Otop 112's Melded Array 2512 Downunder

[Titanium Hand]

Thats pretty 'sound' advice for positioning the jacks, thanks Grant.

Are you suggesting I put one jack socket in one back corner, for signal in and the pther in the opposite corner for signal out to the other cab?

Remaining steps.....

Cut and fasten Mounting Flanges
Dampen Cab
Install Driver
Install Crossover & Wire
Install Jacks & Wire
Install Tweeters & Wire
Seal & Fasten Back panel....

Make sweet sweet noise

Then its just the cosmetic external finishing of them, I'm getting so excited about hearing them.

Unlikely to get any done over the weekend I may as well be on another planet, got in-laws and family friends "all up in this" as well as tomorrow being my Bucks do. Wish me good luck and survival

[Grant Bunter]

Are you suggesting I put one jack socket in one back corner, for signal in and the pther in the opposite corner for signal out to the other cab?

Yes, on either side, or either side of the access panel (taking into account the flanges as well). If you go the access panel way, leave enough wiring length to be able to sit the panel on top of the cab if you need to get back in there.
If you go one either side, you wiring will sit under the topper and be invisible...

Unlikely to get any done over the weekend I may as well be on another planet, got in-laws and family friends "all up in this" as well as tomorrow being my Bucks do. Wish me good luck and survival

Hopefully your mates will look after you and not watch (or join) you being lead off to a paddy wagon...

[Titanium Hand]

If you go one either side, you wiring will sit under the topper and be invisible...

I think I'll go down that route. It will keep the cab uncluttered I guess.

No Paddy Wagons for us tonight!

The Hens have left so I've got a few hours to build after work this morning

[Titanium Hand]

I'm still alive after my bucks... just It was a heavy, heavy night Still a wee bit dusty!

So throughout the week I've Tinkered away and knocked over quite a bit. Its a pretty drawn out build this one.

I've Bogged (Bondoed) all the external screw holes and sanded all external panels with 60 grit.

Laminated the mounting flanges for the back and glued them into place. I thought 8 clamps of various sizes would be enough to knock that last task over in one go.... Unfortunately not. I chose not to screw any guide boards but clamp EVERYTHING instead, I had no success screwing the flanges into place either, as they were going to de-laminate.

I ended up doing it over 3 seperate sessions using what clamps I had available to me.

I purchased a new set of chisels which i used to trim out all the excess PL especially within the horn mouth.

Can anybody recommend a product suitable to 'Face Off' the internal joints which is easier to sand than bondo yet resilient enough to withstand the pressures exherted onto it within the mouth? Its solely cosmetic, I was thinking maybe (sorry Harley) No More Gaps?

I've yet to install the Array mounts, did I understand the plans correctly that the array requires only 4 screws?

I want to run the cabs together on the same channel, could I just run the positive wire from the HP / LP filter input, back to the positive lug on the second jack socket and the same process for the ground? the Crossover has me a little cautious.

There is also a component on my HP / LP Filter that appears to be without solder, it says erse 10W - 30RJ Is it hard to solder onto PCB? Naturally I'd aim to keep the heat down best I can. Anybody got some advice for me please?

[Michael Ewald Hansen]

I'm still alive after my bucks... just It was a heavy, heavy night Still a wee bit dusty!

So throughout the week I've Tinkered away and knocked over quite a bit. Its a pretty drawn out build this one.

I've Bogged (Bondoed) all the external screw holes and sanded all external panels with 60 grit.

Laminated the mounting flanges for the back and glued them into place. I thought 8 clamps of various sizes would be enough to knock that last task over in one go.... Unfortunately not. I chose not to screw any guide boards but clamp EVERYTHING instead, I had no success screwing the flanges into place either, as they were going to de-laminate.

I made 2 tiny jigs to set the flanges, and then just clamp the flanges down, drill 2 pilot holes and then screw the flange tight - bondo and sand.

I ended up doing it over 3 seperate sessions using what clamps I had available to me.

I purchased a new set of chisels which i used to trim out all the excess PL especially within the horn mouth.

