Karaoke Forums

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm ... 9&wt.svl=1

It has just about everything for A/V,  Pro Sound, and home audio... intricate components, etc...  I like this section too

Build Your Own Speakers
Cable Calculator
Crossover Primer
Foam Surround Primer
FREE Speaker Design Software!
Is It A Down-Firing Woofer?
Parallel And Series Primer
Speaker Dimension Guide
Speaker Replacement Basics
Speaker Selection Wizard


(bottom left of page)





http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm ... Page_ID=37

Karyoker,  39 bucks for that sound level meter looks pretty good,  this site has all sorts of reasonably priced goodies,  and even guitarist equipement... DI boxes, cable, etc.... 45 day return policy too !

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Go for it!

I've got the table saw....It's a 5 horse Grizzly...All you need is the MDF or baltic birch and a calculator....Now you got an excuse to visit.

I'd like to learn how to match speaker features to a cab..Seems like an interesting area.  How do they calculate which speakers to use in reflex cabs, folded horn cabs. What size port you'd use in a cab and proper cabinet dimension that matches features of speakers...  Like I mentioned,  I decided to arbitrarily throw a JBL K 15 in my Peavey 115 BX BW box removing the Black Widow 15....That might've been a stupid move, but I figured the JBL 15 would be a better match with my Trace Elliot 2x10 top to the small stack (loaded with Celestion's).. Yet you brought up a good point regarding voicing and specs... That cab was designed dimension-wise or acoustically to handle the Black Widow 15...

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I'd say go for it if the act of building it is the interesting part.  Not sure of the economics of doing it.  I presume you may be able to do cheaper IF you have the tools to do it--  Plus you can match and get characteristics you want.

On matching stuff, there's a whole set of equations and parameters that go along with building your own speaker enclosure.  to your point, there are driver/speaker parms, calcs to match horns, tuned ports etc.

Again, do it if its really of interest in doing.  Be aware you could end up with something whose sound you don't like.

I had a book from Radio Shack that went into all that.  I'm sure there are other books and plans out there you could get.

I have a buddy who scours garage sales every Saturday morning for cheap speakers, working or not, for parts then takes them apart and saves the good parts to put back together into new cabs (he does the same thing with broken computers). He mostly gets home theater speakers, but also gets about 20% PA stuff. He's able to build new speakers for usually around $10-15 in actual investment (plus his time).

It makes a good hobby!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Yep, Uncle Fire,  It really is a science... and I'll admit, Amplifiers themselves are SO far over my head I won't even attempt the Weber mods, or Erlewhine stuff...

I think the mathematics behind configurations is something I can grasp, and I love geometry. The actual building of the speaker cab not as intricate as the electronics knowledge required for amp tech stuff... The purpose would be for fun..  to learn about these principles firsthand...sort've a qualitative approach...I've used cabs and amps for over 40 years.  I think it'd be interesting to learn something about them now.. Economic aspects would not be a consideration at all..As the buying of many electronic's kits in the old days wasn't often economically sound,  some of Heathkit's and Hallicrafter's stuff was costly as I recall. (I have speakers around besides)

I wouldn't bother with crossover, or even 2-way cabs... This would be basic priniples about reflex cabs, front firing vs folded horn cabs, etc..  Something I find fascinating.
Likely 1x15 cab.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Steven ~
I'd recommend going back to the Peavey Black Widow for a 15" bass speaker.
The JBL's use a metal dome.  Those always tend to color the tone too much.  I'm also thinking you'll get a better low frequency response out of the Peavey spk.

I built a subwoofer once for my home theater setup.  In general the things I learned were use MDF wood, air tight construction is a must, use black caulk strip that you can get at an autoparts store for sealing around the speaker and in corners, downward firing speaker cabinets are less directional then front loaded ones, use PVC pipe for your port(s), calculating the diameter and length of the pipe is tricky -- your going for the lowest frequency response possible.   Well, good luck!!!

Correct Don,  The JBL does have the metal dome.  What would be the drawbacks of "Coloring" the sound for slap and pop type playing ?   I know in our day of the "Jack Bruce" type Gibson EBO bottomy sounding bass playing, a person wanted little coloration.  Yet are todays bass amps such as the SWR, Trace, and many other newer heads designed for greater frequency response or am I not understanding what you mean by more "color" in the case of what a slap and pop bassist might want to achieve ?

