SW-12-16 bass modules with pics

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driguy

SW-12-16 bass modules with pics
« on: 28 Sep 2010, 09:16 pm »




 Open baffle bass was the "Final Frontier" for me. After researching all the ways to do it Danny's servo setup made the most sense. Servos have been around for quite a while (studied them back in college) but the unique implementation made sense to this engineer so I rolled the dice and purchased them.
The implementation is very straightforward on my end. Just had to build the cabinets for the drivers and the amps. Cabinets are 3/4" MDF with a 1/8" layer of resawn African Padauk that I made in my shop.
The sound is what anyone already familiar with open baffles would expect. A very nice, open sound that does not cloud the soundstage due to inaccurate or distorted bass. The soundstage becomes even more open and relaxed. For those not into the open baffle thing, it sounds a lot like replacing a clock in your digital gear or using single ended amps. Very relaxed and natural sounding without the "hi-fi" sound most of us dread.

Tony

corndog71

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Re: SW-12-16 bass modules with pics
« Reply #1 on: 28 Sep 2010, 11:51 pm »
That looks great but shouldn't there be dividers between each driver?

poseidonsvoice

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Re: SW-12-16 bass modules with pics
« Reply #2 on: 28 Sep 2010, 11:56 pm »
Nice job. Can't clearly tell from the picture, but is that an H-frame?

Anand.

dvenardos

Re: SW-12-16 bass modules with pics
« Reply #3 on: 29 Sep 2010, 12:03 am »
edit: answered by OP.
« Last Edit: 30 Sep 2010, 06:23 am by dvenardos »

nickd

Re: SW-12-16 bass modules with pics
« Reply #4 on: 29 Sep 2010, 04:27 am »
Hey Tony,
That is one sweet sub :green:

You are master of the padauk 8)

I didn't think the 380 could run three of them. Does the heat sink do double duty as a space heater :scratch:

Gonna be a nice winter listening late into the cold night at your place.

driguy

Re: SW-12-16 bass modules with pics
« Reply #5 on: 29 Sep 2010, 07:10 am »
Nice job. Can't clearly tell from the picture, but is that an H-frame?

Anand.
Thanks guys. It is an H Frame. The vertical center piece is 1" MDF and the frame extends about 8" on each side. I did not see the need for a separation piece for each driver. None of the plans I saw used it. It sounds pretty good the way it is. I think the bottom and top pieces are important in this case though. It may not be obvious from the picture but what you see is repeated on the other side of the vertical baffle.
The amp heat sinks barely get warm. The room is 28' x 22' x 11'. Remember that the driver area is pretty huge for each side. About the same area as two 15" subs per side so even with low frequency musical signals they do not have to move much at all even in a large room. I have them crossed over at about 80 Hz. Realistically not that much sustained music signal is down that low (I don't listen to techno).
My previous setup was a Bastanis 15" enclosed sub which is a very good musical sub. The new setup however goes lower with lower distortion. Even with some well recorded music that goes nice and low the sound never gets clouded. The subs give me really nice extended bass with seemingly no sweat at all.  In fact that is how I would describe the sound overall. Very at ease with no strain. I have been surprised several times already by some low bass that I had not heard before. Very nice addition to the system.
I only have about 30 hours on them so it will take more time to reach full break in but the sound is killer already. Well worth the effort.
My main baffles are wideband units from Bastanis (2 x 12" per side) with a dipole tweeter. My other gear is as follows:
DAC: 16 x 1543 NOS DAC chips with passive I/V conversion (no Op-Amps)
Northstar transport
Preamp: 26 tube unit made by me with the circuit design by Gary Pimm with some of my own mods.
Amps: Heavily modified LadyDay 300b amps using  Electra-Print partial silver output trannies.
Cables: Digital: Ridge Street Audio.  The rest are VH Audio design silver fabricated by me. Speaker cables: Silver ribbons of my own "design".

Danny Richie

Re: SW-12-16 bass modules with pics
« Reply #6 on: 29 Sep 2010, 04:51 pm »
Get it to playing pretty hard and feel of the enclosures. Feel to see if they are flexing and compare how the sides feel compared to how the top feels (smaller panel).

Based on my experience adding individual braces between each woofer will make the bass more solid. Lining the whole thing with No Rez should also help significantly.