First proper outing for the rig :)

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escapemcp
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First proper outing for the rig :)

#1 Post by escapemcp »

I took the rig out for it's first proper party this bank holiday weekend. As I was blagging a lift for me (and the kit) with a mate, I was forced to link up with his rig... something he later regretted when I switched mine on! He was totally overpowered, and my SQ was far superior to his. We had the night time party under the bridge and then chilled in the sun later on in the day - we turned around my stack to achieve this (we couldn't turn his around - too heavy :roll: ):

Image

I was expecting good things out of my rig, but WOW!... BLOODY F***ING WOW! The bass is so tight it really does punch you in the chest. The Otop (only one of them... see pic for why!) was also crystal clear (I think my mates tops might have been providing some of the close up coverage - along with some CF).

I have been fighting a lot of scepticism about my rig whilst I have been building it, but on Saturday night I floored the lot of them (or Bill did... let's call it a joint effort). I then kicked them in the nuts when they were down (I had left some headroom in the bag to use for the knockout shot - it's a cheap trick, but it works! :wink: ) . I had numerous comments on how good the rig sounded - far more than I was expecting - and also from all the right people. In the end, I think linking up may have been a blessing in disguise - people could make a direct comparison between the two... and it was not a fair fight!! :lol: :lol:

Now I understand this was not an ideal setup, but sometimes you just gotta make the best of what you are given. Just before the party I ordered 5 sets of plans, so I am now looking toward starting the second rig of DR250s and, um... some subs... these were going to be T60s, but I am more and more erring on the side of Titan 48s due to the volume (SPL) difference. I am starting to think that the extra low extension isn't absolutely necessary - not many tunes go that low, so am I losing volume at the expense of being able to play that 1 tune in maybe 10 more 'accurately'??
:feedback:

And afterwards :(

Image

Right now I'm about as smug as you can get :mrgreen: Saturday night was the confirmation that 18 months of work and being skint was not in vain. I am pretty damn confident now that I have best sounding free party rig in the area (the only competition would be 4bidden & Unknown, who both use Void :broke: :broke: :broke: :broke: ) - not that I'm biased ;)

I still cannot get that tight bass sound out of my head. It was almost an epiphany hearing what the tunes should sound like at high volume - I was sure that it wasn't supposed to sound like what the other rigs sounded like. Then I remember that the rig is mine, and that 'sound' is mine and all my parties will have that sound... as Eminem said "I've created a monster"
:hyper: :hyper:
Thanks to Bill for the great design and to everyone on here for helping me with my woodworking & speaker building 101 - you've made me a very happy man :) I really enjoy my daily visits here picking up (stealing) ideas from here. I'm hoping to have a DR250 build thread starting soon... shiiiit - I've just realised that the sound quality is only going to improve with the DRs then the subs
Image

I could probably keep gushing for ages, but I think I should stop here!

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Hackomatic
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#2 Post by Hackomatic »

That is awesome! :clap:
It's fun getting in the trenches with other folks and their systems and having the upper hand . . and it certainly looks like yer boxes have been in the trenches! :lol:
Dave H

ketoet
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#3 Post by ketoet »

This was great to read. It reminded me of my first gig with my bfm system.
It's such a goog feeling to silence te non believers isn't it.

Greetz ketoet
building BFM speakers isn't a hobby , it's an addiction

1 x THT
1 x autotuba
2 x dr250 melded

2 x wedgehorn 10
2 x tlah

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escapemcp
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Location: Bristol, UK

Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#4 Post by escapemcp »

ketoet wrote:This was great to read. It reminded me of my first gig with my bfm system.
It's such a goog feeling to silence te non believers isn't it.

Greetz ketoet
Yes... I knew that I'd be able to hear a difference, but I was thinking I may have problems convincing others that there was one. In the end it was so unequivocal that even the ones who didn't want to admit it couldn't deny it. :bash: :bash: For too long people have been thinking I was building a wussy rig with my tiny 12" drivers, skinny 1/2" wood and my puny 300W/cab :owned: :owned: :lol:

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escapemcp
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#5 Post by escapemcp »

Hackomatic wrote:and it certainly looks like yer boxes have been in the trenches! :lol:
Nothing a bit of water & a scrub (& wood filler & duratex) won't solve.

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Tom Smit
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#6 Post by Tom Smit »

:clap: :clap:
TomS

Ryan A
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#7 Post by Ryan A »

escapemcp wrote:Now I understand this was not an ideal setup, but sometimes you just gotta make the best of what you are given. Just before the party I ordered 5 sets of plans, so I am now looking toward starting the second rig of DR250s and, um... some subs... these were going to be T60s, but I am more and more erring on the side of Titan 48s due to the volume (SPL) difference. I am starting to think that the extra low extension isn't absolutely necessary - not many tunes go that low, so am I losing volume at the expense of being able to play that 1 tune in maybe 10 more 'accurately'??
Since you already have 4 T30's, there's not much to be gained by switching to T48 but there is something to lose (extension). You'd need at least 4 T48's to have an appreciable increase in output over the 4 T30's. Its easy to say you won't miss much going to T48, but you don't know what you got till its gone, right?

Not saying don't do it just make sure that's what you want. There's an argument to be made for building 4 more T30's over 4 T48's since you can't mix cabs.

Nice review!

