Hello all. I have been trying to get a small soundsystem together for a while, without being able to make much traction on the project. Mainly due to time constraints and a lot of muddle over the config of such a system. I made many plans and acquired a bunch of parts and equipment for the new system, but it has been difficult to find an optimum due to the following requirements
Extremely portable, to flight ready
Weather resistance, some marine environment ability required
A bit of independence ability from fixed power points
Bass heavy sound
Wireless where able
Multizone compatibility
Live mics and instruments ability
Karaoke
The music is classic and modern Bollywood and West Indian
It took a while for me to note that where I needed environmental protection, the gig was smaller and with a much smaller range of inputs. I have decided to make it a pool of gear that I can mix and match for my needs. I have also had to consider some ready rolled gear instead of all DIY to neatly meet the requirements
Speakers
This is where I am trying something different. The JBL BB3 has sufficient output for the smallest gigs that I do. I acquired a Zealot S89, which appears to be similarly built as the BB3 and contains the same Racer8 driver that I have been messing with. The internal speaker setup is 2.1 with the mains section containing tweeter and midbass two-ways. I have been trying this one out over the last few days and the output is tremendous for something this small. The sound is clean and bass is forward and powerful. Battery life is impressive too. From full charge, the unit lasted a night, day and a night before turning itself off. This was at my regular indoor listening levels. Charge time seems good. My laptop USB-C charger works very well. I timed 6hrs charging time with a regular 5v2A charger and the laptop charger was lot faster, but I wasn't home to get the exact number this time
As is, the S89 will be ample for the porch, garage, deck and boat deck parties. No wires to tape up, trip up on, or pack and unpack. This connects to one of the BT TX fobs. This unit will face me as monitors while supplying the bass for the rest of the BT system. For the mains, I have bought two Zealot S97 units. These will face the floor and connect to the second BT TX fob and operate in TWS with each other. The S89 will be either used on the DJ desk or on the floor in the floor play area if I am mixing a baithak crew. This is a stop gap until I have a better solution here. Anyone who followed my Club Sandwich attempt will be familiar with this issue
I have picked up a further Zealot S51 pair to use as desk monitors for when I have the S89 on the floor. I have to get one more BT TX fob to add the console's headphone out to connect to these in TWS. One end of these speakers is designed as a base to stand the speaker up. It also contains a downward firing PR as well as an upward firing PR on the other end. Btw, the other models also contain dual PR units. I have some red stretchy nylon fabric and sew up some drawstring rucksacks for these speakers. They fit will in my booked of 4x 23kg and 4x 7kg luggage allocations. These are 100L heavy-duty duffels except for a couple of hard shells for the electronics in 7kg carry on allocations. The gear doesn't take up all of those bags
In an earlier attempt, I picked up a pair of DS18 Pro-zt69 coaxes. These are quite efficient, and I am considering tapping the tweeter and woofer wires from the S89 to drive the coaxes as active two-ways. I am reasoning that the powerful lil amp and battery inside the S89 will drive the coaxes a lot louder. To this end, I have been preparing a pair of cabs for the coaxes. I have a pair of SBA racer type PR units that may suit these cabs and coaxes too for a 60-70hz tune. At the moment the cabs are sealed types and 11L internal volume each
For external subs, I am considering a PA 18 with 4R+4R DVC and neodymium mag to reduce weight in a custom composite cab. The subwoofer amp inside the S89 sees a 2R load from a very inefficient driver. I hope that I am correct in reasoning that I can get much louder output with an 18 with coils in parallel. Tuned to the same 40Hz or so as the S89, so as not to upset any DSP filters already in use in that
If I am careful with the tapping, I should be able to retain most of the weather resistance of the unit for when it is used as is and with external speakers, I am hoping for much greater output
For local use with mains power supply, the external speakers will run off proper class d power amps. These are already acquired too
Experimental stuff
The 18" external sub thing will happen later on. Along with the coaxes, I am also building a cab for my DS18 ZR12.4D driver. This is not quite as huge as the ZXI 12" but still substantial. Will fit in my baggage allocations too for the trip coming up. For this trip, I will AB the Zealots vs the coaxes+ZR12.4D. Won't tamper with the Zealots just yet, so will run the external speakers with class d modules
The sources
A Dynabook Protégé for laptop. A Roland DJ-202 as controller and Serato DJ pro with full plugins and expansions bundle. A two into one wireless mic pair for the mic input on the DJ-202. This is my basic source setup for DJ, remix and karaoke
A Yamaha MG12XU console for accommodating more mics and instruments. A further one to one wireless mic pair for vocals from the console. This lot of flight ready sources are topped off with an Akai MPK Mini Mk3 Plus for some keys to complement the Roland TR drums built into the DJ-202
For local use, a Roland JDXI synth and a Roland MX-1 mixer completes the set
I have added two Bluetooth transmitter units to this lot. They are placed on the main and monitor outs of whichever mixer is feeding the PA
Party gear
A fog machine/disco light combo. UV black lights. LED party lights and rope lights. UV reflective backdrops. Projector and screen. Stand for mounting projector and lights
Support gear
