I started building a small studio

[EduardoApolonia]

Originally Posted by Farout

That is cool of them
How many pieces would you say were damaged?
Was it the actual wooden parts, or something else?

All wooden parts.

I had to open all the boxes to check if there were anymore parts damaged. And I did find some more, about 6 total.

Now I'll have to wait for it, I can't go any further, I started the Console but one of the main pieces was damaged, so the assembling is stopped right now.

Originally Posted by F5D

Thank you so much for sharing all this! Very good work! Keep the pics coming!

pics coming very soon

[x99]

Originally Posted by EduardoApolonia

Floor electrical outlet

Hey Eduardo,

Did you source these yourself? Any info you can provide? Nice to see your nearing completion.

Cheers.

[EduardoApolonia]

Originally Posted by x99

Hey Eduardo,

Did you source these yourself? Any info you can provide? Nice to see your nearing completion.

Cheers.

I chose them from a catalog that the electrician who did the installation gave me.

It's from the manufacture cimabox
Cimabox

You can see more pics below

[EduardoApolonia]

Misc Pics

one of the HVAC infrared sensor



one of the HVAC grille (nice shot )



Floor electrical socket semi open



Floor electrical socket open


one of the pair of dimmers (one controls the room where it is and the other dimmer controls the other room)


Door stops



Remember the wrong hole?


It has been fixed, still needs painting

[Ibvee]

That wrong hole is a bummer. The rest is absolutely fabulous!
Pictures can give you that sort of 'wrong view', on the first picture of the floor socket, you wouldn't expect it to be that big, but now that I see it with the power socket itself inside, it's much bigger It's still a very good idea. I'm going to keep it in mind

Keep it up~!

[Rossome]

You got Martin Pilchner to design it?! That's awesome! He taught me acoustics in college. Frigging genius!

[EduardoApolonia]

Originally Posted by Rossome

You got Martin Pilchner to design it?! That's awesome! He taught me acoustics in college. Frigging genius!

The design came from his company, don't know if he did it, maybe not considering the dimension of this project
I talked with him and Rick on the beginning to make the deal. Afterwards I was being assisted by one of their employees.
Near the end of the project he left the company, after that I have been dealing with Martin directly.
Great guy.

[EduardoApolonia]

This is what I could assemble from the Argosy console, I'm waiting for the replacement parts for the damaged ones.




I had to open all the Argosy boxes to check for all damages. So I had to spread the parts on top of the racks and on the floor

[Farout]

ahhh .... fresh pics!!
I love 'em, all!

I can't wait until you get your replacement parts.
Can't wait to see the unit completed.


More so, can't wait to hear some of your new products.

[inlinenl]

Hi Eduardo ..... it's a Quest ... still all looks very cool ..... "the end is near" .... hope the furniture gets in soon ....

[valthesoundman]

First of all, I'd like to say congratulations.

I've been following your thread for a long time now, and it's probably the one that gave me the courage to start my own.
Although mine is a LOT smaller and simpler, Your thread has made me realise that you can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it...

I can't wait to see your place finished. It looks so good already!

And I just wanted to add, if you realise once you've finished, that the whole build has just been to much for you, and that you can't face the pressure of business, just give me a call, I'd me more than happy to come and take over... ok???

Keep up the good work man, you've got some MAJOR respect coming from me in any case!!!

[EduardoApolonia]

Originally Posted by inlinenl

Hi Eduardo ..... it's a Quest ... still all looks very cool ..... "the end is near" .... hope the furniture gets in soon ....

The furniture is at the moment withheld at customs.
I'm having a problem because portuguese customs wants the actual value of the replacement parts and Argosy sent it at $1 since it's replacement parts. But the portuguese customs are refusing it.
Argosy and Planet Audio Systems from UK (where I bought) are trying to solve the problem with the company that takes care of FedEX customs clearing, that is the same company who operates as FedEx here in Portugal. but it didn't work out yet.

I hope that they solve the problem before the max allowed time for the shipment to remain in custom expires, otherwise the shipment will be returned

[Farout]

Fuggin' idiots!!!!

I don't know a lot about customs, but I have heard some goof-ball ass stories about 'em before.

It's wood!!!!!!!!!!! Not fruit, food, illegal substances, etc!!!

We need this studio completed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dfegadcustoms

[EduardoApolonia]

All panels are in place.








All panels in the recording room are also installed but are at the moment covered in plastic because final paintings are on course.



Some door jambs had to be painted again due to damages in the painting done by someone.

