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I drove 300 miles to Parts Express for a 5 cent resistor!
I'm forever ordering a few things from Parts Express and then needing something else after it ships. Sound familiar? Well, I began to accumulate some parts on the "shopping cart" beginning with a 5 Watt 5 Ohm resistor to fix "Ella". Then there were those banana plugs I don't have to have but wanted and some shrink tube, etc and the 4" Pioneer full range speakers LIMITED QUANTITIES for $ 1.25 each!! Shielded!! So this reminds me that there's a regular item 4 1/2" Pioneer full range that Dickason wrote a design for. I go looking for it and stumble upon the PE chat board. This is at 6:30 this morning. On this board are posts about a DIY get together hosted by PE in Dayton.So I says to myself, "self, you can have the parts today and see some people and hear some speakers" and visit their store and get everything you need. So I'm in the truck by 8:30 and headed out to Parts Express, a 150 mile jaunt. They have some rooms at a Hampton Inn across the street like a mini MAF. Jim Griffin is there with his line arrays and another manufacturer but the main event is a room where a dozen or so guys show the speakers they've been building all with the same source/amp. Moderated by a fella from Speakerbuilder, Ken Ahearn. His own design was the hit but so inefficient it clipped the 150 watt amp several times. This seems a pretty good format to compare speakers, learn about what works and doesn't and still fun. I didn't hear anything better than what us "horny's" have but it was interesting, nonetheless. And, best of all, (too bad you weren't there) all the PE merchandise at the store was 25% off! I'm listening to a pair of the 'buck and a quarter' (less 25%) speakers just sitting naked on top of the old Fisher receiver. Not bad. Anybody want to take a crack at what to mount them in?: freq resp 70-15,000 eff 90dB Re 7.45 Fs 106 F1 81.75 F2 137.25 Zm 50.34 Qms 5.23 Qes .91 Qts .77 L1k .62 mH I tried boxplot and it recommended a 137 cu ft box!!!!! I'm thinking a 6X6X30 tall with a 1.25" port just the thickness of the plywood. For surrounds. Oh yeah, I got the resistor and fixed Ella. Do I have to say thanks Wayne for getting me started? Thanks, Wayne. Merry Pranks Website Creating is more like performing than listening
Re: I drove 300 miles to Parts Express for a 5 cent resistor!
damn dude, I would have mailed it to you...got a buck laying around...ask and receive.. But for a full load of part sex press, you are on your own.
That's a pretty cool deal. I remember your saying that Parts Express was nearby. Isn't Summit pretty close too?
...why not try a voight pipe! There are some calculators over on the single driver website. If you haven't heard them before you will be surprised at the bass that can eminate from these pipes. G.
do you have to sit naked on a good receiver?
My weekend of bass-o extreme-o, and other stuff.........
Based on conversations with the PE people, I figured after they were at the first MAF they might do an event. Makes sense for them. Does seem like fun to see what you can come up with starting with a decent el-cheapo smaller driver............. On the other extreme, I finally got one of my quad 2226 boxes in action this weekend; (Wayne-o said way back when I got them that they would be candidates for DJ/rental/live bands; I couldn't just turn them loose with some DJ, and the cabs are MDF; not friendly for moving around alot between weight and fragility)For a multitude of reasons (size, need for multiple big power amps, lack of appropriate reason to drag them out) I have never really even fired these boxes up. Time to get an idea what they can do, if even just one of them. Anyway, an old buddy who DJ's had his rig split up at two venues and felt he needed some extra oomph for a large hall/wedding reception. I've offered for years to loan him some firepower if ever needed. I first sent over my two 2245H's in 9 ft cabs, then thought better of it. They aren't really for PA use, and the room is 125 by 80 by 35 high. He already had two 18's in folded horns, and some two way 15's/1 inchers on poles. The 2245's weren't going to keep up with his folded horns, and were not up to the abuse, either. Talked him into using one quad box if I helped load out; bass summed mono, 120hz and down. Loaned him my QSC PLX 2402 setup in parallel mode, clip limiters off, high pass on amp is turned on and set at 30hz. for protection. Two 8 ohm 2226's driven per channel, 4 ohm load per side = 700w per side for the QSC. (side note; the QSC is stable into 2 ohms, done it many times, and produces 1200 per side into 2 ohm; also 2400 bridged mono into 4 ohm; needs good power!!) This box is a BEAST. First time it has ever really had power to it. Then there was some rap tune called Go Low or something.............DJ has been doing DJ work for 20 years......he calls me on the cell phone babbling about the stage moving and the LF assault. I went out to check it out.....his DJ banner was hanging a foot in front of the quad box. I see the banner being tugged on, assumed that one of the wedding reception brats was messing with it...........discovered that the massive vents were sucking the banner clear in and out of the vent....I shit you not......never seen anything like it. The DJ just stared at it in disbelief. He told me before the gig that he didn't expect to play the system very loudly, etc. Oh yeah?? It was cranking! I knew that between the amp and the bulletproof nature of the 2226, we were cool. Man, the output was unreal. This is a 103db sensitivity box, sucking up a PLX2402.........okay, it was cooooool.........thank goodness for the BIG room. Next up, we need to try TWO of these boxes, using my qsc PLX 1602 for the other one. Maybe close-couple them for a few more db!!!. When loafing, the thing sounded great. When called upon, this box really was a monster. (I have now been to the mountain; in fact, I moved the damn mountain home later in an small pickup.........may have to put grills, wheels, and corner protectors on these boxes and get em out more often!!) Moral of the story; the 2226 is a great driver capable of truly prodigous, clean output, especially in multiples. But then you already knew that. He had also borrowed my 4655BK's. The 4655BK box was retrofitted with an E130 reconed with 2225 paper, a JBL 1 inch on a 2373 horn, and Waynes crossover. I thought the DJ was going to use it at the big hall we were at, along with the other two ways. Instead he sent it with his partner to the country club to DJ a reunion. He has other top boxes to use, not sure why he chose the JBL other than that he may have fired them up and liked them. The only other thing he sent besides the 4655's were two Peavy BR's with single 18's. 4655's were on top of them. I mentioned that if I had known he was relying on my cabs for this duty, I wished I'd popped some 2226's in them, knowing the fullrange abuse that was coming, and that the power handling of the 2226 is double that of the E130 motor.. Too late. Then I remembered Waynes circuit......the light bulb!!! Ahh, relief! They survived nicely, and while I didn't get to hear them, he kept stating that he thought they sounded great. Moral #2; even rather vintage JBL stuff is rugged and holds up......... So again, what boxes can you play in your listening room, jam with in the backyard, and loan to your DJ buddy to blast drunken reunion revelers? Well, those with 15 inch woofs and good one inch tweets, esp. if they have JBL motors. Like maybe a Pi design??!! FUN! Next day the stuff gets all stacked back in the workshop until the next excuse comes along to be amazed.
Re: My weekend of bass-o extreme-o, and other stuff.........
Good story, Mike - Thanks! And - Man - That's a Wall-O-Sound you and your buddy have there!
That's just my stuff from my garage/workshop; he has another garage full, but not of the same caliber...........
Super good stuff, Mike! Doesn't get any better than that!!!