Guess I'll say hey!

[sine143]

Hey guys... I'm fairly new to the forums, but I've been trying to learn as much as I can. I just *finished* my first tuba 30 (still needs duratex), and plan on building another one for houseparties/sound reinforcement. I guess I made a couple mistakes in the first build (driver choice DOH), but overall it went very smoothly. My roommates and I started the weekend before last, and *finished* it last weekend, with little to no work during the week. We are still deciding what tops to build (any input guys????), but hopefully we will start/finish those and the other tuba around spring break time, mid march. The tops we have now are less than desirable (cant even tell you who makes them. 2 way, loaded with a 12 inch eminence driver of some type. 150 watts 8 ohms).

Anyways, here's a pic of the first tuba, had a little trouble initially, but now its shaking the walls reallll nicely.

[David Carter]

Looking good!

[Zack Brock]

Yes, looks good. Welcome to BFM!

You mentioned house parties... how many people?

[sine143]

eh, at this point, god knows how many people. Its still in the networking phases.

We'll be throwing a little outdoorsish party next weekend (hope to have 2 tubas by then) for around 100-200 (EDIT: looks like 300-400 people.... jeez idk how they are going to fit hahaha) people, maybe more if things get out of hand. We will probably be a little weak on the sound side, but these will make a great addition to the setup that was run at this same party, the 5 or 6 times we've done it so far.

That being said, I have to figure out where the hell I'm going to put the tubas. Its a really wierd area. Maybe I'll make a drawing of it, or google sketchup when I go get the actual dimensions tommorrow.

We also are in negotiations with a local club/bar. They have a monthly that could use some help on the sound side of things. Its somewhat like amateur night, but it usually has pretty good turnout and a decent amount of talent (myself included hehehe) Theyve only got enough equipment right now to run one of their rooms at a time (they have 2), so after we finish the 2nd tuba, and some omnitops (or whatever top we decide to build... HALP) we will be ready to enter real negotiations.

[DJPhatman]

sine143 is a college student. But (s)he needs to fill out a location in the profile, so if anyone close by would like to drop by for a listen, or say hello, or drink a few, etc.

[sine143]

Guilty as charged. Although I assume I'm not the only one here! I attend NC State as an engineering undergrad.

[sine143]

alright, we just gave it its first test at war volume (yes, we jumped the gun before having 2).

Setup was the 2 above mentioned tops (150w 8 ohm each) run parallel on one channel, and 1 tuba 30 on the other channel, being driven by a crown xti 2000 (hipass at 35hz, 48db butter, and lowpass at 100 24 db buttersworth).

The room was a semi circle shaped lounge type area. Radius of the semicircle was ~25-30 feet, with the outer circumference being made up of mostly windows. We wall loaded the single tuba in the middle of the back wall, and placed the tops on either side, 11ms delay on the tops (we think this is around right.....)

We ran mono sum (controlled each channels volume from withen the System Architect on the amp). Essentially we ran the amp at near max on both channels, (brought the tops down a bunch because they cant handel equivalent power when compared to the sub). Channel one (bass) was ~ 7-10db below clip for the majority, and the tops were far below that.

Overall I was very satisfied. It was the most bass I've had at my fingertips. Ever. However, I am definitely ready for the 2nd one, and the chance to get the eq dialed in where I want it (no eq on this run other than my 3 band eq on the mixer). I felt that the tuba performed very well for basslines, and sweeps, but I want a *little* more from the kicks (couldnt feel them in my chest). I know, I know.... thats what the titan is good for... Couple DnB and dubstep tracks near made me piss myself. But I still want more. I want more.

As a side note. God those tops are shit. I could hear them distorting to all hell.

I know I need to measure with a voltmeter, but does it sound like we are operating the sub at a safe level? Delta12lf is rated at 500 watts, the xti can put out 450 at 8 ohms to a channel, and we were operating at a bit below clip (5-10 db). I know that we could still blow the driver (read that thread/plans), but does this seem like a decent place to run it at, or should we turn down?

[jcmbowman]

alright, we just gave it its first test at war volume (yes, we jumped the gun before having 2).

