AK Design Collaborative - Insignia-Class Economy Speakers (a.k.a Indignia)

Russell,
Have you gotten your router?
Wondering what that is/will be.

FWIW, I recently got a new router. I went with a Bosch. I compared it with Porter Cable and Dewalt and this one came out ahead. The "deal breaker" was the way the handles (on the plunge base) fit my hands. I find it much easier to guide than the wooden ball type handles that the PC and Dewalt had. I also liked the way the plunge works on this one. It has a ton of power, adjustable speed, plunge and fixed base and 1/2" and 1/4" collets. I'm happy.

Just another data point.

Ray

I don;t think you can go wrong with any of the three Ray mentioned. It's all about what you are comfortable with once you get up into the range of products by Bosch, PC, and Dewalt, all of them are very high quality tools.

Nice looking router! If that one can't do it, it probably can't be done, with a router, anyway.

BTW, whoever was talking about holding the blanks in place, it's a fixture. A fixture holds a workpiece; a jig holds a tool. :yes: (me ducks)

That was me. *swings low*

Ow! :lmao: Sorry, couldn't resist.

Still Here

I seem to have lost touch with this thread (and the whole forum) but I'm still watching! The crossovers look very nice. :thmbsp:

skywave-rider said:

Russell,
Have you gotten your router?
Wondering what that is/will be.

Click to expand...

No, not yet, still a little frosty in the garage, but with propane heater is tolerable. I need to go have a close look at the models mentioned. I am sure that any of them will suit my purposes. Hopefully, ican buy build a router table and get some cabinet built soon. I have a tower econowave w/ JBL 2213H to build, and eventually a 4430 clone.

Russellc

Another pair!

I finished the pair of Indignias that are for our good friends beach house. The black lacquer really looks rich, but does it ever show fingerprints. I have washed my hands so often, it feels like med school.

I have made so many trips into my office with a disconnected crossover to change parts, or carried my solder station out into the garage and tried to solder on top of a speaker to save the trip. Finally got a rack, and mounted enough equipment that no more such trips will be necessary. Even mounted a working station on the front of it. Haven't mounted the solder station yet, but it will just sit on the work station shelf. With a fifteen foot cord on the power strip, and being on wheels, no more problems. Now if any changes in lashup are necessary, the backs are all exposed. No more reaching around gear piled in a storage cabinet. I like that!

These Indignias sound very nice, but don't measure quite as good as they sound. However, the bass is really impressive for a small woofer. Ben and Jane will love them.

jackgiff said:

I finished the pair of Indignias that are for our good friends beach house. The black lacquer really looks rich, but does it ever show fingerprints. I have washed my hands so often, it feels like med school.

Click to expand...

S/N 19 & 20, the beautiful "Stealth" Indignias! :thmbsp:

jackgiff said:

I have made so many trips into my office with a disconnected crossover to change parts, or carried my solder station out into the garage and tried to solder on top of a speaker to save the trip. Finally got a rack, and mounted enough equipment that no more such trips will be necessary. Even mounted a working station on the front of it. Haven't mounted the solder station yet, but it will just sit on the work station shelf. With a fifteen foot cord on the power strip, and being on wheels, no more problems. Now if any changes in lashup are necessary, the backs are all exposed. No more reaching around gear piled in a storage cabinet. I like that!

Click to expand...

You're ahead of ZilchLab again, Jack. I have a pair of racks here, but they're loaded with "stuff" rather than gear; I'm shamefully unorganized by comparison. ity:

jackgiff said:

These Indignias sound very nice, but don't measure quite as good as they sound. However, the bass is really impressive for a small woofer. Ben and Jane will love them.

Click to expand...

Looks like +/- 2.5 dB the entire way there! I think everyone agrees we nailed the bass response nicely in these.... :yes:

That suckout at 160(ish) looks like you're getting interference from an early reflection. Something on the order of a 4' path length difference would do it. Could be from the floor. Try throwing a thick rug (or folded blanket or large dog or whatever) on the floor about halfway between the speakers and mic.

In-room measurements tend to look ugly. Kinda like me! :yes:

Ray

RayW said:

That suckout at 160(ish) looks like you're getting interference from an early reflection. Something on the order of a 4' path length difference would do it. Could be from the floor. Try throwing a thick rug (or folded blanket or large dog or whatever) on the floor about halfway between the speakers and mic.

In-room measurements tend to look ugly. Kinda like me! :yes:

Ray

Click to expand...

They do look pretty ugly most of the time. Especially anything below about 1 KHz gets ignored by me, cause it is almost always some kind of reflection. I used to get carried away with rugs, moving pads, etc, but finally decided to just ignore all the low end stuff. My garage is not the best place to make measurements.

Zilch said:

You're ahead of ZilchLab again, Jack. I have a pair of racks here, but they're loaded with "stuff" rather than gear; I'm shamefully unorganized by comparison. ity:

Click to expand...