Can anybody recommend a product suitable to 'Face Off' the internal joints which is easier to sand than bondo yet resilient enough to withstand the pressures exherted onto it within the mouth? Its solely cosmetic, I was thinking maybe (sorry Harley) No More Gaps?

I use something called "Plastic Padding - chemical wood". Its the same color as regular ply and extremely easy to sand. Don't know if you have this around your place

I've yet to install the Array mounts, did I understand the plans correctly that the array requires only 4 screws?

I put in screws for all the holes in the array, so thats 26 screws for a 12 tweeter array. Its mainly aesthetics for me, you could settle with less - but it looks nicer

I want to run the cabs together on the same channel, could I just run the positive wire from the HP / LP filter input, back to the positive lug on the second jack socket and the same process for the ground? the Crossover has me a little cautious.

You could, but why not just run them from the pos/neg jack to the other jack?

There is also a component on my HP / LP Filter that appears to be without solder, it says erse 10W - 30RJ Is it hard to solder onto PCB? Naturally I'd aim to keep the heat down best I can. Anybody got some advice for me please?

What do you mean the component has no solder? Iirc thats the 30ohm resistor which you need to place parallel on the positive/ground. Its not at all hard to solder to a PCB, just carefully heat up both surfaces you want to bond and then add the solder. (I use a small alligator clip or similar to hold components in place)

[Tom Smit]

I want to run the cabs together on the same channel, could I just run the positive wire from the HP / LP filter input, back to the positive lug on the second jack socket and the same process for the ground? the Crossover has me a little cautious.

You could, but why not just run them from the pos/neg jack to the other jack?

One could also solder a second pigtail 6" up from the first pigtail on the input jack, at which point the harness would carry on to the filters.

There is also a component on my HP / LP Filter that appears to be without solder, it says erse 10W - 30RJ Is it hard to solder onto PCB? Naturally I'd aim to keep the heat down best I can. Anybody got some advice for me please?

What do you mean the component has no solder? Iirc thats the 30ohm resistor which you need to place parallel on the positive/ground. Its not at all hard to solder to a PCB, just carefully heat up both surfaces you want to bond and then add the solder. (I use a small alligator clip or similar to hold components in place)

If one pre-tins the contacts, less heat will be needed to solder the contacts together. IOW, melt a touch of solder on the tip of your gun soldering iron and then touch the contact with the tip so that it has solder on it. Then, when both contacts have a bit of solder on them, hold the contacts together and apply the heat from gun soldering iron tip. Release the heat/guntip when both bits of solder melt and join.


Edit to fix to what Bruce suggested.

[Bruce Weldy]

If one pre-tins the contacts, less heat will be needed to solder the contacts together. IOW, melt a touch of solder on the tip of your gun and then touch the contact with the tip so that it has solder on it. Then, when both contacts have a bit of solder on them, hold the contacts together and apply the heat from gun tip. Release the heat/guntip when both bits of solder melt and join.

+1 I tin everything first - then the connection is much quicker and easier with less heat.

But Tom - please don't use the word gun and solder in the same sentence. Someone may actually go out and buy one of those monstrosities!

[Titanium Hand]

Thanks for all of your advice guys.

The wire bit out one end of the resistor is just sitting in the small hole punched into the pcb - without solder. I've soldered up all of my xlr input cables so I'm not totally blind - just concerned about the heat is all, I'd hate to eff up the whole crossover

You guys have made it sound pretty simple so I'll have a crack at it soon.

Michael; The plastic wood product you spoke of, do you feel any wood putty would do? I remember the stuff we use to use back at school D&T (Woodshop) was very easy to sand. That is definitely a trait I'm after, as is the ability to purchase it in a tube for use in a caulking gun. I'm pretty handy with a caulking gun, use them all the time at work with concrete cutting and rigid paving for expansion joints

Are there any chemicals I need to be wary of in their composition that may leech vapors harmful to the driver?

Thanks again all

[Grant Bunter]

TH,
If there are any vapours to be wary of they will have flashed off by the time the product has cured. Keep your driver out until then

edit: re soldering.
If you can't heatsink any component with some sort of clip, do a three count as you solder.
If the component isn't soldered to your satisfaction by the time you have counted to three, let it totally cool and go back again later. Solder somewhere else in the meantime.

