36 wide t48 castors and handle mod

[hilo4noff]

While I'm working on my dr200's I've been thinking about the t48 construction to begin in a month or so. After seeing the difference in response from a narrow cabinet to the full 36" width, I'm sold on the full width. Now considering that most doors are not 36 inches wide, after looking at the plans it seems that the logical alteration would be to put the castors on the 24 inch wide side and then build two simple 90 degree corners to install one inside the woofer chamber and on outside of the woofer chamber behind it. The only tricky part would be to make sure that the speakers are mirror images of each other instead of identical. That way they'd roll through any doorway, and then maneuver them into the desired v plate location and lay em down.

My only question would be... Would there be any detrimental performance effect on adding them two little 90 degree handle recesses in the top side corner? Even if one went with the 45 degree board in there instead of the two pockets with a grab bar the only complicated cut would be on the woofer enclosure back board.

Has anyone done this?

With 35 inches woofer space, it wouldn't hinder the speakers removal or install space in the least.

[el_ingeniero]

Just use a hand truck & ratchet strap, less money & time to build, easier to move.

[jswingchun]

Just use a hand truck & ratchet strap, less money & time to build, easier to move.

You also get the advantage of the giant wheels on the hand truck as opposed to the tiny wheels on the casters.

[hilo4noff]

(long answer) Easy way? Nope not me, and i'm gonna build my own speakers and not the easy one's either I'll build the drs and giant titans with chrome handles and when people see me wielding my giant American titan bringers of incontinence they'll hold the door for me as I pass because everyone respects the guy with his hands full working hard to set up the gig. . (Role the God bless America song here) America was built not on one upping the competition but by crushing it, 4 titans, two trips that's my motto, well that and the fact that 2 dollies in the van take up quite a bit of space and are heavy themselves so I'm not all that American.

(Short answer) No! Tiny castors? My wife says that 4" castors are huge, way beyond what's needed!

[Bruce Weldy]

Gonna' be hard to lay 'em flat on their sides and v-plate with casters on the side.....especially with the 4 of 'em you mentioned.

[hilo4noff]

I don't know... the castor, although the bigger ones still only protrude past the side cab plane what maybe an inch? And they'd all be on the bottom of the speakers positioned in the stack. (Mirrors of each other in pairs). So hypothetically the finished edge on the opposite side could remain exactly the way it is now or if not maybe a slight 45 notch to accommodate the wheels of the cab above in the stack. That entanglement would serve as one alignment of the stack and then farther up towards the handle on the cabinet sides have a couple of 1 inch rubber feet that would fit into a pair of identical recesses in the lower cabinet. Do them all the same and those feet should do well to keep them in place as the wheels will only stop them from moving forward or back. Even that though is a non issue if they're v plated. as the wheels then are at a 45 degree angle to each other on opposite sides of the stack.

Then another idea to solve a problem is to install something like a handicap tub handles (but nicer), if through bolted to the top of the cabinet and centered provides a place for a retractable support for the smallest gigs where only one bin is needed. Something mechanical like the retractable batons the cops have or even simple piece of all thread with a rubber foot on the that telescopes when you push a button or just screws out of the handle.

With the dr's I'll always need at least a single titan, for most shows two should do, and when I need to use all four at least that stack is a discouraging 6 feet tall (for all potential climbers). Well except for those perfectly positioned rungs on the sides... will have to think more on that!

Starting from scratch and not trying to incorporate old "stuff" is a nice luxury for once. Imagining how to make it all work and then incorporating that into the plans is the hard part. Physically building the speakers seems to be the easy part (with patience of course)

Anyway this is the direction that I'm kind of thinking. What got me going on this actually was my participation in the torq idea scale. It's a dj program and the idea scale is how they get feedback on what to integrate into future updates. Well everyone on there is relegated to them never listening and has defaulted to just asking for better media monkey integration. (An id3 tag editor for windows) The reason they have to ask for it is that they know that Avid the company behind the torq program will never provide such a needed tool for anyone mixing music. My question then becomes, if they aren't going to make the screw driver you need why bother with their products at all. It turns out that they have made some pretty big incorporations into "the new version" but still lacking the basic of basic library management tools for djs.

