Rike's SLA and Tuba 18 for Home Theater Build Saga

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

The vertical dispersion of the SLA is tight, so ideally the center of the SLA is aimed at head height at the listening position. They don't have to go higher, but they can.
With a screen you should use another vertical SLA for the center. There's no reason to use a CurveArray there.

[Rike43]

With a screen you should use another vertical SLA for the center. There's no reason to use a CurveArray there.

Sorry I did mention this earlier but one of the primary goals of this part of the project (other than really good sound) is to get the speakers to be fairly unnoticed and blend with the decor.

I know the vertical SLA on center is better sound wise, but the wall directly behind in the center is brick so I can't go into the wall and the full vertical SLA centered on the wall would break the design goals here. Thus, the main reason for the Curve Array here is to hide the center speaker as part of the mantel. I could change to the 9/9 Curve Array and make the mantel wider if the sound quality would be better. I'm not worried about it being loud enough. My AVR has a placeable mic and room correction software so even moderate differences in speaker sensitivity are correctable.

[Bruce Weldy]

Thus, the main reason for the Curve Array here is to hide the center speaker as part of the mantel. I could change to the 9/9 Curve Array and make the mantel wider if the sound quality would be better.

The depth of the SLA shouldn't be more that the depth of the curved array, so why wouldn't it fit behind the screen? Or, did I not understand what you were saying?

[Rike43]

Thus, the main reason for the Curve Array here is to hide the center speaker as part of the mantel. I could change to the 9/9 Curve Array and make the mantel wider if the sound quality would be better.

The depth of the SLA shouldn't be more that the depth of the curved array, so why wouldn't it fit behind the screen? Or, did I not understand what you were saying?

What you can't see very well from the picture I posted is that the L/R Speakers are 3.5+ inches into the wall cavity. And I am working on a speaker box that will be even thinner than the standard 8" depth design with the toe in angle as part of the cabinet while maintaining the overall volume and driver placements on the face.

I also have tweaked the 6/6 Curve Array to have only 9.25" outside depth. I'm making up the volume by stretching the width out which works well from a design standpoint because the whole speaker in now in the correct width range for a typical mantel (+3-6 inches wider than the fire box opening). Of course, I can make it as wide as I like (or my wife likes!), but these design guidelines exist for a reason: if follow them and you tend to make things that look good. The minimum height of the bottom of the mantel is dictated by code, which is dictated by good fire science.

The main thing about using the Curve Array here is that it can stick out BECAUSE it will generally look like something else: a mantel. A vertical SLA in the center of the wall will only look like a speaker. If I lived by myself, I probably wouldn't care and I'd just put it on the wall, but living with others requires some compromises and I'm OK with that. It's not like my wife doesn't bend and compromise with me on things as well.

[Bruce Weldy]

Still kind'a confused......if it's hidden by the screen, what does it matter? Or, is this screen not always there?

[Rike43]

Still kind'a confused......if it's hidden by the screen, what does it matter? Or, is this screen not always there?

Ah, that would be confusing! The screen is a tab-tensioned roll up. The room is the living room and the wall it is on is the first thing you see when you walk through the front door. This is the main room we spend time in other than the bedroom or office. It gets used for everything.

The deal with my wife was I can have a biga$$ screen and crazy speakers as long as I can find a way to make it significantly disappear when not in use.

[Bruce Weldy]

Still kind'a confused......if it's hidden by the screen, what does it matter? Or, is this screen not always there?

Ah, that would be confusing! The screen is a tab-tensioned roll up. The room is the living room and the wall it is on is the first thing you see when you walk through the front door. This is the main room we spend time in other than the bedroom or office. It gets used for everything.

The deal with my wife was I can have a biga$$ screen and crazy speakers as long as I can find a way to make it significantly disappear when not in use.

Well, that explains it! The curved array would certainly look better when the screen is up. Of course, you could leave the screen down all the time with the speaker plans and pics of your build constantly running.

What, that wouldn't impress her? Women.....just can't figure 'em out.

[Tom Smit]

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

The deal with my wife was I can have a biga$$ screen and crazy speakers as long as I can find a way to make it significantly disappear when not in use.

The deal with my wife was she could have all the shoes she wanted so long as she disappeared when not in use.

[Rike43]

Sooooo . . . Parts Express finally got me all my caps and coils I ordered at the end of November for the SLA crossovers. I've done some soldering in the past, but never with an kind of sensitive parts. I have a digitally controlled soldering iron now, so I'm hoping my tendency to overheat my wires and solder will be pretty much eliminated.

Anyone have any tips or tricks for soldering crossovers?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Crossovers are easy as there's nothing that will be damaged from less than extreme overheating. Use the hottest temperature you can. It's better to heat the joint quickly with high heat than slowly with low heat. Always heat the parts first, then apply the solder to the joint, not the iron.

[Seth]

I've found that a little drop of solder on the tip of the soldering iron helps a lot in speeding up the heat transfer for anything larger than circuit board work

[Bruce Weldy]

I've found that a little drop of solder on the tip of the soldering iron helps a lot in speeding up the heat transfer for anything larger than circuit board work

Especially when trying to desolder old joints.

[Rike43]

Awesome! Thanks the tips, everyone!

I'll post pics when I get the first one done and you can tell me what I can do better!