Two powerbanks with fold out solar panels. Another pair of smaller powerbanks for the LEDs. USB hub with multiple monitor support. Laptop USB-C charger for the car to top all the things up as backup
I am sure there are some things that I am forgetting to list or missed entirely
Extremely portable, to flight ready
Weather resistance, some marine environment ability required
A bit of independence ability from fixed power points
Bass heavy sound
Wireless where able
Multizone compatibility
Live mics and instruments ability
Karaoke
The music is classic and modern Bollywood and West Indian
It took a while for me to note that where I needed environmental protection, the gig was smaller and with a much smaller range of inputs. I have decided to make it a pool of gear that I can mix and match for my needs. I have also had to consider some ready rolled gear instead of all DIY to neatly meet the requirements
Speakers
This is where I am trying something different. The JBL BB3 has sufficient output for the smallest gigs that I do. I acquired a Zealot S89, which appears to be similarly built as the BB3 and contains the same Racer8 driver that I have been messing with. The internal speaker setup is 2.1 with the mains section containing tweeter and midbass two-ways. I have been trying this one out over the last few days and the output is tremendous for something this small. The sound is clean and bass is forward and powerful. Battery life is impressive too. From full charge, the unit lasted a night, day and a night before turning itself off. This was at my regular indoor listening levels. Charge time seems good. My laptop USB-C charger works very well. I timed 6hrs charging time with a regular 5v2A charger and the laptop charger was lot faster, but I wasn't home to get the exact number this time
As is, the S89 will be ample for the porch, garage, deck and boat deck parties. No wires to tape up, trip up on, or pack and unpack. This connects to one of the BT TX fobs. This unit will face me as monitors while supplying the bass for the rest of the BT system. For the mains, I have bought two Zealot S97 units. These will face the floor and connect to the second BT TX fob and operate in TWS with each other. The S89 will be either used on the DJ desk or on the floor in the floor play area if I am mixing a baithak crew. This is a stop gap until I have a better solution here. Anyone who followed my Club Sandwich attempt will be familiar with this issue
I have picked up a further Zealot S51 pair to use as desk monitors for when I have the S89 on the floor. I have to get one more BT TX fob to add the console's headphone out to connect to these in TWS. One end of these speakers is designed as a base to stand the speaker up. It also contains a downward firing PR as well as an upward firing PR on the other end. Btw, the other models also contain dual PR units. I have some red stretchy nylon fabric and sew up some drawstring rucksacks for these speakers. They fit will in my booked of 4x 23kg and 4x 7kg luggage allocations. These are 100L heavy-duty duffels except for a couple of hard shells for the electronics in 7kg carry on allocations. The gear doesn't take up all of those bags
In an earlier attempt, I picked up a pair of DS18 Pro-zt69 coaxes. These are quite efficient, and I am considering tapping the tweeter and woofer wires from the S89 to drive the coaxes as active two-ways. I am reasoning that the powerful lil amp and battery inside the S89 will drive the coaxes a lot louder. To this end, I have been preparing a pair of cabs for the coaxes. I have a pair of SBA racer type PR units that may suit these cabs and coaxes too for a 60-70hz tune. At the moment the cabs are sealed types and 11L internal volume each
For external subs, I am considering a PA 18 with 4R+4R DVC and neodymium mag to reduce weight in a custom composite cab. The subwoofer amp inside the S89 sees a 2R load from a very inefficient driver. I hope that I am correct in reasoning that I can get much louder output with an 18 with coils in parallel. Tuned to the same 40Hz or so as the S89, so as not to upset any DSP filters already in use in that
If I am careful with the tapping, I should be able to retain most of the weather resistance of the unit for when it is used as is and with external speakers, I am hoping for much greater output
For local use with mains power supply, the external speakers will run off proper class d power amps. These are already acquired too
Experimental stuff
The 18" external sub thing will happen later on. Along with the coaxes, I am also building a cab for my DS18 ZR12.4D driver. This is not quite as huge as the ZXI 12" but still substantial. Will fit in my baggage allocations too for the trip coming up. For this trip, I will AB the Zealots vs the coaxes+ZR12.4D. Won't tamper with the Zealots just yet, so will run the external speakers with class d modules
The sources
A Dynabook Protégé for laptop. A Roland DJ-202 as controller and Serato DJ pro with full plugins and expansions bundle. A two into one wireless mic pair for the mic input on the DJ-202. This is my basic source setup for DJ, remix and karaoke
A Yamaha MG12XU console for accommodating more mics and instruments. A further one to one wireless mic pair for vocals from the console. This lot of flight ready sources are topped off with an Akai MPK Mini Mk3 Plus for some keys to complement the Roland TR drums built into the DJ-202
For local use, a Roland JDXI synth and a Roland MX-1 mixer completes the set
I have added two Bluetooth transmitter units to this lot. They are placed on the main and monitor outs of whichever mixer is feeding the PA
Party gear
A fog machine/disco light combo. UV black lights. LED party lights and rope lights. UV reflective backdrops. Projector and screen. Stand for mounting projector and lights
Support gear
Two powerbanks with fold out solar panels. Another pair of smaller powerbanks for the LEDs. USB hub with multiple monitor support. Laptop USB-C charger for the car to top all the things up as backup
I am sure there are some things that I am forgetting to list or missed entirely
@weltersys.....