So with my speakers I don't have to make do or make fit, they're mine and the little things that will make them perfect are within my ability to create. if everything in life was so simple to change...

[Gregory East]

I appreciate what you want to get out of the exercise but one hand truck is not going to bust your transport space surely?

Other idea would be a V with wheels that strapped on and a similar strap on handle.

[hilo4noff]

Honestly I think my 36 wide titans busted my transport space.

Well all four of them at once sure will. But that got me thinking about the exercise of continually loading and unloading any van and kind of has me leaning toward finding a ramp type small cargo trailer so I can just leave the stuff in there and put it in the garage safe and sound between gigs. It's not like sound equipment has to have the heaviest duty trailer... it's all air.

Lots to consider!

[Bruce Weldy]

Honestly I think my 36 wide titans busted my transport space.

Well all four of them at once sure will. But that got me thinking about the exercise of continually loading and unloading any van and kind of has me leaning toward finding a ramp type small cargo trailer so I can just leave the stuff in there and put it in the garage safe and sound between gigs. It's not like sound equipment has to have the heaviest duty trailer... it's all air.

Lots to consider!

No question that a trailer makes life way easier. Nothing better than packing up after a gig and knowing that you don't have to unpack it when you get home.

[Ken Lustgarten]

IMHO if you want to make such a big statement why are you building puny DR200's? (BTW my mains are DR200's and I love them) 4 or more 36" T48's and 4 or more DR280's would make that statement and as you say crush the competition not merely one up them. Having said that these cabs put out more then you probably realize. Since you are starting out with 4 why not build a 24" pair and a 36" pair. At 5' tall the stack will still be intimidating and I think you will be glad to have the 24" pair after you cart them around for a while. For moving the big ones my vote is for a hand cart and a strap or better yet roadies

[hilo4noff]

The dr decision is done, 60% constructed, ready to order piezos. The titans though are a considerable amount of time and material investment, so even though I'm initially constructing 4 only 2 will get their drivers and x-overs for now. When I need more later, It will just be a matter of spending the money on drivers. Shipping can be rushed but construction can't. You've got a point about the two different sizes though.

Honestly with what I'm doing I suspect that most of the time I'll be using 2 of the drs and maybe two titans or even one titan, for playing receptions and the cheese music those events entail. The quality is more important to me than bone shattering bass because the quality gets business card requests. That's actually why I wanted to get the most from the titans, if one will do... who in the hell wants to drag a 6 foot stack of v plated titans to every single show!

But they will come in handy doing pro bono type benefit fundraiser events and such that will get me the paying customers. Here's where impressive sized stacks and the drs in line arrays count.

Sorry, getting a little off topic here, is there a business model section on the forum?

Thanks for everyone's input.

[Bruce Weldy]

The titans though are a considerable amount of time and material investment, so even though I'm initially constructing 4 only 2 will get their drivers and x-overs for now.

Not sure if this sentence means that 2 DRs will get crossovers or 2 Titans.....if it's Titans, you have a problem in your plan.

May just be how I'm reading the sentence.

[hilo4noff]

sorry, I'm still in dr mode remember

[Bruce Weldy]

sorry, I'm still in dr mode remember

Wasn't sure the way it was worded. Just wanted to make sure that you weren't going to use passive x-overs with the subs.

[Ken Lustgarten]

Almost 2 years ago when I first made the decision to build BFM cads I had my mind made up on DR250's and T48's. I had even purchased the drivers. In time I decided to scale things back. I have 6 DR200's a pair of T39's and another pair under construction. It is downright amazing the amount of sound that these cabs put out. I think you will be very surprised. Overbuilding seems to be most peoples first reaction, and it was mine. Really analyze your needs especially the kind/size of gig that you will do most often and build so that you can do it easily in terms of transportation and setup. With the subs I strongly recommend 1 pair smaller then 36" wide. Even though 1 may do for a small gig some rooms small ones in particular have cancellations and pose some problems. It may take 2 subs in different locations in order to get good sound. This becomes hard to accomplish when you only have 36" subs in your arsenal. If you suspect 1 or 2 subs will do for the majority of your gigs do yourself and your back a favor and build 1 pair at 24". Make some cardboard mockups and you will see what I mean.