Finally Starting the Theater Build

[TXATC]

A little more progress today, got the SLAs assembled, still need to round over the edges and fix any blemishes. Had my littlest one out helping me today. She loves working out in the shop with me. For some reason, she LOVES spreading glue......at least I dont have to do it

SLA pieces waiting for glue up

Glue monkey

Cheap spatula?

[TXATC]

More pics of today's progress.

I bet Amazon has em..

Here are the surrounds, sanded and French cleats attached.

They look good.

With my splayed hand for size reference.

Cleat fit like a glove.

[TXATC]

Last pics for today. SLAs glued up and waiting for the router to finish em off.

Sides together, baffles fit waiting for glue.

Needed some weight to hold em down. These have been taking up space for 5 years.

[Tom Smit]

I liked how the surrounds looked....um....soft curves.

[CoronaOperator]

Top notch craftsmanship!

[TXATC]

Thanks guys! Yeah, I had to round over the entire surround, because the way my movie room is laid out, these will be just above shoulder height. Didn’t want anyone going to the ER if the whacked em in the dark.

Plus, I think it gives a more organic feel to them, but that’s just my .02.

I’ll be starting the curve today, more pics to come!

[TXATC]

Okay, another thing. Last night when I posted, the pics were fine. Now they are all distorted. Any ideas on what I did wrong or what’s going on?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

They look the same to me.

[madmallard]

phone/tablet browsers may be compressing the pics.

[TXATC]

Okay, thanks guys. Now, more pics.
I went out to work on the SLAs some more and my glue monkey wanted to help prep the curve baffle. So I showed her how to use the random orbit sander and sent her to town.

After that, I took the SLAs to the router table and rounded over all the edges. I did get some tear out from between the plys and off the top ply, but some sanding started to tame it down. Tomorrow will be some DIY putty and fill in the low spots and brad holes. Then it's time to sand and set those aside for priming and painting.

Next was the glue up for the curve baffle. That was a challenge in and of itself. I ended up using brad nails to get them in groups of 2. After that I was able to just use clamps and glue. I found that if I set them on the ground smeared with glue, then lined them up top to bottom, I was able to then just clamp the holes together and it raised them up nice and flush. Wish I had done that first, woulda saved me the aggravation of sanding down the brads.

I noticed that my top and bottom are narrower than the baffle. I will have to bend it a good 1/4 in to get the end segments to line up. This will create quite a sprung arch. Is this normal? Or should I cut another top and bottom?

And last but not least, my neighbor bought himself a GlowForge and agreed to laser cut all my gaskets for me. For every single speaker. Took him 45 minutes. Saved me gobs of time, but they all fit like a glove and now I dont have to mess with tape for those.

[ACUA]

this is all good stuff man!!!

[TXATC]

Hey guys, been a week since I posted. Took off Mother’s Day and then my 15th Anniversary, so no shop time then. I will get back to it this week.

Quick question for y’all. On the curve center, I had planned on leaving the overhang top and bottom, then angling the back down 15 degrees to point towards the listening position. If I were to trim down the top and the bottom overhang, would that alleviate the need for the back angle?

Speaker placement would be about 9 feet up, over the screen. Listening position is about 12 feet back if not more. Either way is fine for the woodworking aspect of it. I just want to make sure I get the configuration right so that sound doesn’t suffer.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

The top and bottom overhang don't affect dispersion.

[TXATC]

Thanks Bill! So cutting the back at an angle? A good idea, or doesn’t matter?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

You do want the speaker aimed at the LP, you don't necessarily have to cut the back at an angle to do that, depending how you're mounting it.