bonnie & jason

Zaph Audio ZDT 3.5 speaker build

After building a set of small 2 way speakers, I decided that I couldn’t trust the kiddies from knocking them over on themselves. So, they are currently on loan to Alan while I build a set of floorstanding speakers that will be stable enough so as to not be safety hazards to the troublemakers.

I chose the ZDT 3.5 design, from the same guy who came up with the other pair I built. Since Bonnie wasn’t a huge fan of the all wood look, this design will use a combination of painted MDF and plywood.

Here’s a pic in progress:

And here’s a pic in the later stages of assembly:

3/30/2010 – They’re done! Sort of…

Got everything glued up and wired. I still have to fix the paint that I screwed up while gluing the front and rear baffles. And since taking the pictures, I’ve already made some little outriggers.

They sound pretty darn good. I’ll reserve my thoughts for a more thorough review after they break in a bit and I get a chance to listen to a bunch of stuff. But initial impressions are that the imaging is very good even at close listening distances. The crossovers seem to be doing a very good job as I can’t discern any distortion or other bad behavior. And I think there’s enough bass response for my needs. I have yet to try any home theater stuff, but for music, I think I’ll be happy.

As for build notes, I did make that one mistake with the mid recess but it’s not too bad. Otherwise, I was very happy with the textured paint although I might polyurethane on top of it next time. It tends to hold on to dust and everything else pretty tenaciously.

More to come. In the meantime, here are some pics.

The crossovers are velcro’d to the bottom empty space of the cabinets:

Amanda gettin’ jiggy with it

Amanda and Ashley love their new musical grocery cart. They don’t really push it around, they prefer to stand in it. I guess the view is better from up there. And Amanda likes to dance in it. She bounces up and down and sometimes puts her hand up in the air like she’s raising the roof. Anyway, watch it for yourself.

Alissa visits the fire station

The school went on a field trip today to the Fire Station. Alissa got to try out the hose and check out the fire engines and learn about fire safety.

She also got a nice hat that she wore to the grocery store to pickup something for dinner.

BFF

Sometimes I wonder if the girls will grow up close. I think they will, especially since they’re pretty close in age. Here are some pictures of the twins having a good time with Bonnie as she changed the sheets.

A few catch up pictures

It’s been pretty busy around here. Lots of errands, projects, and some viruses. Plus the usual bathing, feeding, changing, etc. that comes with three little kids. So that’s my excuse for being a bit sparse in the blogging department lately. To make amends, here is a random smattering of photos from the last couple weeks.

Amanda with Alissa’s lunch box. She wants to go to school too.

Ashley and Alissa are hat kinda girls.

She’s also discovered her nostrils.

It’s a lot of work being cute.

Mmm… rice.

Amanda likes to sing and dance