[EduardoApolonia]

As final paintings are taking place, and Argosy replacement parts are still in customs, I'm posting more pics of the ceiling panels and the recording room rack with the rack rails installed, ready to accept the panels.

Argosy and portuguese FedEx/Rangel are not agreeing with the custom taxes so I'm the one who is suffering with it.

Meanwhile I discovered a panel that had the holes drilled a little out of place. Once again Argosy promptly agreed to send replacement by express shipping.
They have great support.
I only wish they could get to an understanding with the portuguese FedEx/Rangel.


Control room


Recording room




Recording room rack

[Farout]

Those panels really do look nice - especially with the wood floors.

The colors all go together very well. You must have some interior design blood runnin through your vains! That - or else your significant other has some creative ideas! Either way - it looks great!

What is that last pic for (the rack)? What will go in there?

Keep up the great work.

Hope your Argosy finds it's way to your house soon!

Take care.

[ElGatoClovis]

Hi Eduardo, I've been following and enjoying this thread for a while, the place is looking absolutely gorgeous!

When reading about the Argosy/FedEx problem, a question came to my mind: Was the shipment insured?

If so, maybe you could make FedEx pay you for the cost of the damaged panels, tell Argosy it's ok to declare the full value of the new shipment, and use the insurance money to cover the cost of the taxes?

It surely was a very nice gesture by Argosy to send you the damaged items at no cost, but trying to avoid taxes by declaring a lower value wasn't a good move, because it could be seen by local authorities as tax evasion (which it is).

Wish you all the best!

Saludos!

[Factory101]

Hi Eduardo - impressive finish on your work...good quality. Keep it up - inspirational.
Best, 101thumbsup

[EduardoApolonia]

Originally Posted by Farout

The colors all go together very well. You must have some interior design blood runnin through your vains! That - or else your significant other has some creative ideas! Either way - it looks great!

It's none of that
I only had to chose from 3 different combinations that Pilchner-Schoustal presented to me.
But I chose the best one, that's for sure

Originally Posted by Farout

What is that last pic for (the rack)? What will go in there?

Keep up the great work.

Hope your Argosy finds it's way to your house soon!

Take care.

That is the rack where the mic/lines/headphones panels will be installed, to connect from the Recording room to the preamps, etc.

Argosy that was held at customs is arriving shortly, I hope

Originally Posted by ElGatoClovis

Hi Eduardo, I've been following and enjoying this thread for a while, the place is looking absolutely gorgeous!

Originally Posted by ElGatoClovis

When reading about the Argosy/FedEx problem, a question came to my mind: Was the shipment insured?

If so, maybe you could make FedEx pay you for the cost of the damaged panels, tell Argosy it's ok to declare the full value of the new shipment, and use the insurance money to cover the cost of the taxes?

It surely was a very nice gesture by Argosy to send you the damaged items at no cost, but trying to avoid taxes by declaring a lower value wasn't a good move, because it could be seen by local authorities as tax evasion (which it is).

Wish you all the best!

Saludos!

I don't think that the insurance will cover the customs taxes. Maybe Argosy didn't used the insurance to speed up the process. The damages are small I don't know if FedEx will cover it. There wasn't any signs of bad handling on the boxes.

What was told to me by PlanetAudioSystems is that since these are parts to replace damaged ones and don't make a full item it is illegal to tax it, They say that it's double taxing which is illegal.

Originally Posted by Factory101

Hi Eduardo - impressive finish on your work...good quality. Keep it up - inspirational.
Best, 101thumbsup

[xmostynx]

SWEET ASS PLACE!

[EduardoApolonia]

This week problem

Almost all automatic door bottoms are damaged. Only one is fine.
I don't know if it was from shipping or installing the doors, or even from taking the doors off and installing them again.
What I know is that the doors bottoms were not working as they should, so I took them of to see that they were damaged.

The set on top is the only one that's fine, the other 3 on the bottom are damaged


damages



The good news is that the Redco order has arrived

[Farout]

Man - that sucks. Sorry to hear about that.

I hope that you are able to get them replaced without any friction from the shipper or the installer (which ever party is responsible.

Glad to see you got some more from your Redco order!! Let the games continue!!

[EduardoApolonia]

Originally Posted by Farout

Man - that sucks. Sorry to hear about that.

I hope that you are able to get them replaced without any friction from the shipper or the installer (which ever party is responsible.

I don't know who was responsible since the doors have gone through so many things. But I ordered door bottoms replacements already.
2 weeks they say.

