Process
We are excited to offer a vintage style cabinet that is an exacting replica in every sense of the word. 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.