My apartment setup

[Brandon Hartwick]

Last night I attempted to build some MDF woofer enclosures and it was a huge fail. Today I swore I'm finished with wooden boxes so I started from scratch and designed a 3/16" thick lasercut steel enclosure that's loaded with bracing. Each one will be 20" deep, 16-1/4" wide and 13" tall, the front and back edges will be curved and the sides will be clad in strips of hardwood similar to how Solus Faber does it.

Apologies if the photos are hard to understand, it's mush easier when you're the one who designed it when working in 2D drawings.

 

[Russr]

Damn! That'll rock!

 

[JonFo]

Damn! That'll rock!

More like Heavy Metal

It should definitely be inert with that much steel.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

Had a good amplifier haul today from my amp tech, fully re-cap'd Marantz 2230 and a pair of SAE A201 power amps.

SAE makes a great rock and roll amp, lots of snap and punch, it's not quite as nice to listen to as my JR Model 1 though. It seems perfectly happy hooked right up to the transformers though.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

Reorganized my bedroom today and put together this great looking setup for YouTube and PlayStation. Don't mind the craptastic TV stand, it's only temporary.

Unfortunately I can't find my AV output cable for the PS4 so I can't see how it sounds until I get one. I'm excited to hear how the Evo 4.2s pair with the Marantz.

 

[ttocs]

That Marantz is from the golden era of great receiver design! A friend had hers overhauled a few years ago, so it's still going strong.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

That Marantz is from the golden era of great receiver design! A friend had hers overhauled a few years ago, so it's still going strong.

Yes! This was passed down to my from my father when I was a kid, it was originally purchased by my Grandfather. It just came back from a complete overhaul and I specified my repair guy use all premium parts. I'd really like to make a nice wood case for it.

I also just realized that PlayStation 4s don't have any kind of analog audio outputs. I guess I'm going DAC shopping since the Marantz sure as hell doesn't have one .

 

[Lightloopy]

The Marantz 2230 is a sweet receiver. I gave my son one for college and he is still using it 12 years later. I use a 2250B at my office.
I gave this refurbished one to a friend as a housewarming gift. Reminded her of her father's unit and the one she had in college. She loves it.
Paired w/ some ADS speakers and you're set.
Enjoy!

 

[JETHRO]

Reorganized my bedroom today and put together this great looking setup for YouTube and PlayStation. Don't mind the craptastic TV stand, it's only temporary.

Unfortunately I can't find my AV output cable for the PS4 so I can't see how it sounds until I get one. I'm excited to hear how the Evo 4.2s pair with the Marantz.

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Sweet speaker pedestals. Love the crates holding up the TV as well.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

Sweet speaker pedestals. Love the crates holding up the TV as well.

Thank you, I designed and built them myself. Often I really miss looking at them in my main room since I got my ESLs, I'm glad I repurposed them in my bedroom.

 

[twich54]

Brandon your crates would do nicely for LP storage

 

[Brad225]

I thought that is why they made crates in the first place Dave.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

This wonderful looking Topping DSD dac came in the mail Christmas Eve from a guy on Canuck Audio Mart. To be totally honest the huge Wharfedale "bookshelf" speakers with the AMT tweeters might not be the best fit this this room, the off axis imaging isn't great. I'll play around with these and some of my other bookshelf speakers and see how this all shakes out.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

This afternoon I decided to get on youtube, learn a little about Room EQ Wizard and give it a try. I setup my measurement mic at my listening position and ran some room sweeps, these came back surprisingly good. This is frequency response chart using no DSP and only active crossovers, when I learn a bit more about how to read the other charts I'll make some adjustments. I have attached the measurement file if anyone smarter than me wanted to check it out.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

I finally got a chance to install the new Dayton Reference woofers and steel baffles I've had since Christmas.

With a little measuring and creative clamp work the speakers fit in my vertical mill at work. I managed to successfully complete one speaker but the other will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

Project complete! Baffles are painted and the woofers thread directly into the steel, no nuts needed. I also gutted the old passive crossover because I just couldn't look at that rats nest anymore.

I've been listing to records and Spotify for about an hour now and the speakers sound pretty much the same as before. I'm not at all surprised that 2 same size woofers fed loads of clean power sound basically the same. This was a fun project and the new drivers are great quality and Solen gave me an awesome deal so it all was worth it.

 

[Big Dog RJ]

That's outstanding mate!
Great bit of work and a true labour of love. Especially when you have put in the effort yourself, it makes the experience a whole new level!
Now just sit back and enjoy those fine tunes!
Woof! RJ

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

This weekend I took the oak trim off my speakers for refinishing. I had been watching some woodworking channels on YouTube and those guys have been showing great results with Rubio Monocoat so I figured I'd give it a try.

I started by sanding all the original lacquer off with 100 grit paper with a square palm sander. After I was sure all the lacquer was gone I hand sanded them to 220 grit and then 1000 just to finish it off.

I cleaned the trim with mineral spirits and let them totally dry before applying any wax. I simply spread the coating on with small spreader and then buffed it off with a clean rag. This worked out really well and created a very Natural finish that shows off the grain very nicely, my father looked at them and said "they're not Yellow anymore!"

I did this by myself in about 2 hours saturday night. You could easily do this with no power tools, it might just take another hour or 2. My camera phone is trash so I'll post better photos when my new one arrives.

 

[Robert D]

Definite improvement. The wood looks really nice now.

 

[Brad225]

Nice job Brandon. You should be very happy with your results.
It is never easy going head long into an unknown project. Even if you have what seems to be all of the answers ahead of time.