heavybdrums wrote:bottom left for me also, and I think you may be right to darken the silver a bit. I am with you on this idea of making sure no one can mistake these for consumer grade pa crap. Others like a more restrained/commercial look, but I think people should see and hear that these are something different than they are familiar with, and if that scares them initially, then they will be reassured when they start doing their stuff.
It is a fact that some people hear with their eyes so I suppose we have to please them too! These will definitely stand out from the crowd. All the kids around here go gaga over (the looks of) Function 1 at the summer festivals so my goal is to make these catch the eye and get their adrenaline going just the same. The DJ's will like them, as for the touring bands, well if they dont like them then they can bring their own PA .
IMHO less is more. I highlighted the horn sheaths only - just for some contrast. All that blue and silver seems to me to be more of a distraction. http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewt ... 9&start=45 and scroll to the bottom. Just my 2c.
2X OTop 112, 3012HO, melded - 2X T39, 27", Lab 12 - XF 212 - 4 DR250, 2 melded, 2 straight 2 20" T39 3012LF - WH10 - WH8 - in the shop - 2 more 20" T39s http://saltandlighteureka.org still need a trailer
ripNdeb wrote: All that blue and silver seems to me to be more of a distraction.
I guess the setting would make a difference. These will be used in a dark club and will have to compete against the dancefloor and stage lighting for attention. They need to be bright just to catch some light so that they can be seen. My T60's with the blue mouths look completely black in that setting. I have 2 lights from 2 different angles (one blue and one magenta) highlighting the mouths just to get a slight pop from the mouths otherwise it is just a black abyss:
The picture is oversaturated, it is much darker in there than the picture translates.
(note: that is not where I currently use the T60's, they were placed there temporarily while I finished re-building the stage)
+1 to CO's point. My speakers are yellow and black for this very reason - they look awesome when in a dark club, although in daylight they are a bit bright.
ripNdeb wrote: All that blue and silver seems to me to be more of a distraction.
I guess the setting would make a difference. These will be used in a dark club and will have to compete against the dancefloor and stage lighting for attention. They need to be bright just to catch some light so that they can be seen. My T60's with the blue mouths look completely black in that setting. I have 2 lights from 2 different angles (one blue and one magenta) highlighting the mouths just to get a slight pop from the mouths otherwise it is just a black abyss:
The picture is oversaturated, it is much darker in there than the picture translates.
(note: that is not where I currently use the T60's, they were placed there temporarily while I finished re-building the stage)
ripNdeb wrote:IMHO less is more. I highlighted the horn sheaths only - just for some contrast. All that blue and silver seems to me to be more of a distraction. http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewt ... 9&start=45 and scroll to the bottom. Just my 2c.
You Win ... Well this round anyways .
After walking around the venue holding my phone with those 4 pics in the air all night long the 2 tone look just doesn't match anything else in the room. People thought I was nuts doing that as I did that while we were in operation because that's the whole point. Even if it did look good that would have been WAY too much work. I'm about 140 ish hours into the paint job already and I just want this torture to end. So far so good but I figure I have about another 25 ish hours to go. 95% of that is hand sanding so at least my arms and shoulders should be buff for the beach this summer .
Ps: I looked at those photos you linked and what I noticed was your signature. I already have my next 2 builds lined up but by the looks of it that's not the end. Good grief.
It's been awhile so I thought I'd do an update. I haven't really had time to sit down as I've been working on these cabs 80+ hours a week for the last 3 or more weeks. One of my promoter friends volunteered this system for a small city festival even though I wasn't even close to being finished so I had to get my groove on. I'm still not done everything but the show worked out and now I'm taking a bit of a break. Oh and I meant system he promised as in monitors, mixer, mics, stands, racks, etc, etc, etc, all of which I never had until now so a lot more than just speakers had to be put together. Its been a long month.
Where did I leave off? Oh ya, paint:
Here is my makeshift paintshop in the garage. That is 2 coats of hi-build 2k urethane primer, block sanded, then 2 more coats to fill all the grain and other marks, then hand sanded again. Sanding the curves of the horn sheath, inside the compression module, etc was very labor intensive. After that was spot putty to fill the grain that the primer couldn't. The entire horn sheaths had to be skim coated with spot putty, then sanded:
After that was 2 more coats of regular primer, then guide coat, then block sanded eventually working my way down to 400 grit wet sanded. Oh, you can't wet sand baltic birch with water as it will raise the grain and then you have to start over. All done with mineral spirits, so much fun .
That may not look like much but that's about 200 hours sitting there for the 8 boxes.
I took ripNdeb's advise and only went with 1 color, so glad I did. Here are the side panels getting some paint. Notice that I marked and masked off where they still needed to be glued.
A little bit of tiger striping but once mounted from the angle from the front it disappears. Haha, there is some green and red in there! 2 of these will be mounted by our pool tables so I got the paint shop to match the pool table (billiard table) felt:
The 2 reddish burgandy ones will be in another area of the bar that matches the decor there.
A family preview after paint was done, but before finishing:
The reds still are not totally finished but they are my favorite: 8 coats of lacquer. There is base coat, flake, then clear. Camera doesn't do it any justice but it looks still wet. The are more a deep reddish burgandy than red.
Then a bit of duratex where I can't reach later. Thanx Lealand for the deep tint base! The local paint shop matched the color perfectly to what I wanted!
The tinted duratex doesn't cover quite as good as the black so I'm going to use a red primer for the rest of the box so I don't run out.
Then I had to glue on the sides and yes those torture boxes came out again!
