[mlundy57]

Very nice work Mike. How were you able to get 8 inch drivers? I spoke to Danny a couple of months ago and he didn't have any and he didn't know when he would have them in the future. I'd like to get the 8's.

They were in the 3x8 H-Frames I took to LASF in 2015. After that show I built the dual 12" Wedge bases I took to LASF last year. I prefer the 12's so was willing to sell my 8's for use in this build.

[jimbones]

OK so I am going to use 2x12 in my set up so it sounds like that is preferable to 2x8. I was thinking 2x12 would be overkill and wanted to try a 1x12 but never seen that done before. Keep the pics coming especially the finish work!

[mlundy57]

It's been awhile. Seems like I have been working on these forever. They are finally finished and were delivered to their home on Wednesday. The last two months were spent trying to rub down the poly so it looked good, giving up, sanding the poly back to bare wood, applying 8 coats of the Emtech 6000 water borne lacquer then rubbing that down. Here are some pics of how they turned out.















 

Here is one next to an N3TL to give you an idea of size





Finally I had to pack them up. Due to the weight they had to be crated. I started off by wrapping each cabinet with three moving blankets



Then I stretch wrapped the cabinets to prevent the blankets from sliding




Next came the crates






I lined the crates with 1" foam boards and slid the speaker in




Then I taped the grills to the speakers and built up blocking material out of additional pieces of foam boards to secure the speakers so they couldn't move



Then I laid the crates down, blocked out the top and finished off the packing with a large piece of the 1" board




After that it was just a matter of screwing the tops on, loading the crates in the truck and dropping them off at the shipper. Loading them took a little planning since they weighed 235 pounds each and I had to load them by myself. That lift table has been worth it.

They arrived at the client's home on Wednesday and he wasted no time getting them hooked up. They are being paired with Maggie 3.6s. In addition to the speakers I built him an in-line filter to keep the bottom octave off the Maggies. He emailed me today. He doesn't have them completely dialed in yet but is loving what he hears. In addition to the bass, filtering out the low frequencies is allowing the Maggies to sound better than ever while drawing considerably less current than before.

Definitely another open baffle bass convert.

Mike

[poseidonsvoice]

Mike,

Although I am impressed with your triple 8 inch sub build on its own, I am even more impressed with your packing skills. I sincerely hope the new client paid you for that because that is white glove treatment door to door! Some manufacturers should consult you on this!

Stupendous work!

Reminds me of packing my sub for the new owner, it has to go via DHL and carried out like heirloom furniture. There is no other way.

Best,
Anand.

[THROWBACK]

Gorgeous work all around, Mike. Wow! I bet they sound great too.
Chuck

[ebag4]

Great work Mike, all the way through packing, outstanding.  Thanks for sharing.

Best,
Ed

[S Clark]

Great work, Mike. Over the years I've watched your work, you've gotten more and more professional.  I'm very impressed. 

[bdp24]

Now THAT'S the way to do things---correctly! Excellent work, my man.

[Odal3]

Looks great. 

[mlundy57]

Thanks all.

Yes the client paid for the packing. The crates, packing material and shipping from Tulsa to Florida came to $855.

They do sound very good. The drivers sound a lot better in this cabinet than they did in the smaller H-Frame that I used under the Wedgies. That's because the wells for each driver were 2" deeper on these cabinets. The deeper wells (8" vs 6") allow these speakers to play lower and louder than they did before. Danny designed the 6" depth for use with the Wedgies which crossed at 200Hz. The higher the crossover point, the shallower the driver cavity need to be. These speakers are being paired with Maggie 3.6's and will be crossed over is in the 60-80Hz region. This meant the driver wells could be deeper which allowed for the improved low end performance.

However, unless I can come up with a way to safely handle and easily maneuver large heavy objects this will be the last pair of speakers I build that are this big and heavy. I was able to handle them fine during the construction but once I started applying the veneer they became a lot harder to deal with since I now had to be careful not to damage the veneer and later on the finish. It takes two people, or special material handling equipment, to handle cabinets this size safely and easily. I don't have either.

Mike

[bdp24]

I guess the client buys the idea that a smaller woofer (8" instead of 12" GR driver) is "faster" than a larger one. A lot of panel owners hold that opinion, but as Danny Richie has pointed out numerous times, while that may have some validity in the case of "normal" woofers/subs, the OB/Dipole Sub is anything but normal! It may be that he is costing himself the extra output and perhaps lower frequency range that two or three of the 12" woofers would have given him. Anyone heard both the 8" and 12" version?

[mlundy57]

In this case it was an issue of physical space. The cabinets for 12" drivers are 4" wider than ones for 8" drivers. While his room is good size, the layout of the wall his system is on is tight to a window on the right and a doorway on the left. The additional 8" of space would have the left speaker part way into the doorway and they didn't want to have to walk around it everytime the entered or left the living room.

While daual 12's do have more output and presence, these 8's are so much more than what he has had with the Maggies that he is extremely pleased. It was a tradeoff, the best bass he could get while still fitting into the space available.

I've had both the triple 8's and dual 12's. I prefer the dual 12's as long as you have the room for them.

Mike

[bdp24]

Thanks for the explanation Mike, that makes perfect sense. Planars (whether magnetic-planar, ESL, or ribbon) and OB/Dipole Subs---my kinda speaker!

[emailtim]

Great build.  Has your customer posted any feedback on the integration with his 3.6's ?

Also, why is s/he crossing over @ 60-80Hz.  The 3.6's should go to @ 35Hz.

TIA

[mlundy57]

Great build.  Has your customer posted any feedback on the integration with his 3.6's ?

Also, why is s/he crossing over @ 60-80Hz.  The 3.6's should go to @ 35Hz.

TIA

He loves them.

While the 3.6's go down to 35Hz, they are pretty thin below 60-80Hz. Also, using the in-line filter to keep the 3.6's from having to deal with the lower frequencies allows them to play the frequencies they play well louder and cleaner and reduces their power consumption. He says they barely even twitch the needle on his power amps any more.

Crossing them over higher allows each speaker, the sub and the 3.6, to do what it does best. The result is a seamless, balanced, effortless sound from 20Hz up.

Mike

[emailtim]

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