new home for my 12LTA (and family)

[JRKO]

I have been living happily with a pair of 12LTA's for a while now.

They live in a 3cft cabinet with a fostex FT17H dealing out high freq from about 8khz upwards with a single cap inline. On the lower end an Eminence Beta 15 on each side in about 10cft with its own sub amp.

The 12LTA has had its basked damped with decorators caulk, the dust cap cut out and replaced with wooden phase plugs.

Now my other half has requested a "smaller cabinet with the same drivers"

Here's a piccys of the 'little' speakers that need to be shrunk

[JRKO]

Ideas that the wife likes the look of.

The first image would have the 12LTA and FT17H in the face and 15inch Beta on the back. Maybe put an angle on the rear to give a bit more volume. Separate internal enclosures for each driver with the Beta 15 getting the majority of the volume.

The second would see a single Beta 15 firing forward in a narrow cabinet (16/17inches) with the 12LTA in a separate 'head' enclosure.

From building the previous speakers in this thread Beta 12LTA in a 3cf box - port size I know that the Beta 15 will be plenty happy in 4cft and the 12LTA seems to be ok in 1.5-2cft. So shrinking them down is not a issue

[JRKO]

Room position: Speakers will be 5ft from the rear wall, firing into about 15ft of space, not too close to side walls.

I have just the one question which I could use some expertise.

If I go for the single unit with the beta 15 firing backwards they will be crossed in at about 80hz so from my limited knowledge thats not really directional. Will there be issues with the LOW bass integration?

[chazdrumzalot]

From what I understand 80hz will be plenty low enough to make integration seemless, and in any case since you've got stereo subs (in a sense I think you've made the largest F.A.S.T. this forum has ever seen) I think you have a wider margin of error in this regard. In fact, if you put the beta in front then you could cross yet higher and perhaps the 12LTA could live with even less enclosure volume...

[JRKO]

I could do 15's in the front.

BTW I searched but what does the acronym F.A.S.T stand for?

[chazdrumzalot]

Full range And Subwoofer Technology. Search for Tysen as an example.

[JRKO]

Ah yes, the Tysen. I looked at that back in '09. Memory banks must be getting old!

What are the dangers of placing a driver close to the baffle edge? Esp in the lower freq range the beta 15's will be dealing out?

[Godzilla]

I think what you've built already is perfect enough. Having said that i can understand why your wife would like something smaller (that sounds funny). Looking at your first pic i would suggest simply slimming the cabinet down by lopping off the sides. Make the front baffle 17" wide and center align the drivers. You can keep two boxes (or three) or make one box. Would have to noodle around with the box volumes but i'd suggest the 12lta in a small sealed and the 15" in the largest you can make within limitations.

Looking at your second pic with the box on a stand i can imagine the 15" facing downward and keeping a simple two-way look of the 12lta plus tweeter visible. This may create bass loading problems but since you have separate amps powering them it might not be as big a challenge.

Another suggestion would be something like this:

Endorphine from Kingston Kitchen

[JRKO]

It sure is perfect, but for matrimonial peace, a diet is in order

I do Like the separate enclosure idea but that 'Endorphine' looks interesting. Your original 12LTA thread is moving toward open baffle .

Have you gotten you yours up and running?

[Godzilla]

I just think folks want to hear how it sounds in ob also. The driver works in ported and sealed and i read enough about it in ob to try it and expect good results. I expect you can win in many ways with this driver but it requires big boxes/baffles and you still need bass and treble support. Otherwise, it's 'one' way to achieve 97db, wide range from mid bass to low treble and sounds mighty fine with a few tweaks. Btw, i LOVE the way the phase plugs smooth things out... it's almost too smooth.

I also have a couple of expensive TB 1808s that are selling for over $300 a piece now... and some older Fostex 168 Sigmas that cost over $120 each... both requiring a bit of help on top and bottom to get right. I'd take the lowly, ugly 12lta any day. It sounds different for certain... but to me, it sounds better.

My open baffle setup should be done (tho unfinished) tonight and setup in my system by tomorrow.