Sub boxes...first time veneer

I was inspired by Dominick22 to post pictures of my own sub boxes "the twins" I've been working on. They should be ready now for drivers (one of which is coming on monday) but I am still putting on coats of polyurethane to get them nice and pretty.

Beautiful boxes!

Very impressive. What type of wood and stain did you use. It looks like a great combo!

Dominick

Dominick22 said:

Beautiful boxes!

Very impressive. What type of wood and stain did you use. It looks like a great combo!

Dominick

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Those ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! Well done!

Those look like Dark Cherry! Looks well done from my pov!

Joey

You crafty, gifted individuals make me jealous !!! Looks superb !!

Holy Schnikees! I can't wait to hear them.

Looks great "I" we await the trial run report.

If anyone else has DIY pictures please post them. l like to see how other people build things.

Reminds me so much of my Dark Cherry Vantages... could be a match-made in heaven actually... judging by the pics I have of my former speakers!

Joey, that's actually what I was going for. Trying to do my best on a first try to match jtwrace's Dark Cherry summits. As much on a dare/challenge as anything. Don't you hate those kind of dares! :rocker:

Jason, can't wait to demo this baby for you...I hope it lives up to my and your expectations, with all the hype I've given it! At least with this box, I'm hoping IT won't be the limitation. 2.25" Baffle. Gotta love the overkill.

Thanks for the kind words, gives me lots of motivation to take more pictures once I get the driver and amp in! I just did final touch up work and added the final layer of polyurethane onto the box I'll actually be using...so I should be ready for the big delivery!

I used cherry veneer, and a coat of red oak stain followed by a coat of red mahogany. Both minwax brand. I gotta tell you though...when I was ready to start staining, and did a quick clean of the unstained cherry....it was GORGEOUS unstained. I need to start building a lot more stuff using veneer, it's awesome and fun to use. So many different beautiful choices, and a lot less expensive than doing the whole project in hard wood.

IWalker said:

Joey, that's actually what I was going for. Trying to do my best on a first try to match jtwrace's Dark Cherry summits. As much on a dare/challenge as anything. Don't you hate those kind of dares! :rocker:

Jason, can't wait to demo this baby for you...I hope it lives up to my and your expectations, with all the hype I've given it! At least with this box, I'm hoping IT won't be the limitation. 2.25" Baffle. Gotta love the overkill.

Thanks for the kind words, gives me lots of motivation to take more pictures once I get the driver and amp in! I just did final touch up work and added the final layer of polyurethane onto the box I'll actually be using...so I should be ready for the big delivery!

I used cherry veneer, and a coat of red oak stain followed by a coat of red mahogany. Both minwax brand. I gotta tell you though...when I was ready to start staining, and did a quick clean of the unstained cherry....it was GORGEOUS unstained. I need to start building a lot more stuff using veneer, it's awesome and fun to use. So many different beautiful choices, and a lot less expensive than doing the whole project in hard wood.

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I can related to the beauty of unstained cherry. I don't stain woods except to match something else that is already made. You have done a great job. Cherry tends to be blotchy if stained improperly. The topcoat is beautiful, how many coats are you doing?

I think I've put on about 7-8 coats of wipe-on poly on the top, front, and sides, and then sanded with 400 grain sandpaper in between. For the last coat, I used #0000 steel wool. I think the finish is pretty great at this point. The back has about 5 coats and the bottom about 3. It's really about the 5th coat where you really feel like you've got a smooth glossy finish.

What's funny that you said about cherry being blotchy...my first coat of stain was. It was a red oak stain, and some of the grain took pretty darkly, while the rest was pretty light and I just wasn't happy with it. So, I put a coat of red mahogany over it, and that darkened up the rest of the box, while leaving the dark spots alone, so made for a much smoother finish. I still have a fairly small piece of veneer left, but want to do something with the natural cherry, since it just looks so great with the mineral spirits on it, and nothing else. I don't think I have enough for my 3rd sub box (it's built without the double walls) so I may just make a smaller project for the sole sake of veneering it. There was some really fantastic veneer at the shop I went to for around $200 a 4x8 sheet. (the cherry is $100 or so) I can't remember which they were, but they would make for some very cool boxes.

IWalker said:

There was some really fantastic veneer at the shop I went to for around $200 a 4x8 sheet. (the cherry is $100 or so) I can't remember which they were, but they would make for some very cool boxes.

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Where did you get the veneer? Which store? There is a Lumber 84 near my house. Would they have it? Just curious as always.

It was actually a store up near DC. I haven't had a chance to look around charlotte yet, but would certainly be interested in seeing what's around.

So I got the sub in, and am just breaking it in (watching a bond movie) and my first impressions are "I have a sub?" I'm so used to subs adding boominess that it almost sounds like I don't have one. I ran a frequency sweep measurement, and I'm flat down below 18Hz (and I have it out in the room still, so not much room gain) and it just sounds SO clean. I'll stop here, and let jason give his "unbiased" opinion once he gets a chance to hear it. More pictures will be coming later

IWalker said:

It was actually a store up near DC. I haven't had a chance to look around charlotte yet, but would certainly be interested in seeing what's around.

So I got the sub in, and am just breaking it in (watching a bond movie) and my first impressions are "I have a sub?" I'm so used to subs adding boominess that it almost sounds like I don't have one. I ran a frequency sweep measurement, and I'm flat down below 18Hz (and I have it out in the room still, so not much room gain) and it just sounds SO clean. I'll stop here, and let jason give his "unbiased" opinion once he gets a chance to hear it. More pictures will be coming later

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guess I know what I'm doing this weekend. yes! Please post more pics though. NOW!!!

jtwrace said:

guess I know what I'm doing this weekend. yes! Please post more pics though. NOW!!!

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He's a bossy one isnt he?

Joey_V said:

He's a bossy one isnt he?

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Just speak my mind. Oh, and one of my Pass amps is also driving his system....So, did you get the package?

Joey_V said:

He's a bossy one isnt he?

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Haha, perhaps...but he's right, I owe him that at the very least. So, not "NOW!!!" but as soon as I could muster....more photos! I'm terrible at taking photos during the build, so I don't have the raw driver or amp pics (you can see em on the website) but they are both very substantial and well built. The whole box is pretty heavy at this point. Virtually no vibrations at all from the box.

It is truly unbelievable to me that I've got flat extension down to 18hz and there is ZERO boominess at all. The sub is completely invisible sonically.

Only ugly part is the screws in the back of the sub...but I'm ok with the bottom and back not being gorgeous, as long as the rest is.

For home theather, this may be a tad lacking, because that "BOOM" is actually desireable (I'll have to experiment with the dampening settings). For music....I'm absolutely slack-jawed. Unreal improvement in my system. It sounds so much more full and real then it did before...and I really thought it sounded nice before too! I think I may make (ask nicely?) jason come listen to my system first before taking the sub over to his place for an audition there.

Honestly, compared to the descent audition I had at an audio advice (not ideal for sure, but then again either is my apartment) this thing is significantly tighter and more musical. But that's from memory...and noone should listen to my reviews of the thing I built myself. Wait for jason's impressions.

Is it wrong that I have the sudden urge to make love to me wife after seeing that picture? Is there a support group for that?

By the way-is that a 15 incher? It looks like a giant next to that cd.

Dominick

jtwrace said:

Just speak my mind. Oh, and one of my Pass amps is also driving his system....So, did you get the package?

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It was in jest, Jason! You know we're boys!