[Titanium Hand]

If you can't heatsink any component with some sort of clip, do a three count as you solder

The three count I understand, loud and clear. Heatsink???? Sounds interesting, however I don't follow. Could you elaborate on that for me a bit. I can probably guess.... Using a metal object between the area being soldered and the component to soak up the excess heat to prevent thermal damage during the soldering process.?

[Grant Bunter]

^ Correct!
Given my background and contacts, I have a straight artery clip I use as a heatsink.
I clip it on the component side of a "tail". With that in place I can make sure the solder is done and dusted in one hit.
I still try as best as possible to do it in a three count. If for some reason I stay a tad longer, I solder away, let the joint totally cool, then remove the clip.

Being "medical" they aren't cheap, but better than blowing a component.

Do a search for a straight "crile" artery forcep. Of course, you can do the same thing with a pair of needle nose pliers, but the crile has a ratchet and one click will make it work as a heatsink, leaving hands free to hold the soldering iron with one hand and the other to direct the solder from the reel.

With a bit of practice you can also place the crile in just such a way to straighen out twists and so on.

I dunno, maybe Jaycar or similar have something similar...

Forget that, sheesh, prices are way down, how's 10 bucks including postage?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ARTERY-FORCE ... 863wt_1051

[Titanium Hand]

Ebay! Is there anything it doesn't sell? Thanks for the heads up Grant. I have an old alligator clip from a crystal radio, I'll give that a go.

[Titanium Hand]

Its all coming together now. Just spent a mammoth afternoon / evening (3 solid hours after a 10 hour day at work paving) Got the array mounts done right yesterday so after double checking the fit of my array in both cabs I was satisfied the building stage was over.

I routered out the jack plates yesterday.

Routered all external edges using my 12mm roundover. I let it go the full depth on edges with a perpendicular panel as it ever so subtley works as a flush trim on the same pass.
For the mouth I set it as deep as I can allowing the bearing/wheel to run along the inner most ply, it saves me setting up guides (erases human error aspect) and gives a nice contrast almost highlighting "this is the business end" of the cab, giving it approx a 4mm pencil edge. The small chevrons fit perfectly
After sanding both to immaculate @120 I switched back to 80 for a better key for my duratex. The 60 I've got just seems to scratch the timber, the 80 seems much sharper (my opinion)

Then I coated all of the panels with a slightly thinned d-tex. I've got to say, I wish I undercoated with the cheap black enamel first . I recall a few of our brethren sighting a propensity for 'shiny spots' where bondo is painted over. for at least the first few coats anyway. On my amp rack / cable case I pre sprayed and had no shiny spots from first coat of d-tex. Oh well she'll be right after a few more coats.,.. I hope

[Titanium Hand]

So I've finally got my first deltalite II 2512 Otop 112 Operational.

No real EQ yet.

ITS LOUD

Mostly clear; Some of the higher voice reproduction in Bloc Party "Truth" seem to distort or crackle in the piezo's. I have the same sound whilst playing Skrillex "Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites", yes that is a fairly 'noisy' track, however if I was paying someone to play music for me and their speakers made that sound I wouldn't be entirely satisfied.

My thoughts are its either a poor quality sound recording or as stated by many they need to be EQ'd.

I'm hoping that it is the later, although my knowledge of EQ is minimal, can anybody help me out please?

I think perhaps I'll use a tone generator to create a sweep and investigate if there is a certain frequency I can pinpoint that creates the untoward sound.

I'd really appreciate some assistance XO directly from XTi2000 feeds her everything from 100hz up. Maybe a High Cut would clean it up? Likely the solution is in the plans but I just couldnt wait any longer I wanted to fire her up to listen. Chronicles of a Fallen Love by the Bloody Beetroots sounds beautiful.... as God intended I think!

Thanks Guys

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Likely the solution is in the plans

The solution is in the oft repeated but not always heeded mantra that in the world of pro-sound proper EQ isn't an option, it's a necessity.