Art, would really appreciate some assistance in studying the feasibility and extracting the best out of the following
Art, the S89 covers a lot of bases for me as is. What are your thoughts on tapping the onboard amps to drive efficient external speakers? The benefit I see is a set of fairly well performing onboard amps, battery and BT system. All self-contained and well protected. The Pro-zt coaxes are weather resistant too. I also have that pair of 12" Polk marine drivers that I can parallel and tap the S89s subwoofer driver wires
I am looking at going this way to avoid piling on that mess of TPA boards, power upsteppers, interconnects, cables, fabricating water-resistant housings for those electronics and such. Basically just the Zealots on the smaller crafts and beach/lawn/porch parties, plus the Pro-zt and Polk DB as external speakers when more output is needed. This lot will be flight ready for my use as well as very easy to transport around the Island as well as pack and unpack
Btw, the S89 is a match for my Logitech z623 for sheer output and appears to contain similar compressors and DSP. If anything, the S89 has better highs
Art, would really appreciate some assistance in studying the feasibility and extracting the best out of the following
Art, the S89 covers a lot of bases for me as is. What are your thoughts on tapping the onboard amps to drive efficient external speakers? The benefit I see is a set of fairly well performing onboard amps, battery and BT system. All self-contained and well protected. The Pro-zt coaxes are weather resistant too. I also have that pair of 12" Polk marine drivers that I can parallel and tap the S89s subwoofer driver wires
I am looking at going this way to avoid piling on that mess of TPA boards, power upsteppers, interconnects, cables, fabricating water-resistant housings for those electronics and such. Basically just the Zealots on the smaller crafts and beach/lawn/porch parties, plus the Pro-zt and Polk DB as external speakers when more output is needed. This lot will be flight ready for my use as well as very easy to transport around the Island as well as pack and unpack
Btw, the S89 is a match for my Logitech z623 for sheer output and appears to contain similar compressors and DSP. If anything, the S89 has better highs
I have found a prefab Aerpro UBOX12 cab in our local store. This seems a nice match for the ZR12.4D driver, as long as the depth can fit. It has a slot port tuned at 40hz. It is also finished in black carpet like the 6x9 boxes. I think will pick this up and fit a 700w module for the sub and 150w x 2 module for the satellites into this too. This will go into the pool and should be within baggage limits
The DS18 2/8 DSP processor would provide the filters for this and a BT RX fob would mean at least no signal wire runs
The Zealots are all charged and ready to go and perfect as a super portable untethered speaker set. This Slimish 12" and 6x9 pair build with the Aerpros will give me a decent backup sub and mains to fly with
As much as I would like to craft intricate cabs and such, I have only just finished setting up my home studio and my workshop stuff is in shambles. Let this be an exercise in what's possible with some thoughtful economical shopping, modifying and customisation
The DS18 2/8 DSP processor would provide the filters for this and a BT RX fob would mean at least no signal wire runs
The Zealots are all charged and ready to go and perfect as a super portable untethered speaker set. This Slimish 12" and 6x9 pair build with the Aerpros will give me a decent backup sub and mains to fly with
As much as I would like to craft intricate cabs and such, I have only just finished setting up my home studio and my workshop stuff is in shambles. Let this be an exercise in what's possible with some thoughtful economical shopping, modifying and customisation
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Should work OK if you switch the speakers between an external jack and the internal cones.
Use "break before make" switches so the amplifier is not temporarily shorted out switched while the amp is on.
That said, the S89's DSP is tuned for the onboard speakers, so it's hyped EQ and high pass (probably near ~60-100 Hz) may make external speakers sound odd.