How many members from or around Ottawa On Canada

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Hi Mark , interested in building speakers ??? I live in ottawa and I would like to share the investment with 1 or 2 other audio people, especially if you know how electronics works !

Wow i just read your profile... your already far ahead of me, I would like to learn from you. Right now I have a xo to build and I dont know where to start.
 
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Well my problem is quite easy, I am doing an open baffle prototype for myself, and it is very huge. I know it is not sounding right with the current xo and I want to know exactly the frequency response in the house basement so I can calculate better xo than just by hear lo. I am unable to decide what gear I should use to measure it!!! I want something good and accurate, I looked at behringer tube mic witch is flat to 20 Hz - 20 kHz supposedly! I prefer this than using a test microphone because if I want to measure distortion etc I need something better I guessed, I am really a beginner with small means and great expectancies ha-ha.
 
If you want to measure speakers you need a measurement Microphone. The Beringher or Dayton version is good. If you have a SPL meter you can use it for some measurement.REW is decent and free. There are calibration files for different mics and Rat Shack SPL meters. So if this gets you going great. If you get a measurement mic you will need a power supply for it. One of the cheapest ways is to get a small mixer that provides 48 volt phantom power. Another usefull bit of software is ARTA. It will help you measure drivers and do acoustical measurements. If you take the time to calibrate it you have quite an acurate bit of test gear.

My stuff is in use almost daily. And it is not portable. So if you want in your room measurements you need to measure in your room.

Mark
 
Ok so if I get like the t-1 behringer I can use a calibration file to compensate for little irregularities.

Nope.

The cal file works for the measurement microphone I believe it's the ECM 8000. Yep just looked at it that's the right model number.

That is what I have. I also use xenyx 802 as a mic pre-amp. My woofer testing is quick and dirty Woofer tester 3 and more refined ARTA and LIMP. For the money WT3 is pretty darn good.

My sound card is passable but not stellar in performance. 24 bit 192 khz creative audigy. I have an assortment of other software to do number crunching and I use my Rat shack SPL meter when I do measurement away from the computer. Still thinking of getting a decent lap top to do remote testing but something called money always gets in the way!

Mark
 
Ye, money traps!

I read more on the subject and it seems the difference with conventional microphones is that they are omni directional, this is supposed to make it <<<<phase coherent >>>>> I have no idea what this is supposed to mean!!!

I looked and the AUDIX make such a microphone with +- 1db error, from 20-20k looks good to me, also to record bass lines :)

Also what kind of speakers do you use if any to monitor your own speaker’s performance, or do you base it on a home made recording vs. the live thing?
 
I read more on the subject and it seems the difference with conventional microphones is that they are omni directional, this is supposed to make it <<<<phase coherent >>>>> I have no idea what this is supposed to mean!!!

I looked and the AUDIX make such a microphone with +- 1db error, from 20-20k looks good to me, also to record bass lines

Also what kind of speakers do you use if any to monitor your own speaker’s performance, or do you base it on a home made recording vs. the live thing?

You won't get a decent measurement mic that will work well for sound recording for under a $1000. Most cheaper measurement mics are to noisy for recording but just fine for measuring. The ECM8000 is under a $100 shipped to you from Parts Express or you can even get it at Steves I think or whoever is currently sourcing Beringher equipment.

A measurement mic is capacitive in that the entire diaphragm of the mike is supposed to move in unison with the signal source. Almost all measurement mics are omni-directional to keep a frequency response that is as even over as great an area as is possible. Vocal mics are very directional and so are most recording mics. If you really want to measure speakers and have no electronics ability then an ECM 8000 is the way to go.

As for comparison I use very high quality recorded source material played over very high quality headphones as a reference when I'm voicing crossovers.

Mark
 
There's more...

... including me in Blackburn Hamlet. Was just browsing the long DCB1 group buy thread and saw another person from Ottawa there, so don't give up yet, Mark.

I am new to audio diy but have seen your many posts and was going to ask about the possibility of an area get-together. In the next two months I hope to have a TDA2020 or 2050 amp and some full-range or FAST speakers built. Would be great to hear some other systems.

The local library branch has a meeting room that might be suitable.

Cheers,
John
 
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