IMF owners thread!

[4-2-7]

So I made some major discoveries in refinishing on my last few restorations, first time I used stripper was on my AR11's and the results were so good that I am not going back (I am NOT a handy person..I'm an IT guy). Here is the sum of what I've learned:
1. Don't bother sanding through the veneer and fighting to remove discolorations. Just strip the entire speakers. I use citristrip which makes your home smell like oranges and is safe for indoor use. I put down a drop cloth and coat the speakers several times with citristrip and then let them sit for the majority of a day. I take a plastic square, the type used for scraping food off of dishes in the sink, and then get all the finish off which comes off in a thick goop. I also have the baffle masked off with painter's tape during this stage.
2. I wipe everything down with a bucket and damp cloth until the speakers are bare wood.
3. At this stage I lightly sand all surfaces but the baffle. I then go over the cabs with mineral spirits just to make sure I have all residue off.
4. If you have any deep scratches or pitting you put a damp cloth over it and then hit it with a hot steam iron to make the wood inside the scratch expand and make it level. Then you can sand it.
5. I stained these with two coats of minwax special walnut leaving each application for about 20-30 minutes and then thoroughly wiped all the stain off. This is important or the stain residue will jack up your poly application.
6. Wait about 24 hours.
7. In this case I used semi-gloss poly and thinned it out maybe 30-40 percent with paint thinner. I tried mineral spirits too but the paint thinner worked a lot better.
8. Apply in mega thin coats with a doubled up paper towel. The thinner keeps it from glopping and from air bubbles becoming suspended. If you use a brush or foam brush you end up applying too much and it doesn't self level well.
9. Sand with steel wool between coats if you detect roughness to the touch or see visual imperfections. Once you sand with steel wool you need to wipe with a damp cloth to remove the fragments.
10. Repeat until you're happy...with the thinned out coats they dry mostly in 30 minutes so you can wipe-on apply over and over and over.

Also if I have a corner rounded off or veneer that is chipped I use walnut colored wood filler to sculpt the new corner or fill in the small imperfection. I also have a stain stick that I use to hit really small imperfections.

I also liberally applied lemon oil repeatedly to the baffle to rehydrate the wood and then finished it with howards feed and wax which you don't have to re-apply as frequently but still need to re-apply at some point. Gave the baffle about the same level of luster as the poly did the other surface but requires maintenance.

If someone's a woodworking and give me more tips then even better.

You could call me I'm a professional furniture finisher. I did want to say your approach and technique to the finish was far better than what I generally read around here for a homebody. Your thinning and wiping the poly on is like french polishing. Applying the finish like that fills the grain and leave a thin coat on the surface. What you are doing is packing the finish into the grain. Mowhak make a wip on poly but it's not really shinny, it's called Pour-N-Wip

The use of steaming scratches prior to sanding is correct as well. It's best to steam the whole/ all surfaces, 1) it makes the project consists in its absorbency to stain and finish, 2) it pulls out old color, contaminants, waxes, leftover finish. If bleaching was needed the stemming will allow for a better bleach job.

The best tip I can give anyone finishing is to be cositant in "ALL" steps. If your not it shows in the end.

I did a quicky on these at home with the Pour-N-Wip

 

[canuckaudiog]

If you want I could measure the height of the stands for my IMFs. The tilt back is 5 degrees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mccarty350]

Those look gorgeous and thanks for the tip. Perhaps rather than mix my own stuff I should just buy that product and be done with it. It looks like it does have a luster to it...and damn if you don't have some fine speakers.

You could call me I'm a professional furniture finisher. I did want to say your approach and technique to the finish was far better than what I generally read around here for a homebody. Your thinning and wiping the poly on is like french polishing. Applying the finish like that fills the grain and leave a thin coat on the surface. What you are doing is packing the finish into the grain. Mowhak make a wip on poly but it's not really shinny, it's called Pour-N-Wip

The use of steaming scratches prior to sanding is correct as well. It's best to steam the whole/ all surfaces, 1) it makes the project consists in its absorbency to stain and finish, 2) it pulls out old color, contaminants, waxes, leftover finish. If bleaching was needed the stemming will allow for a better bleach job.

The best tip I can give anyone finishing is to be cositant in "ALL" steps. If your not it shows in the end.

