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Audio First Designs | Fidelia kit DIY build

testp

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I thought i'll post my Audio First Designs - Fidelia kit build pics here.

Althought i'm no woodworker, build went mostly really good, few niggles here-and-there. the biggest was not covering the outer panels before clueing, but that's because i'm amature at this - so i figured why put little clue, if i can put lots of it :) ...and do extra work cleaning it all up :confused:

luckily panels had enough of a good layer to sand them again.


pictures came little dull, because of my phone and no natural light right now, but even here i think they look really good, and with natural light even more whitish.

I also added Oli - Scandic Natural Wood oil, which kept them natural looking.


i haven't listened them yet, but will do soon. They are replacing over 20y. old (non-harman) bookself speakers, so i'm confident for the new speakers performing well.
 

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wanted to add some set-up pics as well. yes yes, perfect height is inch-or-two off, i know! :)

just wanted to say: truly wonderful sounding, and with good width as well, eerie.
 

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Please dont use them on the floor. All that work to make these some of the flatest speakers around to be ruined by placement. Stands can be as cheap as you can afford - but do lift them off the floor and get the tweeters to ear level.
 
Please dont use them on the floor. All that work to make these some of the flatest speakers around to be ruined by placement. Stands can be as cheap as you can afford - but do lift them off the floor and get the tweeters to ear level.
absolutely agree, and i already ordered some adjustable K&M's (26772) from thomann, arriving next week. meanwhile i just coudn't wait, had to listen :)
 
Kudos, on a job-well-done! :)
absolutely agree, and i already ordered some adjustable K&M's (26772) from thomann, arriving next week. meanwhile i just coudn't wait, had to listen :)
Oh! Surely! :oops:
A person who can pull-off such a nice pair of DIY Fidelias, surely can build a set of complementary stands for those babies.
 
Kudos, on a job-well-done! :)

Oh! Surely! :oops:
A person who can pull-off such a nice pair of DIY Fidelias, surely can build a set of complementary stands for those babies.
oh no :), building Fidelias was all i could muster for now.

...besides, cost for tools+material+time, could become too much or close to just buying some stands i guess. mostly i'm just really happy the kit is done and i didn't mess it up some way or other.
 
i already ordered some adjustable K&M's (26772)
Those have a max height of 10", not nearly enough if you're putting them on the floor ...

I'm using some 24" wooden bar stools for my AsciLab C6B's.
 
Those have a max height of 10", not nearly enough if you're putting them on the floor ...

I'm using some 24" wooden bar stools for my AsciLab C6B's.
i have some dyn stands that are higher, but i specifically want to keep them close and just below "steve" the tv, from my couch (sitting or laying down), tweeter height looks good, and fidelias look to have some leeway as well in vertical.
 
I did not see anywhere at AFD website if their birch plywood has been pre-treated.
Normally, that is a step that is left to discretion of the DIYer's tastes.
Birch is finicky to stain but it can provide a coat for longevity/durability.

Do both of us a favor and image-search for "DIY wood speaker stands" just for some ideas.
You may find a simple DIY solution that is much easier than building those speaker cabinets. ;)
 
I did not see anywhere at AFD website if their birch plywood has been pre-treated.
Normally, that is a step that is left to discretion of the DIYer's tastes.
Birch is finicky to stain but it can provide a coat for longevity/durability.

Do both of us a favor and image-search for "DIY wood speaker stands" just for some ideas.
You may find a simple DIY solution that is much easier than building those speaker cabinets. ;)
The Fidelia's baltic birch ply is not pretreated.
 
Nice job, I am replacing a 30+ year old pair of Proac Tablette II's with a pair of these. Looking forward to building them.

Might I ask how long your delivery time was? I ordered two weeks ago and they still show pending fulfillment. I sent them an email to inquire but never got a response. Just curious if they are on a long delivery time?

Thanks.
 
absolutely agree, and i already ordered some adjustable K&M's (26772) from thomann, arriving next week. meanwhile i just coudn't wait, had to listen :)

Nice build.
You have some great speakers.

Ime and imo you really need some higher stands.
Those you ordered are meant for standing on a desk, so that the tweeter is at ear height. Not for standing on the floor. (Unless you always lay down on the floor watching tv..?!)

If you point your speakers upwards on lower stands you still get the early reflections of the floor messing up your direct sound. Ime from a desktop going to speaker stands really helped imaging and clarity, so I imagine if you get higher stands you will get a similar upgrade.
 
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Nice job, I am replacing a 30+ year old pair of Proac Tablette II's with a pair of these. Looking forward to building them.

Might I ask how long your delivery time was? I ordered two weeks ago and they still show pending fulfillment. I sent them an email to inquire but never got a response. Just curious if they are on a long delivery time?

Thanks.
Thanks! It's been a while since the build and I'm still loving listening to them everyday and loving it. The delivery timing for me was not normal due to my request for a custom colored front baffle. The owner Harry is a member here. Send him a message via ASR. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?members/audiofirstdesigns_harry.76189/
 
Nice job, I am replacing a 30+ year old pair of Proac Tablette II's with a pair of these. Looking forward to building them.

Might I ask how long your delivery time was? I ordered two weeks ago and they still show pending fulfillment. I sent them an email to inquire but never got a response. Just curious if they are on a long delivery time?

Thanks.
i looked, it was about a month, i ordered with invoice and it stated ~1 month on it as well. do cover the outer sides before clueing, you will thank yourself later
 
Nice build.
You have some great speakers.

