Kairos Build with traditional joinery

[oBSidian]

Finally completed the Kairos build that I have been working on, on and off, for over two years now. All in all they took approximately 160 hours of bench work to complete(!).

I used these as a way of expanding my woodworking repertoire and challenging myself to do something that I consider quite difficult - to work plywood cleanly and effectively with hand tools. To put this in perspective, the walnut and teak veneers on the speakers are less than 1/64" thick, so cutting joinery and doing finish work without marring it takes somepersistence and attention to detail. Needless to say I have learned a lot and it has been excellent practice. Rather than setting myself the end goal of making a perfect pair of loudspeakers, I aspired at every stage simply to do the best job I possibly could, and not compromise on including a detail if I thought that it would enhance the end result... even if it meant more hours at the bench!! I see the end result as a physical manifestation of where my skills are at this point in time.

My strong belief was that such a wonderfully designed speaker deserved much better craftsmanship than the ubiquitous MDF boxes that dominate the speaker market today.

While I could have used solid wood, I chose to make the boxes from ApplePly - a high-end veneered birch plywood. I made this choice for a few reasons...

Firstly, I fell in love with the possibilities for contrast graphics of the thin plies when used in joinery: So often plywood edge grain gets covered up to give the impression of solid wood. I believe that the edge grain is truly beautiful in its own right and should be celebrated. Additionally, exposing the edge grain also lends an authenticity of materials that I seek to maintain in my work.

Secondly, birch ply is very strong and dimensionally stable - important considerations for cabinet making.

Thirdly, it is relatively sustainable and offered with a variety of hardwood veneers - I chose to use walnut veneer on the boxes, and contrast it with teak veneer on the front baffles.

Finally, as mentioned above, I wanted to challenge myself and to prove that with a bit of dedication and flexibility, hand tools could be used to good effect with high quality plywood. I hope to have proved that point - but you can judge for yourselves!!


I designed and hand-cut half-blind dovetail joinery for the boxes. Jeff angled the front baffles of the speakers at a 14 degree angle to ensure that the sound waves from the two drivers reach the listener at the optimal time. This is something not often seen and I wanted to reflect this important acoustic design detail by using the same angle in each of the dovetail joints.

I also custom made and fitted walnut and edge-grain ply inlay around the drivers, hand planed all the roundovers and bevel details, and made and installed solid oak interior bracing that utilises very strong mortice and tenon joinery (again, all hand-cut with chisels).

I have spent a good 16 hours over the last 3-4 days listening to these speakers, and I can truly say that Jeff has created a wonderful, natural sounding speaker the likes of which I've not heard before. Needless to say I'm looking forward to many more years of happy listening!

[oBSidian]

Couple more photos of the joinery...

[Jim Holtz]

Very nice! Excellent craftsmanship.

Jim

[speekerbldr]

Yes, unique and very handsome looking.

[oBSidian]

Very nice! Excellent craftsmanship.

Jim

Thanks Jim! It was a fun build, for sure.

[oBSidian]

Yes, unique and very handsome looking.

Thanks - appreciate the kind words!