Topic: The return of bliss in my lving room!

[James]

When I went looking for the link to the Beringer active crossover that I posted in another thread here, I found that it was on sale! 

So I ordered another one!  

This made it possible for me to set up both of my speaker systems that require bi-amping and an active crossover.

Just for kicks, I thought I would try out the tiny AMP3 I built from http://41Hz.com as the power amp for my near full range line source arrays.

WOW!

I am sooooooooo blown away by this amp!

It's only about 9 watts into 8 ohms. I can't get over how HUGE it sounds!

I took the Carver amps back up to the living room and hooked them up as woofer amps with the other 41Hz.com kit (AMP6 BASIC) driving the horns.

This time I have a nice linear 13+ VDC supply for each of the amps and, so far, they both are working very well.

I didn't realize how much I missed the sound of "Bootsy's Horny-Horns". I love these things!

James. 

[James]

and more pictures...

[James]

Here's the line source array system in the basement. 

This is AMP3 from 41Hz.com.

SIMPLY AWESOME! 

[James]

more pics... 

I guess I should clean up my basement!  :

James. 

[BlinkenLights]

I am always amazed when i see your speakers...

ever thought of doing anything on a smaller scale?

Like maybe something i could afford?...

Of course i think the only way i would able to ever afford any of them  is if i start saving about 10 years ago...

[Absolom]

I like your setup James.  I am currently running Apogee Calipers (Ribbon Dipoles) and a Carver M400a in bridge mode for each speaker.  For bass I am using a 12" Hsu Research sub with a Carver M400a (using only one channel because if I ran it bridged, it would rip the voice coil off the cone, or it would shatter my windows)  My Hsu sub dips below 15Hz with an SPL of 112db

I love my Carver Cubes.  Also, for those of you who don't know about Bob Carver, look him up on Wiki.  He is a lot like James.  Everytime the audio world said "You can't do that" Bob Carver did.  He is a personal hero of mine, much like Mr. James Lehman.

Alas, I don't have any current pics of my setup (because I am moving), but here is what my stuff looks like,  The speakers I use:

And here are the amps I use:
 
As far as the Amps go, like Han Solo says "It may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts".  These Amps are rated at 201watts per channel RMS.  So in bridged mode, these will put out almost 850 Watts peak at less than 0.05% THD!!  All of this out of a little 8 inch cube.  This is how Carver went against the grain!

[James]

Down to 15Hz @ 112dB @ 1W @ 1M !!!!!!!!!!

WHAT ?

I gotta' see this!

In both of the systems that I made, I use the same 8 inch poly cone butyl surround woofer. You can only see half of them because they are all in isobaric pairs. There are 4 woofers on each side of the horn speakers in the living room and 8 woofers on each side of the line arrays. Each set of 4 woofers has a 7 cu. ft. volume of air behind it, tuned to about 20Hz. They OBVIOUSLY go down below 18Hz.

There is a LaserBoy connection here too!

It was back in 1998 that I started with the idea of using a sound card to measure frequency vs. voltage.

Dean got into it too and has kept up with the development and gone WAY past where I left off.

Anyway, these woofers + boxes are not based on guesswork. They are actually electronically measured and tuned.

James. 

[BlinkenLights]

and expensive....

[Absolom]

The sub hits those specs but will pull about 100W to 120W out of my amp.  It is a huge bass reflex cylindrical cabinet about 30" tall about about 24" in diameter.  I am not even going to try and figure out the volume.  The driver has about 2" of travel, a pretty long stroke for a speaker.  The port is a tuned port about 4" in diameter.  It moves some serious air.  I am not even sure is Hsu is still in business.  I bought this sub off a guy and he told me the specs.  I didn't believe him, so I told him I wanted a demonstration.  I went to his house and, my God, I was sold.  Since then, I have rattled pictures off my wall and trinkets off of shelves.  The music that did it was the first track on the Koyanisquattsi soundtrack.  The lowest pipe organ I have ever heard or, in this case, felt!

  I like that fact that you tune your speakers.  I hate that automotive places put in these systems and think they can just plug a driver into a box.  I don't think people know about a tuned enclosure.  There are so many factors to consider.  The FS of the speaker, the resonance Fq of the box, if it is a suspension, a reflex or a bandpass enclosure.  I think home audio has died a little with the introduction of all the Digital bells and whistles.  I had a friend who, every time I would go to his place to watch a movie, he would switch his surround receiver to "Hall".  This gives an odd reverb to make it sound like you were in a large auditorium watching a movie.  Ugh, it destroyed the music and the movie.  Oh how I miss the days of Class A and Carver's A/B amps.  Discreet output...  I like to see that there are still purists out there.  I tip my hat to you, my friend.

[James]

"... and expensive ..."

Not really. Only in my dreams.  

I have only sold 2 pairs of speakers that went for the cost of building 4 pairs and a center.

Dean and another guy, Greg, have a pair of Metals (no subs).

I've given some speakers away!

I've also fixed a lot of factory made speakers.

I have some really cool ideas about new designs. I also have almost 1000 of those little full range speakers!

Much like my adventures in lasers, I'm not a big money speaker guy.

In the lines in the basement there are 16 woofers at a cost of about $220 and 72 full range speakers at a cost of $30. The MDF, oak plywood, screws, paint, etc cost more than the drivers.

It's all about the design!

James.  

[James]

Here's a better look at the woofer boxes.

[Absolom]

I have never been into big money type stuff (Hence my lack of respect for Pangolin) but I did spend a lot of money on my Apogees.  My amps were cheap enough, I bought them non-working and repaired them.  I will never give them up.  Old Carver amps are harder to come by now.  The Hsu sub that I got was not too badly priced either.  I do think my Apogees were money well spent.  I have never heard sound that has come close to a ribbon dipole.

[James]

You might like my line source, wide baffle, monopole, full range speakers!

You can have them in the middle of the room or up against the wall and there is really no difference in the way they radiate!

James. 

[Absolom]

Yes, that is the drawback of my dipoles, I have to put them about 2 1/2' from the wall.  If I put them against the wall, the bass gets boomy and hollow and the treble sounds "washed out".

[James]

Eventually I want to build some of the more powerful amps from 41Hz.com to power all the woofers!

One thing all of my speaker designs have in common...

They're all GD HEAVY!  

I got my Carver amps from a pawn shop. They had been used in bridge mode and one of them was blown up. So I fixed it.

$180 cash for the pair! 

James.