Audio Equipment Cabinet
Fall 2021
I bought three 4 by 8 sheets of cherry veneered plywood in the 1980s and built a set of three cabinets to hold records and audio equipment. Over the years, most of those cabinets have been modified and evolved for various reasons, and this project is a re-build of the last of those original cabinets. My objective was to create a more sophisticated look, matching the cosmetics of another cabinet I rebuilt several years ago:
The inspiration
The new cabinet was built to match the cosmetics of this cabinet, but a bit shorter, more appropriate for a turntable to sit atop, and omitting the glass doors and drawer in this taller cabinet.
Because this cabinet has had many years for the cherry to age, its turned a lovely dark red color.
The donor cabinet
This is the cabinet originally built in the 1980's, and it has served a number of purposes over the years, not all audio related. It served as the starting point for the new cabinet, which re-used almost all of the original cherry lumber and cherry veneered plywood.
The new cabinet is a bit wider (but also designed to house 19" rack gear) and has quite a bit more solid cherry trim.
Shown after the donor cabinet was disassembled, here I'm cutting the pieces to size for the new cabinet. I used the dado set shown here to cut slots on the inside to align the parts and add rails to hold the shelf brackets.
I needed a wider top and floor of the cabinet than the original, so I also veneered some 3/4" ply with new cherry veneer for those pieces.
Inside view of one side with the new rails (oak) for the shelf rackets and new solid cherry trim for the front edges (to the right in this photo),
Assembling the carcass, bottom to the left. I installed 3/8" ply spacers at the top (right in the photo) as the actual top of the case was installed later.
This shows a cross section of the various pieces of solid cherry trim used on the cabinet, along with the router bit used to create each.
The top left trim was used along the top and bottom of the cabinet, and the piece below that is used at the top, mounted directly below the piece above it.
The right trim was used at the floor level around the bottom perimeter of the cabinet.
The cabinet top has been added here, and I fitted solid cherry trim shown above around the perimeter, being glued in place here.
Closeup showing the installed top trim detail, this photo after most of the finishing was done.
And the bottom trim, also after finishing.
The basic carcass has been assembled here, about to start finishing, which took longer than the building of the cabinet itself.
The shelves being prepped for finish. These were all re-used from the original cabinet, so some include solid cherry trim on the sides or rear to get them to the correct size. They're all 3/4" cherry veneered ply with 1" solid cherry trim on the front.
The lower left shelf was originally built to hold a tube amp, hence the ventilation holes that were below the output tubes.
Finishing started with a coat of Minwax wood conditioner, to help the stain apply evenly. Softer wood like cherry can look blotchy otherwise. Immediately after the wood conditioner, I applied one coat of Watco Danish Oil Finish in Cherry color, shown here after that step. That was followed by a 3 day wait for the stain to completely dry before moving on.
Next came a coat of Waterlox Sealer to highlight the grain, followed by several coats of Minwax polyurethane with sanding (600 grit, then 1500 grit) between each coat. That sanding between coats is essential to a velvety smooth finish.
I re-used the shelf standards from the donor cabinet, shown here mounted on the oak rails built to hold then at the correct width for the shelves (just over 19").
One problem I've noticed over the years, with this adjustable shelf system, is that the shelves can move front to back, especially when sliding a heavy piece of equipment in or out.
The solution was to route a slot in the bottom of the shelves for the shelf bracket, which prevents the shelf from moving atop the brackets.
Finished cabinet with the shelves in place.
Another view.
I added a set of casters to make moving the cabinet easier, and used special soft wheels for hardwood floors, here.
They are recessed in the base do the bottom of the cabinet sits just above the floor, and the wheels aren't visible.
The finished cabinet next to its older brother shown in the first photo above. The newer cabinet is lighter in color but will darken as the cherry ages.
And lastly, how it looks with some of my past projects.