Well, I can dream, can't I.....😀
We eliminated my man cave when we moved to the new place a couple of years back, so I do have a wee bit of leverage.
Don't waste that leverage on just some oversize speakers.... get a real HT room out of it... (but honey, we're adding on just for you.. the 130spl speakers won't be in the living room !!!)
as flip started this thread out accurately... it is an addiction... and life does start at 130db.
The floorplan in the new place is just not conducive to having another man cave, even with an addition, so compromises (all around) are in order. As GM has in his sig - "Loud is beautiful if it's clean!" There's no reason my subs and mains can't sound great at 100 dB if they sound great at 130, and there's no reason for any of it to look like cheap plywood packing crates. Clearly, I have my work cut out for me on all fronts. Now, if I could only get back to making sawdust and sine waves instead of making sparks and turning wrenches..... As usual for me, the # of projects underway >>> than the available time.
130dB in the living room just isn't practical in most cases. The necessary eqiupment just won'f fit through the doors, or down the hallways, and the sound can't be properly contained at my house anyway. My 'man cave' is out in the detached shop/garage and that will be added on to long before another room gets added to the house.
The monkey coffins can do 20 Hz in the house, just not at insane levels. The PA (which can do 26 Hz 110dB average, 125 peak at 100 feet) has to live outside. And when it's being used, no one is going to call the law
. That's a useful compromise.
Thanks, got to replace the entire workshop roof including decking, but then it's needed replacing for several years now, plus the storage shed roof began leaking where some shingles were ripped off, so it needs re-roofing. Factor in some gutter/soffit damage and I've got enough to keep me from getting back to being an active DIYer for quite awhile yet. 🙁
The 'hits' just keep on coming!
GM
Who said anything about practical? I'm doing this for fun. 😀
In all seriousness, I am building a monster of a home theater system, not a monster of a PA system. I am confident that the planned subs will come very close to 130 dB in room at 20 Hz. Hornresp tells me so. If I successfully measure what I have, model what I measured, and build what I modeled, I will get very near what hornresp predicts (to be honest - these are some big "ifs"). If not, the discrepancy is mine to figure out.
Honestly, they will rarely get pushed to 130 dB and certainly could not survive running at that level all night long. My current ones peak at 120 dB at the listening position at 30 Hz, but the response looks like a rollercoaster both above and below (exactly as predicted by hornresp....).
I know the planned mains will get to 120 dB in my room - my current system reaches 115 dB (listening position) crystal clear (before power compression and distortion sets in), and my current ideas add 6 to 10 dB to the 1W efficiency of my current MTMs while more than doubling the power handling capability.
The last tapped horn sub I built (documented over in the collaborative thread) put my SPL meter over 120 dB from 30 Hz to 160 Hz during in-room testing when it was corner loaded. I still had a bit of amplifier power remaining. Total volume of this cabinet (external) was just over 7 cubic feet. Hornresp says I should be able to reach 130 dB with this box corner loaded at 500 W, but that is well past the thermal limits of these drivers. I am more than pleased with the results, but I know I can do better.
I'm pretty sure I can get to 130 dB with more (and larger) drivers, more watts, and a pair of bigger, better enclosures corner loaded. As usual, I've got everything but the enclosures and the time to make them. If I don't get what I'm after with this try, I'll do a jbell on the failed attempt: I'll pull the drivers and speakons, smash up the boxes, roast some hotdogs over the remains and try again. 😀
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