Update January 2010
Pictures below show a completed prototype True Replica Cabinet, side by side with an original 1968 speaker cabinet for final inspection. Everything matches up just like it should and we should have these cabinets available on the web site very soon.
Overview
Plexi Replicas by Metropoulos Amplification is proud to announce our new line of 1968 era True Replica Speaker Cabinets. Prototypes are due to arrive in our shop soon. We are excited to offer a vintage style cabinet that is an exacting replica in every sense of the word.
Process
We started by disassembling original 1968 slant and straight cabs to painstakingly measure each piece with a micrometer to create full 3D CAD models accurate to .001 inches. Every piece and component of each cab was fully reverse engineered and documented, down to the species of wood (FYI there’s no Poplar in those old cabs), number of plies, size of the finger joints, and more.
Once the dimensions were fully documented it became clear that only CNC machinery could precisely replicate the minute details and subtle irregularities of these original cabinets that give them their unique personality. So that’s what we’re doing. The CNC machine will reproduce every angle, every hole location, even the misaligned speaker cut-outs. If it’s on the original, it’s on the Metropoulos Amplification replica.
Accurately reproducing the dimensions for the center “sound post” presented a unique challenge. We had to source original rough cut pine lumber from a recycled lumber specialist to make it right. Yep, that’s a vintage pine sound post! We finished it off with authentic ribbed rubber dampening material.
Hardware
Each screw was examined and documented for materials and construction, including the old British threaded speaker mounting screws and T nuts. With no off-the-shelf metal parts available that met our standards, we created our own exact reproductions by scanning originals. Caster cups, aluminum caster sockets and three piece fabricated metal cabinet handles are all our own proprietary parts that you can’t get anywhere else. The original speaker wire from the reference cabinets was measured and individual strands of conductor counted and sourced spot on black and red hook up wire.
Stay tuned for a picture journal documenting the entire step-by-step process of creating our True Replica Cabs…