I finished my M6 kit yesterday evening. I didn't really have the resources for spray painting, and I didn't really want to do a veneer, so I decided to do a brush varnish finish. My lady and I have revived several pieces of old furniture in the past using brush varnishing, so we thought it would be relatively easy. Oh, the foolish fools......
I assembled the cabinets Australia Day. I bought 4 pairs of 450mm Sontax clamps from Bunnings at $15ea, $60 total. Also bought some 40x8mm Tasmanian Oak that I cut to length with a dropsaw to spread the force of the clamps. Clamped one speaker for 4 hours before starting the next. The top and bottom panels overshot the sides by just less than a millimeter, so I sanded back with 80 grit on a small orbital sander to a flat finish on all 6 sides. Then with 120 grit orbital, then 220 grit hand sanding for a smooth finish.
My first coat was a clear coat of Cabot's Crystal Clear Gloss, which is a water based finish similar to polyurethane. I started with a clear coat, because the first stain coat on MDF can be VERY uneven. After that coat had dried for 24hrs, I sanded gently with 360 grit paper to a smooth finish, wiped down with methylated spirits and started applying the stain coats. The stain I used was Cabot's Interior Varnish Stain, in Rich Walnut Gloss. Each coat was allowed to dry at least 3 hours, after which I sanded very lightly with 360 grit and wiped down with meths. I ended up with 7 coats on the front panel, 6 on each other panel.
Problems I encountered were numerous. The brush I had was an expensive one, but had a much greater tendency to leave air bubbles than any brush I've used before. The brush also held a lot of water in the handle, and one one occasion the handle had a pocket of water inside it that watered down the varnish, and when I turned the box the varnish ran. This happened on the front panel, of course, hence the need for an additional coat on the front panel.
Brush varnishing over/around the speaker holes was very difficult. Anywhere the brush dipped and came back up onto the wood would leave thick drops of varnish behind. I had to do in between each speaker hole as a separate section, and try and seam them up at the edges. The seams often looked like deep scratches, but I think did a decent job of the final coat. Speaking of scratches, the final coat was a bit of a problem on a couple of sides, because the sanding marks showed through. I think the final top coat should probably go on without sanding first.
Wiring of the speakers was a no brainer. I hot-glued the crossover to the bottom of the cabinet, with the wire section towards the front. This way, the fluff will sit behind the wires. I wired up and soldered the back terminals first, then I but the acoustic fluff in - a deviation from the plans, which call for the speakers to be wired first. Wired and soldered the tweeter first, then the woofer. The tweeters screwed in no problems, but I haven't yet done two of the screws for the woofer. The holes are 'covered' at the back where the front butts up against the side panel, and I want to drill it out rather than risk splitting the MDF.
Connect it all up, and the sound is great. At first it sounded very flat, but I'm not sure whether this was a mechanical break-in effect, or the fact that I'm used to a smiley face response curve from my old speakers. With a little more listening I notice a lot more detail than my old speakers (less than my headphones though), improving balance and VERY punchy bass - my lady suggests the drum notes sound very 'staccato'.
So finally, onto the photos. I don't have any progress photos, but trust me that they weren't anything you haven't seen before!
My whole entertainment setup:
Corner positioning in the room is terrible, but I can't have it anywhere else unfortunately. You can just make out the LCD's crappy inbuilt speakers.
Close-up of the sound gear:
The gear feeding these speakers is a Cambridge Audio 540Av2 amplifier and a 540Dv2 DVD player. They also feed my headphone amplifier through the Rec-monitor of the main amp.
Front of the speakers:
Top detail of the right speaker:
You can just make out the reflection of the green wall. You get really strong reflections of the white skirting boards on the sides of the speakers, but this is all but impossible to capture in a photo.
So in summary...... I made a lot of mistakes, and up close and personal there are a lot of obvious faults in the finish. But
in situ, I've gotta say the speakers look f&%@#%ing awesome. And the sound is so much better than my old speakers it isn't funny.
Are they equivalent to commercial speakers at double the price like LSK say? Perhaps, but I really don't have any sense of comparison.
Are they great speakers for the price I paid? Absolutely.
Were they worth the effort? At this point, I'm not convinced I shouldn't have just bought some Waplington finished ones and saved myself the trouble. But at least I can say that *I* built them. Despite all the problems and difficulties, I prevailed.
