Experimental Tuba 36

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LelandCrooks · #16 Post by **LelandCrooks** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:41 am

1405, 1567. Just a shade over on the lip. Best fit I've found. If it fits, I've got it on my site.

Drey Chennells · #17 Post by **Drey Chennells** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 1:06 pm

Looking at the 1405, its bigger which I like, is the lip still under .5" ? Thanks alot, I'll be in touch for an order..

LelandCrooks · #18 Post by **LelandCrooks** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:11 pm

No, the lip is barely over .5. It still looks good, and is an easy trim if you want it dead on. I have a little jig for my tablesaw somewhere to trim them. The 1567 is dead on.

Drey Chennells · #19 Post by **Drey Chennells** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:30 pm

alright good to know, I have over 100 corners to do.. Maybe the 1405 for the bass cabs and 1567 for the OTops.. sound right to you? thanks again..

LelandCrooks · #20 Post by **LelandCrooks** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:28 am

Exactly. The smaller corner looks really good on the tops.

Steve Regier · #21 Post by **Steve Regier** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:10 am

Ok I'm the guy building the "experimental" Tuba 36's 25" wide. I have completed the second cab and have tested with a V Plate. Pic's below. I found that I got the best sound crossing the Tubas at 80Hz and either of the test mains at 120Hz. I do believe this is due to the poor octave slope on my crossover ... better one is on the way. Bottom line my neighbor across the cornfield called during testing and told me I had better stop before the people in town complain. (I live just outside town.) He is the Chief of Police and was getting ready to go on duty and the Tubas were rattling his windows. NICE! I have also built an AutoTuba 17" wide with very pleasing results. That unit is powered by a cheap Dual 300 amp. $55.00 at Walmart but it easily keeps up with my son's friend's Dual 12's. Now he wants to ditch the 12's for a TUBA!

: Tuba #2 ready for DuraTex; tuba2 duratex.jpg (16.17 KiB) Viewed 1855 times

: Here are the two tubas V-Plated with the two tops I used for testing. I am currently builing some Omni 15's with some help from Leland at Speaker Hardware...
Thanks for everything Leland!; V Plate Front 2.jpg (16.02 KiB) Viewed 1855 times

SeisTres · #22 Post by **SeisTres** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 1:15 am

Don't forget to start on the DR's next

LelandCrooks · #23 Post by **LelandCrooks** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:10 am

Nice.

You're welcome.

Drey Chennells · #24 Post by **Drey Chennells** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 9:06 am

Good music makes the corn grow faster ; )
Nice work.

Steve Regier · #25 Post by **Steve Regier** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 12:54 am

OK, It is time to dive in. Experimenation is over. I have learned much.
1. Do not let music or equipment snobbery make your decisions for you.Maybe I should back up. I do live sound DJ, Bands, Special Events, Auctions, and the like. I own a small music publishing business ... I mean microscopic. I learn as I go. My premier artists are very tallented and have toured and shared the stage with many major label artists. I let them tell me the kind of direct radiating megawatted pile of a PA I should get. Now I couldn't afford the high dollar branded gear they wanted so I did the best I could and ended up in failure. Yeah, those are my dual 21" direct radiators in the pictures above. They sound pretty good and get loud if you can feed them enough watts. Then don't get me started with moving the beasts. I could not run my complete PA on a single circuit. I needed too much power and even got a generator and spiderbox supply it all. NO MORE!
The reason I built an experimental Tuba 36 was to see if I could build something from Bill. Here is the ugly bit. Even though Bill recommends Titans for live sound I hesitated to build one since I feared what "the band" might say. I thought the Tuba looked a bit more familiar. WRONG ANSWER
2. FOLLOW THE PLANS,

