Of Devs, Martys and other things that go Thump-Thump-Thump

[ryanosaur]

This is a story of a boy, who like many other boys, enjoys BASS.
And wants more of it.


(Still cursing @Pogre for triggering me.)



Alas, I figured this would be a good place to detail the research I engage in and open a place to chat more about it. Ultimately, this will yield a build thread or two in the DIY Corner.

Now It's already come up that I have two capable subs in the Outlaw X-13s. And this is true. I want to make clear that these are fabulous subs and I am in no way displeased with what they give, now about 2.5yrs into my time with them. I am not firing these guys. If things work out through DIY, the X-13s will find a new home in the Great Room where a lowly 10" HTIB Sub previously sat in a corner. Perhaps these end up integrating well into a system I build, and I keep the X-13s and add to them...
At the end of the day, I am open to this adventure and will pursue what makes the most sense.

And I use that word, "sense," lightly... as any perusal of some peoples listening rooms or theaters will often reveal more subwoofer than wall.

My ultimate goal is to find a solution to reach a very strong 15Hz. I enjoy Pipe Organ and and some Manufactured Music that digs deep to the infrasonic range. Of course, my occasional HT will benefit strongly from this pursuit as well.

I will add to this as I can and gladly welcome discussion as I go forward!

Cheers!

 

[ryanosaur]

Direct Radiators

This is, more or less, the easy one. We all, pretty much know these Subs as they are our common choices in the OEM and ID market. All the common Subs we normally recommend are in this category, and will include the Marty Subs as well.

***More to come

 

[ryanosaur]

Devastators

Oh my, this has been an interesting and educational distraction. To say I'm not tempted to just go ahead with one or two of these would be a lie.

For those not familiar, they are best described as a Hybrid Box utilizing high order BandPass and Horn loading. I am not going to pretend that I fully understand the intricacies here. There was an interesting "discussion" between a couple of the folk in the Dev Index Thread about this.

In the end, these are High Output monsters that share one thing in common: they use almost exclusively Pro Drivers with only one or two exceptions. High Power Amps and DSP are required to run these as the 21" Drivers will all take about 1000w or more to reach their potential.

The Sound Quality from these is described as very clean and potent, and every testimonial I read indicates that it took a little time to get used to the sound as they are different from the standard fare Direct Radiators. Along with the sheer output capability of these come some interesting adjectives to describe the BASS: Agressive, Violent, Abusive, etc.

***More to come

 

[ryanosaur]

***reserved

 

[Pogre]

Woo hoo! A Ryan sub build thread! You know, I can totally understand why you'd want to pursue this. Seems totally logical and reasonable to me.

If it makes you feel any better, you're very likely gonna end up triggering me right back...

Looking forward to good learning experience! Go Ryan!

 

[shadyJ]

If it were me, I would make it simple and get a bunch of 15" sealed subs. The reason is they would be a lot easier to work with than gigantic ported enclosures. 18" drivers necessarily make the enclosure so heavy as well even in a sealed box. 15"s are the sweet spot; lots of output and low resonant frequency yet the boxes can be handled by a single person.

I would look into maybe getting four of these puppies. Stereo Integrity has the HST-15s as well, but those will weigh an absolute ton and you will need to build support braces just for the motor, so I would do your back a favor and skip the HSTs. You could drive a quad crew of those SQL drivers with a couple of these Crown amps and then make a DSP filter in the amp to shelf the mid-bass response until you get a flat response down to 15H in-room.

Alternately, this new Dayton driver looks like another good solution for chasing after low frequencies in a sealed 15" box.

One driver I have long had my eye on for a project like this is the Dayton RS HF 15". It won't move as much air as the other two but it is very linear and should give you a nice flat response in the appropriatly sized enclosure. It has beautifully low Le as well as a nice low Fs. It doesn't need a ton of power. A bunch of those in sealed enclosures placed around the room should net a nicely flat response. Power those with a rack of these amps.

One thing that would make your target response much easier to achieve in a system like this is something with Dirac's Bass Control software, which allows it to independently calibrate each sub for your overall target response. However, it's easy enough to do manually as well.

 

[Pogre]

Stereo Integrity has the HST-15s as well, but those will weigh an absolute ton and you will need to build support braces just for the motor, so I would do your back a favor and skip the HSTs.

Good lord Shady, that thing is a beast!!

You'd need a hydraulic floor jack just to get it into the box!

 

[snakeeyes]

What else is in the great room with that little 10? Maybe park one of the x13 in there temporarily until you do the build.

