My Zaph Audio ZA5.2 Build

[manniraj]

Thanks sgmane...

Yes planning for a black glossy finish with the OST (one side teakwood). With those stands the BS are looking superb and my FS are looking pale in front of these

Update on the finishing of the stands. The OST has been pasted and the polish will be done later today. Planning for a matt finish to match my BS. Looking for spikes now to complete the build.

Final update of the finished stands.

 

[AmitKumar]

Hi Ramesh,

the stands are coming up very well, they looks good.

i thought you will use veneer to match interiors?

 

[manniraj]

Hi Ramesh,

the stands are coming up very well, they looks good.

i thought you will use veneer to match interiors?

Yes i thought so but the black glossy finish that I saw on some of the DIY stands online look very nice. Also I went with black as it gels with any color of the BS, so it becomes future proof (i mean upgradis bug )

 

[AmitKumar]

Black has universal appeal and application. your idea is very much correct.

PM me the area where you stay in Bangalore. LEt us pair your new speakers with my marantz amp and see what it delievers.

If we are doing this then we should also invite one experienced audiophile who can give us a better review of the speakers and amp combination.

What say?

 

[manniraj]

Will surely can get together and check out. May be another FM "soundnovice" may also join as he was also interested to do an audition. I think we can get together and see how it goes. Will PM you the details.

Thanks

 

[spirovious]

Nice DIY done,finally will love to see speakers on stands.

 

[manniraj]

Yes spiro sure will post the final pictures with the BS on the stands tonight.

Thanks

 

[Deleted member 45006]

Black matt is appealing as I did a DIY av rack with black glossy and changed it to black matt adding just a 'clear coating ' on the top of it.. 'Clear ' is what the painting guy told. Glossy is stylish if the surface is really even and even the slightest bump becomes largely visible on glossy. My setup was quite huge so the glossy didn't work out as the whole place looked too shiny after I finished, but for a bookshelf I think it's okay. But glossy to matt is a very easy thing that it can be done by just adding a coating on the top of it

The black paint I see is it the paint for wood?

 

[manniraj]

No it is the normal wood chalk for filling the gaps and then the wood polish (sheenlac is suppose the name).

Edit:
Reviving the thread after a long time been listening to them and day after day adoring the musicality of these BS. Got a used Marantz PM6004 amplifier to pair with these speakers and the sound has improved. Since the day speakers were made I wanted to make matching grills because of fear that my daughter will throw something at them :lol:.

Got the speaker grill cloth and the grill fasteners from bibin's site (diyaudiocart.com) almost 4 months back and were lying idle to marry with the Zaph. So initially thought of using the single cut of the MDF wood to make a panel and paste the grill cloth, but as advised by my carpenter they may be heavy for the fasteners to hold on, I decided to use card board to make them. They will take time to make but would come out well and most importantly will be very light. So I cut the borders as per the BS measurements and pasted one over the other to make the thickness similar to the grill fasteners. I had to paste the cut pieces one over the other using fevicol and let it to dry, so working on weekends it took me more than 2 months to finish them :yahoo:.

I hope they have come out well and I can safely leave the BS with these grills on. And now for the pictures of my setup

Thanks for watching...

 

[AmitKumar]

these grills seem to have come up very well.

No doubts those book shelf speakers are great.

Congratulations.

 

[keith_correa]

Very nice! Good thinking with the cardboard frame.

And for all, a tip on grille cloth. Use synthetic dupatta cloth for grilles. Available everywhere, inexpensive and available in funky colors too. Ask for a Georgette or Chiffon dupatta. Take your wife/gf along else you might get some strange looks. And the looks get panicky when you blow through the cloth to check acoustic transparency. I know. My wife was severely embarrassed too. Who cares! ;-)

 

[manniraj]

Good suggestion, thanks Keith will look at this option in the future. There is no need to go all the way to the store as I have the ready chiffon/Geogette cloths in my home itself as my wife is a saree designer :lol: so keeps these types of clothes. I never thought of this idea good that you pointed out and I have to take away these types of clothes from her closet before she comes to know the purpose I am going to use it hyeah:. If she comes to know then I am gone

Coming to the grill cloth I got this along with my other Pass B1 cabinet from Bibin and it saved some shipping cost as he stuffed these things inside the cabinet.

 

[MJ23Bulls]

A great effort Manniraj! Nice looking speakers! Looking forward for the "stands" to come off well as well! All the best!
BK

 

[manniraj]

A great effort Manniraj! Nice looking speakers! Looking forward for the "stands" to come off well as well! All the best!
BK

I think you missed the stands in the picture, they are already done and i am using the Zaph speakers on them. With the left over MDF from the speaker build I made the stands and they have come out very nicely. The speakers are performing superbly with the stands, very happy with the build.

My next build is the Frugal Horn with Mark Audio CHR-70A drivers that I have got. Got inspired from bibin/bijin's build. Hopefully can make as close as possible to there finish. Hopefully will start this weekend and not sure when I am going to complete as I can work only on weekends .

 

[MJ23Bulls]

I think you missed the stands in the picture, they are already done and i am using the Zaph speakers on them. With the left over MDF from the speaker build I made the stands and they have come out very nicely. The speakers are performing superbly with the stands, very happy with the build.

Oops! I did miss quite a few pages. Congrats on your build!
All the best for Frugal project!

 

[bijinmb]

My next build is the Frugal Horn with Mark Audio CHR-70A drivers that I have got. Got inspired from bibin/bijin's build. Hopefully can make as close as possible to there finish. Hopefully will start this weekend and not sure when I am going to complete as I can work only on weekends .

First of all congrats for DIY grill build. It looks pretty decent.

Frugal Horn can be further refined to raise the SQ level up.

I have few ideas and will share with you when you start the build.

 

[musicbee]

Just caught up with this thread.

Inspiring stuff manniraj... makes me envious.

 

[manniraj]

ra

Just caught up with this thread.

Inspiring stuff manniraj... makes me envious.

It has turned out very nice and I am enjoying it everyday and in fact after these speakers and the Marantz 6004 I am not in the mood to switch on my so called 7.1 channel AVR Yamaha 571 :lol:.

Now the stereo belongs to me and the AVR to my wife and kid. The Zaph drivers are VFM when it comes to stereo playback even though they are predominantly been used as L/R for home theater. I took the risk and it turned out to be :licklips:. I am now confident after this build and that the frugal horn will also come out well. I hope the FH will match upto the listening impressions that I have with the Zaph.

This forum is a treasure trove for DIY and you will get almost all the answers and I am very happy to share just like other DIY enthusiasts especially bijin/bibin/nraghunath/sachin/om/tcpip/pranav have been sharing there creations/builds :clapping:. Sorry to those people whom I might have missed naming them