Austin DIY HT Projects (1 Viewer)

[Leroy R]

Something happened to my profile and I missed out on the HTPC build. I haven't gotten any notifications of new messages for some time and had to redo my password when I logged in tonight.

Hank I don't know if I missed it already or not, but I would like to go listen to those speakers with you. I still need to get that Sub built one of these days too.

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Well I got me a new sub project in the works. This one is for my uncle. I'm doing a Sunfire True Subwoofer type sub. I just ordered a Peerless 10" XXLS and two 10" Peerless XLS passive radiators. They'll be going in a ~13" cube. I haven't decided if I'll use the same 250W plate amp I have on hand, or if I'll upgrade to the 1000W unit Parts Express has. I kinda cringe at paying $400 for a sub amp though, but we'll see if the 250W is up to the task first.
XXLS 10"

XLS PR

Klippel Results for XXLS Motor:

That's one of the dang finest motors I've ever seen measured.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Lee, we did go listen, but there's someone else who may want to hear them, so if I get us a time, I'll let you know.

Mark, nice curves! Why PR rather than a 12" or 15" driver?

 

[Mark Hayenga]

The last sub I built for my uncle was a 15", or rather this monster to be specific (this is a Lambda 15-001 fyi):

My aunt was not pleased.
So this one has to be *really* small. I've only got about 25 liters of volume to work with, and that's not accounting for volume taken up by the driver, PR's or amp. Cramming a 15" into that small a space would be too hard, Fb and Qb would be way high and need a lot of equalization.
Besides, I've always wanted to build a tiny PR sub, so this gives me the opportunity.

 

[Mark Hayenga]

BTW, I went to the orthopedist today. I hurt my knee several years ago playing football and it hasn't been right since. It's been flaring up since I've been doing work for the parents (mowing yard and whatnot) so I had it checked out. Sure enough I got something wrong with it, there's a spot on the xray that don't look so good. So I get to go in for an MRI tomorrow so they can better tell what it is and see if it is fixable.
I'm happy they actually found something wrong with it, since it's been bugging me for so long. I just hope they can fix it instead of telling me I'm SOL

 

[Rich_Ave]

Mark,

Keep us posted on your progress on the sub. I have 2 sub projects in the queue after I finish my towers (just veneered them this weekend (Sapele Pommele, nice veneer)). Good luck on your MRI. We should get together and swap lies about speaker building (and bad knees). Good Luck.

Rich

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Hey Rich,

Sapele pommele is one of my favorite veneers. Did you get it locally? I'm looking for a fancy veneer source since ordering a single sheet over the internet costs a bit much and I like to see what I'm getting first. I'll email ya next time I come to Austin, I'd love to see the towers.

 

[Rich_Ave]

Hi Mark,

I got the veneer over the internet from Tape-Ease, and you are correct, it's not cheap. I used the 10 mil paper backed flavor. Just let me know the next time you're in town. They may not be finished, but you can at least see them in some semi-finished state. There is a place just east of I35 that has veneer (Austin Fine Lumber and Plywood), but I don't think they have the more exotic species. How'd the MRI go???

Rich

 

[Mark Hayenga]

The MRI went fine, it was a lot different than the one I had 15 years ago. The machines are a lot smaller and quieter. And the tech was pretty hot too
I should be in town the weekend of the 3rd. I'm driving in to pick up a friend, then we're driving to Dallas for a wedding Saturday afternoon, then I get to deliver her back to Austin. I'm not sure what our schedule is, but I should be in Austin possibly Friday night and definitely Sunday afternoon/evening.
Tapeease seems to be the place for veneer, Jonathan and Scott order their stuff from them exclusively I think. I might have to piggyback a sheet on their next order and trust the quality to be good (all the stuff they've gotten so far has been fantastic, but I've never seen any of their highly figured stuff).
Which subs do you have in the works btw?

 

[Rich_Ave]

Mark,

Glad to hear about the MRI. They have come a long way, in fact, my orthopaedic surgeon has one in his office.

I've only ordered one other veneer from Tape-Ease (Rosewood), but I was very happy with that one as well. The towers I'm working on were from SCH (which is now out of business). The subs I have line up are as 12" Titanic (which replaced a blown NHT 1259 (hence the requirement for a new cabinet)), and 15" Adire Tempest I obtained from Scott.

