Tuba 36 - 31" wide - horizontal 3015LF - 2 of them

[ben.in.salzburg]

This is my first Bill Fitzmaurice project. (feel free to skip the waffle and read only the last 3 lines!)

I had heard and great things about horn loading. It was, however, hard to believe that range, sensitivity and sheer volume this awesome were within the grasp of someone on a low budget with a basic set of tools.

The build was happily not as hard as many would think when they first get the plans. A few points were certainly initially daunting, but generally the forum and Bill's detailed plans, and sleep or coffee helped resolve these issues. One thing could only be dealt with by time itself - Getting that fabulous glue off my skin! The recommended glue is very effective and certainly expanded and made good any minor slips of the jigsaw!

One of the offputting aspects was the cost of good quality plywood here in Austria - the wood was over 300 Euro. The speakers and wheels together came to slightly less! A few tools had to be purchased, and glue, etc, Bringing the cost up to 800 Euro. I mention this because my other subs cost a little over 800 for the pair (dB technologies sub 12). As did my LBP 250 HK subwoofers, bought 2nd hand. The dB technologies were loud, but only in a smallish room - 2500 square feet or so. However, they sounded harsh and frequently decided to call it quits before midnight. Not good for student parties! The HK subwoofers sounded fabulous... in my home cinema... simply because I had nothing better to compare them with. However, any room above 1500 square feet (or with a high ceiling) showed them up for what they were. Small, underpowered, and lacking the ingredients a sub needs.

I have been using subs mono and coupled for a couple of years now, and this has helped my system last a little longer. However, the time had come for headroom, extension, and quality. Therefore I decided to see what could be achieved with regard to building subs that wuld not need replacing soon.

Cabinet/design choice: primarily for playback/ DJ use, from rock to house, and sometimes very loud, it had to be the big one. The T36. I measured the location door widths, and thanks to a frustrating architect, one door forced my down from dual 15, 36" wide to a single. The cabs were to be kept in a lockup 3 doors down from the multifunctional hall, and therefore had to fit through the doorways, but didn't need to be very light as they could be rolled from A to B very easily. Maximum width was 32", so the cabs are 31.5". They fit through the doorways... Just!

Driver choice: Skimping on the driver made no sense to me - at least after sufficient educational feedback from Bill and many others. It had to be the one with the best X-max as well as being light. Enter the 3015! It seems to be about half the weight of my old Kappas!

Build: The cabs must have taken 20 hours to build, in stages, 2 hours here, 20 mins there, whatever I could spare. Some stages certainly need a fair bit of concentration, and I am very glad Bill recommends a dry build before glueing - without that a lot might have gone wrong!

Finish: Black yacht paint. It may be fairly expensive, but it is very tough and very waterproof. 3 Coats, fine sanding in between. Shiny!

Test: I have to agree with others, initially these speakers seemed louder when I moved a few yards back from them. Testing a single sub with a home stereo 100 Watt @ 8 ohms cheapo amp was inconclusive, but did shake polystyrene ceiling tiles and make sawdust on the floor near it dance. A careful check showed me that there was a small air leak, so I fixed that. The real test was the first gig a little later, using a 2x 600 Watt @ 8 Ohms amp. The pair, side by side made up the DJ desk. They were flush to the floor and the side wall - both concrete. To increase stability, the subs were strapped together with a trucker's tensioning strap around them both. Probably unnecessary, but the subs are light and I have it when a drunken fool knocking over my gear. My tops are currently Peavey translites, which are wonderfully compact. We needn't go into their weaknesses, let's just say omnitops are on their way.
The tops could not keep up with the subs, sound level wise. I ended up doing a sound check with the subs turned down by 15 dB! They could be turned up a little more and were great crossed over around 75 Hz, as it was a house music night and they wanted a lot of bass. They got it. Curiously, the cabs barely vibrated, I am used to reflex cabs shaking a lot! The strange thing was, whilst it was louder than ever before, and you could feel it, there was none of the usual ear-strain. It was...



Very smooth. Very low. Not one-note. A whole new range of octaves.
And so DAMN LOUD!

50 feet away, behind the bar... the solid floor shook. I (heart) my T36!

[chad]

Do yourself a huge favor and make dr's instead of omnis. I built 4 250's, 4 wh and 2 t-36. They are equally hard, the drs just take a little more time. I have never heard the omnis but assume the drs are a lot better while the omnis are a lot better than your basic speaker in a box. As far as the ear fatigue you are 1000% right. With dr's its even better. Your ears won't ring nearly as much at the end of the night even though the volume was just as loud as a normal night that would cause your ears to BLEED

[ben.in.salzburg]

However, I have 4 Kappa 15 speakers and a bunch of piezos. If only I had a buyer for the big old 15 inchers... As it is, I am unwilling to buy more drivers due to my ever diminishing pot of cash.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

However, I have 4 Kappa 15 speakers and a bunch of piezos. If only I had a buyer for the big old 15 inchers... As it is, I am unwilling to buy more drivers due to my ever diminishing pot of cash.

So long as they are Kappas or Kappa Pro's they'll work better than what you have, which is what counts. If they are LF versions they won't work.