I’ll have to tidy it up first. I’m mid way through a speaker build at the moment, so it’s standing room only in there right now!
A version of Troels Gravesen’s Poor Man’s Strad utilising curved cabinetry, constrained layer damping, a 3k 2/2 carbon fibre wrap, 304 stainless top and bottom panels and a 304 stainless plinth.
A few pics of the build below. I’ll get around to a proper build thread soon.
That’s cool! Looks like an audiophile hamster house…
Wow. My woodworking projects just involve right angles only. I see that you have a track saw, which I have heard is all the rage - need to get one for sheet material. Will be curious to see how they turn out, and what other neat features you can reveal from the mancave!
The curves were easy. I worked out the radius needed and made up a jig. A bit of ply screwed to the router base, with a hole for the cutter and a pin made from a 3.2 mm (1/8") drill bit to anchor it to the base ply. Routed out a template for the horizontal braces and then used that to make 14 of them with a bearing-guided template router bit. The big circles were cut with a circle jig, the small ones with a forstner bit in the drill press. The curved panels are kerf bent birch plywood. Cut enough kerf slots in a sheet of ply and you can bend it into any shape! A bit of steam can help to persuade it!
The track saw has been one of my most heavily used tools ever. I don’t have the space for a panel saw, so the track saw is ideal for working with large sheets. I have a router adapter for the tracks too. Used both extensively during the fitted wardrobe build in our bedroom.
I might do some photos in an off-topic thread.
Very nice. I used to consider myself an developing workworker, but I have a horrible shop/basement space, so it makes everything hard and I don’t take on anything challenging. I’m looking to build a small barn/shop out in the country, where I will set up a proper shop, and retire, and bliss and nirvana will settle over all things (the barn will of course have a loft area that maybe, just maybe, will be configured to accept a high-performacne stereo system…) 
Amazing project, Graeme. You know your stuff. I will be following this with interest
I’m not qualified to weigh in on the technical issues under discussion here. But I would like to speak to two factual matters regarding the UpTone Audio EtherRegen (which I do not own). It was reviewed very positively in The Absolute Sound, however I don’t recall ever seeing a paid advertisement for UpTone Audio in its pages.
Also, no one is “cashing in” on the EtherRegen any longer. It’s not in production due to a shortage of parts. They are working on a second generation product, which of course no one needs to buy if they think the claims made for it are unfounded.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen The Absolute Sound, so perhaps someone can answer this for me? What tech has been reviewed very negatively in that publication?
Before reading any further, Geoff, please understand I’m not criticising you or having a go at you. I call out snake-oil products for what they are.
I’ve read the Absolute Sound’s review of the EtherRegen, and frankly, never read such a lot of testiculating pseudo-scientific nonsense, apart from maybe Synergistic Research’s claims regarding “quantum tunnelling”
Unfortunately Geoff, lots of products are favourably reviewed by the popular audiophile press, yet fail the acid test of measurement.
The EtherRegen spectacularly showed that it does exactly nothing beneficial in respect of its claims:
Lots of audiophiles only listen with their ears, and of course, their eyes. Unsighted listening comparisons are hardly ever used, so biases cannot be removed from the equation. People buy tech such as this expecting audible improvement and that’s exactly what they hear. However the reasons for the perceived improvement are not due to any measureable effect from the device in question.
I hadn’t realised the EtherRegen was out of production due to component shortages. No doubt though, as soon as the second generation unit hits the market, normal service of fleecing the unsuspecting will resume.
I don’t want to defend The Absolute Sound and I agree with your judgement there, but this issue is not limited to hifi and it’s common to all magazines reviewing anything, including some I trusted in the past with reasonable success.
I remember that more than one explained that it is indeed a problem to review anything very negatively if you want the magazine to survive, and they “solved” it as well as they could by not publishing reviews that would have to be very negative.
It’s not ideal and make of it what you will, but in general there is at least the possibility of significant selection bias in the choice of articles to be published, which can potentially explain a lack of negative published reviews without having to resort to “they like everything” or “they are paid for every review to be positive”
I see what you mean, but I still see these magazines and Web sites as basically an ad medium for products which incur enough profit margin (i.e. are overpriced enough for their functionality) to be able to afford to advertise.
That’s a lot of opinion. 
Which part is opinion: the way audiophiles listen, or the fact that there are no measurable effects?
Take it a step further, making comments on gear one has not directly evaluated for themselves, then making a broad statement about any perceived benefit from that difference must be delusional. Knowing it all is a real debilitating affliction. I don’t mind when it’s kept to oneself but when you try to spread it to others. It’s a shame cause it can those who are willing to listen from making some vast improvements to their audio chain.
It’s okay to be 100% sure you’re right. Why impose that viewpoint on everyone every time when there’s an entire other half of people in the hobby that say otherwise.
Treating the topic as purely black or white in a hobby where:
Is a very limiting perspective.
In fact, if we limit ourselves to those that think of it as a hobby, it’s probably more than half!
Graeme, as I said to begin with, I’m not qualified to discuss the technical issues and I have no experience with the EtherRegen.
I can’t judge the TAS review nor your critique of it. But I think your assertion that the positive review is a consequence of seeking advertising income for the magazine, is mistaken.
I don’t need to evaluate said gear. The claims are that it reduces noise - objective measurements prove otherwise.
I disagree. I see it as a way of stopping people wasting money on stuff that has absolutely no effect, when they’d be far better investing effort in the interaction between their speakers and listening room. The costs are similar, the audible differences are as confronting as a slap in the face and the measurable differences are immense.
There’s nothing delusional about hard science. The same can’t be said of subjective opinion.
Why? I’d say that publishing any review is a consequence of seeking advertising income for the magazine.
Newspapers failed left and right after advertising moved onto the Web. Because they mistakenly thought they were in the business of journalism, when they were really in the business of advertising.
I never understood the “hobby” argument. If someone who doesn’t have a degree in math likes math, they could call math a hobby and go around saying that “1+1=3” and nobody could argue against that, since it’s just an opinion about a hobby, and you can’t tell anyone how to approach their hobbies.