A little bit of masking so any squeeze out doesn't ruin the paint. I touched up the joints with paint and an artists brush later on.
Sides trimmed, handles cut out and autobody putty to get ready for duratex:
I'm mounting my crossovers in the back so I made a little access panel:
Oops, got too far ahead of myself, before that I installed 1/2" quarter round and touched up the duratex:
My panel cut out:
and test fitted:
The hole in the middle will be for a 4 pole, double throw bi-amp switch that I'm going to include.
Here are the crossovers mounted, srry I'm not done the wiring yet:
Notice all the high spots are in the middle where the horn sheaths go deep. That took a bit of foresight to do . I also had to extend the backs of the boxes out about an inch further than the plans to fit everything.
Some body work, rounded off the corners and holes cut out for the adjustable top hat:
haha, made this one too big, thank you bondo for saving the day: (look closely at the cutout to see the pink bondo fix)
Some duratex:
I recessed a tether in 2 of the boxes. These will be used to attach a safety cable to the ceiling. Even though they will be groundstacked 2 high, I don't want anyone tipping over the stack onto someones head.
Recessed pole mounts and some feets:
I used a black silicone to seal the tether point and the pole mounts. I also added a 1/2" backer panel inside the cab to support them. I had to cut the brace to fit the pole mount but with the backer board it should still be stiff enough. The cab also balances on the pole mount as that's the whole reason I mounted the filters on the rear to make up for that as with the compression drivers the adjustable pole mount has to go a bit more to the rear so the compression drivers will fit.
Breaking in the drivers:
That's one of my new amp racks that I also built. Driverack venue 360, soundcraft ui-16, with a dedicated wifi wap/router for longer range, all controlled by my phone/tablet/notebook. So for this festival that came up I had to learn to be a network engineer in about 3 hours to make this all work together.
Some stuffing:
Mounting the drivers:
A drill made twisting those wires together really easy.
More filling:
Space left for the ports:
... and these blue ones were ready to go to the festival 4 hours before it began with some help from my boy:
I still have about 3 days left to finish the green and red ones, then a day or 2 to wire up my bi-amp switches and about a week or so to make some stands for these boxes.
I figured with all that work done this post will just be showing off a little and telling you guys how the festival went.
First, my new toys:
So I didn't have time to make stands or cables so I just rented all that. Nice crank up stands and I was going to put 2 boxes up a side as that's what everybody says sounds the fullest. I had 3 acoustic acts so nothing too demanding. As soon as I put the two boxes on the stands the tilting mechanism on one of the boxes broke . I guess that is why they only have a 75 pound weight limit but I seen other people on here do that. I don't recommend it.
So 1 hour to go, my only solution was to use the sub boxes on each side as stands (please don't hit me) as that was all I had and they looked really really good:
For the Friday we just had 3 outside acoustic acts so the subs were just there as stands and decoration. That was my first time mixing on a digital desk (Soundcradft ui-16) and I'll never go back to analogue ever again, wow that thing is great.
I will say this during a soundcheck with some pre-canned music. This system would have no problem doing 800 people outside and half of it is still in my garage!!!!!! . There were 3 other stages outside and we were the cleanest by a mile and the loudest (if we wanted to) than any other stage and they were all put on by the local regional sound company in town. We won hands down! Man, after walking around they all sounded like crap compared to ours. Pictures don't really show off the metallic paint very well but all the artists (they all original) we had called them works of art!
I was so excited and sleep deprived (and a little drunk) that I brought the system inside to use for our main stage inside.
That wasn't the greatest idea as without stands I had to split the subs and that really lost a lot of output. I also didn't have the tops high enough so once the crowd rolled in I lost half of the highs. The surprising thing was that the bass was very even in the room, no interference pattern that I could notice. I think the low ceilings (10.5 feet) and proximity to the walls bounced the sound around enough to smooth out any nulls.
The next day the system was used outside again, inside at night in a different room, then 3 bands on Sunday inside. In 10 days we've had 7 bands, 8 DJ's, and a comedian use the system. I'm beat, tired and in need of rest. I'll build the proper stands in a week or 2 so I can get those subs back grouped together and get those tops over peoples heads. To top it off, a local TV crew is going to do a show in our bar filming on Monday so these speakers should already get some air time. No rest for the wicked I guess.
I'll leave you with this:
Sunday (my main soundguy that is teaching me to mix): Soundcraft Ui-16 eh? 12 inputs is more than any bar will ever use:
The following Saturday: Just made it!
6 aux mixes, 14 inputs (we used the RCA's as well). We even had a real Leslie in there! I learned a lot about mixing that day and had a blast. Made all the work of these boxes worth while even though I still have lots to go.
The placement isn't the best and stands will be made soon but until then I'm getting some rest as I've been doing 87 hour weeks to get to this point. Enjoy the show:
"A system with a few knobs set up by someone who knows what they are doing is always better than one with a lot of knobs set up by someone who doesn't."
You have the mouths of the subs and the tops are on the same plane. They never should be set up like that when there's a wall behind them. You'll always have a cancellation caused by the reflected wave off the wall that way. You want the mouths of the subs close enough to the wall so that the cancellation frequency will be above their passband, while the tops need to be far enough away so that the cancellation frequency will be below their passband. The correct way to set them up would be with the T60s aimed at the wall. Once you get the stand situation squared away you can put the T60s sideways against the wall. When you do the local expert 'gear groupies' will ask you why you have your subs set up 'the wrong way'. You then tell them it's to eliminate 1/4 wavelength Allison Effect cancellations, giving them something to Google and ponder.