Paul Carmody Speedster Design

[MrBoat]

Nice job Boat! How are you liking the all veneer exterior? Glad you didn't do black baffles?

Yes. I like the veneered baffles better on these.

 

[MrBoat]

Still playing these as well. Incredible little speaker, really. Neil Diamond's "Play Me" on these made me a late fan. That was my mom's music. Wish she could have heard it on these. Another that stops me in my tracks is Eva Cassidy's "A Bold Young Farmer."

I haven't tried to rock these out too much because I am not a fan of small speakers for that. I would end up pushing them too hard in all but a desktop environment. They sound sweet enough to where I don't want to eff them up clipping them in that role. I tend to listen to hard rock a bit too loud. I specifically built speakers I could not damage, for that. These would be very hard to beat on a desktop up close. With a small sub, they would probably whip just about anything in it's class.

 

[MrBoat]

Update to say I am still using these regularly in a number of ways. No EQ. Still digging on the mahogany under lacquer, too. They are hefty (13# each) and every time I revisit them, I notice the feel of quality about them. Thought about building a boom box based on this kit. I can see this be a welcome sound in portable situations and I would like to be able to bring it along to places where chances of music are slim.

Excellent design for a small speaker.

ETA: Tube pre is the DIY "Starving Student" headphone amp from diyaudio.com, and the amp is the icepower 200ASC amp kit from Parts Express. Both are excellent. I am not a tube head/roller, but I don't mind them either.

 

[MrBoat]

These I intend to keep in play. I must say, the addition of a small sub really moves these up some notches performance wise. Even with the budget Fosi Audio BT30D Pro amp that has tone controls and sub outs. I haven't really looked into the inner design of the amp itself but it's handling this setup even though the passive sub I have paired with these is pretty much just running wild as it will. So much so, I am considering veneering the small sub to match, since I have leftover veneer from these. Sub is running pointing under the table and partway under it below the left speaker. It sounds like all of the bass is blended with the LR speakers.

Here is the little sealed sub.

 

[MrBoat]

Just noticed that the faceplates on my Neo CD1.0 ribbon tweeters are quite a bit different. The slot opening on one is around 3/16" wider on the waveguide portion than the other, while the sticker on both indicates the same model #s.

Here I set the dividers on the other and checked it against this one. This is a significant difference. Whether it effects the sound is probably beyond my hearing but now that I noticed it, it really ticks what OCD I may have. Also, in spite of the recesses being done at the same time with the same router setting, the wider slot driver sits perfectly flush, while this one is slightly countersunk. Either the plates were made at different times from variable thickness flat stock, or there was a deep scratch or damage from the machining process that someone ground the surface away causing it to shrink the waveguide width. A thinner material if set up on the same tooling as the thicker, could also cause this. As someone who fabricates with aluminum for a living, I can vouch for the extremely loose dimensional tolerances of imported aluminum extrusions and flat stock.

Also, any imported flat bar stock that is not sheet is always cupped across it's width. In other words, you won't be making any straight box corners with it, that's for sure. I often have to flatten it myself on the press, which ends up making the material cost more than it's more dimensionally perfect, domestic supplied counterparts. I try and tell the powers that be that there is very little savings buying import stock, once they pay me to fix it. You simply cannot build anything to spec using warped material, even on rough constructions.

Anyway, I ordered another tweeter from Madisound, now that Meniscus (where I got the kit from) in NLIB, which adds roughly $100 to the original price of this kit. I was trying to tell myself just to live with it, or even to get another faceplate machined, but by the time I figure my time and the cost of having it done, it's kind of a wash. Now that I noticed it, would haunt me from here on out and the $100 I will soon forget.

 

[ben_]

If you don't fix it, you'll see it every time you look at it (unless you have a grill?), so $100 to not hate your work is probably worth it, as annoying as the situation is.

 

[MrBoat]

If you don't fix it, you'll see it every time you look at it (unless you have a grill?), so $100 to not hate your work is probably worth it, as annoying as the situation is.

If they didn't sound as good as they do, I would probably let it go but I use them a lot.

 

[GO-NAD!]

This is the first time I saw this thread. Great work! I'm pretty good at constructing cabinets. But, when it comes to finish, I tend to keep it simple - typically Danish oil - as I don't have the experience you obviously have with more complicated finishes.

If those speakers sound 1/2 as good as they look, you've got some gems.

 

[MrBoat]

This is the first time I saw this thread. Great work! I'm pretty good at constructing cabinets. But, when it comes to finish, I tend to keep it simple - typically Danish oil - as I don't have the experience you obviously have with more complicated finishes.

If those speakers sound 1/2 as good as they look, you've got some gems.

I am fond of these, including the finish. They actually sound excellent, to my ears. The good thing about nitro lacquer is, if you mess up, all you need is to sand any orange peel off and try again. The other thing is the method you use to spray, needs to be enough to keep the coat completely wet on each section you shoot, and to aim the can or gun in such a way, that the overspray will not land on the adjacent surfaces that were just sprayed before them because lacquer flashes quickly. If you use an HVLP sprayer, you can add retarder to it to keep it from flashing quite as quickly so it levels better, and then all you have to do is that no matter what, stop as soon as you get it wet, regardless of the results. In other words, don't try and fix it on that coat or you will get a sag or run and those are harder to sand out and fix.

Finally, once lacquer is fully cured, you can sand and buff it like auto finishes, or you can mix up a flash coat with about 4 parts thinner/one part product, and hot coat it for the final smooth gloss coat.

If you don't spray frequently, practice on cardboard or scraps first, which I do regardless.

Another great finish is French polish using shellac. The below is French polish over cherry.

 

[GO-NAD!]

