Custom-crafted, high-performance audio

Veracity of the month...

— every so often this page will highlight a truly unique
"Special Edition" Veracity project...

January # 2

The Story

Katherine wanted a pair of HT3's, but had some very stringent requirements.

First, she had cabinets done it quilted Western Big Leaf maple and wanted to match the wood. Second, her cabinets were stained in a specific color she wanted to match. Next, they could not be quite as tall as normal HT3's and needed to be front ported.

We spent a couple of weeks trading emails with links to specific instrument-grade quilted maple boards for the front baffles. We finally settled on a specific board and bought it. She also sent us a door with the specific finish she wanted to match.

I found some very nice quilted big leaf maple veneer that matched the board we had purchased quite well.

When the cabinet was veneered and ready to go, it was time to match the color. We tried numerous tests with varying combinations of aniline dye and finally came up with one that seemed to match very well. So we shot the dye and started the finishing process.

The door Katherine sent us was obviously finished in a thick coat of high-gloss poly or polyester. But shooting cabinet doors is one thing. Shooting a cabinet like the HT3 is another matter entirely. It just wasn't possible to shoot the entire cabinet and end up with a quality gloss finish without rubbing it out. So that's what we did.

Everything looked great but with a veneer this figured, you could easily see the seam between the veneer and the hardwood front baffle. So we taped it off and sprayed a very thin pin stripe down the seam. This little decorative touch was just what we needed. Now you couldn't really tell that the cabinet wasn't carved out of a solid block of lumber.

With a finish like this, it is difficult to get a photograph that adequately shows the beauty of the wood (either that or I'm just a very poor photographer - which is entirely possible). At any rate, the finished speakers were gorgeous.

We created plinths that were less thick than normal and used smaller spikes to finish them off. The height requirement was met, the veneer matched, the color matched and the HT3's front ported. Now that's custom!

Happy listening, Katherine!

What's next?

HT3's in a very unique batch of Pal Dao veneer. Stay tuned...

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Here are links to past Veracity of the Month projects: