[Cerdic]

Got the Mal X in the mail the other day! Woo hoo! Time to build a fast and furious enclosure to get it into it's new home soon.


Here's the specs on the new enclosure.


- 8.0 cuft net (24" x 48" x 16" deep). 2-3 inches of clearance behind pole vent, and sized to fit behind my screenwall

- tri- 4" ported to 20hz (3 ports) or 16hz (2 ports), or sealed if I like the sound of that better.

- 3/4" ply construction

- baffle around edge of woofer doubled up on the inside

- stick construction bracing

- PL adhesive throughout

- black paint finish


- Woofer not tested prior to box construction - I'm hoping it'll work out just fine...

I did a lot of things differently from my last Tempest X2 build - just to try different things out. What's the fun in building the exact same enclosure? So, ply instead of MDF, round ports instead of slot, PL instead of titebond, stick bracing instead of window, etc.


Here's a shot of the progress so far, just before I put the face on today.

And a shot of the inside port flares - the only place I used MDF. Plywood is so much more palatable to work with! Even with a respirator, I would come in from the garage nearly having a fit from the dust previously!

For a comparison, here's a picture of my Tempest build

More to come as this progresses.

Best,

C.

 

[Mazlem]

Looks good so far! From what I've read, with 3/4" walls if the spacing between each brace or between a brace and wall is 9" or less then it's good to go, an it seems you've got that.

 

[kryptonitewhite]

Awesome work, hope you hit the Lotto too with it stayin alive. Graham should love this. Graham? GRAHAM!

 

[gperkins1973]

Yep krypto loving it mate. Look what the 21.5hz tune gives me compared to the low tune at 20hz. 9db more and no hpf. I am running about 8db hot and using the mid tune 17.5hz now.

 

[gperkins1973]

Sorry forgot to add the attachment

 

[kryptonitewhite]



Quote:
Originally Posted by gperkins1973 /forum/post/20848552


Sorry forgot to add the attachment

Red sealed, yellow low, blue high tune?

 

[gperkins1973]

Red is 12hz tune, yellow is 17hz tune and blue is 21hz tune.

 

[kryptonitewhite]

why would you ever use anything other than that wicked awesome 12Hz tune Graham!

 

[gperkins1973]

J, Cos I can! LOL

 

[Cerdic]



Quote:
Originally Posted by gperkins1973 /forum/post/20848550


Yep krypto loving it mate. Look what the 21.5hz tune gives me compared to the low tune at 20hz. 9db more and no hpf. I am running about 8db hot and using the mid tune 17.5hz now.

Am I reading that right? No hpf at the 21.5hz tune? How do you get away with that without smoking the woofer below tune?


I remember your multi tune thread Graham. Definitely part of the inspiration on this box. I also remember you liking the highest tune best, which is what I figure I'm likely to do as well. We'll see. I'm gettin' ready to hit the painting! Was planning on doing that this morning, but I have a house issue to deal with. Sprinkler guy yesterday cut the conduit shielded power to our well and didn't know it. Came home to a house with no water.

Tryin' to schedule a fix this AM...


C.

 

[kryptonitewhite]

OOH that's no good!

I dont think Graham is running near the power he could be, and thats why he doesn't need a HP. If he had dual 2 ohm coils to run 4 ohms each and 1 EP4000 per Fi Q, he'd have a TON more output but need a HP unless he ran sealed or 12Hz tune. He wouldnt be cooking the one EP all the time and distortion numbers would drop.

 

[gperkins1973]

I am running 1000 watts rms into my subs each which I know they could take more as they are in boxes half their optimum size. You will be surprised how loud you can go without a hpf. I could run it easily to -20db MV without one and that is with dubstep etc.. Because off their natural roll off you don't get that much below 15hz anyway.


Looking forward to seeing your results and what you like best. The 12hz tune does rock when watching challenging films.

 

[Cerdic]

Update!


Face glued on, overhanging box edges routed off, holes filled, seams sanded, outer port holes rounded over (3/8" is my largest roundover bit), and first of two coats of mickey mouse ears matte black applied.

