They're here! They're here! My slate cabs have arrived!!

I am SO excited right now that I'm slightly worried I may wee myself like an over eager puppy. Honestly, I think the last time I was this worked up was when I was a child and I got my first proper bike!! :):):):)

They are utterly, wonderfully, beautiful, amazing!! And if 'deadness' is a key part of a good box, these must be pretty much perfect. Trying to get any find of sound or echo out of them is pointless, you may as well do the knuckle-rap test on one of the uprights at Stone Henge. :lol:

Unfortunately due to gravity being a bit of a git, they are still VERY firmly trapped in the back of my car (which seems none too happy about the whole thing) and will remain so until Susy's brother turns up in about an hour..... :doh:

Updates, pics etc to follow asap folks. :eyebrows:

:confused: still waiting....

:lol:

and waiting.....

Really looking forward to a full report

Must be too busy listening....

:steam: Pictures damn it! :steam:

Hold on, hold on.
Don't the drivers have to be installed first, along with the other electrickery bits.
Could take hours!

You're just being selfish now! We wanna see them! Drivers or no drivers!!

:popcorn:

Waiting and watching......

Don't forget full review for SOG please.



Regards D S D L

Maybe he got crushed by one while trying to get them out of his car.... :(

Maybe the floor of his house collapsed...... ?:doh:


Regards D S D L

Maybe he got inside to fix in the 'electrickery bits' and now can't get out? Should we send somebody round with big biceps and an even bigger hammer?

Someone call his mum!

I thought they looked big enough to be coffins...audiophile speaker shaped coffins made of slate.....:lol::lol::lol:


Regards D S D L

With holes to let the ghost out... :sofa:

:popcorn: :popcorn:

Sounds like a Drive In :)

I hope that the prolonged silence doesn't mean that he's suddenly realised that he got the design wrong, can't fit the pieces together, and can't stop swearing long enough to post ! :doh:

Hey Steve
good to see the finished article,looks really nice.Any sign of my plinth when you were there
Clive

Hi Guys, sorry for the delay but would you believe the other half made me go out for dinner with friends last night!! How cruel was that!

Anyway, getting there, there interim shots, more to follow when I'm finished.

Holy crap these things are heavy! Working with them on their side on the rug, it takes a serious effort just to roll them onto their back, I'm knackered!

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/DSC_1755.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/DSC_1753.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/DSC_1754.jpg

Have got a little bit of flaked paint round the edge of one bass driver which I have to touch up unfortunately.

Have had an initial listen to the finished one and initial reaction is FAST! Every transient is just SOOOO whipcrack fast, and the bass is really quick and so controlled that at first I thought I'd cocked up the wiring because it seemed really dry until the bass really kicked in. It's there OK, but utterly without boom or overhang, a bit like ATCs in a way.

Anyway, must go and finish, back soon. :cool:

WOW!!
They look absolutely beautiful - if they sound as good as they look they've got to be awesome!
Try to avoid a hernia and keep us posted.
Cheers,

Agree with Dave and Sue
Really beautiful speakers and if they perform to the level of ATC great sounding too

Oh this is just too cruel....

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/DSC_1756.jpg

Yes, they're both finished and ready to rock BUT.....

Susy has gone out for a while and without her help, I CANNOT stand the bastard thing up, at least not safely. It's THAT heavy.

Tell you what though, those damping panels from Sound Control Services are the business.

Oh god this is torture!

I'm going to do a really extended listening session tonight and post a full write-up soon with all the info on exactly what has gone into these beauties, but initial reaction, even with their less than ideal placement, is of amazing speed and an astonishingly open, spacious sound. I really need to consider these as totally new speakers, as only the drivers are the same.

I'll tell you what is weird though, being able to put your ear directly against the side of a speaker playing at a decent level and hear ABSOLUTELY NOTHING through the cabinet wall.

Either that or he is so engrossed by the speakers he still listening!
I have heard one or two pairs of seriously dead slate/granite cab's, the only problem that I feel they may have, is the cabinets are so dead so can now hear the drivers

He lives, hes back and he scores.... Looking very, very nice Steve. Can't wait to read more of your assembly and listening.