Ime and imo you really need some higher stands.
Those you ordered are meant for standing on a desk, so that the tweeter is at ear height. Not for standing on the floor. (Unless you always lay down on the floor watching tv..?!)

If you point your speakers upwards on lower stands you still get the early reflections of the floor messing up your direct sound. Ime from a desktop going to speaker stands really helped imaging and clarity, so I imagine if you get higher stands you will get a similar upgrade.
thx! i very much adore the sound of these, just plain ol'harman i guess.

absolutely, i have them hightened by the stands and tilted as well, so tweeters are pointed at ear height. it's fine, i have dsp added for floor bounce and i just got umik-1 as well, will measure soon.
 
Thanks! It's been a while since the build and I'm still loving listening to them everyday and loving it. The delivery timing for me was not normal due to my request for a custom colored front baffle. The owner Harry is a member here. Send him a message via ASR. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?members/audiofirstdesigns_harry.76189/

Thanks for that, I did not realize he was a member. I've had a bad run of luck lately with speaker orders. I have another large pair of speakers I'm building that I've been waiting on woofers for months and they keep getting pushed back. I'm anxious to get to work on building something! haha
 
Thanks for that, I did not realize he was a member. I've had a bad run of luck lately with speaker orders. I have another large pair of speakers I'm building that I've been waiting on woofers for months and they keep getting pushed back. I'm anxious to get to work on building something! haha
Hi gabo4au, hope you are doing well. I had a look for your email, but I couldn't find anything... Good that my colleague told me about your post.

Anyway, very sorry about the delay - I have everything for your (and other customers') kit apart from the crossover, as I ran out of parts recently. Unfortunately, the supplier shipped the latest batch to the wrong address. It's been a bit hectic in recent weeks moving to the new office and setting up the new place, that I didn't pay attention to it at all. We are still sorting it out. And once I receive them, I will process the Fidelia orders as soon as possible. Thank you very much for your understanding.
 
Hi gabo4au, hope you are doing well. I had a look for your email, but I couldn't find anything... Good that my colleague told me about your post.

Anyway, very sorry about the delay - I have everything for your (and other customers') kit apart from the crossover, as I ran out of parts recently. Unfortunately, the supplier shipped the latest batch to the wrong address. It's been a bit hectic in recent weeks moving to the new office and setting up the new place, that I didn't pay attention to it at all. We are still sorting it out. And once I receive them, I will process the Fidelia orders as soon as possible. Thank you very much for your understanding.

Ah, thanks for that! No worries, thanks for the great product and response.
 
i made and placed a bass trap (~1m tall) in a corner behind the speakers, really amazed that this really worked in a livelier room. highly recommended!

incremental step for mankind, massive step for a individual. :)
 
I finished my build of the Fidelia speakers. So thought I would come here and give my opinion. Which is, of course, not worth much :)

The good - The speakers are as good as advertised! Paired up with a good sub, in the listing room they were purchased for, they sound fantastic. The room is about 350 sq ft, with vaulted ceiling, and good acoustical treatment on all walls. My sub is actually a bit of overkill, an HSU ULS-15 Mk2. I could have easily gone with something smaller, but I had this one and it's fantastic. I'm powering them with a Wiim Ultra Amp and setting subwoofer delay and applying some very minimal room correction EQ. I'm not using the Wiim "roomfit." I tried it, but did not like the results. I'm using REW and doing the "moving mic" method to get some average readings across the room and applying two general filters to offset a bit of room effects.

The bad - Well there really isn't much bad. But for the sake of other potential buyers, I'll just point out a few very picky things. There were two of the screw packets that were missing screws. One packet was not really a problem as they give you "one extra" screw in each packet to try to prevent these errors. So one packet was one screw short, but in reality it just had the correct screws. One other packet was actually "two screws short" so I didn't have enough screws. Fortunately this was the packet of screws for attaching the crossovers to the back panel, so finding another screw for that purpose wasn't difficult because it didn't have to actually match the other screws. Another screw problem though was a bit more challenging. The hex head screws for the woofers (we call them allen heads in the US) were of fairly poor quality. By poor quality, the hex heads were not formed very well. A couple of them were difficult to tighten because the hex wrench was a "sloppy fit" in the screw head, and a couple others the hex head wouldn't fit in at all as they were too tight. I wound up ditching the screws all together and replacing them with some nice black phillips screws I had in my shop. I was also short the two small pieces of foam for inside the back. Again, I fortunately had some foam I had used for other speakers so I was able to easily resolve that problem.

I did send Audio First an email asking about the missing foam as that was immediately noticed. But never got a response. However, I've had some challenges with email spam lately and their response could have gotten accidentally discarded, so maybe they did respond. I could have come here or other places and PM'd Harry to pursue a response, but the problems were so minor and easily fixed on my part, I did not bother with it.

I finished my speakers with "pure tung oil" which is a finish I'm partial too. It does take a long time to cure, so it's not for everyone.

In the end, I have a brilliant pair of speakers that, to my ear, sound about as good as it's possible for speakers to sound. Here are a few pictures.

Fidelia glue assembly2.jpgFidelia glue assembly.jpgFidelia glue clamping.jpgFidelia raw glued up.jpgFidelia raw glued up2.jpgFidelia raw glued up3.jpgFidelia raw baffle fit test.jpgFidelia Drying finish.jpgFinished Fidelia.jpgFidelia CTA-2034.png

NOTE: The CTA-2034 chart was measured in my shop. The large anomaly around 200-300hz is a room mode and not actually there. Many of the other crazy bits in the chart are also from room reflections. But overall you can pick out some of the signature parts in the charts if you compare it to Erin's spin data.
 
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