[dpatters]

I would like to start a Perfect Storm thread that can stick to the original intent of Chris's post "Pulled the Trigger on Perfect Storm"

I believe this is a topic that many Vapor Owners are interested in including myself. My room can't handle a larger speaker then the Joule
but I really would love to follow the build and the new system Chris is putting together.  Hopefully the discussion could stay on point this
time. Please...

Thanks,

Don P.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I still want to see HT photos when they're up and running.

[Chrisandalex1]

Beautiful,

Thanks for restarting the thread.

I have actually hired a guy to do a rendering of my room, it is rather complicated, but he does some really cool work.  I hope this will allow us to move forward with putting together the entire package.

[dpatters]

Beautiful,

Thanks for restarting the thread.

I have actually hired a guy to do a rendering of my room, it is rather complicated, but he does some really cool work.  I hope this will allow us to move forward with putting together the entire package.

Chris,

You are welcome.  I would sincerely hope we can keep this thread going and on topic. Thanks for jumping back on board Chris.

Don P.

[Pete Schumacher]

Since this is about Perfect Storm, I think I'll add a bit of history to explain how it got here. 

When we first conceived the idea for Perfect Storm after the original Joule build, all we knew was which tweeter and which woofer we wanted to use.  The best tweeter on the planet mated to the best 15" woofer we could find.  The original idea was to use a pair of the midranges we use on Joule though that option proved problematic for a variety of reasons.

This is one of the early visions for Perfect Storm, before we arrived at the current Joule model with the transmission line.  This drawing was created in August of 2013.



It was going to be a two piece design but this particular layout would not accommodate a TL.  But that wasn't the main reason we shelved this approach.  The stacked ply method for that large cabinet was just too unpredictable and we weren't sure we could pull it off.  So after a while, we scrapped that approach. 

While all this was going on we continued to explore the possibilities of what we could do with the stacked ply construction technique.  Early on Vapor's supplier of the CNC machined parts provided some pretty inconsistent pieces.  They were basically using their CNC wrong but we didn't know it.  That shop moved last year to a new location after the owner passed and they reopened in a new larger building.  The new owner asked us if we'd come in, learn the machine and teach his new staff how to properly use it, and for doing so we'd get use of the machine gratis for a while.  Nice deal!  We were able to really dial the machine in and now we were getting beautiful, clean and consistent parts.  So the idea that we might be able to do something larger seemed possible.  So we scaled up Cirrus and made Derecho, a HUGE jump in the size and scope of a stacked ply cabinet.  It was a proof of concept design mostly to see if a stack like that could be built.  Needless to say, it worked.  This was shown last year at Axpona. 



Right after that, we lost the shop.  They just didn't want to deal with all the sawdust mess cutting all that ply created.  They cut mostly plastic for signage.  And just when we finally started getting consistent pieces!!!  That really put a crimp in our style as well as our schedule.  It took us 4 months of diligent searching to finally find a CNC shop that wanted to cut wood.  It took a while but we finally got that machine dialed in as nicely as the previous one.  So, we're behind, but back on track.  At this point we're also looking at putting up a facility and having to deal with the county bureaucrats who repeatedly drop the ball on permits, etc, so that by the time we get them, it's below freezing.  Great, one more wrench in the machinery.  But enough about that.

We were finalizing Joule and the transmission line, and when we heard what that Audiotech woofer in the transmission line sounded like, we were sold on the idea of replicating that success into Perfect Storm.  But what would it look like?  We didn't initially start with the idea that it would just be a bigger version of Joule.  There was the idea of placing a pair of RAAL 140-15D into a shallow waveguide baffle so that we could pair that directly with a single 8" midrange for example.  There were many approaches evaluated.  Here are a few of the sketches I spent many hours on and thinking about HOW to build them.  You can see the Joule TL in the middle left edge.



In the end, we finally decided to use a modified Derecho cabinet along with a scaled up Joule TL and arrived where we are today.

This is a 2D sketch of what we are currently assembling.  It shows the custom faceplate that ties together the RAAL, the Accuton Cell midrange and the 8" midrange.  There are also some other custom metal pieces that aren't shown, the outrigger feet for one.



I'm excited to be finally building what we spent so much time designing.  All that work is finally coming together in a monster of a speaker!!!

