MEADOWLARK AUDIO SHOP PICS

[Audio Refugee]

Crashing clamps is frustrating! Infuriating even. Decimals. Yeah, I know... they need to be in the right place. Ten.Effing.Inches.Per.Second... Wowzers! That's a wicked fast feed rate. The vacuum induced center deformity... that took some thinking to work around, which I'd bet my best beer is exactly what you did.

 

[Drugolf]

Thanks Pat. Was wondering about z accuracy with ever so slight shifts etc for what we do.
Who hasn't hit a clamp or screw?
Plus that vac must have been loud.

 

[Pat McGinty]

Yeah, you feel like a dummy when you forget to inspect your rapids before sending the post to the machine. The first thing I did as we set up the new controller was set the Safe Z = 3".

Went for the programmable bumpbar.

 

[AudioFanKJ]

Interested to see what happens with that crazy gorgeous veneer when Meagan works her magic with it!

 

[Pat McGinty]

A sign of the times! As an old JIT guy, the ongoing supply chain problems are a trial. Normally, not wanting to tie up space or money, I bring in MDF more or less as needed. This week, when I called my distributor he laughed at me. Not only was there no 1" Trupan brand molding grade MDF anywhere in the company, but no std grade MDF either, of any thickness.

So, yep, fire drill time. Did finally find some, and grabbing it immediately from a warehouse a half-day's drive away rose to the top of the task list.

His inventory was a measly 14 sheets so I grabbed all of it. And: ouch! Does this look like $2K to you? The cost has more than doubled and, ha ha ha, I'm HAPPY to pay it.



Here are ziricote veneer panels for one side of one Nightingale, ready to be applied. Meagan worked it out so that each side's panels center perfectly on the speaker's side. Pretty tricky, no?



For the woodworkers among us who feel challenged by veneering, don't be; it's simple. You just have to plan and pay attention to your process. Apply as little TItebond II as possible to wet both the veneer's backer and the substrate.



Squeeze the panel to the carcass with a thick, stiff platen and a series of battens, curved just bit to deliver force to the panel's center. If you clamp only at the perimeter you'll cause your glue to puddle at the center, spoiling the work. I like to wait 24 hours before trimming to minimize tear out.

 

[AudioFanKJ]

WOW. Meagan continues to impress! If I am reading your comment correctly, it is stunning idea how she decided to orient the veneer so it will “waterfall” down the side of both cabinets! A truly unique idea that is certainly going to look stunning, especially once hosed down!

On another note, perhaps I should be investing in MDF opposed to the stock market lately…

 

[Audionut]

A sign of the times! As an old JIT guy, the ongoing supply chain problems are a trial. Normally, not wanting to tie up space or money, I bring in MDF more or less as needed. This week, when I called my distributor he laughed at me. Not only was there no 1" Trupan brand molding grade MDF anywhere in the company, but no std grade MDF either, of any thickness.

So, yep, fire drill time. Did finally find some, and grabbing it immediately from a warehouse a half-day's drive away rose to the top of the task list.

His inventory was a measly 14 sheets so I grabbed all of it. And: ouch! Does this look like $2K to you? The cost has more than doubled and, ha ha ha, I'm HAPPY to pay it.

View attachment 48043

Here are ziricote veneer panels for one side of one Nightingale, ready to be applied. Meagan worked it out so that each side's panels center perfectly on the speaker's side. Pretty tricky, no?

View attachment 48044

For the woodworkers among us who feel challenged by veneering, don't be; it's simple. You just have to plan and pay attention to your process. Apply as little TItebond II as possible to wet both the veneer's backer and the substrate.

View attachment 48045

Squeeze the panel to the carcass with a thick, stiff platen and a series of battens, curved just bit to deliver force to the panel's center. If you clamp only at the perimeter you'll cause your glue to puddle at the center, spoiling the work. I like to wait 24 hours before trimming to minimize tear out.

View attachment 48046

Ooff on the price of mat’s these days. The downside of not stocking up, but then again it’s only possible if you have the free space.
One neat thing the current company I work for did, was buy 300 of a particular item and had the business store it for them. This way we were locked in at a lower rate, even though materials kept going up. I’m not so sure that they stored said items per say, as much as just locking us in since we paid in advance. Not something everyone can offer of course.

Do you cut slight curves on those stretchers so you get pressure on the center when clamping?

