Introducing the loudspeaker project

I’ve desired a good looking, great sounding pair of loudspeakers for a long time now. Finally after having moved house earlier this year, I’m now the proud occupier of a workshop – its not grand, its a tatty old shed at the end of the garden…but it already feels like home!

After getting the workshop up to speed & in a state that could be used, my first serious project is a set of speakers. After much trawling around the net, I originally planned on building a set from plans – buying in all the components needed & most likely also building the crossovers myself. After a little more research I realised that this wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped, mainly due to the lack of decent suppliers in the UK – postage was going to be very heft y & seriously raised the budget required….so plan B.

After some more googling, I came across a European supplier for parts with cheap shipping that also sold a few kits made by a company called Visaton. The range baffled me for a while, and again it took me a good while to make a decision – in the end I’ve chosen the Clou model, a pair of floor standing speakers, about 1m tall holding a tweeter & two mid range drivers…one of these mid range drivers in enclosed within its own separate space, sealed off from the other two units – this is tuned down to provide greater bottom end.

So – where am I at with these? Well They’re coming on well, the enclosures have been made from 18mm MDF which is thicker than the plans called for, I altered the measurements a little to accommodate for the thicker material. Whilst assembling the units, I have already installed the crossovers & wiring internally. I made a decision based on some of what I read scattered around the net, the front of the units is still flat – no speaker recesses yet. The reason for this is that I think tha t it’s going to be easier to do the finishing, then cut the holes with the router (they’re all circular & straight forward).

The enclosures then had plenty of car body filler applied to fill any gaps in the joins – this has then been sanded, and sanded, and sanded….you get the idea.

Having decided not to veneer them, I’ve now painted the units with several coats applied with a small foam gloss roller – this has worked nicely to give a good uniform, if slightly textured finish. Today has seen the first varnish applied to add some protection & gloss….so far this is looking very nice – a few more coats and it’ll be time to break out the router & fire these puppies up for the first time!