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Harley
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#8 Post by Harley »

escapemcp wrote:I took the rig out for it's first proper party this bank holiday weekend.!
You took advantage of your one English sunny day in the year then :roll: :mrgreen:

Nice review, well done.
ImageSemi-retired: Former Australia and New Zealand Authorised BFM cab builder.

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DJPhatman
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#9 Post by DJPhatman »

Ryan A wrote:Since you already have 4 T30's, there's not much to be gained by switching to T48 but there is something to lose (extension). You'd need at least 4 T48's to have an appreciable increase in output over the 4 T30's.
A BIG +1
Harley wrote:Nice review, well done.
+100 Imagine what you could do by adding 4 more 30" wide T30s to your 4. :twisted: Just #vicious! :twisted:
I know money often seals the deal, but seriously, quality is an investment, not an expense... Grant Bunter
Accept the fact that airtight and well-braced are more important than pretty on the inside. Bill Fitzmaurice

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bitSmasher
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#10 Post by bitSmasher »

Nice one, love the setting for a party
What music are you playing through it?

Also, bracing highlight reminds me of the NFusion system colours - they use BFM OT12 for midrange too

88h88
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#11 Post by 88h88 »

So his 3 great big sub boxes couldn't keep up with 4 piddly little 12" subs? What a shame...! At least they look cool I guess.

Do either of you have RTA at all? I can't quite remember if you do or not, it'd be interesting to compare both setups with it.
4xOT12s, 2xT39s@22", TTLS@18", 2xT60@18"

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escapemcp
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#12 Post by escapemcp »

Ryan A wrote:
escapemcp wrote:Now I understand this was not an ideal setup, but sometimes you just gotta make the best of what you are given. Just before the party I ordered 5 sets of plans, so I am now looking toward starting the second rig of DR250s and, um... some subs... these were going to be T60s, but I am more and more erring on the side of Titan 48s due to the volume (SPL) difference. I am starting to think that the extra low extension isn't absolutely necessary - not many tunes go that low, so am I losing volume at the expense of being able to play that 1 tune in maybe 10 more 'accurately'??
Since you already have 4 T30's, there's not much to be gained by switching to T48 but there is something to lose (extension). You'd need at least 4 T48's to have an appreciable increase in output over the 4 T30's. Its easy to say you won't miss much going to T48, but you don't know what you got till its gone, right?

Not saying don't do it just make sure that's what you want. There's an argument to be made for building 4 more T30's over 4 T48's since you can't mix cabs.

Nice review!
Yeah, the biggest issue I have is van space (i.e. I haven't got any!!) When I do eventually get one, then I am planning on a crew cab type van (2nd row of seats behind the first). This means that load space will be reduced also. Now I am trying to build the loudest rig possible and therefore was thinking that the Titans would have been the way to go - although originally I was thinking T60. The LAB12s are interchangeable in all 3 of these cabs, so I was going to build the "second" rig, and just use the drivers from the first, but keep both sets of cabs so I can use whichever I want by simply swapping out the drivers.

I was planning on building 4 T48s btw and I was under the impression that this would be as loud as 8 T30s, but using a whole lot less packspace.

I'm still mulling this one over and in the meantime I'll build DR250s :)
Last edited by escapemcp on Wed May 07, 2014 7:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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escapemcp
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#13 Post by escapemcp »

Harley wrote:
escapemcp wrote:I took the rig out for it's first proper party this bank holiday weekend.!
You took advantage of your one English sunny day in the year then :roll: :mrgreen:

Nice review, well done.
We have other sunny days - this was taken just now (please ignore what's on the window - I just had the windows cleaned :cop: )

Image

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escapemcp
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#14 Post by escapemcp »

DJPhatman wrote: +100 Imagine what you could do by adding 4 more 30" wide T30s to your 4. :twisted: Just #vicious! :twisted:
Yeah, but I'd probably go with slims - for a given packspace, I can get more SPL out of slims than wide cabs. Dual-loaded would be an option of course, but I don't really need the 16Ω which would be the main reason of joining 2 slims into a dual.

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escapemcp
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Re: First proper outing for the rig :)

#15 Post by escapemcp »

bitSmasher wrote:Nice one, love the setting for a party
What music are you playing through it?
It was techno all night. I had an issue with one of my CDJs (I don't think it is too keen running off generators) AND my mates computer monitor (we think it's dead - another genny problem????), so the psytrance, D&B and other genres were missed off.... will have to wait until next time for those. Really looking forward to hearing some D&B on the system, as the basslines were nuts when listening at low volume in the garage... they moved all over the place which you don't normally hear on a 'normal' system. At high volume, I am expecting very great things :D
bitSmasher wrote:Also, bracing highlight reminds me of the NFusion system colours - they use BFM OT12 for midrange too
I liked that look once I had all the subs stacked.
88h88 wrote:Do either of you have RTA at all? I can't quite remember if you do or not, it'd be interesting to compare both setups with it.
Yes I do - I couldn't run the Otops without it TBH. It would be interesting, but still wouldn't show the massive difference in THD down low (would it??)?? I don't think people would be too happy whilst I did sweeps and pink noise blasts, although maybe if I did it in the middle of my set, they might believe it's part of the music :lol: :lol:

Thanks everyone for your comments. I am itching to get this out again (by myself this time) and kill it.

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