 

[Drugolf]

I would really like to see an actual brief on the reason for the short supply of materials. It's really pissing me off. Home builders are just absorbing the costs and passing it on to the home buyer who then passes on the increase to their mortgage. The pain isn't felt as much as others like us that buy in smaller quantities and for products that cant push the market as much. The home builders have the buying power as well.
Dont even want to get into if we will see baltic birch products any time soon.

 

[Pat McGinty]

Ooff on the price of mat’s these days. The downside of not stocking up, but then again it’s only possible if you have the free space.
One neat thing the current company I work for did, was buy 300 of a particular item and had the business store it for them. This way we were locked in at a lower rate, even though materials kept going up. I’m not so sure that they stored said items per say, as much as just locking us in since we paid in advance. Not something everyone can offer of course.

Do you cut slight curves on those stretchers so you get pressure on the center when clamping?

Yeah, you have to distribute the pressure evenly, but with a slight bias towards more pressure at the center to make sure that glue doesn't migrate inward and cause a blister. This is old school stuff, but it works. Today's veneers are barely 10 mil thick, so you have no opportunity to address an uneven result by sanding. Even a little. So you have to make sure that the substrate is flat and that no little booggers accidentally get trapped under the veneer.

 

[Pat McGinty]

I would really like to see an actual brief on the reason for the short supply of materials. It's really pissing me off. Home builders are just absorbing the costs and passing it on to the home buyer who then passes on the increase to their mortgage. The pain isn't felt as much as others like us that buy in smaller quantities and for products that cant push the market as much. The home builders have the buying power as well.
Dont even want to get into if we will see baltic birch products any time soon.

Agreed. Best I can tell nobody has baltic birch veneer core. I had to buy the std stuff.

Supply chain stories would maybe make for a new thread, just to hear about what other guys are contending with?

Here, MDF +110%, veneer +30%, electronics +30%, drivers +20% and packaging materials way too. For us, it's not so much the increase in the BOM, but the uncertainty that's forcing us, defensively, to allocate a greater portion of our working capital to inventory. That changes the model in two ways that are really quite irritating - by squeezing margins and by competing for funds with R&D. I mean, for me that's where the fun is; it's the main motivating factor. In a funny sort of way, the operating side of the business is really there to finance the dev side.

 

[Pat McGinty]

A certain pair of Kites has returned to the roost to be checked over then to be passed along. It's been a few years since I dealt with a minidsp PWR-ICE plate amp, but it came right back. Funny, none of our PCs had the app. We've been 100% Hypex for some time, which is a generation ahead.

The minidsp app is much more user friendly than Hypex's, which is good and bad because it is possible to make the nasty boo-boo of defeating the tweeter's high pass. So you have to watch yourself. In the Hypex we can just lock that behind a password.

It sounded just a teeny weeny bit sharp in the upper mids, so I reshaped the EQ inside the low pass filter. Then made four Presets of ascending amplitude in 3dB steps. So a 12dB range. The idea is to try to keep the software volume control near the top of its range depending upon the user's situation. The user can also easily make this adjustment with the Input slider.

 

[ICTWoody]

A certain pair of Kites has returned to the roost to be checked over then to be passed along. It's been a few years since I dealt with a minidsp PWR-ICE plate amp, but it came right back. Funny, none of our PCs had the app. We've been 100% Hypex for some time, which is a generation ahead.

The minidsp app is much more user friendly than Hypex's, which is good and bad because it is possible to make the nasty boo-boo of defeating the tweeter's high pass. So you have to watch yourself. In the Hypex we can just lock that behind a password.

It sounded just a teeny weeny bit sharp in the upper mids, so I reshaped the EQ inside the low pass filter. Then made four Presets of ascending amplitude in 3dB steps. So a 12dB range. The idea is to try to keep the software volume control near the top of its range depending upon the user's situation. The user can also easily make this adjustment with the Input slider.


View attachment 48073

This user is getting hella excited!

- Woody

 

[Drugolf]

This user is getting hella excited!

- Woody

Is said user having known designer visit said users abode to fine tune given speakers in person?

 

[Kpatch]

This user is getting hella excited!

- Woody

Atta boy Woody. This is exciting. Looking forward to hearing your comments.
(Funny, just yesterday I was going to email you to ask for an update.)