ANK Audiokits Have Arrived! Follow the Build Here

Louis is a very awesome guy!

@Raylinds - I am envious of your creative and technical talents! Fun thread!

 

Awesome guy, indeed!
Louis is very customer oriented and went the extra mile for me, even though I bought those monitors on the 2nd hand market.
He worked out a deal whereby he's giving me credit for returning the monitors to him and allowing me to upgrade to a pair of his top of the line, Super Alnico monitors with the hemp cone drivers in zebra wood finish. I should have them in a couple of weeks!

 

I finally got back from traveling and started finishing the speaker cabinets. There were a lot of little imperfections in the veneer that required filling and staining and it was a time consuming process. Due to the expense of the veneer I didn't cover the backs and painted them flat black. There is one coat of Antique Oil which has darkened the veneer.



The second coat added and ready for steel wool:

 

Nice. I like those hand-rubbed oil finishes. Did that on a few of our doors that I stripped.

 

Looking good. Any thought to making the back a gloss black, so at least the gloss matches the veneer?

 

I went with flat black for several reasons- flat draws less attention and to get a good gloss black finish takes a loooooot of work. If there are any imperfections, it is very apparent. Since the backs will not be visible, I went the easier route.

 

I love the look of the second coat. It shows so much promise!

 

Looking good!

 

Thanks for all of the positive comments. I started the third coat and it looks better with each one, but it is going to take a while to complete. I will post more pictures when the third coat is done.

 

Update overdue- I have been going through the time consuming and arduous process of applying Antique Oil, waiting 24 hours and buffing with steel wool. I am up to about 7 or 8 coats and it is looking good. I think probably 4 or 5 more coats should do it. I wanted to post pictures, but the progress is hard to see in photos.

 

Which oil finish are you using?

 

Keep going...we're all cheering you on!

Oh yeah, lots of photos please : )

 

Okay so pictures after I think the 8th coat. It's really hard to photograph this to show how good it looks in person because of the reflections. About 5 to 6 coats to go.

 

Absolutely gorgeous!

 

Finally after 16 or 17 coats with fine sanding in between each on, I think I just did my last coat. I will post pictures tomorrow when it has dried and been polished. I also swapped out the copper wire that connects the speakers to the crossover with the Audio Note silver litz wire.



I am hoping I can start assembly of the speakers tomorrow and have them up and running during the week. This finish has been very time consuming.

 

I was always curious about the crossover. Question answered. They are very simple indeed—inductor and caps to tame each driver.

 

Same here! By contrast, here is the crossover for one of my DIY's, yikes!

 

Well, more complex, but no PCB. I continue to get along with mine, which appear to be simple cap and coil, however I've come to think the designer put one of the mid/bass drivers in an acoustic suspension box running full range and the other gets the inductor and drives a transmission line.

 

That is a pretty impressive crossover with high quality components.

 

FINALLY!!!! The finish is complete after 17 coats.







Now I can start assembly, but that shouldn't take too long.

 

Your patience is incredible. How excited are you?

 

Wow! Outstanding! I simply can't wait to see pics of the completed system! Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Wow Ray!

 

This guy is a hero