I built the C-note kit.

[MrBoat]

Just for something to do. I must say, they sound great. I would not trade my Carmody Classix2 for them, but they are pretty good. First time trying French polish technique with shellac. Have not tied in and painted the baffles yet. I'm in no hurry.

I opted for the PCBs for the crossover I found on ebay, instead of just gluing the components to the bottom of the cabinet wired point-to-point. Once you pay tax, buy the screws, the binding posts and any finish on them, the notion of "C-note" with regard to cost is kind of a stretch.

I put cherry veneer on them and this is what it looks like after one session with the French polish. I think I did 5 coats in one session. It was really enough at that point, but I added another 4 coats the following day for an even deeper look. They are closer in color being all the veneer came from the same piece. Just how sensitive to changes in lighting the shellac is. This may be my favorite gloss finish, looks wise. Really easy to do once you get the hang of it.

 

[MrBoat]

Here they are set up for audition. Just puttied over the brad holes and have yet to sand/paint the fronts.

Some notes on performance. They actually sound excellent. This is one of those designs where you hear of people being surprised of the bass output from such a small woofer. I agree with that to a point. I am sensitive to displacement in that case almost every time. I can tell that the woofer is small, in spite of bass performance. I knew I was going to notice it ahead of time. Still, they are a formidable pair of speakers and I would recommend the kit. I will try them in different settings and see where they really do best in my space.

 

[ryanosaur]

Very cool.
I can vouch for that woofer being a strong performer! Dennis kept that element from the Dayton BR-1 Kit in his AA+, and it does work well down to 34Hz, though his F3 is listed as 48 (anechoic).

 

[MrBoat]

They're okay. I am just used to larger speakers near field. The idea of "good bass for it's size," is one term in modern audio that gets lost on me. It always leaves me with that feeling of bass hanging by a thread. It's a scale to life thing with me. My cutoff point for a small speaker woofer with regard to believable bass is 6.5" woofers. Case in point is Paul Carmody's Classix2 kit. That Dayton DC 160 is a fun listen with enough bass up close like. One of my favorite bookshelf speakers. I think I would opt to buy the Classix2 over the C-note. Even without cabinets. That's basically what I matched up the C-note to for comparison.

There is also now a Classix TMM version as a 2.5 way. I am seriously considering that kit.