DIY Just another Onken Build

Do It Yourself
Your back will thank you for it. Looking forward to see this build! :)
I'm remembering how heavy my WE TA-7331 cabinets were and my gut feeling is, they are close in square foot of ply, but the birch is heavier than the old school pine decking.
I did make the effort to scale the plan to this material to keep the volume as close as possible to the original.
 
Nice!! Looking forward to your build.

These are very impressive/effortless, I just don’t have the space…
 
Disappointed in the ply quality and its up 40 dollars a sheet since I bought from the same supplier a little over a year ago.
20240910_074419.jpg
A lot of patches on both sides, last time there only a few on one side.
I had to re think my sheet layout and waste more to get decent panels for the exterior.
Today I got the sides, tops and bottoms cut to size.
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Nice!

I’m happy to watch someone go through this project in real time - I’ve been digging through lots of old onken and bass ultraflex cabinet threads after pulling some Jensen 12” alnico woofers from a console.
 
I think they are p12r, they didn’t have the white printed serial numbers on the basket rim (had cotton gauze glued to the backside to keep dust out or something).

So maybe not the best 12 from Jensen but its tipping me down this rabbit hole lol
 
I think they are p12r, they didn’t have the white printed serial numbers on the basket rim (had cotton gauze glued to the backside to keep dust out or something).

So maybe not the best 12 from Jensen but its tipping me down this rabbit hole lol
Do they look like the ones in this thread?
If so they are really good sounding drivers. I never tried them in proper cabinets so I don't know how much bass they can make.
 
Oh dang, yeah that’s them!

I guess I need to fast-track the bookshelves my wife wants built before I build another set of speakers. Gives me time to figure out what to choose for a horn.

looks like you have the cabinet materials sorted, but what drivers has your friend selected?
 
Disappointed in the ply quality and its up 40 dollars a sheet since I bought from the same supplier a little over a year ago.
View attachment 84968
A lot of patches on both sides, last time there only a few on one side.
I had to re think my sheet layout and waste more to get decent panels for the exterior.
I thought my recent purchase was a fluke, but sounds like the quality issues with baltic birch ply are more systemic. I had big challenges with layout given the several patches on both sides, and even resorted to staining to try to hide some of them. Five years ago, it was not hard to select a panel that had a good side with zero patches.
 
I thought my recent purchase was a fluke, but sounds like the quality issues with baltic birch ply are more systemic. I had big challenges with layout given the several patches on both sides, and even resorted to staining to try to hide some of them. Five years ago, it was not hard to select a panel that had a good side with zero patches.

It does seem to be a widespread thing. I have a local supplier I go to who primarily services professional cabinet makers and carpenters. Last trip yielded a similar experience for me. High prices, lots of patches. Makes me want to put on my big boy pants and try and do some veneering.
 
To have no visible screws.. as the original Mac daddy plan calls for screw n glue I have a combination of rabbet joints at exterior corners, biscuits in the port slats to exterior panels and in to the tops where the port walls attach.
Non visible in the bottoms and inside port wall to slats get screws.
20240914_173912.jpg
Next is a few more biscuit slots and then glue up.
 
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