 

[ryanosaur]

Good lord Shady, that thing is a beast!!

View attachment 46753

You'd need a hydraulic floor jack just to get it into the box!

Don't wuss out! You know you want that. <3

 

[MalVeauX]

I think for going absolutely nuts for anything like this, instead of trying to work it into your actual living space of your home, this is where you lay a concrete pad down, put up a large steel building and then finish the inside. You can build wall|gap|wall and sound proof it and do infinite baffle subs and run wires everywhere in the walls and have a slick setup. Basically a stand-alone theater room. Put two 20A breakers on it or whatever suits your needs.

Hrm....

Very best,

 

[ryanosaur]

I think for going absolutely nuts for anything like this, instead of trying to work it into your actual living space of your home, this is where you lay a concrete pad down, put up a large steel building and then finish the inside. You can build wall|gap|wall and sound proof it and do infinite baffle subs and run wires everywhere in the walls and have a slick setup. Basically a stand-alone theater room. Put two 20A breakers on it or whatever suits your needs.

Hrm....

Very best,

You think I haven't fantasized about that? 14'H x19'Wx27'D is a golden ratio room size I like. Plenty of room for a 9.20.8 rig!
And the lady would never complain...

Until the bill comes due.

 

[ryanosaur]

@shadyJ

But, DAD?!!!

I hadn't seen that new Dayton Driver. Thanks for sharing.

Now... Don't steal my thunder!

(Ok... if anybody around here gets to steal thunder, perhaps, maybe... it's you. )

...And many of your points are not lost on me, nor will they necessarily be ignored. Promise.

 

[MalVeauX]

You think I haven't fantasized about that? 14'H x19'Wx27'D is a golden ratio room size I like. Plenty of room for a 9.20.8 rig!
And the lady would never complain...

Until the bill comes due.

I would do it right now, I have plenty of property and can do what I want on it. I'd totally throw down a big 30 foot pad and get a steel building put up on it with a lean-to (screened in) porch on the side. Then wall-gap-wall it on the inside and finish it with an AC, dry wall and all that. Little stand alone theater. The only reason I haven't done it yet is simply the cost of the finishing materials right now. I could put a pad & build up for little cost, but the timber and drywall and all that for the inside to finish it is crazy expensive right now and hard to get.

Very best,

 

[Pogre]

Don't wuss out! You know you want that. <3

Okay, okay... maybe I got a teensy bit excited when I saw that huge motor, almost bigger than the cone and basket assembly, and a cone with a surround on it that looks like it could double for a tire in a pinch. Maybe...

 

[shadyJ]

Don't wuss out! You know you want that. <3

Drivers like that are always really cool...

Until you have to lift it up and carry it!

 

[ryanosaur]

Drivers like that are always really cool...

Until you have to lift it up and carry it!

When the Dust Cap comes screen printed with the Team Lift icon...

 

[Russdawg1]

Go with one of the more exotic devastator builds. The ones that are ridiculously large, tuned ridiculously low, and still produce a ridiculous amount of bass everywhere.

Your best bet of integrating a devastator into your system will require two different subs. Either a ULF sealed/LLT sub with a higher tuned devastator, or a low tuned devastator and a midbass sub like a VBSS or something similar.

Shady’s idea of a crap load of sealed would work too, but that’s not as fun!

 

[ryanosaur]

Go with one of the more exotic devastator builds. The ones that are ridiculously large, tuned ridiculously low, and still produce a ridiculous amount of bass everywhere.

Your best bet of integrating a devastator into your system will require two different subs. Either a ULF sealed/LLT sub with a higher tuned devastator, or a low tuned devastator and a midbass sub like a VBSS or something similar.

Shady’s idea of a crap load of sealed would work too, but that’s not as fun!

You popped into the Dev Index Thread... did you build? You still have the Marty? Spill the details!!!

 

[Russdawg1]

You popped into the Dev Index Thread... did you build? You still have the Marty? Spill the details!!!

Finished cutting for it, then I ran into some problems, then covid hit, and it looks like I won’t get into the woodshop for an appreciable amount of time to finish it. Unfortunate.

I had the Red Five, the maestro of that thread custom model me two, a ULF and a MBM to work together.

Sucks that I won’t finish it. But I believe in your journey!

 

[NINaudio]

I'd love to have multiple sealed UM-18's. With just the one it's flat to 16 Hz in room and even the output from just one is impressive (to me at least).