Setup was the 2 above mentioned tops (150w 8 ohm each) run parallel on one channel, and 1 tuba 30 on the other channel, being driven by a crown xti 2000 (hipass at 35hz, 48db butter, and lowpass at 100 24 db buttersworth).

The room was a semi circle shaped lounge type area. Radius of the semicircle was ~25-30 feet, with the outer circumference being made up of mostly windows. We wall loaded the single tuba in the middle of the back wall, and placed the tops on either side, 11ms delay on the tops (we think this is around right.....)

We ran mono sum (controlled each channels volume from withen the System Architect on the amp). Essentially we ran the amp at near max on both channels, (brought the tops down a bunch because they cant handel equivalent power when compared to the sub). Channel one (bass) was ~ 7-10db below clip for the majority, and the tops were far below that.

Overall I was very satisfied. It was the most bass I've had at my fingertips. Ever. However, I am definitely ready for the 2nd one, and the chance to get the eq dialed in where I want it (no eq on this run other than my 3 band eq on the mixer). I felt that the tuba performed very well for basslines, and sweeps, but I want a *little* more from the kicks (couldnt feel them in my chest). I know, I know.... thats what the titan is good for... Couple DnB and dubstep tracks near made me piss myself. But I still want more. I want more.

As a side note. God those tops are shit. I could hear them distorting to all hell.

I know I need to measure with a voltmeter, but does it sound like we are operating the sub at a safe level? Delta12lf is rated at 500 watts, the xti can put out 450 at 8 ohms to a channel, and we were operating at a bit below clip (5-10 db). I know that we could still blow the driver (read that thread/plans), but does this seem like a decent place to run it at, or should we turn down?

Glad you're happy with the result.

It sounds like you're running it fairly safely. Something you may not have noticed from the plans:

The air mass of the horn adds approximately 2ohms of acoustic impedance to the driver’s nominal 8 ohm impedance, resulting in a nominal 10 ohm load

So in actuality your amp isn't even putting the 475 watts it's rated for at 8 ohms (I checked the specs - 450 didn't sound right) into that sub. Probably closer to 425 or 400. Obviously it would be better to put a limiter on it, but if you use the built-in limiter on the XTi and set it to the -3dB setting you can feel a bit safer pushing the amp since the most it will output should be around 200 watts. I wouldn't put a whole lot more than that into that sub without having a brickwall limiter in place.

You're an engineering student, right? you should be able to get your hands on a good voltmeter without a problem...

As far as your tops - sounds like it's time to build more speakers.

[sine143]

As far as a multimeter goes, I've got a fluke lined up for next week

We will be powerbuilding the next tuba this weekend, along with a V couple. I'm so ready for that volume increase.

Well... Time to write a political science paper

[Zack Brock]

(...) We are still deciding what tops to build (any input guys????), (...) The tops we have now are less than desirable (cant even tell you who makes them. 2 way, loaded with a 12 inch eminence driver of some type. 150 watts 8 ohms).

You know, if you take out that 12" Eminence driver, you may find that it is a speaker suitable for an OmniTop 12! If so, that would be my suggestion. Easy build, AWESOME sound.

[sine143]

Hmmm. I sure hope so, but who knows. They are actually at a friends house (the place where we tested), so maybe I'll get him to look at them/bring one of them over this weekend. Wow. I really hope thats a possibility.

[sine143]

alright. second tuba enclosure is done (well, the second side isnt on yet, but we leave that off to make sure the driver fits/gets wired right).

Now I'm just waiting for my driver from Leland! Hope it gets here before friday, so we can bring down the house on Saturday!

In light of that, I'll probably post a little diagram of the space we will be in, to get some opinions on speaker placement.

[sine143]

heres a pic of one of my roomates with the horn during construction. Yes, we are in our living room (all cuts were made on the porch though) .

[Austin]

hi welcome to the forum.

[sine143]

Well guys, Finished the 2nd one, and gave them their first gig last weekend. It was very successful!

I'll open up those tops sometime this month. Sure hope they have something useable in them. Eyeballing it.... I cant really take a stab at what driver it is. 150w 8 ohms, 12 inches, but it has EMINENCE printed on the cone itself, which doesnt seem to be the case now days.