I am fond of these, including the finish. They actually sound excellent, to my ears. The good thing about nitro lacquer is, if you mess up, all you need is to sand any orange peel off and try again. The other thing is the method you use to spray, needs to be enough to keep the coat completely wet on each section you shoot, and to aim the can or gun in such a way, that the overspray will not land on the adjacent surfaces that were just sprayed before them because lacquer flashes quickly. If you use an HVLP sprayer, you can add retarder to it to keep it from flashing quite as quickly so it levels better, and then all you have to do is that no matter what, stop as soon as you get it wet, regardless of the results. In other words, don't try and fix it on that coat or you will get a sag or run and those are harder to sand out and fix.

Finally, once lacquer is fully cured, you can sand and buff it like auto finishes, or you can mix up a flash coat with about 4 parts thinner/one part product, and hot coat it for the final smooth gloss coat.

If you don't spray frequently, practice on cardboard or scraps first, which I do regardless.

Another great finish is French polish using shellac. The below is French polish over cherry.

Nice! Haven't tried a HVLP sprayer before. What do you think works better - a compressor attachment type, or a self-contained electric model? I have a compressor, so either would be an option. I imagine it would require some in-line air filtration for moisture and/or contaminants?

I'm not thinking of diving whole hog into spray finishing, but I'll probably be retiring next year and will be doing more woodwork projects. So, branching out a bit may be fun.

 

[MrBoat]

Nice! Haven't tried a HVLP sprayer before. What do you think works better - a compressor attachment type, or a self-contained electric model? I have a compressor, so either would be an option. I imagine it would require some in-line air filtration for moisture and/or contaminants?

I'm not thinking of diving whole hog into spray finishing, but I'll probably be retiring next year and will be doing more woodwork projects. So, branching out a bit may be fun.

I have only used a separate compressor. Yes, filtration and moisture removal is the most important. Can practice spray pattern and output settings with water to get the feel of things. Weather also plays an important part. I won't spray outdoors here until the fall and winter when humidity levels drop. Otherwise, I have to use retarder and still choose my better days.

French polish OTOH, is all hand rubbed and is an elegant finish. Well worth learning and the materials involved are inexpensive.

 

[GO-NAD!]

I have only used a separate compressor. Yes, filtration and moisture removal is the most important. Can practice spray pattern and output settings with water to get the feel of things. Weather also plays an important part. I won't spray outdoors here until the fall and winter when humidity levels drop. Otherwise, I have to use retarder and still choose my better days.

French polish OTOH, is all hand rubbed and is an elegant finish. Well worth learning and the materials involved are inexpensive.

French polish? I'm not a drag queen...

 

[MrBoat]

French polish? I'm not a drag queen...

Me either! Still, if you want to learn a pretty much fool proof high-end finish, it's one worth pursuing. You can watch the magic happen before your eyes with only alcohol being the fumes emitted. By the second pass, the wood grain starts popping and that sort of 3D depth starts to build.

 

[Eppie]

I have a spray gun for my compressor but I'm not sure if it's suitable for wood finishes. I've only used it for exterior paint jobs. I should post a photo and get some opinions.

I haven't tried French polish yet. I also lean towards Danish oils as they are hard to mess up. You can get a satin finish after 5 or 6 coats and can go up to gloss with more. The challenge is consistency over wood where the grain density varies. It will start to get reflective over fine grain but remain more dull over the coarse grain, so the satin finishes can be tricky.

 

[MrBoat]

I have a spray gun for my compressor but I'm not sure if it's suitable for wood finishes. I've only used it for exterior paint jobs. I should post a photo and get some opinions.

I haven't tried French polish yet. I also lean towards Danish oils as they are hard to mess up. You can get a satin finish after 5 or 6 coats and can go up to gloss with more. The challenge is consistency over wood where the grain density varies. It will start to get reflective over fine grain but remain more dull over the coarse grain, so the satin finishes can be tricky.

I have a cheap HVLP off the scamazon. It was able to do instrument lacquer pretty flawlessly on the Continuums.

I like to use gloss varnish and then rub it out with 0000 steel wool with the grain to get a burnished satin finish as well.

I also use thinned shellac for sanding sealer before applying top coats. Also helps blotchy woods like cherry, maple and pine to take stains more evenly.

 

[Eppie]

I have a Power Fist spray gun and the 10 litre spray tank. SKU 8006583 on the Princees Auto website. It's designed for heavier liquids like latex paints. Worked great for painting the garage and shed. I don't think I can get a fine enough spray for wood finishes. Probably best to get a new HVLP sprayer like you have.

 

[MrBoat]

I have a Power Fist spray gun and the 10 litre spray tank. SKU 8006583 on the Princees Auto website. It's designed for heavier liquids like latex paints. Worked great for painting the garage and shed. I don't think I can get a fine enough spray for wood finishes. Probably best to get a new HVLP sprayer like you have.

View attachment 62686

Look to see if they offer different tips for different paints.

 

[Eppie]

Look to see if they offer different tips for different paints.

Can't find any other tips offered for this model. They advertise it as best used for big jobs as it's designed to pair with the 10 litre tank to draw paint from. That makes it best used with water soluble paints as I need to clean out the hoses each time. Not too bad a job as you only need to run water through the system until it's clear. I haven't used it in a while so I would have to experiment with how wide the spray pattern is and how fine the droplets are.

 

[MrBoat]

Look to see if they offer different tips for different paints.

Can't find any other tips offered for this model. They advertise it as best used for big jobs as it's designed to pair with the 10 litre tank to draw paint from. That makes it best used with water soluble paints as I need to clean out the hoses each time. Not too bad a job as you only need to run water through the system until it's clear. I haven't used it in a while so I would have to experiment with how wide the spray pattern is and how fine the droplets are.

The gun I have is on about the same quality as those found at Harbor Freight and other discount outlet stores and I think I may have $40 in it and it sprays well.