I suppose I'm wondering the difference between a speaker adding coloration, and a piezo tweeter in a two-way cab adding the "coloration" ?  IE.. Funk playing.

Unless of course the speaker is a mismatch for the cab design, and it ends up sloppy sounding, or not tuned properly I suppose ?

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Don,  What was the advantage of the older rear firing folded horn cabs ?  Just projection and getting more volume from a speaker ?  Remember some of the cabs that had two 15's rear-firing behind a center bracket. and the angled tone openings were above and below the speaker config ?   Like the Sunn Coleseum 880 cab, or some of the Acoustic and even Fender technology at one point... The cabs weren't designed to be heard from closer than about 20-30 feet from the front of the bass cab... Yet the sound resolved out front ?



Even front firing speakers,  I was really confused in the early early 70's when I switched from a Gisbon EBOL,  to a Fender Jazz... In front of the cab the sound of course sounded as if it had MUCH too much treble and produced extraneous sloppy higher end clicking frequencies...  Yet out around 100 feet it sounded fabulous !  We had to have other musicians play our guitars in order to hear this however.... It never sounded as good right on stage... Either the soundman, or others had to be our ears.... or play our guitars thru our config so we could stand way back and be our own ears in those days...  Sound checks weren't so easy !

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

It's a matter of taste, but that metal dome always added too much in the 1K to 2Khz
range.  I don't like that range being accentuated in general but especially on bass. Human ears naturally pick up that area quite well already.  For good slap, pop and plucking sounds in funk you want the percussive sound elements in the 3K all the way up to 8Khz range.  There's not a lot up there, but that's what you're after.  Piezo's are oK at getting those out.

Yea, the folded horn cabinets from the '70s were designed for getting greater projection and volume from a single speaker.  They were lousy at putting out any
higher frequencies though.  High frequencies like to travel unobstructed in a straight path.  They don't like making twists, turns and going around obstacles.

Since lower frequencies have much longer wavelengths, you have to get farther away from the source of the sound in order to hear their full impact.  That's why when you're on stage standing closer to your bass cabinet the balance between highs and lows sounds like it's more skewed towards the high end.  It's really tricky trying to judge how it's really sounding off stage, out in the audience. When on stage,
"Bass Notes Are Really Louder Than You Hear!"

http://www.kbapps.com/


This might not be quite as simplistic as I anticipated.


Maybe I'll just stick to making Lanyards, and Lincoln log homes  

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

^perk^  :shock:

Lincoln Logs?

Finally, a discussion in the Tech Forums that I can feel knowledgable in!  :)

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

I used to be proficient in both but I've regressed back to rope halters, crooked corral poles, harness rivets and baling wire...  LOL

Hey, now, if it calls for bailing wire and/or duct tape........ I can make it work.  :yes:

It wasn't easy earning the name of redneck yanno- it took some training.  :dancin:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

OK,  I made a promise to the tech forum that I wouldn't post mundane chatter. However I'm going to succumb to this particular compulsion..

I've bid on Russian erector sets on Ebay,  Own Massive Lego's, tinkertoy, and Lincoln log collections....

Why ?   Dunno, and quite frankly don't care.  Perhaps because I can't afford the midlife crises Corvette.  I live within my means.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

How about a sub speaker cab made out of legos?

I would go with yellow, red, and brown legos in a striped pattern to make your own lego rasta thump box. Make it about 4-5" thick all around to avoid it shattering under its own power. Maybe even glue the legos together.

I hope you don't think I'm joking!!

Once you figure out all the logistics and get the thing together, throw a few of those lego pirate men to top to complete the total package.

Oh, and if it works and you want to make a few of them, talk about being easy to stack!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Hey, are you insinuating that I'm scalping a Techie thread?  :shock:  You know I would never do that. You brought up the Lincoln Logs, I was just joining in the conversation with my knowledge.

And when threads are abandoned........ I try to keep them alive a bit longer........ besides...... (c'mere, so I can whisper this in your ear)

>This thread was started by that Steven Kaplan guy, so who cares what we do in here?<  

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Kappy You are only limited by imagination This guy does it with junk

For more google fort collins zoo...

Wow, I would have a really hard time eating at the picnic table...... I don't think I'd be able to sit there without lookin' up constantly. Especially if it was a windy day. Yikes!!  :shock:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