Speakers For Heavy Metal ? What Matters ?

[sreten]

Originally Posted by Moondog55

Yes it is and all sold out here in OZ

I always thought Paul was loosing something by not using the 12 inch in the Tarkus
but it is designed more for a sealed box and Paul likes to build ported I think

Hi,

Bass depth versus reasonable box size is probably why the 10" is preferable.
Value too I imagine. Bigger is not always better at reduced SPL's, YMMV.

rgds, sreten.

[winslow]

Bigger is always better if you have the room for it.

[picowallspeaker]

No it isn't
Why ?
I really don't know

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by winslow

Bigger is always better if you have the room for it.

when it comes to a woofer, and thats whats being questioned now, I cant imagine it will ever get too big but the box can get too big

[Moondog55]

I believe the OPs client has made a decision or at least narrowed down the options

( Personal communication)

Personally I like big woofers but as Tinitus says box size vs room size is always an issue and often the main one these days
OT but relevant We are looking at buying a house and we looked at one last month Huge room set up as HT; 80 inch TV and some crappy "HTinabox" with 7 little cube speakers and a 6inch subwoofer and it sounded simply awful and the real estate agent could not understand why I asked her to turn it off

[winslow]

Bigger=less movement for the same output = less distortion.

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by winslow

Bigger=less movement for the same output = less distortion.

so they say, but may not come that easy
many factors could influence distortion
and distortion at what frequency, SPL, etc

but I can tell you, this special 15" plays very clean bass on bass guitar
very advanced design
for hifi/music its probably only good when very loud

http://www.faitalpro.com/products/LF...p?id=201060150

[winslow]

I thought that was exactly how you get around the effects of non-linear distortion.

[head_unit]

Originally Posted by blakkshepeaudio

...Client has decided to go with the Eminence coaxs, either a 12" 2 way or a 10" plus sub...

I see I'm jumping in "late" (a LOT of posts in a short time!) but as a metalhead AND speaker engineer (including a bit of PA) I can give some unique perspective.

I think what makes a system "crankable" for metal in particular is the ability to play loud midrange without distortion. A lot of hard rock and metal have screaming guitars going on with screaming singers. There are a lot of frequencies overlapping and possibly intermodulating.

Maybe in smaller systems, like 6" 2-way home or car, the woofer is trying to move too much to replicate the bass, and this causes the midrange to poop out. Paul Klipsch was big on fighting this kind of distortion. OR, the woofer is being driven out of the linear range and the midrange is not reproducing linearly. AND probably some little 1" or smaller tweeter just cannot keep up...hence the use of horns for PA.

The first powerful speakers I built for myself had 15" woofers, E-V mid horn (2.5x14" or so) and T35? tweeter as used in the Klipschorn.

So you need BIG woofers. There is simply no substitute, whether they are in each cabinet, or you use a subwoofer (or maybe smaller woofers in a folded horn like Bill Fitzmaurice's stuff). Then you need some kind of mid/high that can keep up-usually a horn.

Past that, it is hard to comment more without more particulars about size and budget.

Eminence coaxes are probably a good choice. I might vote for 10" with the possibility to add a sub-maybe folded horn-in the future or now. This
Using coaxial products for DIY monitors and home hi-fi applications | Eminence Speaker
will interest you, as he refers to some good crossovers.

P.S. forget pillow stuffing. Fiberglass is better, and there are better materials than that. Get Vance Dickason's Loudspeaker Cookbook, he measures all kinds of materials. I've had good stuffing make a really shocking difference in the sound quality.

[sreten]

Hi,

Saying you need loud midrange and then saying this means big woofers
makes no sense for a 3-way. The Tarkus has a big mid unit. YMMV.

For the bass unit, excursion is just as important as size also.

rgds, sreten.