Hello from Silicon Valley!

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It started when my Paradigm Titan woofer surrounds rotted away. I bought them in high school and have had them for 25 years now. A web search quickly found I wasn't the only who enjoys their Titans and they could be repaired. I didn't jump at it first, searching for replacements from various manufacturers. I was disappointed with the sound of most speakers in my budget. I started liking the sound after the price tag eclipsed $1500 for bookshelves! Eventually, I realized I could (and did) fix them.

Amongst all the Titan repair web searching, I found diyAudio.com and many other forums and webpages. It planted a seed that grew into making my own chip amp. Last September, I bought and scrapped together what i needed to make an Audiosector LM3875 chip amp (which powers an old pair of Paradigm 11se I bought used) and enjoy everyday at work. I made it unsightly and bulletproof on purpose because I'm a mechanic and a repair shop can be a rough, dirty environment.

All of it leads to my formal introduction here and now. I will continue to dig through the forum and make use of the information contained therein. I have begun to explore the building of a replacement for my old Paradigms. Currently, the plan for them is the Dayton Audio RS180 paper cone and RS28F. I can do the entire assembly of them. I've purchased the drivers and plan to build a box for them in the next few weekends. What I can't do is simulate the crossover having all apple computers in my home. There doesn't seem to be any simulation software I can find (lots of broken links in old posts and the like). I will try, as a matter of pride and understanding what the components contribute, to design my own. If get over my head, perhaps I can ask Madisound to design one for me. :)

Another project I haven't started on yet, but am very excited about, is building some big floor standing speakers to place on either side of my bench at work. This is where I feel I need a reality check. I like the idea of using two sets of (4 channels) Audiosector's LM4780 chip amps (in parallel) to "bi-amp" a TMM or TMWW. It would all be integrated in the two speaker boxes. To be clear, the amplifiers would live in the bottom of the cabinets they are driving or just one of them. Who knows at his point!

Would one of the moderators please advise me on where the 'shop speaker' would fit into a forum as my query is getting opinions on system integration and practicality? Thanks to all of you for contributing to such an awesome resource!
 
Just another Moderator
Joined 2003
Paid Member
Hi and welcome to diyAudio :)

I don't have a mac, but I posted a link to some software WineBottler | Run Windows-based Programs on a Mac the other day that should allow windows programs to be run on Mac. Not sure how well it works though... Also if you can get excell for your mac (native) then you could use Jeff Bagby's PCD

On the question of which forum? I'd probably say Multiway under the loudspeakers forum, since it sounds like it will be a multiway. If it doesn't really fit there, then probably Everything Else.

Tony.
 
Thanks for the suggestions and the 'welcome', Tony!

The Wine program seems to work ok on my iMac. It took some time figure it out, but I downloaded Audua's Speaker Workshop and it runs. I'm of the impression Jeff Bagby's PCD is the cat's meow for crossover design. I have a old version of Microsoft Office and might be able to get it to run, then use PCD.

What do you think of the Audua's software? My initial impression is that it's a comprehensive piece with the first steps measuring the actual drivers being used. Way over my head and I'll need to spend some time understanding what is going on there. With the availability of some simulation software, I feel I can/should focus more on the home build, and wait on asking people's opinions on the shop speakers. Thanks again!
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Welcome to the forum Transcend.

As long as your Macs are Intel, they run Windows just fine (matter of fact some PC mags have rated them the best Windows PC hardware).

You can run Windows native (as i do on my MacPro to run WooferTester 2 -- gives me a continual reminder of how bad an OS Win XT is), in a WINE derivative without Windows (Crossover Mac is the solidest and slickest of those) or in a virtual machine (with Windows) as a window under OS X (Parallels, VMWare Fusion, or Sun's Virtual Box (this one free).

dave
 
Just another Moderator
Joined 2003
Paid Member
great to hear that wine works! I use speaker workshop extensively. It is my preferred app for doing crossover modeling. PCD is a bit easier to get the hang of and also tends to give real time feedback as you change values (if you have a high enough resolution screen to fit everything on).

The thing's I perfer with speaker workshop are that it has an optimizer (takes a bit of getting used to before you get good results with it) and it allows you to specify DCR of coils that are in use in notch circuitys (PCD only lets you put in DCR for coils in series or shut config, not when added as say a parallel RLC.

I gave up on speakerworkshop for doing accoustic measurements when I discovered Holmimpulse. I was unable to get repeatable measurements with SW. This may be a sound card driver issue. It is great (with an appropriate jig) for doing impedance measurements and measuring passives such as inductors and capacitors.

I've started to use REW to measure driver impedances though, as I found that with some (and only some) drivers speakerworkshop was not giving me accurate fs of the drivers. It seems to be something to do with very light coned drivers.

REW may run on mac natively, I can't remember.

The definitive reference on SpeakerWorkshop is available here --> http://home.exetel.com.au/wintermute/diyAudio/sw_manual.zip Also see Claudio's pages --> Claudio Negro's home page, how to project and test a loudspeaker using Speaker Workshop

Tony.
 
Dave… Thanks for the 'welcome'. :) I forgot I could run Windows on my Intel based mac. I've had a Power PC based machine for so many years, It simply didn't occur to me. For now, I'm going to use Wine. As time moves on, I'm sure I'll want try out other options. Thanks!

Among other things, I'll need to discover if the iMac's onboard sound will work with Speaker Workshop… and how stable the two are together… and make the jig… and… MAN!! that really opened a can of worms! ;)

Again, this forum is an awesome resource!

Keith
 
Just another Moderator
Joined 2003
Paid Member
Yes I nearly mentioned that, but as I have no idea about macs in general I wasn't sure. My experience with VirtualBox and VMware Player is that sound drivers whilst they sort of work they are seriously compromised and basically unusable for measurement purposes. Wine may be a different story though (and a native boot of windows on your mac should work flawlessly with respect to sound).

Dave is it fuzz measure that is available for mac?

Tony.
 
I have downloaded the definitive guide to Speaker Workshop to my phone and will read it.

There is so much more available software than I gathered from reading other threads. I was content to build some cabinets, install the drivers, and play with crossover parts for a while and see what happened. Now, it's like Pandora's Box has opened. After being on the computer for a couple hours last night, my wife asked what I was so engrossed in. I told her I got some help and have simulation software for the speaker building project. She smiled, rolled her eyes, and said "Don't forget, you have a wife who likes being with you... nevermind your daughters!!"

This forum rocks! Serious Karmic Points to both of you! :)
 
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