Alex Kinon's Speaker Box Buildup!
(aka - the Blast Master 5000!)

2/9/2006
Buildup Photos
So the story is...I had a half built speaker box sitting in my shop. Alex (609TCC) has been talking about getting one for about a full year now. Instead of him buying one, I decided to donate it to him(it was a good cause). Little did Alex know that I was working behind the scenes with his lovely girlfriend Doreen on building him a custom speaker box more tailored to his boat and tastes than the original one that I had shown him!

Under the Guidance of Doreen, we starting emailing back and forth about styles, color and general image the box should portray. (and apparently this was key that we were talking so that Doreen could divert any conversation Alex brought up about getting a box till I could complete his enough to present it to him...). The build was relatively simple, I started with the decision of 4 speakers, specifically 6.5". This is the size I have used in two previous boxes I have built and have had very good results. This would also make installation very simple requiring only one 4channel amplifier.

The box on the other hand turned out to be anything but simple. Building in some creativity can actually make things more complex with regards to sanding, shaping, and painting. All in all though, it has worked out very nicely.

I started with a basic sheet of 1/2" MDF and cut out a simple but different design for the speaker faceplate. I am not a fan of cookie-cutter boxes that are mass produced and sold to the masses. Nearly everything I do has to be custom and make a statement. I wanted this box to be very cool looking with a bunch of intricacies but not to bold in any fashion as to take away from it's other appealing aspects.

A few months earlier I had taken some measurements from the Nautique Flight Control Tower on Alex's boat. Always one to err on the side of safety, I incorporated a flat top so that the box mated very securely to the tower. From here I was not sure of where to go, but I had a bunch of 1" strips of fiberboard in my scrap pile of wood and thought they would work well. I heated up the glue gun and started placing the strips here and there to see what would work and what would not. Ultimately I came to the design you see here in the skeleton photos.

A real trick of building a box like this is to be able to envision what the final outcome will be If you do a, "this-versus-that". It didn't take to long to realize this design would turn out to be one really nice speaker box. I checked the rest of the aspects of the framing to confirm the feasibility of the design and off I went to wrap it up!

I wrapped the box in flannel. Flannel? Yes flannel, I have about 4 queen bed sets of the stuff and for me it tends to work better then fleece. It also has a very high tear resistance so stretching is not an issue. Once satisfied with the wrapping, I sat down to glass the flannel. 3/4 Gal of resin later and I had a decent, 3-layer(1-flannel, 2-chopmatte) shell to the box. Hmmm, it was starting to look like a speakerbox...finally! Photos

Now it's time to sand. The unfortunate aspect of this box was that there were almost no flat surfaces in which a belt sander would help in taking down the high spots. Darn...guess I have to do this by hand. Some 50grit sandpaper though should take care of things. Sure enough in a couple of hours, i was ready to Bondo!

I applied a few thin layers of bondo to fill things in and smooth over some problem areas, paying special attention to the ribs so that none looked to be higher or more stated than the others. Symmetry was key in this box looking balanced on both sides. The nice thing about bondo is that it dries quick and can be cut down fast with heavy grit sandpaper.

I added filler in the minute areas to get a smooth surface. The point to remember is that if your gonna paint a surface like this, it has to be free from imperfections. My last box I thought was perfect...having looked at it the other day, I realized I was way wrong. Lucky for me the paint I used hides nearly all of the imperfections. With Alex's speaker box, I knew before I started that the most likely color I was going to paint this was black, simply the hardest color to hide imperfections with amongst other things like knicks, mars, dimples and fingerprints!

Bondo complete, now comes the hardest part in my opinion, primer and fine sanding. I use automotive primer exclusively. I use the grey/black. It comes out grey, then when you sand down a high spot, that high spot turns black, and you level everything out from there. You get to really see what is good and bad on the surface. Much easier and quicker to complete jobs with this type of primer. Photos

Primer complete...let's paint. I started with a layer of the Krylon Plastic paint. It only comes in a can, but allows a fast buildup of paint and dries very hard. It also goes on thick and forms a great base that fills in the very minute pots or imperfections that sanding down with 600 grit misses. With 3 layers of the krylon complete, I move to a gloss black paint, but first sanding with 1000 then 1500 grit to smooth out the krylon.

I applied 4 layers of automotive gloss black sanding with 1500grit in between each coat. This sanding is really key to cutting down the high spots and removing any dust that may have settled on the surface during the last drying period. Giving it a few days drying time (4 to be exact) the finish was a hard shell like finish, perfect.

I had to delay cutting the speaker holes because we didn't know what speakers were going to be used. I would have normally cut the holes and dropped another layer of fiberglass to the interior, as well as some dynamat dampening material before spraying the first layer of primer so that when it gets painted these task are complete, but I had to wait till after the reveal to accomplish this.

I revealed the box to Alex in the beginning of Feb 2006. We had met up in Atlantic City to see the boat show and it was the prime opportunity. All went well and Alex was surprised and elated.

I explained everything and that I would have to take the box back to complete it as I was not able to predetermine some choices for him and that we will work together over the next few months to piece together all of the components and complete the project.

As of the date above, I have started the interior fiberglass work and will be prepping for the dynamat and exterior paint as well as several layers of clear coat.

Stay tuned for more as we piece together the speakers, amp, accessories and clamps to get everything setup on the SuperAir in a few short months.

Photos Link

KG