[EduardoApolonia]

More problems

When cleaning the underneath cables chanels I couldn't get the cleaning mop I was using to pass through one of the channels.
When I looked inside I saw (what you can see below on the pic) why it wouldn't pass through, it had an electrical wire on top of the channel between the rooms and it had 4 screws of the wall framing that were screwed on top of the channels.
I said about 1000 times to be careful to not screw the structure on top where the channels were, but they did it!!!!!!

Let's see how can I get it fixed, the electrical wire problem doesn't seem very difficult to fix but the screws are not all within easy reach.



I took the Redco order out of the boxes, it's all in this pic.

[Farout]

Man - I'm sorry about these things.

It seems like all of the fun is being taken away from ya ... kinda like somebody is raining on your parade.

I hope you are able to get those door parts installed quickly, and get somebody out there to fix the 'screwed' problem.

As always - thanks for the pics.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Take care.

[Meriphew]

Very cool Eduardo! You've done a phenomenal job.

[ElGatoClovis]

Sorry to hear about the problems man.

I know exactly how you feel.... sometimes it seems like they just don't care about what they're building!

This one looks like an easy fix anyway, what I would do is get a long, flat piece of metal (3/4mm thick, 5/6cm wide, 1mt long) and bevel one of the ends at 45deg. or more so you get a nice sharp cutting edge. Then insert it into the cable channel and press the sharp edge against one of the screws right where they come out of the wood, and hit the other end of the metal bar with a big hammer a few times. I think that should cut those screws easily (or at least bend them so they're out of the way).

Good luck!

[The Beatsmith]

amazing!!

can i ask, how does this work out as a business deal? what i mean is, how long is it going to take you to turn a profit after it's built? is there a plan or just a 'build it and they will come' kinda thing going on?

or perhaps are you doing it for love of it, and because you can afford it (nothing wrong with that!!)?

would just love to know - because if i went and got a loan or got sponsored to setup a production and small suite (my dream), i can't honestly say that i'd be confident that i'd turn a profit any time soon... i might make tons of great music... but that doesn't equal money!!!

i'm not asking to sh!t on your parade, but mainly looking for advice on how one could realistically make a go of it...

anyway, it looks truly amazing, can't wait to see stuff out of boxes and in the racks/desk and setup!!!

[EduardoApolonia]

Originally Posted by ElGatoClovis

Sorry to hear about the problems man.

I know exactly how you feel.... sometimes it seems like they just don't care about what they're building!

This one looks like an easy fix anyway, what I would do is get a long, flat piece of metal (3/4mm thick, 5/6cm wide, 1mt long) and bevel one of the ends at 45deg. or more so you get a nice sharp cutting edge. Then insert it into the cable channel and press the sharp edge against one of the screws right where they come out of the wood, and hit the other end of the metal bar with a big hammer a few times. I think that should cut those screws easily (or at least bend them so they're out of the way).

Good luck!

Thanks for the tip.
I don't know if I'm understanding it correctly but I don't think that it would cut the screws, we're talking about 6mm diameter screws.
I hit the one that was closest to the opening several times with a hammer as possible since I don't have much room for it, and I couldn't make it bend totally.
The best method I found out was to saw the screws with a metal saw blade.
It's time consuming but gives the best results in the end.

Originally Posted by The Beatsmith

amazing!!

can i ask, how does this work out as a business deal? what i mean is, how long is it going to take you to turn a profit after it's built? is there a plan or just a 'build it and they will come' kinda thing going on?

or perhaps are you doing it for love of it, and because you can afford it (nothing wrong with that!!)?

would just love to know - because if i went and got a loan or got sponsored to setup a production and small suite (my dream), i can't honestly say that i'd be confident that i'd turn a profit any time soon... i might make tons of great music... but that doesn't equal money!!!

i'm not asking to sh!t on your parade, but mainly looking for advice on how one could realistically make a go of it...

anyway, it looks truly amazing, can't wait to see stuff out of boxes and in the racks/desk and setup!!!

This is more "doing it for love of it, and because you can afford it"
Since this is not my main job I don't work full time so it would be impossible to make profit out of it, not taking in consideration all the gear I already had.

What I'm going to do is to work enough to pay a part of the loan that I spent to build the studio, in 5 years.
I think that if I could work full time I would make the money to pay all the construction in a few years.

[EduardoApolonia]

I'm at the moment passing cables through the channels.

The electrical wire on the problematic channel has been pulled higher to pass over the channel
I'm sawing the screws tips. It's the best way I found to get rid of them. It will be very time consuming but it will give the best results.
I tried to bend them but they are very strong, and since I don't have too much space to work (the channel is 4,5cm high x 25cm wide) it's even harder to bend them.







The entrance floor tiles are being installed.