I did a quicky on these at home with the Pour-N-Wip

 

[mccarty350]

If you want I could measure the height of the stands for my IMFs. The tilt back is 5 degrees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please do, I am wondering if I should try and get a little bit of increased height on top of what you have since the RSPM's are a bit taller. Mech also had recommending going higher, if I recall he said to go 16-18" perhaps on the stands. If I'm going to order some custom ones I just want to get it right and get something that will work well.

 

[4-2-7]

By the way Im a new IMF Mk IV owner, I did it the easy way and bought captouch's speakers.

 

[mccarty350]

Congrats!!! Did not know they were sold yet but gorgeous speakers!

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[canuckaudiog]

By the way Im a new IMF Mk IV owner, I did it the easy way and bought captouch's speakers.

Congrats! One of IMFs best. Let us know how you get on with them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[canuckaudiog]

Please do, I am wondering if I should try and get a little bit of increased height on top of what you have since the RSPM's are a bit taller. Mech also had recommending going higher, if I recall he said to go 16-18" perhaps on the stands. If I'm going to order some custom ones I just want to get it right and get something that will work well.

Tell you what I'll do, I'll measure the height of the stand and also the height from the middle of the HF1300 (the lower tweeter) to the floor - this should give you an idea of how tall to make yours. From what I remember the stands are about 3-4" tall.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[4-2-7]

Congrats!!! Did not know they were sold yet but gorgeous speakers!

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

I'll get some photos posted soon with them in my system. I got them two weeks ago but haven't spent much time with them to form an opinion yet. They are going up against tough competition and in a system that they can be A/B with the JBL L250s. However they are better than what I had in that spot (Maybe) At this point I'm just not happy with the bass at lower volume, I need to crank it to get a good bass response. They do have their plus side with detailed thou at low volume, clear and no coloring.

I slipped them in the spot the Sansui SP-5000 are in this photo. They are being driven by two MC275 Mk VI mono bridged @180 WPC.

 

[mccarty350]

Wow...those stands are pretty low then. Thank you. The base on these is 18 inches by 15 1/4...looks like there is a 1 inch area flat around the perimeter where they would rest in a stand and the stock 4 blocks of wood in place would hang down.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[canuckaudiog]

Nice upstream gear.

One thing you may need to adjust to is the bass these have - they are less affected by corners. Right now your other speakers are being amplified and definitely will cause the bass to have a major hump - if you are used to this, then I can definitely see why you might find the bass lacking in lower levels. Give it some time, you may adjust to the more accurate bass from the IMFs. And this isn't to say your other speakers are not accurate in the bass department, it's just that because they are in the corner the bass is being amplified (and quite a bit).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[4-2-7]

Nice upstream gear.

One thing you may need to adjust to is the bass these have - they are less affected by corners. Right now your other speakers are being amplified and definitely will cause the bass to have a major hump - if you are used to this, then I can definitely see why you might find the bass lacking in lower levels. Give it some time, you may adjust to the more accurate bass from the IMFs. And this isn't to say your other speakers are not accurate in the bass department, it's just that because they are in the corner the bass is being amplified (and quite a bit).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did find a nice combo with the JBL L250s finaly when I started driving them with the MC501s which was better than the 275s and a MC402. I should maybe try the 402 with the IMF's as I was afraid the 275s would be lacking the power for them. Im a ferm beliver in over powering the speaker, that will get the bass responding in all volume levels with more head room.

 

[4-2-7]

Those look gorgeous and thanks for the tip. Perhaps rather than mix my own stuff I should just buy that product and be done with it. It looks like it does have a luster to it...and damn if you don't have some fine speakers.

That finishing product would be much better for you. My speakers have two coat on them and basicaly I finish them after work in four days start to finish. They were a very dryed out oil finish.

Mohawk Pour-N-Wip
http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=215

You would be able to do around 4 or 5 pairs of large speakers with the quart. Also look around that site there is many touch-up products and I have been using there stuff for 36 years.:thmbsp:

 

[mech986]

Please do, I am wondering if I should try and get a little bit of increased height on top of what you have since the RSPM's are a bit taller. Mech also had recommending going higher, if I recall he said to go 16-18" perhaps on the stands. If I'm going to order some custom ones I just want to get it right and get something that will work well.

Hmm, not sure if I said 16-18 inches for your Pro Moniitors given their relatively tall dimensions. 6-8 inches would be more likely, but really i'd be aiming for your seated ear height to be where you want the mid and tweeter to roughly be, then try a stand to make up the difference in height from floor to speaker bottom.

