Half Scott.............Bass Brother(RCF clone)

Since reading Not's thread on the LG clones I have asked Sanway what other equipment do they sell. SO they told me they clone just about everything they sell and you can buy separate speakers from them such as 6.5's or 10s, 12's and 15's. SO I was able to get some T/S info from them in regards to a pair of Matin F15 clones and they seemed to simulate just fine for me. They are no AE's or anything but at $79 each I am willing to live with only 5mm xmax.

SO after deciding to build a "Half Scott," 3 way with dual 15's each. I began to simulate the clone drivers and save my coins to start my project. I still have to save up and buy the minidsp, AVR and other components of the 3way but wanted to tell others about the clone drivers.

After speaking to Sanway about purchasing four 15's from them they also suggested the RCF clones that they had. They are $82 each but they dont have the T/S available yet. Sanway insisted that the RCF cloned speakers are better in all areas then the F15 so I wanted ti try. SO instead of buying four F15's I bought two RCF clone 15s and the WT3 software from PE..

I have received the WT3 software and should receive the woofers by Monday next week. Once I receive the woofers I will use the software to get accurate T/S and other numbers I am sure others will find useful.

If others have any questions in regards to these woofers feel free to ask.

And Scott feel free to add pictures......lol

Some how something went wrong with the shipping and Sanway got them back. I never received them yet. The shipping was about 150 dollars for shipping to Australia. I am waiting for todays update and will have another reply.

Well after some issues with shipping for some reasons I finally have a tracking number and my pair of 15's are on there way. I will probably get these woofers next Thursday, I hope. Then I will test them with my software.

After much delay the 15's finally got here. I was trying to start my cabinet build already but the local store here did not have any 18mm MDF. :crying: I was bummed.

I will be going out today to look at another location to get the mdf.

First glance at the box from the post man and I wonder how do these things even make it intact anywhere. :scratch: Wife said they just dropped the box in the living room for her.

The boxes were packed......ok. One of the dust caps has a dent in it but thats about all.

I am free air testing the drivers at 20hz to guestimate the Xmax.(thanks Ricci) I seem to be hearing a rub of the rubber gasket against the surround when doing so. When I place my hand on the gasket the sound goes away. IDK I will be most likely taking the gaskets off anyways.

The pair of these woofers will be going in a 3cuft ported cabinet tuned to 42hz roughly.

Here are some pics of the package and me unpacking. The other woofer has no dents and sounds fine.
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I think if you live in the USA there are so many choices that why bother with the clones. I always have to pay about 125 or such for shipping on any 15 I get so I wanted to try these.

SO far I do.....after sending 20hz sine wave through the driver to try and find Xmax I am thinking it looks like about 12-14mm. So I am guestimating about 6mm for Xmax. This weekend I should get the cabinetes built.

Scott I asked Ricci but I will ask you. On the port .....woud a 19mm roundover be enough?

I saw the subwooferbuilder website or whatever it is called and he mentioned trying to use a bigger one like a 25 or 32mm roundover. Those are about 125 dollars each so thats not happening. Although maybe I should look at one anyways with the saving I am making.

I also still have to pull the dent out of the dust cap.

I will just be stacking mdf scraps and cutting out 6" circles. Then with the cicles about 1" thick and the back baffle being 1.5" thick I will roundover the rear baffle. It only needs to be 10" I think so pretty easy and cheap with the scraps.

So it will just be a 6" port 10" long.

Well so far it seems like something always keeps getting in the way of progress.

I just received my minidsp last week and finally got it unboxed. But need to go get a walwart to power it up. Have to finish the cabinet for the PHL and finally got the TPL's. Wow these things are heavy. Not super heavy I just was not expecting the weight.


SO hopefully in the next week I will at least have a finished 3 way speaker. SO far the 15's are being used like a subwoofer. They sound alright but probably need a lot of EQ. And they need a Hpass also. They at times make a weird suspension or turbulence noise when they have to move a lot and quickly. But 95% of the time they sound fine. So I will past no judgement yet.

Hahaha.....sorry. I have had the 3 cabinets for a little while but dont have any preouts on my AVR. So I have to save for that.

I am trying to get my Minidsp working but seem to not have 12Vdc going to it properly. Once I have the minidsp working I will just be using my computer and its L/R outs for preouts. I still have to buy either a Fp10Q or a few Crest Pro lites 2.0 or 3.0s.

Right now I only have a 500hz manual Hpass on the TPL-150. I just wanted to hear them for the first time. I listened to the TPL and my SLA together with the SLA down -6dbs. It sounded pretty good but clearly needed to finish my Minidsp so I can cross at 1600 or so. The 10" PHL is in only .25cuft. The cabinet is roughly 2/3 solid 18mm mdf. The outside is 12mm Pine.

