swt61

If grain filler is the only thing on the wood I'd recommend a finish, lacquer, Tung Oil or something similar to add a protective coat. Unless it's Cocobolo, which polishes up great and really doesn't need any finish. If they have grain filler I'm assuming they're Mahogany or a similar wood? Because he couldn't spell derriere?

So as some of you already know I recently won an A-gon auction for a pair of Daber Audio Monitor 3 speakers. I had never heard of Daber Audio before the auction, and I must admit that the aesthetic of the speakers had a lot to do with me bidding on them. It was pretty easy to do the math and realise I had paid a less than what it actually cost to produce these speakers, so I had no real worries about getting a fair deal. The speakers arrived Monday, and I've been running Pink noise through them since that time. The build quality is awesome! And they are absolutely gorgeous in person! I've had quite a bit of correspondance with Daber Audio's founder Steve Brown, and he's a great guy. He's an audio geek like us, and has been a lot of fun to talk gear with. Steve mentioned to me that he thought the speakers sounded best with the domed mids at ear level, and indeed I came to the same conclusion. Yesterday and today I've had some time to really listen critically, and have noticed that the highs have opened up with break in, as well as the bass seems to have tightened up. The drivers consist of an isodynamic (for us ortho lovers) tweeter, that really has some of that familiar orthodynamic flavor so many of us here love. A 2" aluminum domed midrange and an 8" aluminum/magnesium woofer. Steve custom builds the crossovers himself. The standouts for me are the imaging and soundstage. Those are two characteristics that are most important to me with speakers. And that is the main reason I've owned mostly two way bookshelf speakers. The exception are the ESS AMT 1Ds I once owned, and the Heil air motion transformer on those had fantastic imaging and soundstage. The 12" woofer and 12" passive radiator was a little wooly however. I've been known to sacrifice bass in favor of imaging, and I really don't like loose bass. The 8" woofer of the M3 is a particularly good choice IMO. It has enough bass to satisfy all but the cronic bassheads, but is fast and tight as bass should be. I haven't even bothered to integrate my two 10" powered subs yet. I'm also a mids guys, and admittedly I think I've lost some of my ability to hear the upper most frequencies, due to my job. These have glorious midrange, and are somewhat reminiscent of the K1000 in that regard. I pulled the trigger on these speakers blind, but wanted to pass on that I think they are very definitely a worthy effort. Of coarse I practically stole mine, but they are certainly worth a lot more. Color choices are Piano Black or real Cherry veneer. The images on Daber's website show a squared cabinet, but Steve opted to use elegant curved cabinets on mine, and I'm pretty sure that will be something you can opt for. I hope to bring these to an upcoming Texas meet soon, so that others can hear them. I'm quite pleased with my purchase, and the customer service at Daber Audio is on par with the best I've encountered with any company. I can recommend Steve and Daber Audio with no hesitation. I believe he has some larger speakers due out the first part of 2011, for those interested more in floor standers. And Daber also builds subwoofers, and I believe does some custom work as well. Check out their site... Daber Audio | Better Subwoofers. Period. - Welcome

Just pre-ordered this CD. I'm a big fan of both artists, and am eager to see how this joint effort will sound.

That's correct. The lacquer finish of the W1000 needs no maintenance other than dusting. In fact using a paste wax or oil on top of the lacquer will not yield good results, and could damage your finish. If the finish is getting dull from excessive wear and handling, then a good buffing with the proper compounds would be in order. That would be best left to the experts. Guitar restorers would be a great resourse.

Wayne, do you think you'll have an amp that will drive these well enough? I know you're of the minimalist philosophy with gear in general. Seriously though, enjoy them!

Honestly Smeggy's creations don't require much maintenance. Just a dry dust rag from time to time should do the trick. His finishes are of the hard setting variety, unlike mineral oil and the like. Maybe a modified Tung oil, I'm not sure, but mine are easily kept, and I do know a little about wood finishes.

