Modifying the aesthetics of a passive radiator (1 Viewer)

[Wes Nance]

Hi,

Quick question about PR's:

I have 2 of the Stryke 15" PR's, with the default plain black diaphram (not the foam all the way across like the Adire PR15). They look nice, but I'm maybe looking for a more elegant look to the finished project, so I'm wondering, can you cover the diaphram in some other material, as long as it doesn't hit the surround? Could I cut a circle out of matching veneer to the cabinet to cover the PR's? I know it would add some mass to the diaphram, so I'd have to take that into account. What about just covering the diaphram disk with grill cloth glued right to the disk itself?

Would this mess up the PR's functionality?

Thanks,

Wes

ps sorry for all the questions, so new threads for a while, I promise (maybe. . .) you guys are just too helpful!

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

=)..I like the idea of veneering the PR!

it would take a bit of skill, but could be done.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I had planned on laminating the diaphragms on mine to match the sub (looks like I'm going with the gloss black), I though that would be a cool look. I can't imagine it would have any effects aside from the slight increase in Mms. I know John offered them with aluminum diaphragm covers with the HE15 kit, so he could probably advise you on what to use for adhering the covering.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

As long as you take the extra mass into account, I think a veneered PR would look pretty sharp.

 

[Wes Nance]

I have an idea for implementing the veneering. It would take a bit of planning, but I think would be possible.

Since when veneering each side, I would be throwing away the center circle where the hole is cut in the cabinet for the PR, my idea is to plan ahead a bit, and cut the holes out before hand, the key is to make the hole a bit smaller in diameter than the PR mouting cutouts, so I can use my flush trim bit, etc., to exactly fit the cabinet cutouts, but a bit larger than the PR diaphram, so I can cut it down a bit and fit it exactly to the size of the diaphram. I would want to fininsh the PR veneer covers before attaching them to the PR's, so as to not damage the surrounds. (At this point, I'm leaning heavily towards maple veneer and tung oil)

If done correctly, the plan would be that the veneer covering the PR's would continue the grain from the cabinet, since it would be cut from the middle of that sheet. The width of the PR mount and surround will hopefully give me enough extra material and room for error. I think this would look very elegant and striking.

Any comments or further insights to this idea?

Wes

 

[Jack Gilvey]

If done correctly, the plan would be that the veneer covering the PR's would continue the grain from the cabinet, since it would be cut from the middle of that sheet. The width of the PR mount and surround will hopefully give me enough extra material and room for error. I think this would look very elegant and striking.

Agreed. When I was considering veneer for this box, that's the method I decided upon, using the "scrap" circle and continuing the grain, I figured I'd have more than enough room. I'll still use the inner circle, I just won't have any grain.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Wes, I did this yesterday. Since I didn't want to put a hole in the piece of laminate (the "scrap" from the PR cutout), I wound up making a 3/4" plywood circle the exact diameter I wanted, using double-sided carpet tape to stick the lam. piece to it, then using the router with a flush-trim bit to get it down to size, the bearing riding on the plywood circe underneath (itself held to my workbench with the carpet tape-great stuff for "clamping" when actual clamps would be in the way of the rotation of the router around a piece).

I had used a 1/2" diameter flush trim bit to remove the middle circle from the PR cutout, and I still had to take off and inch or so to fit the entire MDF portion of the PR (11.75" if I recall correctly), so there's more than enough room for error.