THTLP in the house...it actually is in the house now

[subharmonic]

hurry up!

Get the wife and kid out of my house please.

[subharmonic]

Okay got the house to myself yesterday. Broke my second hot melt gun so I had to stop my DR builds.

That means some dirty martinis and time to turn up my system. I just got my first blu ray player (Panasonic BD110) so I threw in Inception for a couple scenes. I have been in a few earthquakes in my time, none of them sounded like this. The folding of the street in Paris was like Mike Tyson punching my kidneys. The Japanese castle dream collapsing made me try to distinguish what was real and my house begginf for mercy.

Keep in mind on my receiver I never passed "reference" levels, volume @ 0. My normal listening volume is -20 to -30 depending on content. The issue was my mains. I have a Bay Audio Jam/Bebop 5 channel setup, they couldn't handle the levels, it may have been the amp. I had actually not known that my Marantz seperate has clip lights on it until last night. My tops just seemed to be screaming at me to turn it the f- down. Guess it is a good thing I have 80 sony drivers and 100 onkyo tweets for next building season.

Up next was a piss poor attempt at the 1812 overture. Being lazy I thought I would try the Youtube app on the blu ray. Horrid sounds came from my system. I tried a couple other vids of dubstep and such. Super crappy sound from that app even on some of the cleaner videos I have heard.

Next up was setting up the DLNA server on the computer and bringing some files through the network. The GUI was slow and horrible, to the point of worthless. So I did it through my Xbox, it is unreliable but decided to work for a little while last night. I didn't feel I was missing anything with the music but still wasn't quite what I am used to from that system. But it was enough to show what the THTLP can do. I listened to mainly bass heavy tracks (duh sub test) but it held up fine with kick drums in non bass heavy music. In fact it blended so well in non-in-your-face-bass tracks I had to check that it was even on.

Then I threw in my Dark Side of the Moon, SACD/CD hybrid. Normally I listen to it through Yammy DVD S2300 MKii, which is a sic sounding player and the blu ray took its spot. Basically again the bass was accurate, tight, clean, and impactful. The highs weren't there like I am used too even at lower volumes, the whole system sounded bright. Of course this has nothing to do with the THTLP but I am just mentioning what I heard last night. I think this goes to show that the latest isn't the greatest and a 10 year old well made DVD player can still own up the latest technology. Of course I really would like a Oppo player but $400-500 isn't in the budget at the moment.

Over all I am very pleased with the build. It looks good in its spot, doubles at a behind the couch table and gets the couch off the back wall for an enveloping feel from the rears. It has the WAF even though the its not done, needs trim. In room in the listening spot it actually isn't as loud as the JL loaded one was, but that was corner loaded and its response was all over the charts (although the sub and listening area has changed since then), this one was fairly flat with a mid 50ish hz spike, the JL loaded one had a 50hz dip in its location. The JL was corner loaded this one wasn't. Maybe a second sub (not WAF) or Helmholts resonator tuned to that mid 50ish range may be in order. No plans for this now but you never know in the future. End result is it still sounds better than the JL THT.

Long live the THTLP!

[Tom Smit]

[Dave Non-Zero]

Yay!

[subharmonic]

OMG. I just moved this beast to another spot.

I felt that it was underperforming, so I opened it. I some serious air leaks. Anyway all patched up now. In the new spot. Clean and powerful BUT, I have a dual loaded SERIES cab. Seems a little elementary but just want to check before I do it, can I feed 56 volts through this (28v @ 22hz being a single THT). I mean 20v+ is scary loud already, but I want to see what this will do.

PS my thumb is fully back to normal as of Thursday, the last part of the accident came off.

[Gregory East]

OMG. I just moved this beast to another spot.

I felt that it was underperforming, so I opened it. I some serious air leaks. Anyway all patched up now. In the new spot. Clean and powerful BUT, I have a dual loaded SERIES cab. Seems a little elementary but just want to check before I do it, can I feed 56 volts through this (28v @ 22hz being a single THT). I mean 20v+ is scary loud already, but I want to see what this will do.

PS my thumb is fully back to normal as of Thursday, the last part of the accident came off.

So long as you're dead certain you wired it series.

Almost 8x power going 20v to 56v. Power compression might not have started at 28v. Scary.

[subharmonic]

So long as you're dead certain you wired it series.

I guess I have done dumber stuff in my life but yes they are series. I guess I just for some reason seemed unsure about the dual loading volts even though it should follow suit with the dual loaded pro subs. Just wanted to make sure I wansn't missing anything.

Almost 8x power going 20v to 56v. Power compression might not have started at 28v. Scary.

How does pc affect dual drivers? I mean is the compression from the air column pushing back? Since the power is being split/vd being split to 2 drivers in my understanding I would think that it should be able to go max volts without pc affecting it to much.

BTW the Behringer A500/600 amp can push barely over 30v per channel and 60v bridge mono. Freakin ideal for the THTs IMO (auto on/off would be nice). Now to configure the Behinger 1124

[Gregory East]

It's called power compression as it mimics a compressor with soft knee compression.

Physically I believe it's the heat at higher power levels causing the internal resistance of the voice coil to go higher, hence less output than expected.

[subharmonic]

It's called power compression as it mimics a compressor with soft knee compression.

Physically I believe it's the heat at higher power levels causing the internal resistance of the voice coil to go higher, hence less output than expected.

Perhaps it may not be an issue then since I won't be pushing them to their limit either.

from my A500 manual:

The channel 2 control elements are not used. Attention: To avoid cancellations due to internal phase inversion, the GAIN control on channel 2 must be turned all the way to the left.

Not that I would but will this allow me to control phase of the output too? Also since I have a 11 month old who likes to turn knobs should I tape this down in the off position?

Safety precaution for mono-bridge operation
A voltage of up to 60 V RMS is present between the output connectors of the A500

Perfect. Just need to notch the 22hz frequency a bit and then I can go balls to the walls!

[subharmonic]

holy crap. I just ran a 22hz tone off my laptop soundcard through my receiver (main speaker amp turned off), I was getting a solid 92v at max volume +15db. Guess I will be setting that back to +10db max, got 50v there. Go Behringer!

[subharmonic]

Sorry that was premature. It clips at anything above 67 volts.

[dougc]

Do you have any fishished pics? I'm also interested in following your lead on this build as it looks like it would fit great behind a couch. This version is the same as building what width of two of the standard THTs?

[Gregory East]

One to one, THTLP is a THT with a different folding.

[subharmonic]

One to one, THTLP is a THT with a different folding.

+1

Do you have any fishished pics?

Well I moved it into the house so it is finished, even though I should really trim it. I will try to get some pictures up soon.

I'm also interested in following your lead on this build as it looks like it would fit great behind a couch.

Beware I got much better sound upfiring it in the front corner of the room. Where it resides and looks like a bookshelf.

[dougc]

Always it seems that the best placement is the least pleasing for the eye. Whatev though, right? No, my wife dictates the design so there is more to placement than just the best placement for sound. Just because the nodes don't agree doesn't mean Mary does. Single guys won't understand...