What do you call two gay guys named Bob? Oral Roberts of coarse!

Let's be honest about the Sigma. While I can understand some of it's appeal, it's certainly not for everyone. The soundstage is uhm...shall we say 'different'. With certain music it's actually pretty cool, but it just makes some unlistenable IMO. Besides...three out of three Dentists recommend the K1000...

I have Allen Edmonds wing tips, and they are some of the best shoes I've ever owned.

It's actually quite a simple project. I did it to a pair of speakers I used to own in the 90's. You use a thin hide, and it stretches easier that you'd think. They make a specific glue for leather, and I just glued it to the back of the baffle. It seems that the builder used some type of super sealant on these baffles though, so they're not coming off. Good idea for sound quality though, as the seal seems excellent. The guy seems to be pretty cool. He said he decided to upgrade to the curved cabinets on my pair because I seemed like a good guy and fellow audio junkie. He liked them so much that he's planning on using them on further Monitor 3 units. He has a larger pair planned for Jan/Feb, using the same domed mids, a larger planar tweeter and three of the same 8" woofers that are in my Monitor 3. I would like to build a small bookshelf speaker using these HiVi drivers... https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=136&products_id=1504 HiVi S1 5" Coaxial Midrange | Parts-Express.com I love the idea of that concentric mid/tweeter, and would hope to get the imaging of a good two way, with the better bass and mids of a three way design (woofer crossed over lower). I'd need someone to design and build the crossover though.

Happy Birthday Wayne!

You have to cut the head off of a dynamic headphone user (with headphones still on) and stuff it in Jude's bed, to become a member of the Stax Mafia today. K1000 users don't count, because those are ear speakers, not headphones. I hear Skylab is the next intended victim.

Well I heard the OIIs driven by an ES-1, and they did not sound dark, but I had the Headamp SS electrostatic amp and OII on loan for several months a few years back, and the OII was what I'd term as slightly dark on that amp. Not HD650 dark, but not what I'd term as forward at all. The LCD-2 is what I'd call somewhat forward in nature.

They are different, The cabinets are piano Black high gloss, while the baffles come in satin Black. I don't think I'd want piano Black baffles, and rather like the contrast. I also think that wrapping the baffles in Black leather ala Sonus Faber would look awesome too.

I would guess that 1/64" over would be plenty large enough. Not sure what that is in mm., but in SAE it'd be 33/64". If it doesn't matter if the slot is a bit oversized I'd go with 9/16" just to be safe.

I don't know who has called it dark, but IMO that couldn't be further from it's character.

They're actually the larger 1 ft

Temperarily set up my new speakers that arrived this morning. This will not be their permanent placement, but are located at my desk for break in. Two surprises were how big they really are, and that he chose to use the much more elegant curved cabinets, as the pics on his site (Daber Audio) are of the squared cabinets. They really are stunning looking in person. No impressions yet, as they're running pink noise for now. The last picture shows the little pillows I made quite some time back for rear ported speakers. Still too close to the wall, but the pillows really help with early reflections none the less.

Why does the outline of that route remind me of Grandpa Simpson?

If I had a nickle for every time I've heard that!

I remeber really liking the KLH model six's a buddy owned back in the day. And I had a pair of smaller KLH speakers in the late 70's. Pretty much anything Mr. Kloss had his hands in back in the day was good.

I have to agree with Don here. I owned the RP-18 for a bit, and while it is nice I prefered my Chocolate Donuts, and over the Donuts I prefer the Thunder Pants, but I prefer the LCD-2 over all of them by a fair margin. The overall balance and level of detail is in another stratosphere.

^ That is flippin' awesome!

My point being that it has no voice coil. Without a voice coil it can't be considered as a dynamic driver. And Don's description between Ortho and Iso is exactly what I have read as well.

The first Blu-ray movie I bought was Bullet. Steve McQueen and Steven Seagal shouldn't even be mentioned together in the same thread.