I have seen ZilchLab, and you will need to unload some stuff to even have room to roll them around. If you decide to give some stuff away, give me a call. I know the way now. :yes:

ZilchLab is "Anechoic."

Sound goes in between stuff and never comes back out....

We're putting the finishing touches on Indignia s/n 0009, and I've run into a slight problem... not sure who is the best one to ask about this so I'll just put it out there. It's about painting, mostly... I redid the front baffle using plain MDF and just Gorilla-glued it on, hoping that it would expand enough to fill any cracks. Well, it didn't... not completely. I did not make nice corners... I just cut everything square and glued it all together making it to where you can see edge cuts all around the top (except at the back) and along the front edge of each side.
So I got some primer paint to treat those edges so they won't just endlessly soak up paint and that looks promising... maybe I Should have used a sanding sealer instead.
But the big question now is: based on my having already applied the primer to those edges where the cracks are, what can I do now to fill those cracks before spray painting? The primer paint sure isn't working.

beans said:

But the big question now is: based on my having already applied the primer to those edges where the cracks are, what can I do now to fill those cracks before spray painting? The primer paint sure isn't working.

Click to expand...

If they're small enough, sand lightly and apply more primer, sand again, reapply primer, repeat till filled.

If large, use some kind of filler to level the larger gaps... spackling, wood putty, etc. You could even mix some sawdust with some glue and use that. Sand and repeat, if needed.

The fact that you've already primed is not an issue. Be sure to use a flat sanding block as your goal is to get a flat surface.

Bondo works pretty well too. All of Jimbo's suggestions are good ones. :thmbsp:

Ray

Ok, here is a brief history of the last couple of months, and some reasons behind my tardiness. In november, I ordered two sets of baffles and promptly destroyed both by not double checking my measurements on the fixture I made. Amateurish mistake number one. So, rather thn having two sets ready to go, I just threw away a good chunk of money on a stupid mistake.

About that time, we found out that Liberty would require surgery on a small cyst she developed on her face. That essentially took out 2-3 weeks of available time and the holidays hit. During the holidays, we learned that my wife might need reconstructive foot surgery and she needed to stay off of her feet for a while to see if some issues would correct themselves or if the surgery would need to be setup. Shortly after the holidays, I noticed a decent size bump on my torso and was diagnosed with an umbilical hernia. That isn't such a problem but I couldn't get that surgery done if Christie was going to have to have her surgery. Lastly, my switch for my router broke, I ordered one from a parts supplier and received the wrong one so I pulled the router apart and effectively removed the switch from the circuit, there is a hand trigger that would keep it "safe" to use while waiting for the correct switch.

Finally, we found out that Christie doesn't need reconstructive foot surgery (yay!) and I had my umbilical hernia surgery done last week.

Tonight, when downstairs I didn't see that my circle cutting jig was scratching the baffles and I ruined 3 more, or at least marred them enough that I would never send them out that way. I am ridiculously embarassed and as stupid as I feel right now, I am even more angry at myself for wasting more money as I'll have to reorder some of these baffles until i have time to fix the repairs.

I offer this not as an excuse my tardiness, but just an explanation of the cluster that things have been like recently. I am sorry for being late, I will have two sets of baffles going to Ray (if Ray has the provisions to make a 1.5" through hole with a 1.875" 1/2" deep bore from the back side) on Wednesday to cut the port holes for Zilch and WiredBecker.

The other baffles have just been ordered and I will work on them Thursday providing they arrive by then and Saturday if I can't complete them (right now, i am working on things as I feel decent but obviously I couldn't concentrate enough to do them right.

All is not a total loss, when the weather breaks, I'll get these damaged ones sanded out in case there is a next round of this, although, at this point, I don't expect to be offering to do the routing again because of the gross incompetence I have shown.

Sorry again and thanks for the overwhelming patience.

Dave

dnewma04 said:

(if Ray has the provisions to make a 1.5" through hole with a 1.875" 1/2" deep bore from the back side)

Click to expand...

He does not right now, but he could easily order a 1 7/8" Forstner bit for the drill press and git 'r done.

I have the "big" Jasper circle jig for the router which only goes down to 2 1/4". When I bought it, it was "the Jasper circle jig" and that's all there was. Anyway, I'll order up the bit, which I should probably have anyway and I'm pretty sure I can do it with that one and a 1 1/2" spade bit (which I do have) for the through hole.

Note: I didn't need this for mine as I used a through hole, sanded the port flush on the front, and used a roundover bit to smooth things up and add the port flare.

Ray

dang, dave!! that sounds harsh. i'm glad you're not suffering a major depressive episode, cause that's what i'd be doing. sheesh. talk about a run ....

ok, down to bidness. how're mine doing? ;^))

let me know if you need some $$ kick in to get on the right side, and thanks for all your help