Here are the Art Deco inspired, Pi-aligned, Twin Towers:The oil finish needs to be waxed and buffed, the ports are dusty and that pink spot on the horn cabinet is a flaw in the veneer that needs to be repaired. But it took so long to get here and I'm so wrapped up in listening to them, it might be additional months before I get to these annoyances.
Here you can see the brass casters and brass trim in the reveal between top and bottom. Tough to get a shot that really shows those 811B horns. Need a strobe and a mylar umbrella.
The veneer is Fiddleback Anegre with Mahogany border.
I've had wires hanging off the 3677's for so long I decided to do something extra for the crossovers. They're mounted on (supposedly) vibration absorbing nylon standoffs, bi-wireable and with CAT5E triple twisted pairs (21 ga.) throughout.
As usual, our Lord's Department of Practical Jokes and Unintended Consequences became involved and the cheap "backer veneer" I used for the rear panels, 'weeping cedar', turned out to be absolutely gorgeous and flawless.
Now that the 811's aren't perched on paperback books I can attest that the 'cutting the welds' tweak is without merit (like so many others) and simply screwing the flanges down tightly to a piece of wood makes a major difference in sound.
There are a few more pix on my website and in the future I will compare Bill's Woodhorns and so forth. I will say that the horns are now more revealing of changes in amplifiers and even tube bias; the baffle has eliminated some of the ringing that makes the 811 sound lively but at the same time obscures some detail.
I'm so grateful to Wayne Parham and Bill Martinelli and Ron(Speakerman57) Semega. Wouldn't have started without Wayne and couldn't be anywhere near ALMOST finished without Bill. And Ron showed me how to turn Wayne's schematic into an actual crossover: "this is a pencil, this squiggly line is a resistor....."!I guess I'll call these the Waynetinelliega's!
Merry Pranks Website
Creating is more like performing than listening