I should be around next weekend, so when your plans firm up, let me know. I live pretty close to Hank, so you can use that for planning your trip. See you next weekend.

Rich

 

[Jonathan DA]

If you're after exotic veneers, the best place to find them on the cheap is ebay. The catch is they're usually smaller size pieces, and they're non-backed, so they're harder to work with. Just use the iron on method and some veneer softener and you should be fine.
Mark, you might want to run the excursion numbers on the XLS. I think a 1000 watt amp is overkill. A single PR will reach xmax around 300 watts I believe. With two you'll have more headroom, but you'll hit xmax on the driver fairly soon after that. Around 400 watts I think. I'm sure you've read http://www.partsexpress.com/pdf/xlsapp.pdf already.

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Given this is a little 10" sub that's going to be playing in a HUGE room, I'm tuning it fairly high and restricting it's bandwidth to >30Hz. Depending on what bandwidth the sub is playing over I can get between 500 watts (30-100Hz +0/-3dB) and 750 watts (35-100Hz +0/-3dB) into it without exceeding excursion on either the active or passives (active always runs out first with dual passives). I'll probably go for the 500w/30Hz version just because I have a hard time calling anything that doesn't at least get to 30Hz a 'sub'.

 

[Jonathan DA]

Right on. Get that monster amp then!

 

[Mark Hayenga]

I am having to use active filters to restrict the below-tuning excursion I should add.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Rich/Mark: Please let me know when you guys plan to meet. I want to see that veneer - one of m favorites also. Tape-Ease is my source and I've not had any trouble with them - excellent service. As Doc notes, there are some very tempting low prices on eBay for unbacked veneer if anyone wants to try it.

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Well I ordered and Madisound billed me for the XXLS, but they shipped me the older XLS instead. They sell the XXLS for $172 and the older XLS for $168, but Parts Express sells the older XLS for $140. If I wanted the older version, I would have ordered it much cheaper from PE.

I emailed them and gave them the option of either swapping out the older XLS driver for the XXLS at their cost, or just refunding me the difference b/w what I paid for the XXLS ($172) and what I would have paid for the XLS at PE ($140).

Does that sound reasonable? I haven't gotten a response from them yet as I got the shipment around 6pm tonight. I think they have business hours on Saturday but I don't know if I'll get a response before Monday.

Either way, this Peerless stuff looks top notch. They are very imposing.

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Well it sounds like Madisound is gonna take good care of me. Josh emailed me back at 7am this morning and they're shipping me the XXLS driver on Tuesday and sending a call tag with it. Nice to know they still have good customer service even though they're the only place in north america where you can get this stuff

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Glad they took care of you, Mark. Excellent customer service is a revenue generator and some companies get it and some don't. Post pics of your progress on that sub.

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Will do Hank. Hopefully it shouldn't be too long til I get to the veneering stage, at which point I might harass you
Also, does anyone in the group have any knowledge of metallurgy / metal working / milling / machining? Or of the different types and grades of steel and their magnetic properties? I have no idea the difference between 1006 and 1018 and 1117 and 12L14 or what cold roll or hot roll or whatever are and I've got a mad scientist type project where I am needing to know these things (actually I have several mad scientist projects in mind right now and this is just one). Also if anyone knows of any good places to get ferrite, alnico, NdFeB or SmCo magnets, I would be appreciative. Right now I'm looking at using 'cow magnets', if any of you guys know what those are Right now they're the cheapest alnico 5 type magnet I can find, but the rounded ends are no good.
BTW Jonathan is in Boston this weekend, so if anybody wants to go over to his place, have a yard party, and paint the outside of his house to match the inside, lemme know and I'll get something set up

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Enjoying reading about this project Mark. Keep us posted!

BTW Jonathan is in Boston this weekend, so if anybody wants to go over to his place, have a yard party, and paint the outside of his house to match the inside, lemme know and I'll get something set up

Hmmm... it could be fun doing some kind of practical joke on him, but the only problem is that I think he is heading over to Europe direxctly from Boston, so any practical joke will likely be disposed of by Jennifer when she gets back from Boston. :frowning: