Barrier to entry on custom cabinets?

[fishstics]

Gave away my old broken vintage piece to an old pal. Been using my H/K 3390, love it to death but there's a small hole in my heart that only a slab of finely sanded and oil wood can cover. It's probably as simple as gluing 4 pieces together, but then I have to look into vent holes, screw holes etc. Id like to know what I'm getting into before it gets serious.


I think a wood box on a 3390 would be a real sight to see, especially with that glowing volume knob I think it'd be chefs kiss.

 

[Gigantic]

I have no desire to own vintage gear, but I like the aesthetic. I made side panels for my AVR and Oppo BDP 103, as I think a full surround cabinet would look tacky and overly anachronistic. The oiled mahogany sides and black cases, however, hit is just right for me. For my single rack unit speaker management system, however, I made a full case. It's a little bulkier than I'd prefer, however a standard case would have been no less bulky, but not nearly as attractive.
Here’s the AVR and disc player:


The active crossover:


Doing the side slabs was a lot easier than making a case, for the Oppo, it was just a matter of planing the boards to 1/2” thickness, ripping and crosscutting them to size, sanding and oiling them, using 3M high strength double-sided tape to attach them. The receiver was a little more involved, as I had to do a glue up of 4 pieces per board in order to have the vent slots perfectly square, but I like how they both turned out: they evoke the elegance of the golden age of hi-fi’s gear, without looking kitschy or retro.

 

[tourmax]

Well, anything is possible with a good enough woodworker, but my concern would be the amount of venting they have in the oem metal cover:



When they build them that vented, it usually needs it. That would be kinda hard to do in wood.

If it were me and I really wanted a wood case above all else, I’d probably cut up the oem case to make the vented portions a “plate” and then recess them into a wood case so the wood and metal were level to each other. That’s how many 70’s manufacturers did it with wood and venting:



The problem I would see is there wouldn’t be a lot of wood left at that point on that 3390….thats a lot of venting.

Not sure the work involved would get you the result you want….

 

[fishstics]

Well, anything is possible with a good enough woodworker, but my concern would be the amount of venting they have in the oem metal cover:

View attachment 3414629

When they build them that vented, it usually needs it. That would be kinda hard to do in wood.

If it were me and I really wanted a wood case above all else, I’d probably cut up the oem case to make the vented portions a “plate” and then recess them into a wood case so the wood and metal were level to each other. That’s how many 70’s manufacturers did it with wood and venting:

View attachment 3414631

The problem I would see is there wouldn’t be a lot of wood left at that point on that 3390….thats a lot of venting.

Not sure the work involved would get you the result you want….

That's exactly what I was thinking, tho I would need something to maybe recess the wood down and possibly glue down every portion. I'm not looking to break the or anything but I'm glad someone else had the idea to make my thinking less maddening

 

[Sandman1221]

I would put the OPPO underneath the Marantz so it could breath better and not heat up the OPPO.