Yes, it's now a very big, black box. Pretty huh?

Matches my Zilchwave SRs though, I suppose.

Plan is for it to be like that behind my screenwall. The woofer will fire though the FR701 panel below my screen, while the ports fire along the wall vertically behind the screen. I can slide the whole thing left to right about a foot or so to optimize it to the room. Likely moving it that little won't make a bit of difference, but we'll see.


Well update: Restored power with a temporary splice, and... no water. Likely something got fried in the controller/starter box (relays and start capacitors maybe?) when the line got cut and it short circuited. Why did it short you ask? Well, when the electric line was transected, they cracked the water main right next to it...

I thought I smelled propane in the garage, but it was likely fried components.


Well guy's supposed to come out this afternoon....


C.

 

[Cerdic]

Got it fired up. Hee hee hee!

 

[gperkins1973]

Looking forward to your listening impressions.

 

[Scott Simonian]

Hey! Very big, black boxes are highly underrated.

Nice work. Now.... go rattle some windows!

 

[Cerdic]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Simonian /forum/post/20854824


Hey! Very big, black boxes are highly underrated.

Nice work. Now.... go rattle some windows!

I agree! Case in point. While I had my entire screenwall apart getting the goliath behind the wall, I snapped a few pictures. The Mal-x is on the left, with it's little Tempest x2 brother on the right. 3 SRs with newly added 30ppi foam to the mouths.

The ceiling is not nearly this bright, but you wouldn't be able to see much without the flash.


Here's one as with the screen back on - more representative of how dark/rich the colors are. I'm very happy with the earth tones in there!

And one showing a bit of what it looks like with the AT panels back on.

Listening impressions coming soon! I need to REW it badly. I need to tweak the phase between the two subs to try and get them playing well together, then rerun Audyssey to see how smooth I can get it. Just had a little time to run some music and a few movies through it. Definitely more 20-30hz output - currently set on 20hz highpass with 20hz port tune. Seems to be solving some null issues, but maybe creating others? Thus the need to tweak.

DIY port blockers also coming up soon.

Best,

C.

 

[Scott Simonian]

Lovely theater you got there, Cerdic.

 

[Cerdic]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Simonian /forum/post/20855124


Lovely theater you got there, Cerdic.

Thanks Scott! It's been a long slow process, but fun. Was planning on putting wood frames around the acoustic panels, but the "contemporary" look is growing on me.


Finished spending some time in REW. Got the response curve better than it was with one driver, but not completely flat across the seating row. Still have a 35-40hz peak at one end, and a 30-35hz suckout at the other end - but improved with the second sub.


It's amazing how much of a change adjusting the phase between the woofers made. My amp has a continuously variable phase, and small changes impacted multiple frequencies pretty dramatically. I'm not sure how you get a good match if you only have 0/180 degrees option - unless you're lucky with your spacing.


Also adjusted the main/sub crossover. Interestingly, I have a 60hz suckout that's mostly resolved with setting a 60hz crossover point - at the low end of what the SRs are capable of, but the best response. Anything higher -80,100,120 made that area incrementally worse.


Now that I've gotten it as good as I can, time to run Audyssey. We'll see what that does.


Biggest frustration with my freq. response is a huge hole at 100-125hz. Doesn't matter what I do - move main speakers closer/farther apart, adjust crossover, phase - still there. I haven't tried moving the mains into the room because that's not feasible with my screenwall. Best I can do is pull them out 6" and toe them in about 15 deg which is where they are now.

Oh, and the same suckout happened with my old Primus 362 speakers as well. So it's not a function of the E-wave SR design. Also, Audyssey doesn't try and correct this region...? Maybe it's my SPL meter...

Will start to develop listening impressions soon, along with messing with the multi-tune. Phase 1 of tweaking - complete!


Best,

Christopher

 

[chrapladm]

Nice to see the finished product. And great to see more pics of your theater again.


I have always liked your theater because it seemed like something I could do verse what others and more money can do.


Awesome.