- Enclosure Construction & Assembly -
The overall construction of these speakers is similar to what
you would find in any other speaker system. The biggest
challenge is the physical unwieldiness of the panels and the
overall size and weight of the cabinets. With all of the bracing
and double-wall portions of the cabinet, I ended up needing
three 4' x 8' sheets of MDF for the two speakers.
I started the construction with the subwoofer portion of
the cabinet, and built it as if it was its own enclosure. It
measures 10-1/2" by 10-1/2" by 23" with 1-1/2" thick ends;
the rest of the cabinet was built around this to create the
1-1/2" walls on the subwoofer.
Above the subwoofer section, a 3/4" divider separates the
cabinets into left and right air chambers, one for the midbasses
and one for the tweeter. Since the tweeter does not
play low enough to produce significant cabinet vibrations, no
bracing was used in its airspace. The midbass portion was
heavily braced with two sets of perforated vertical braces
connecting the central divider to the exterior cabinet wall.
All joinery was done with biscuits and glue, with some
strategic air brads used in the bracing. The leading cabinet
edges and top were eased with a 3/8" roundover bit. It
was my first time trying to seal the MDF end grain with
diluted Elmer's White Glue, and I was pleased with the
results. When it came time to paint, I was able to get good
coverage on the end grain without needing excessive coats.
For the finish, I wanted a simple, clean look, and decided
that a gray paint would complement the drivers best. The
paint is a Sherwin Williams ProClassicŪ Waterborne Interior
Latex Semi-Gloss Enamel, which I had tinted Passive Gray.
This was thinned slightly and applied with a HVLP sprayer
over two coats of primer. About 4 thin coats of paint later, I
was very impressed by the even coverage and deep lustre
of the paint, especially considering that it was waterborne
and dried fairly quickly.
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