This hobby....a piece of me.

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 9:37 pm

Reading some threads here, with the comments of Cecil and Eric.D, I realized I'm still a beginner, when it comes to knowledge of electronics.

However; that never has put a damper on my energy I've put in this hobby for the last 28 years.
I started to construct speaker-cabinets at the age of 15.
My father, beeing a carpenter, made me understand the rules of working with wood; tought me about respecting the different qualities of several types of wood, constructing reliable connections with it, and ; MAKE IT AS PERFECT AS POSSIBLE.
In that respect, he always had a very close eye on my work..

Later I began to read as many audio-magazines as I could get hold of, resulting in building something new about every two months.[really]
[My parents have seen a lot of weird designs coming to life in the shed]

Also they saw me; making a marble turnable, weighing more than 70kg, pouring concrete ,to construct speaker-cabinets,[even heavier haha], making my own speaker-cables, blowing the fuse [16amps] three times on a rowe by turning on my first BRYSTON 4B amp, and so on, and on, and...
I also ended up making my own electrostatic speakers, with the aid of a manual and rough materials; my folks must have had some worries in those days

[we have 220 volts in our mains here..]..
Then years later, I was struck by an article about high-end stuff, playing on a battery.. hhmmm....
And there my dust-gathering MS-amps came at hand again, resulting in a lot of experiments, and now building a rack to put them on, and SEE them lighting those glass-plates from the inside; what a treat for me.

As far as sound-quality is concerned; I just love the sound of my install, isn't that the most important thing?

I'll look where I've stored those old pics of some of the creations I've made in the past; a good laugh can make your day!

Also I'd like to see some of your constructions you might have made in the past, or experiments you've done, just to "get that better sound"..
All stories welcome.
nico

brenzbmr@sb · Post by **brenzbmr@sb** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:07 am

damn, thats old school,, the reel to reel.

also are you a dj?

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:02 am

I love such photos like this...

How old are theese photos?

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 9:06 am

It's a few days ago...
Pics start at the age of 15, [with headphones], to 18,[hornloaded system for my drive-in disco], going to 21,[large rack with bandrecorder].....
Man! I was skinny those days

, just from beeing bussy every night ,building new gear, and in the weekends playing at party's.
My father forbid me to use the horns at home, since the day I tested them on the top floor of our house, and he had to re-install some tyles that fell of the roof [ not to mention the complaints from our neighbour that day...

].
But I had some fun, I can tell you that!!

I found more stuff this afternoon; more pics to laugh about coming up tomorrow.

nico

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:31 pm

More stuff to get a look of my past..

First three; winter-labour [thick sweater, bodywarmer; below zero dgr.]
Next; first install;with bazooka, and already three [crappy] amps, and first ever made doorpanels

, followed by a box with four cerwin-vega s15 woofers, later used as a push-pull system[only for a few day's..]
Those PPI 4200AM amps really were awesome amps!!
next three;Acoustic Research 3A set, converted into a mid-high section made of a weightlifter-set, concrete, and a pair of pots to put plants in, and for lows a set of home-made transmissionlines. I actually went to a farm, and bought real sheep-wool, washed it, made strands of it, and secured it inside the tapered tunnel of that cabinet, just as "dr. Bailey"prescribed for his transmissionline- design!
Next two; my Klipsch LA SCALA'S ;talking about efficiency, they just nock over your side-table with 15 watts of amp-power; great dynamics, but limited in low-end

What do you do with a burned-out woofer? just hang it on the wall!

Next; the orange c-kadett[vauxhall], wrecked by my ex-girlfriend; a shame of my bookshelf-speakers! [my girlfriend was O.K though];she met a tree on her way to work, and it suddenly crossed the street. [so she told me..

]
The stranger the event, the more beautifull the memory's!

Enjoy.
nico

twisted · Post by **twisted** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 1:26 pm

man i remember those old school concorde amps......makes me remember when i was a kid.....when all amps had hi & low level inputs

audio has come a along way in just a short amount of time and not all for the better either.

nice pics nico keep'm comin

Post by **stipud** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 1:44 pm

Dude! My friend in Germany has those exact same Klipsch horns!

ydnap · Post by **ydnap** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:03 pm

Those horns are awesome.

I always wanted a set of Tannoy Westminster Royal, but I didnt have 15 thousand pounds for them

fordtough1 · Post by **fordtough1** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:25 pm

Cool old school stuff Nico.

I wish I had some pics from back in my younger days. Some of the stuff I had in cars back then.

It'd be good for a laugh now, along with some fond memories.

Post by **Francious70** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 6:41 pm

WOW!!!

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 3:35 am

Did you had a laugh as well?

