing across the middle of the frame is optional, you don't tension the cloth so much that it is going to bend the frame. Paint the frame flat black (If you are using black cloth).

I also use the little clip on 'noddies' near the corners for frame removal. They only cost a couple of $$ and are easy to install. Fix the 'male' end to your frames - suitable hole and some glue, then lay the frame on the speaker box and mark where the 'female' insert will be located. etc.

Oh, we didn't cover the Imperials, they look just fine as they are. Standing with the speakers on top keeps all the good things out of reach of little hands. (Oh, and dogs  >:( ).

If you get stuck with the grill cloth, give me a yell, I may have some laying around.

Cheers,

Gazman.

I think a grill may be needed very soon.  I had my entire family over for thanksgiving; including all 20 of my younger cousins on my father's side, and yeah, they all found a huge interest in my imperial... maybe too much interest.  I walked downstairs to find that the dust caps on my two 15's were dented in.  I had the same problem on my line arrays.  Why is it that little kids love to press the dust caps in on my speakers?!?!  Has anyone else ever had this problem?

I've popped them back out before on other speakers, although my method was rather crued: get a pin and bend it at a 90 degree angle in the middle, poke it through the dust cap, and using the bent part of it to pull the dented part out.  It leaves a little hole in it though.  Any suggestions on how to fix this w/o adding further damage to the dust caps?

Quote:
My presentation at school went better than i could have expected.  The teachers that i had grade my presentation were all younger teachers who were all right out of college pretty much so they loved the loud music aspect of it.  I had my imperial in the gym with my 12" WO by its side.  It sounded fastastic.  I had a lot of other students wonder in to the gym thinking there was a dance going on or some other big event.  Probably about 25 students said my Imperial sounded better than any dj's speaker system thats ever performed at my school.  I walked away from that all with a huge grin on my face and a big thanks to Steve for designing an amazing speaker!

you could try to pop it out using some stickers ? maybe try to attach some duct tape to the dented part and pull on it...
i've seen the 'press on the dustcap' syndrome quite often.

I have heard, but have never tried, that a vacuum cleaner works for popping the dents out of dust caps.

I have also heard a story, again un-proven, involving a dented dust cap and a voluptuous female's mouth that resulted in the dust cap popping right out (up?).


Dan

I have used a vacuum to pull out dust caps before, care is needed though.

TG