[Bob in St. Louis]

Question Pete, in the last photo, what is the tall vertical chamber behind the woofer at the back of the cabinet?
It's not connected to the rest of the "line".

[Pete Schumacher]

Question Pete, in the last photo, what is the tall vertical chamber behind the woofer at the back of the cabinet?
It's not connected to the rest of the "line".

That's a void to host the crossover components . . . and maybe amplifiers for an active option down the road.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Ahhh "roger that".
Thank you.

[Vapor Audio]

Nice post Pete 

I'll make sure and put you up for a big raise 

[Chrisandalex1]

I like the final design.  It will be big, but I think it will be beautiful.

[BobRex]

This looks really interesting, but is the line long enough to truly be a TL?

[jtwrace]

I like the final design.  It will be big, but I think it will be beautiful.

When do yours arrive?  I look forward to the results. 

[Pete Schumacher]

This looks really interesting, but is the line long enough to truly be a TL?

Good question.  Start to finish, the line is about 76" long and tapered approximately 10:1, occupying a volume of around 6.5 cubic feet.

That puts the line tuning right around 25Hz providing a smooth roll off starting around 30Hz with F10 in the low 20s. 

Line tuning is determined by not only length, but the shape and total volume enclosed by the line.

[Ric Schultz]

Pete,
Looks like a great design.  I don't see a 94db 3 inch Accuton Cell midrange listed anywhere.  Is this a new driver? ........sounds like it would be fast and super clear.....electrostatic like.

[Pete Schumacher]

Pete,
Looks like a great design.  I don't see a 94db 3 inch Accuton Cell midrange listed anywhere.  Is this a new driver? ........sounds like it would be fast and super clear.....electrostatic like.

It is new.  We have the preliminary data sheets on it and of course it looks fantastic.  It's just a smaller version of the C90 Cell mid.  With 2nd order acoustic slopes on the crossovers, the driver overlap reduces the required sensitivity to reach the reference level set by the woofer.  Because the 2" mid will only be covering a range from 800Hz to 2500Hz there will still be significant output from both the 8" mid and the RAAL in the region where the midrange is working allowing the smaller midrange to have up to 3dB lower sensitivity than reference.

Here's an idealized 3-way crossover with 800Hz and 2500Hz crossover points using all 2nd order acoustic slopes.  The black line is reference level set by the woofer.  You can see that the flat summation is provided by the midrange running 2.5dB below reference.  So to meet the 94dB target the cell mid only needs to be 91.5dB at 1500Hz, and according to the data we have a couple dB of margin.  The data shared with us shows a very smooth rising response starting at 400Hz and 91dB (well below where we'll be using it) reaching a peak sensitivity of 94dB at 3500Hz and then gently rolling off above that.  It looks to be supremely easy to work with thanks to no hint of resonance until well out of band.

[dex67]

this looks yummy! when i got my Nimbus, the Joule were becoming the top of the line, now it seems that is the Perfect Storm occupying that pot..so, what's in the works for next year? ...

Ah, as a side note, I purchased an Aaron Millennium 3 amp that sounds even better than the Wells Innamorata...

can't wait to see the pictures of a finished Perfect Storm!

[paul79]

Ah, as a side note, I purchased an Aaron Millennium 3 amp that sounds even better than the Wells Innamorata...

This is VERY interesting...... No kidding????

[beowulf]

this looks yummy! when i got my Nimbus, the Joule were becoming the top of the line, now it seems that is the Perfect Storm occupying that pot..so, what's in the works for next year? ...

Ah, as a side note, I purchased an Aaron Millennium 3 amp that sounds even better than the Wells Innamorata...

can't wait to see the pictures of a finished Perfect Storm!

What type of amp technology are they using Class A, A/B, D etc.

Their "Let's Rock" amp is pretty cool looking

[dex67]

yeap, no kidding....the volume of my preamp doesn't get over 10 o'clock before it gets too loud in my listening room...the Aaron amp makes the paino and the strings sound soo real! great soundstage...it beats the Wells in one area...the height of the soundstage...when I play Mahler 5th, I feel like I'm a in a big concert hall....what a great gem this Millennium 3 amp is!!!

[jriggy]

What type of amp technology are they using Class A, A/B, D etc.

Their "Let's Rock" amp is pretty cool looking

Or gaudy, depending on your tastes or environment it's in...