I hope so, cause they gave me some fun, remembering some crazy things I did in those day's just to experiment with different materials.
I was a plumber for two years, and the stuff that we poured on the roofs, we call it bitumen, liquid when heated, and was really dampening on all materials.... so guess what I did with the entire floor of my car after work one day...

I applyed 50 litres of that heated stuff in that car, guess the car's completely rusted away now, except for that floor!
Oh man, I must end this now, before I get carried away
Will try to dig up some more old stuff; who's gonna add a pic of his past here?
nico
p.s Tom; did you get a chance to listen to that horns?

Post by **stipud** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:16 am

Yes, I have listened to them. They are indeed very weak on bass, but WOW they get loud enough to piss off his neighbours!

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:30 am

The ones living one mile down the road?

I had only a neighbour on one side, when I had those things....
and she was 78, and deaf!

When I played "the ondekoza" [japanese drums] once, the postman looked over his shoulder ,when passing our house; guess he wasn't deaf yet.
Scary speakers in terms of dynamics.
Those horns will be mine again; sitting at my mother-in-laws house, she promised to let me buy them back for the same amount I sold them to her.
I sold them to my father-in-law, when I moved to a small house on the beach in Noordwijk.
She'll be moving to a smaller house within the next two years.
Only obstacle; I'll have to convince Wil [my wife] that they will fit in our livingroom.

Curious about how they'll sound with the MS2250, and the peerless sub on the MS2125...
nico

Post by **smgreen20** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 1:11 pm

Unfort for us, I didn't take a hole lota pics when I first started. I redid my install on an average of once every month, no joke!, when I got started. My friends to this day still say I'll change my current install arond when I get time. I'd believe them if I didn't know me.

It was all wood back then for me and today it's fiberglass. I just had a guy ask me to do his custom kicks in his old ass Impala. Why not? Xtra $$.

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:15 am

Good on you; I never did a thing with fiberglass, but have seen some amazing things made of it.
I just kept on fraising in MDF, making that dentist-noise..

and blowing clouds of dust through the neighbourhood.. yep they all loved me for that!

Anyone else here has some pics???
I'm sure there are a lot of pics in all your closets, waiting to see the daylight again...
nico

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:51 am

I love your elbow patch sweater and puffy vest get-up

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:56 pm

HAHAHA!!
Every 1,5 hours I had to get inside to warm up my hands.
I think I had more coffe and hot chocolade that winter ,than in the entire year all together...

[and the girlfriend I had that year, used to really warm me up every night].

Memories!
nico

Post by **stipud** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:01 pm

Here are pics from my first personal install (click on the picture to view more)

http://groningen.bio.ucalgary.ca/~tom/

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:08 pm

You score HIGH on my laugh-scale Tom!!!! VERY NICE PICS.
Especially those words"couldn't roll down the windows anymore"...
Did I mention that as well, showing my first ever "door-panels".

I also had some serious stickers on my car.
But yours would indeed have scared the hell out of me..........

nico

Post by **stipud** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:23 pm

I ended up rebuilding the doors and installed some Elite 5's up front, with a Xenon 12D4 and Ti900.7 in the trunk. That install the windows did roll down, but the doors weren't sealed or deadened at all. The subwoofer was semi-sealed firing into the cabin, and I built a wall in the trunk to mount the 900.7, basscube, and ti crossover to.

That install was actually very cool, but I lost all of my pictures when PG closed their forum

Post by **bdubs767** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:59 pm

here we go my first kicks

the blobs

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:04 pm

Is that fiberglass?
If I wanted to make those out of MDF, the neighbourhood would get up in the morning, and thought it had snowed overnight!

In terms of phase-positioning, I guess they sounded good, beeing angled that way.
nico

Post by **bdubs767** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:31 pm

nico boom wrote: Is that fiberglass?
If I wanted to make those out of MDF, the neighbourhood would get up in the morning, and thought it had snowed overnight!
In terms of phase-positioning, I guess they sounded good, beeing angled that way.
nico

Sounded boomy and muddy....at the tiem I thought it was nice lol....

These actually sounded good and looked decent

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:18 pm

You certainly made some progress.

These indeed look very smooth; no edges to get stuck behind.....
I wrecked one pair of kickpanels once, by getting in the car with a tray of food.
My foot got stuck behind a corner of my kicks; had to choose in a split-second, between releasing my foot by pulling my leg up, or get lunch all over my girlfriend...
I made the wrong decision....
Girlfriends can be washed.

Kicks do not repair themselves.

nico

fordtough1 · Post by **fordtough1** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:28 pm

I can remember putting 6x9's in the doors and not being able to roll the windows down. I had an 81 chevy pickup with 6x9's in the doors, and some 3 inch pioneers in some square kick panel enclosures I got somewhere. They stuck out so far you would kick them when you tried to get on the brake.

Ahh the good old days.....

Wish I had some pics of it.