Dual Tempest SPL Measurements (1 Viewer)

[Mike Strassburg]

FINALLY got my lazy butt motivated enough to dig out the RS meter and get some readings. Had some issues calibrating which I posted in another post.
Here's the corrected numbers:
FREQ - SPL (comp)
16- 83.5
18- 86.0
20- 85.5
22- 84.5
25- 86.0
28- 88.0
31.5- 88.0
36- 93.5
40- 94.5
45- 100.0
50- 99.5
56- 97.5
63- 95.5
71- 87.5
80- 84.5
89- 83.5
Is that considered good or not??
Also did some max SPL testing with meter 1' away from sub:
16 - 110
20 - 117
31.5 - 127
45 - 125
Thanks again to Dan W and the others on here who helped/posted great research info. I couldn't be happier, but of course I'm already thinking about a twin

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

Not too bad, a 15 dB peak about 2/3 of an octave wide centered at 45 Hz. If you listen to music, your a great candidate for a BFD which could make you almost flat with a single filter active. This will eilminate the boom.

 

[Michael R Price]

Mike, can you describe the sound as the sub reached its limits? Was it an increase in harmonic distortion, like the Tempests were starting to strain, or a flopping/cracking/burping sound like the amp clipping? Thanks.

 

[Mike Strassburg]

Actually I didn't really notice either, it just didn't peg the needle any higher. I believe that there's probably more left in them as I'm only pushing 250watts to each sub.

Brian,

Most of the music I listen to is metal & old school rap, so I don't really seem to notice any "boominess". Perhaps it's an advantage. I also play some "dance club" music and with 7 channel stereo my whole house is thumpin'

 

[Bryan Michael]

did you do 2 in 1 style and would you get better results form 2 seperate enclosers?

 

[Michael R Price]

BTW, if you placed the meter 1' from the tube it was probably at least a meter from the endcaps where the drivers and ports are. So you can honestly claim those as 1 meter numbers. I'm sure TheEAR (?) from the Klipsch forum, who keeps bashing DIY stuff, will love to hear these measurements. 127 dB? Holy crap!

 

[Mike Strassburg]

Michael,

Actually I placed it on top of a plastic chair, so it was probably 2+ feet from the bottom sub and 3+ feet from the top sub. And the plastic chair probably didn't help, but it was getting late and I was tired.

I wasn't real concerned with the numbers as I KNOW that it sounds good to me. BTW I did post it over there as TheREAR does like to shoot his mouth off. I'm sure he either won't believe it or have some other smartass comment to make.

RudyD came over Monday to pick up some PVC for his sub and I gave him a demo of my set-up. To quote him, " I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING LIKE THIS!!! WOW!!! We were listening at least +10 over Reference and the sub never missed a beat.

He was also pretty impressed with my DIY KLF-10 center channel. I still my do a KLF-20 in the future.
Take care...Mike

 

[Rudy D]

Yeah, that thing rocks. I cant wait to get mine running. I just started on it tonight. Mine is only a single though. I love music and movies loud. When I went there, I was use to the loud volumes, as I have a pretty good system. But, the base was incredible. U571- the depth charge scene, it felt like those things were in the room with us going off. It went right through your chest. The sound quality was awsome, very clean at 120 db plus

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

mike,

Most of the music I listen to is metal & old school rap, so I don't really seem to notice any "boominess". Perhaps it's an advantage.

Perhaps it is. But let me ask you this. Do some bass notes seem to jump out of the music and others receede into the background ? Does it sound like the bass player is hitting some notes harder than others ? Notes around 45 Hz will get a 10-15 db boost (remember, 3dB is twice as loud). After hearing your system equalized, you'll never go back.

 

[Dan Hine]

Brain,

This is off topic but last I heard 3db was not twice as loud but rather the point at which the typical human begins to hear a change in volume. The basic rule I learned was that doubling the wattage increased volume by 3db and that multiplying the wattage by 10 doubled the volume. Could you clear this up for me? Thanks.


Dan Hine

 

[AlexKunec]

I think you guys are both kinda right. 3db increase is double the sound pressure level, but humans do not preceive it as twice as loud. Double the input wattage and you get a 3db increase. A 10db increase, is also 10X the sound pressure level (3db=2times 6db=4times 9db=8times...) We preceive 10db as "Twice as LOUD". 1db is the smallest difference in SPL that we are capable of noticing.

Please note that 100db at one freq. will sound quite abit louder or quieter at another freq. 110db at 20hz can barely be heard while 100db at 2000hz will make you cover your ears.

 

[Mike Strassburg]

"Do some bass notes seem to jump out of the music and others receede into the background ? Does it sound like the bass player is hitting some notes harder than others ?"

Brian,

I honestly don't listen that intently. I just let the movie/music do it's thing and let me escape for awhile. My only criteria is LOUD & CLEAN. Imaging, soundstage, etc...don't mean a thing to me.

As RudyD witnessed, when a gunshot goes off, you almost want to duck out of the way, and when depth charges have you hanging onto the couch then what more could I ask for.

Seriously though I do understand what you're saying but currently I'm not willing to invest the time/$$$ to fix it, as it doesn't sound broken to me.

 

[Michael R Price]

Also, most people believe a general increase towards lower frequencies, or 'house curve', sounds more natural. Of course Mike you can always just spend $130 on a BFD and play around with it to get the sound you want, since you've got headroom to spare. I envy your HT setup.

 

[Mike Strassburg]

Michael,
Actually I will probably do a BFD in the fall as in the past 3-4 months I've: changed ALL speakers to Klipsch, built a DIY CC, built the sub, built a stand to hold the CC over the TV, calibrated, tested, etc....
Basically I've spent more time working on my HT than I have enjoying it. I still have a second set of surrounds to add, like I need more volume , so I'll probably do that tonight. I've also been researching HDTV's and "might" get a Toshiba 65", but I'm already getting tired of that whole mess.
Time to watch some movies already!!