new cabinets?

[Cmac16]

So, im new to this website, but not new to sound, im fairly involved with spl competing and have reached over 142DB.

now what im not as familiar with is home audio theory.

so i have a set of realistic mach 1 speakers ( along with a family of other speakers in diffferent shapes and sizes as i like to collect.. ) and i was wondering if i could get more out of them. i think they are the newer ones as they have high and mid range controls on the front..

i am no stranger to building ported boxes and enclosures, and just want the best sound out of what i have!

thanks

Cam

 

[DcibeL]

Ahh, the L=B parties...everyone gets a trophy!

for cabinet design you will need at the very least some T/S parameters, if you have those try Unibox, it's an excel spreadsheet which is very useful for this very purpose.

Since I doubt you have any of the specs for the speakers you have, your best bet for better sound would be to add bracing and damping material to the cabinets that you already have. A simple way is to cut some thick dowels, and wedge them into the cabinets and glue in place. A simple solution for adding damping material is pillow stuffing.

If you can use a soldering iron, you'll likely find some electrolytic caps in the speaker crossovers, repalcing these with polypropelyne caps will often improve the sound, especially in older speakers. You'll find that the poly caps will be larger, but as long as the wire lengths are not meters long, just wire them in the best you can, and glue them down with hot-glue or epoxy to keep in place.

 

[Cmac16]

what about getting more bass response? what can i do?

 

[DcibeL]

Buy a subwoofer.

 

[Moondog55]

Or use the speaker with the best mid-range sit it on top of the Tandy and add the Realistic Mach 1 ( which is a good speaker for bass ) for a bit of extra bass, just bypass the XO with the biggest inductor you can afford, this way you get an extra 3dB down low.
I have assumed your amp can drive 4R and the other speaker is 8R

 

[chris661]

Wait a second.

"More bass response"

Do you mean lower bass, or
louder, lower bass?

 

[Cmac16]

yes, i want louder, lower bass, i have pleeeennntty of mid and high range, i just need some more down low

 

[Moondog55]

Just louder, but that gives the impression of deeper because of Fletcher-Munson; although the Ratshack bass isn't bad as is.

Of course I have made an assumption that the speaker on top would be a 3way

 

[Cmac16]

these are the exact ones i have

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

My Basic question is, is there someway i can manipulate the cabnet to make it sound better, or would building new cabs or new ported cabs be worth it?

 

[PeteMcK]

re:' is there someway i can manipulate the cabnet to make it sound better'
If you get the T/S parameters of the woofer, download Winisd or Unibox and enter them, you will find the range of cabinet possibilties open to you.
re:'would building new cabs or new ported cabs be worth it?' - only you can decide that; but for me, with speakers of this quality the answer is no, for the effort, you'd be better to build completely new cabinets with better quality drivers. The simplest solution is Dcibel's suggestion - add another woofer...

 

[Cmac16]

i have an additional woofer, and i dont want to spend money on new drivers, i just want to know if i can get more out of what i have, or make it more efficient..

and i do have winisd

 

[Cal Weldon]

The answer is still no. You will need to add a powered woofer to the system to achieve what you want. What woofer do you have? Show us a pic if you can.

 

[MJL21193]

I had a pair of these back in the day.
They are acoustic suspension and the woofer has specs best suited to that alignment. Trying to put them in a different box won't bring any real improvement.
Like everyone else said, build a separate sub and keep these as they are would be my advice.

 

[tomcat9]

Here is a sub to build. It has high spl output.

Pi Speakers

4 of these should do just right.

t

 

[Inductor]

Here is a sub to build. It has high spl output.

Pi Speakers

4 of these should do just right.

t

That's completely out of question because each basshorn has 2x12" subs, plus Wayne's 12Pi subs are the most powerful in the world.
Sure I would advice poster Cam (Cmac16) to buid loaded horns 12" or 15". Also/or/maybe a 4th o.bandpass in his case. Maybe the extra speaker driver specs. will give more information in where to go. Also considering what Amps/system would be in use as Cal Weldon said.

 

[Cal Weldon]

A plate amp and box are not expensive and can make even a low to medium quality woofer sound OK.

 

[Cmac16]

well it seems i keep getting more questions than answers haha. as i said im new to home audio theory, i've had systems for years, and i've been into spl car audio. so i have no problem building boxes. i have 9 speakers in total in my system, 4 smaller ''bookshelf'' 2 way speakers, a set of mach ones up front, a set of 3 way towers with 15'' drivers and an upgraded tweet, and a kenwood center channel. all being powered with a sony 100x5 channel amp.

i was basically wondering how can i make my system sound better? how can i make it more effeciant? like would i benifit from tearing apart the mach ones, putting the subs in a separate ported enclosure and the mid horn and tweet in a smaller box?

also if somone could point me in the dirrection of information on dirrectional airflow in a room and speaker placement?

 

[Moondog55]

What 3-way towers are they?
And sealed or ported? I've never had any luck mixing sealed and ported in the one box but if you go back a few posts and think about what I said, you :"MAY"' be able to use my suggestion as a compromise until you could afford a plate amp or 2

 

[prickears]

Try padding down the mids and top, that will at least give the impression of more bass, cheap as chips to do too!

 

[MJL21193]

well it seems i keep getting more questions than answers haha. .....
.... like would i benifit from tearing apart the mach ones, putting the subs in a separate ported enclosure and the mid horn and tweet in a smaller box?

That question was answered: no.
Do you have the ability to measure the T/S specs of the woofer? If you can measure it, you will be able to determine what type and size box it should be in. My "guess" is that it is already in the type of box (acoustic suspension) and size it was designed for.