I have played my PHL and TPL together off of my receiver and the SLA sounds like I dont have any highs in it when comparing the sound.. The only way I have gotten to listen to the whole setup was with the AVR powering the mid and high and the sub preout for the dual 15's. So with the AVR sub out crossed at 200hz it all sounded pretty good. Simulation wise it said these 15's wont be able to do much below the tuning(42hz). But after watching a few movies with no Hpass on the dual 15 it shook the room just fine and I never heard any complaints. And I still have to build the other dual 15 cabinet for the other channel. This WAS before any Audyssey EQ also. So who knows.

My room was a huge mess with the dual 15 cabinet in the middle of my room for a while and the dual 21's in their boxes on the floor in the room also. I told the wifey I would have the room cleaned up so I just made some quick cabinets for the 21's I then just moved everything into place for now.

I am looking for my port pictures and cant find them yet. I will find them and upload them soon. I bought a 25mm/1" roundover. for this project also. I rounded over the dual 15 cabinet and the entry and exit for the port. In the picture you can see on the 21" cabinet the top right is where my flush bit guide bearing disappeared. It was an old bit but was doing fine. At least I thought. I am making grilles for the L/R 21' cabinets. The grilles will be 2" thick and have a metal grille material I have leftover from another subwoofer project. Plus I will be adding some foam flooring material I have also just in case the woofer were to hit the grille. But the woofer would have to explode if it did.. So the grille will be foam with a metal grille on top of that. Then black fabric to cover everything. Just a simple cheap Spotlight/ Joan Fabric material.

The dual 15 cabinet will get some very similar for the grille also. I wont be adding the flooring material though. Not sure if i want to try out the 18sound 15 LW14001 or not. They are double the price of these clone 15's but would smash them also. Very tempting.

But for now I have to save up and buy:
1. Clone Fp14000
2. AVR Sherwood 972 or the Denon 3312
4. Fp10Q x 2 or Crest Pro lite 2.0/3.0. Less wattage but i know they will work.
5. Then build center channel CBT.
6. Then a motorized drop down screen and projector
When all that is done I will then replace my SLA's with simple 2ways with the TPL and PHL drivers.So this will be a while before completion. I dont have the money that a lot of users here do. I am still paying off the TPL's.

But there is a bit of an update for ya. Brother

Ya .....quite a ways to go yet. Getting there very slowly.

Dont forget I also have four children from 4-13yo. So everything takes time. But thanks for the kind words.
I had to cut them out because they would not have fit in my cabinet. And after this fun project I am not working with MDF any more.Only Plywood. It is 3x's as expensive here but at least I dont have the stuff all over me.
Edited by chrapladm - 9/27/12 at 10:22am

Money always being short I just use MDF 99% of the time. But always hate working with the stuff. But my next future projects all require plywood so I think I will just stick with that. I have a few horn projects and BFM DR200's to build.

Still dont have my Minidsp working yet but the TPL/PHL are night and day compared to my SLA. I know they should but was amazed at how good the SLA was when I first listened to them. I started this project because this was to hold me off from building my " Never building another speaker again," system. That was a 3way line array. I was going to use PHL1120's b ut for the normal 3 way decided to try the 3451. Just because I liked the transition from a 10" to a 15 better than a 6 to a 15. I am talking only aesthetically.

Pushed the bass bin(dual 15's) a bit today to see what she could do. For only having about 7mm excursion these things pound out the bass. I cranked the music yesterday and they dont ever move much past around 3mm one way. But they are very loud. I need six more than I will be done.

Scott any pics yet of your small LCR bass brother?.

I still wonder what I am going to do for my 3-120hz bass system. Crazy shipping prices have me always trying to think of different routes. I was going to just have four 21's but there is not enough room in my living room room now. But my future room will be enclosed so maybe I should just get them for the future. I like building dual opposed and wish the UXL was out. Then I could have my four UXL's in the same amount of space as my 21's.

I was thinking of just buying more of these clone 15's because they are cheap and perform good enough for me. They have their negatives but for the price I am willing to live with it. They do make a clone BC 18" also I want to try. SO I will have to decide on what I want to do. Dual 18's per cab would be nice. Sealing the cloned 18's still smashes the ported 15's by a lot. But they should they are 18's..

Scott will your four 18's be able to keep up with your 15's?

I simmed twelve 2226's in about 12cuft and four of my 21's cross your 15's at about 80hz. After that your 15's take off. I am guessing your mids will be the weakest link? Along with your body. LOL

What are your surrounds going to be.

For me I will just have SLA's. In the future I will make some full range surrounds with clone 15's. But that is just a dream for now.

PHL audio.
http://www.phlaudio.com/main.html
Beyma TPL-150

Scott is that a 18" baffle also in the sealed 2226 cabinet pic?

Well I guess you will have the 60-250hz area taken care of. I always worried more about this area than ULF.

Funny just talking about your system has me sold on at least just doing a dual 18 bass bin instead of a dual 15. Craziness. I cant fit the quad 15 unless I get rid of the 21's.(space wise)

Are you Hpassing your 15's at 20hz or anything?
Edited by chrapladm - 9/29/12 at 10:35pm