FOLLOW THE PLANS, FOLLOW THE PLANS For the first Tuba I did not want to wait so I got Luan plywood from the local lumberyard, PL400 for subfloors not PL Premium and went to town. (PL400 will not harden and the joints, although airtight, bow and flex.) Somehow I couldn't understand the rattles and such once cabinet was sealed. Oh, Yeah USE GASKET TAPE! After sorting out rattles, wheezes, adding more bracing and regluing I built the second Tuba 36 using what we call - The right way - and Viola...V plate the pair and BOOOOOOOOOM.
3. Use the Forums - I have never felt so privileged to be part of such a large amount of knowlege from the most helpful group of people.
Special thanks to Leland at speakerharware.com.
4. Building BFM cabs is severely addictive. I never thought I could do as well as I am in woodworking. What a treat!
5. Take your time to do it right. The devil is in the details.
OK so what now?
I have a class reunion June 12th - they need mostly vocal PA and some music
On June 26th the band Gigs start with a live rehearsal on June 19.
I plan on building 4 Titan 48's 6 Otop15's and Wedgehorns to replace my existing cabs.
I have replaced my amps with Crown XTI's 1000's for the wedgehorns and 4000's for the Titans and Otops. 'Got rid of my gaggle of outboard gear and replaced it with Behringer RTA units. I did keep my Ashly SC55 compressor. It has a great vintage sound. If it's good enough for The Who it's good enough for me (Although I will normally use a dab the Ashly here and there for effect rather than overall limiting).
I figure this should hold me until I can build some DR's. DR's still scare me a bit.
The big Gigs don't happen 'till late summer.
I'll post pics as I go.
Thanks Y'all

LelandCrooks · #26 Post by **LelandCrooks** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 6:23 am

Nice. Did you put the braces on the outside for a reason? Cab protection?

SeisTres · #27 Post by **SeisTres** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 7:05 am

I think everyone thinks that whenever they ask a question and we tell them to follow the plans we're just being complete douches. When in reality, alot of the ones who actually say that is because we been through the whole "I'm doing it my way" and then it turns out that simply following the plans would have yielded the intended results since it's the combined knowledge of all the builders here

LOL, believe me, I've been through that other road too many times

And good luck on your next builds.

Steve Regier · #28 Post by **Steve Regier** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:18 am

Back bracing on the outside was a misread of the plans. It seemed that if they were internally mounted they would hit the driver. I also wanted as much air as possible moving to keep things cool as I can see these getting run hard. I hope it doesn't change the sound. Now that this cab is built I kinda like the look.

Steve Regier · #29 Post by **Steve Regier** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:17 pm

' Started in on the Titan 48's today. I see builing quite a few of these in my future so I made an assembly jig for the inner baffles. The jig sits on top of the parts top hat style during assembly acting as a third hand holding the panels true during assembly. I have been finding it difficult to true the panels with just a guide board. Maybe I am missing something but this jig seems like it will speed up the production process. It was a tip from the cabinet shop where I have been buying my BB. I made two. Each a mirror image of the other so I can test fit the pieces before attaching them to the side for final construction. I rough cut my pieces and tested the jigs. So far they work like a charm. I will post updates in a couple of days after some time in construction.

Steve Regier · #30 Post by **Steve Regier** » Tue Jun 08, 2010 12:43 am

Ok, the first Titan 48 is ready for testing. Here's where we are. My buddy Ewetho came down to help test. He has the best set of ears for EQ I have ever met. But let me back up. The assembly jigs worked very well. I used one on the top AND bottom to cut and fit the internal baffles. It has made for a very precise fit. The dimensions that Bill lays out in the plans actually worked (no fudging to make a misplaced piece fit. I must note that even with the jigs one must still pay attention to keeping the pannels square in three diemsions. I may add some "Fingers" along the outside edge for holding pannel 1 in perfect alignment. I had my doubts as to the benefit of the jigs as it seemed that getting everything right was taking quite a bit of time. But the results are undeniable. I was able to construct the internal baflle structure before mating it to the bottom side. This is my first project where the fit was correct with no need for correction or sanding. However, I would not bother with assembly jigs unless (as I am planning) building many cabinets. Bill is the man and his build plans are great as is. When we istalled the driver I did not notice the cover flange catching on the driver gasket and dislodging it. A rattle developed during break-in, first noticed by my son who was building an AutoTuba nearby. After noticing that the rattle was previlent at even the lowest volume and that is went away by placing preassure on the speaker cone we removed the driver and fould the dislodged gasket. FYI I fould that using a 1/4" drive air ratchet was the perfect and quite convenient tool to install/remover/reinstall the driver mounting screws in the smaller chamber of the Titan. As Bill says, however, do not use power tools to tighten the screws as they could strip. I have many years as a mechanic and have a light touch on the ratchet but I see how easy it would be to strip a screw and then YIKES!

I did hand tighen each screw after running them in with the ratchet. OK now for the sound. WOW! We tested the Titan with an Otop15 sitting on top. Just the way you should not but WOW. The combo sounded best crossed over at 90Hz with the standard LP and HP settings. The pair was powered by a Crown XTi 1000; CH1 for the Titan CH2 for the Otop. VERY CLEAN AND NICE. Now to build the rest of the set.