First experiment with a Line Array

[Zreon]

Some of you might remember me from a couple years ago (Probably not, lol). Anyways, I came on here looking for a good design and ideas to make a center channel for my dad. I found what I was looking for a decided to browse a little more on here.

Thats when I stumbled upon Line Arrays....I started looking at purchasing 40-50 of the NSB's from PE. Then I got to thinking....and I remembered I had acquired half a dozen or so 5 1/4" cheapo speakers from somewhere a while ago. So I went down to the basement and found 6, cut up a cardboard box and put the 6 drivers wired in parallell. All I have to say is WOW!!! I wasn't expecting anywhere near what I got. I hate to say it, but the sound filled the room better then my 5.1 system. I walked around the room and everywhere I went seemed to be the sweet spot. Below is a picture of what I did.

I just hung the cardboard from a nail in the floor joists and hooked it up. So I've decided that I'm definitely going to make a decent line array. I'm looking to put 16 of the NSBs per side, haven't decided on the tweeter yet and I already have the subs taken care of.

I'll put up some pictures once I start to build it. And to anyone who is thinking about building a line array, stop thinking and do it!!! lol. This should accompany my Sony 1271Q quite nicely Thanks guys!!!

Also, sorry about the picture quality. All I had right now was my camera phone. Nothing speical to see anyways.

[Hybrid fourdoor]

You'd be suprised how happy you can be when you don't take yourself too seriously. Some poeple try to irk every last bit of whatever out of this hobby, and personally I think it ends up making them unhappy or frustrated. Just have fun, and it will reward you nicely.

[Scottmoose]

Enjoy them. Line arrays are one of my three favourite ways to audio nirvana, along with full-range drivers quarter-wave (TL) loaded, and dipolar types. Different priorities all, and all are great. Glad to hear you're having fun!

Best
Scott

[RJ]

I know just how you feel. This was my first DIY project. I just jumped in, not knowing what I'll end up with. Jim Griffin's white paper just sounded so good to me back then.
Now these are the speakers I compare with when I try different designs. So far nothing has beaten them. I'm on high-effieciency driver testing right now, they show some promise, but not quite up to par in sound quality. I haven't tried Dipolar or Bipolar yet, but they're on the drawing board. I do like transmission lines and I have two successful designs. I just haven't found the right midbass drivers for one of the designs. I've also modeled a T-line Line-Array I might do next year.
Once you start, It's a blast!!!

[exipnos]

I hope to soon be in the same fan club of line arrays since I intend to build a few NSB arrays.

RJ - Could you tell us some more about your plans for transmission line line array. I would like to try something like that. Could it be used with the NSB drivers?

Exipnos

[RJ]

Exipnos, I modelled the NSB's in a line array and they didn't model too well. 1 or 2 drivers was OK, but anymore than that it got real screwy.
What I modelled for my array were some Goldwood 7 incher's;
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=290-308

It would probably be best if you ported them NSB's as thylantr did.
Get on the PE board and get a hold of him for some better advice.
http://www.pesupport.com/cgi-bin/config.pl

Sorry I couldn't help more on the NSB's. I just never used them drivers.

[exipnos]

Hi RJ,

To bad for the NSBs. Yes I'm aware of what Thylantyr has done and he has given me advice over at caraudioforum. I still have not decided how I will use the NSBs but I will prototype several design and see what I like.

I'll still be interrested in hearing more about your TL Arrays. Could you provide us with details on what you are doing.

Cheers,

Exipnos

[chipco3434]

I built my last pair of 16 NSB OB LA's with 2 Dayton PT-2's per side. My bass is delivered by a pair of Tuba 18's. The Tuba's are a great addition. My old JBL's and Klipsch are just to dull and boxy in comparison.

[RJ]

[quote]My bass is delivered by a pair of Tuba 18's.[\quote]

What Bass driver did you use???

Exipnos, Here's a quick sketch of the T-Line Arrays. As a test I was going to add some acoustic felt and kind of combine an Aperiodic loading to the transmission line. You'll also notice that it's somewhat horn loaded also. The taper starts small and gets larger. The total length of the pipe can be 106" to 116" long depending on port width.

The box is also tapered, wider at the top than the bottom. There will be two boxes. The bottom box will be flipped. This will, I hope, add an acoustic tapering.