I think my RSPM VII stands are about 5 inches tall and they look like they do tilt back about 3 degrees or so, eyeballing this. Given the tilt, You could make the stands a little bit shorter. I do like the way the stands fit around the perimeter and the feet lock / fit into the inner corners so there can be no slippage. Since my stands are working on a laminate wood floor, i put a number of adhesive round felt pads (long strips would work well too) on the bottom legs to evenly take the weight and be easily slid around if needed. My IMF stands were made of wood and are surprisingly light.

I have noticed a bit of tweeter harshness, sometimes almost stridency, on some recordings, but I'm mostly using an iPod with Lossless files to drive my amp directly so the source is not optimum. I suspect some of it is also due to the old caps possibly drifting out of spec.

 

[mccarty350]

That finishing product would be much better for you. My speakers have two coat on them and basicaly I finish them after work in four days start to finish. They were a very dryed out oil finish.

Mohawk Pour-N-Wip
http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=215

You would be able to do around 4 or 5 pairs of large speakers with the quart. Also look around that site there is many touch-up products and I have been using there stuff for 36 years.:thmbsp:

Do you think they might sell it locally at a wood shop in order to avoid shipping? I have a Rockler right near me I believe...or perhaps Lowes. If I can better result with this product I'll definitely try it.

 

[mccarty350]

I guess I need to measure my seated ear height both in my main room seating and in my office chair depending on where I sit. Canuckaudiodog said his had a 5 degree slope. I am guessing that getting a non-original stand made of metal I'll need the metal square to sit in the 1" gap on the perimeter of the bottom. Looking at my model's difference in height between stock (37 3/8 " without stands versus 41 3/4) and with stands perhaps the intended height in the front would have been about 4.5"?

So right now my IMF's do not sound phenomenal but I can tell this is cap related, the sound is wooly. The bass is great but the mids/tweets sound off in the same way that a lot of my speakers have pre recap.

Hmm, not sure if I said 16-18 inches for your Pro Moniitors given their relatively tall dimensions. 6-8 inches would be more likely, but really i'd be aiming for your seated ear height to be where you want the mid and tweeter to roughly be, then try a stand to make up the difference in height from floor to speaker bottom.

I think my RSPM VII stands are about 5 inches tall and they look like they do tilt back about 3 degrees or so, eyeballing this. Given the tilt, You could make the stands a little bit shorter. I do like the way the stands fit around the perimeter and the feet lock / fit into the inner corners so there can be no slippage. Since my stands are working on a laminate wood floor, i put a number of adhesive round felt pads (long strips would work well too) on the bottom legs to evenly take the weight and be easily slid around if needed. My IMF stands were made of wood and are surprisingly light.

I have noticed a bit of tweeter harshness, sometimes almost stridency, on some recordings, but I'm mostly using an iPod with Lossless files to drive my amp directly so the source is not optimum. I suspect some of it is also due to the old caps possibly drifting out of spec.

 

[4-2-7]

Ok like I said I'll post photos of the IMF's in place. But I also grabed some cute little KEF 104 aB today.

 

[4-2-7]

 

[mccarty350]

Nice photos 4-2-7!

As far the stand discussion I have photographed the base and relayed the dimensions to the vendor, etc. I am still trying to figure out the height of the stands. Here is the info that I have that can feed into determining this:

Height from floor to lower tweeter (approximate center of tweeter): 22"
Height from floor to upper tweeter (approximate center of tweeter): 26"

Seated height from floor to ears: 36" to 42" depending on level of recline and which of the two seats someone would be seated in.

URL for products: http://www.aandmcustomsteelspeakerstands.com/home#!products-&-pricing

I am thinking of getting a modified standard 'large' i.e wider to fit the base, etc. Looking at these tweeter heights the 10.5" height to the shelf would put the higher tweeter at head height and with the angle and adjustable feet and some distance could make it so that it could be tweaked with the floor screws to fire at my seated ears.


Thoughts on stand height?

 

[4-2-7]

I can slide my speakers out and take a photo of the base if you want, I don't want to pull them off thou. Look at my last photo with the IMF and JBL those mids and tweeters are higher than setting hight. But you can also see that both speakers the mids and tweeters are around the same general location.

I wouldn't be looking at inches with the tweeter but a general location of the mids. The KEF don't sound good on the floor and help with the stands but looking at them in the photos they would have the same layout as the IMF if they where on ther side on a desk or platform.