DIY Audio Projects Forum

Hi Folks,

A friend has purchased the Parts Express TriTrix MTM TL Tower Speaker Kit and will be putting it together shortly. Initially the plan was to veneer the speaker box, but some difficult geometry at the mouth of the rear speaker vent may make that a little difficult for us as we are new to veneering. So painting the speaker box is also being considered now.



Above shows the rear port. The issue is with veneering into the port, along the edges and the triangular shape that comes to a point at the top. Pre veneering the pieces will create assembly problems as the wood is laser cut and fits tightly together. The thickness of the veneer would prevent those pieces from fitting.

So unless someone can share some veneer ideas, painting may be the most practical finishing option for this speaker kit.

Regarding paint finishing the MDF, it seems like the first step is to seal the MDF and it sounds like that should be done with shellac or a shellac based paint/primer.

This is the product being considered is Zinsser Bin primer
https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catal ... ase-primer
or regular Shellac.

Please provide and tricks or tips you have to share.

I'll upload some photos of the kits contents and provide some general comments about the kit soon. In general, it looks like a real good value and the speaker kit looks like it can be put together with limited tools and just a couple of clamps.

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[ DIY Mains AC Power Cable Cord ] - [ Gobo LM1875 Amp Kit ] - [ Tang Band D4-1 Horn Speaker Kit ] - [ Monoblock Push-Pull KT88 Tube Amp Kit ]

Hi Gio, I would probably veneer the front and sides and paint the rear and inside with gloss black. They won't show under normal conditions and if someone looked back there they would be OK.

Good listening
Bruce

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Some of my DIY Tube Amplifier Projects:

• PoddWatt: 5751 / EL84 Push-Pull DIY Tube Amplifier Project
• OddBlocks: KT88 Push-Pull DIY Tube Amplifiers (Mono Blocks)
• ForeWatt: ECC802S (12AU7 / ECC82) DIY Tube Preamplifier Project
• GrooveWatt: Tube (Valve) RIAA Phono Preamplifier Project

Gio. I procrastinated about veneering for years. Reading about rollers and air bubbles etc. It's not that hard. Honestly after your first time you will be veneering all sorts of project cabinets. First you will be using contact cement to glue the veneer to the mfd. Think of the MDF's surface "area" as being a different entity from it's "edges". Use edge tape veneer for the exposed edges, and full sheet veneer for the surface coverage. (edge tape veneer usually has glue on its one side so all that is needed is an iron and a stick of wood to rub the heated part to push it flat and the glue into the wood.) If you mentally envision the finished cabinet you see it is possible to veneer all surfaces that will show and mate, but, not the surfaces that will be glued together. The more accurate the cutting of the boards the easier to measure, mark, and not cover areas that are to be glued together. Any building supply that has veneer in a variety of wood types will also have the edge tape in a variety of wood types.

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. We have been continuing to procrastinate about the veneering. This one will likely end up with a paint finish and we will test veneering out on a smaller sized build.

Below is a photo of the TriTrix speaker kit parts. The pieces are CNC cut MDF and fit together snugly. The MDF is predrilled and wood screws are supplied with the kit. So using glue and the supplied wood screws, the speaker boxes can be assembled quickly and with just a couple of wood clamps. The crossovers are built with point-to-point construction on a slice of wood (no PCB). The speakers are in a MTM configuration using a pair of Dayton 5-1/4" midwoofers and a Dayton 1-1/8" silk dome tweeter in a transmission line enclosure.



The kit will be built at my place so I'll snap photos as it comes together. If you are in the USA and can take advantage of their free shipping offer this kit looks like a really good value.

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[ DIY Mains AC Power Cable Cord ] - [ Gobo LM1875 Amp Kit ] - [ Tang Band D4-1 Horn Speaker Kit ] - [ Monoblock Push-Pull KT88 Tube Amp Kit ]

Hi folks, the TriTrix speaker build is still going on. The enclosure went together very nicely and we mounted the drivers and XO to do a sound check and make sure everything was ok with the wiring and speaker crossover. A photo of the assembled TriTrix speakers is below.





Above is a RTA sweep to check for any phasing issues with the XO or wiring. All was good. The speakers sounded real nice, solid bass, crisp and with no coloration.

Two coats of patching and sanding are done now. For finishing the plan is to veneer the speaker boxes with the exception of the back port which will be painted black as previously described. We are both new to veneering so we are gonna watch Youtube and give it a go. Should be fun.

Cheers

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[ DIY Mains AC Power Cable Cord ] - [ Gobo LM1875 Amp Kit ] - [ Tang Band D4-1 Horn Speaker Kit ] - [ Monoblock Push-Pull KT88 Tube Amp Kit ]