Regards D S D L

Hurrah! They're both finally the right way up and sitting where they should...

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/DSC_1757.jpg

I just wish doped cones were such a bloody dust-magnet.... Anyone got any tips for cleaning them?

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/DSC_1763.jpg

This is my fav angle, stripy speakers! Don't sound there best from this position though.

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/DSC_1764.jpg

Mr C. is right about inert cabs exposing what the drivers are doing. Fortunately these ones are doing all the right things. I don't think I had any appreciation of just how much the cabs were doing to the sound before, but it's obvious that they were storing and then releasing plenty of energy and smearing the sound and the sound stage significantly.

Right long evening of listening awaits, full story soon....

A good smearing of baby oil (:eyebrows:) should bring out the grain nicely.

Might look good on the speakers too... :lolsign:

Those cabinets are looking mighty fine - they'll be even better looking after a good application of oil.

You might be able to shift the dust off your doped drivers with a small can of compressed air, just be careful (as if that needed saying).

Looking forward to reading your appraisal of your new speakers.

Chris:)

Try non-tinted bees wax polish...recommended for antique slate clocks.

Looking very nice...my wife looking over my shoulder said they looked good and you have a nice room too.


Regards D S D L

They look superb! I use a new genuine bristle big soft paintbrush (as used by artists) to clean the dust off my drivers. Seems to work well. Available from artist supply stores.

They look gorgeous. The workmanship is truly amazing - and you're right about the grain - fantastically organic! Wow :)

i may have missed this if someone has asked before but how much do they actually weigh?
very nice btw, the grain is definatly a good thing

Well I did some calculations and including drivers and damping panels, I think they're around 100kg each.

Which given the struggle I had standing them up once they were finished, seems about right.

I shouldn't mention ATC's here as it makes some of the senior people here feel sick, but I remember my 100A's weighing somewhere around 85KG each and that was more than I could do to lift them. You certainly don't need spikes for something this heavy ;)

They look great - truly - and from my spiritual homeland too. What more could you ask for?

Hello Twelvebears,

You have a beautiful set of speakers there. Will be looking forward to reading your impressions once you have got them up and running.

About forty years ago I remember my landlord had some speakers that he had made using a cast concrete enclosure and KEF drive units. I remember thinking at the time that I seemed to be good idea.

By the way, if it's not a stupid question - how are the slabs/panels 'glued' together?

Barry

Really really nice! stunning in fact. The pic from above shows the "grain" in the slate, and it looks gorgeous. I bet they sound fab too!

:)

Hi Steve,

Did you have to strap a nappy on to contain your excitement? :lolsign:

Nice one, dude. Your new babies look rather business-like and naughty... Congrats and enjoy! :gig:

Marco.

Hi Barry.

Sorry, only just spotted your perfectly sensible question!

The slabs are all bonded using a colour matched epoxy resin. Kind of super Araldite for rock!

I have to say that being a bit of an engineer at heart, I've always found speaker cabs, to generally be a disappointment from a structural perspective, considering how much they can do to the sound of a speaker.

The most basic 'knuckle rap' test is remarkably telling in this respect and to my mind, the only way to go is ultra rigid, so that any resonance is out of the audible range. And this either means super hard and heavy or super stiff and light. Apart from some silly U.S. designs, the only cabinet that has seriously impressed me was the Aerolam cab used on the Celestion SL600, which weighed nothing but which was like tapping a brick.

I now have to add a second to that list with these, which from a structural standpoint seem pretty much spot on.

If anyone is considering making some cabs up, and mobility isn't a factor, I'd strongly consider going the rocky route. :)

and

Quote:

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Originally Posted by barry.d.hunt

Hello Twelvebears,

You have a beautiful set of speakers there. Will be looking forward to reading your impressions once you have got them up and running.

About forty years ago I remember my landlord had some speakers that he had made using a cast concrete enclosure and KEF drive units. I remember thinking at the time that I seemed to be good idea.

By the way, if it's not a stupid question - how are the slabs/panels 'glued' together?

Barry

---

Stunning,

And with some black screws for your drivers and you'd have a proper set of stealth speakers.

Nathan