Mine's too big, wife can't handle it

[Cal Weldon]

I am using 4 15" woofers in two Altec 210 cabinets. They are too big for me to move around with just one truck. Can anyone suggest a cabinet or cabinets that will house them but be a little smaller and still get me down to 50Hz?

Woofers:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=264-425

I am considered the various cabinet options including bass reflex, scoops, tapped horns even isobaric but I am interested in what you might do if your truck was too small to do it in one load. It would be nice if we could fit all 4 woofers in the size of one of the Altec cabinets and not lose too much along the way.

The existing cabinets are approx:
84 x 39 x 31 inches = 60 cu ft per cabinet
2135 x 990 x 785 mm = 1.7 cu meters

 

[tb46]

Hi Cal,

That's quite a system, it reminds me of something that took over my living room in the mid 70s.

As a starting point I like to suggest a vented alignment from Boxplot with all 4 woofers. The problem with these drivers is their X_max of 9mm prior to physical damage (according to the data sheet). That limits the amount of power that can be applied to quite a low value (about 100 W into all 4, even with a 30Hz low cut), on the other hand the box size is well below your requirement.

At the same volume a single woofer will deliver an impressive output in a tapped horn.

Good Luck, Regards
Oliver.

 

[tb46]

And the tapped horn:

 

[tb46]

And a dual driver tapped horn (that could almost be moved without a crane, as long as it is divided into two boxes):

 

[tb46]

And just to get up to your volume limit: a tapped horn quad:

 

[tb46]

I guess, the above suggestions would all fit within your requirements, and provide an even lower frequency limit. Obviously something like the Quad would be best build from four separate boxes to facilitate handling. This would additionally have the advantage of a great deal of flexibility.

Anyway, thanks for providing an interesting challenge, Regards,
Oliver.

 

[FlipC]

Freakin aye those things are huge.
If those things stop at 50 hz throw them away. 1699 Lt should brown note you.

Not a driver I would purchase unless I got them for dirt cheap
But alas. Real quick mock ups

Dual Parallel 15" Tapped Horn@ 504.731 Lt 2Pi 23v
125 Db w/cut off @v 25Hz

S1 = 500
S2 = 554
CON 1 = 12
S3 = 2540
CON 2 = 269.79
S4 = 2740
CON 3 = 24
S5 = 3200
CON 4 = 16.90

Next is the HORNY. 353.304 Lt 2Pi 30v
125DB good up to 150Hz range.

S1 = 575
S2 = 4000
Hyp =200
Vrc =20
Lrc =10

You can play around with this one and get better response probably. I just plugged the driver into what I already had.

 

[simon5]

+1 vote for the quad tapped horn.

 

[Aengus]

I am interested in what you might do if your truck was too small to do it in one load

Buy a bigger truck?

 

[simon5]

Hahaha the easy way out ! I like it.

Trucks are cheap these days...

 

[john65b]

Mine's too big, wife can't handle it

I like the double entendre.

 

[pedroskova]

Just so I have a sense of scale...is that a 12oz or 18oz mug?

Seems to me that a folded double TH would be the ticket, although it still wouldn't be petite by any stretch.

 

[Robert GS]

Why not horns again...

Hi Cal,

I'm not aware of how wide a frequency range the box has to operate - but if the limits are 40 - 300Hz you should consider scaling down one of these boxes from 18" to 15":

GS horn with nice disco punch - would be 46cm x 83cm x 83cm

OR

GS horn linear - would be 43cm x 79cm x 83cm

You have to experiment with the length of the port


Regards,
Robert

 

[Cal Weldon]

tb46,

Thank you for those sims, it gives me more to think about.

FlipC thank you as well.

Robert, those do look interesting and yes I am looking for the PA sound so a disco punch would work well.

I like the double entendre.

Gosh, whatever could you mean?

.is that a 12oz or 18oz mug?

A full 20 oz Canadian pint. I am including another shot of the boxes standing up for reference. (this is with the old woofers)

Thank you all for your inputs. I am going to chew on those ideas

Others are welcome to add to the pot. I am hoping to do this in the spring.

 

[chrisb]

Dude, if you got married, does that mean the kitchen will get finished this decade?

I know a guy, who knows a guy

 

[Cal Weldon]

 

[tb46]

Hi Cal,

Thanks for the additional picture, that's a lot more mid and high frequency output then the two Altec VOTs from the fist picture, so maybe a tapped horn solution is advisable, and building just one for testing would be a good idea.
Well, one more smallish (4ft^3) vented box, should be quite easy to build.

Regards
Oliver.

 

[Cal Weldon]

Hi Oliver,

Thank you again. The second shot was from a few years ago before I changed to the small Altecs as satellites. In my avatar you can see the most recent incarnation of the satellites, now a 3 way. The mid boxes you see in the picture are actually 10" woofers with mid/high boxes on top of them. They are a separate system that I just plunked on top when I was just getting going with these.

The system as it stands are the small Altecs run full range on one amp and the large bass units run off it's own. The large boxes are low passed at about 100 Hz.

I really appreciate the input and am still mulling over ideas.

 

[Robert GS]

Cal - my horn are a little bit famous here in Denmark for their performance.
I have compared them to many other boxes and I would still make a new set of these IF I were to make some gigs in the future again - I stopped recently. Picture of the latest/last set I have had.
It's very important to make the horn rock solid at the beginning / in front of the driver because this is were the pressure is maximum - less distortion

 

[Robert GS]

...and from the back

Tomorrow I hope I will be able post a PDF of the biggest horns that I have made 91cm (width) x 72cm (height) x 122cm (depth) - still for one 18" and I strongly recommend EighteenSound 18LW1400 or the neodymium version 18ND9300 for their ability withstand beating and yet outperforming all other drivers sonically I have heard until now