the matrix

I liked them all. I thought the 3rd was very good. A different take on the the plot than I anticipated, but still a great movie.

BigV
 
awsome movies :) 3rd one was my fav because no one knew what was going to happen and no one predicted it even closely...

a lot of people didnt like it because they either didnt understand it or just didnt like the ending (which i thought was very fitting considering how closely the movie was supposed to mirror christ's birth, death, and resurrection)
 
I love the Matrix movies, haven't seen Revolutions yet though, am waiting for the DVD ;)
 
PC1 said:
I love the Matrix movies, haven't seen Revolutions yet though, am waiting for the DVD ;)
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I remember reading about this somwhere....you and your kickass stereo huh? :D
 
Well...... yeah. Audio, home theater, and movies in general have been a strong interest of mine for 25 years now. Within the past 3 years, I studied design and construction of loudspeakers. With just some basic woodworking tools and a little knowledge, it's not difficult to build very good sounding (and great looking) speakers...... speakers that will easily compete with anything in the $10-$15k plus price range, and that will cost in the range of $1,500 to $2,000 to build. It takes a fair committment of time, especially to achieve a nice finish, but believe me, it's very rewarding and a lot of fun.

I'm constantly tinkering with it, in fact, just this weekend I (finally) ran 2 dedicated 20 amp electric lines to my gear. But it's a fun hobby. A lot of guys are into audio and home theater, and anyone who visits my house and who has even a passing interest leaves having been literally "blown away" by the experience ;)
 
PC1 said:
Well...... yeah. Audio, home theater, and movies in general have been a strong interest of mine for 25 years now. Within the past 3 years, I studied design and construction of loudspeakers. With just some basic woodworking tools and a little knowledge, it's not difficult to build very good sounding (and great looking) speakers...... speakers that will easily compete with anything in the $10-$15k plus price range, and that will cost in the range of $1,500 to $2,000 to build. It takes a fair committment of time, especially to achieve a nice finish, but believe me, it's very rewarding and a lot of fun.

I'm constantly tinkering with it, in fact, just this weekend I (finally) ran 2 dedicated 20 amp electric lines to my gear. But it's a fun hobby. A lot of guys are into audio and home theater, and anyone who visits my house and who has even a passing interest leaves having been literally "blown away" by the experience ;)
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Bounce bounce bounce bounce...er.....

PC1- Any books that you would reccomend on the subject of loudspeaker design? I've been into car audio for a while, but I don't have the funds to get really serious about it. I'd like to learn some so when I do have the money (if i ever do) I'll have an idea what to do.
 
z0rr0 said:


Bounce bounce bounce bounce...er.....

PC1- Any books that you would reccomend on the subject of loudspeaker design? I've been into car audio for a while, but I don't have the funds to get really serious about it. I'd like to learn some so when I do have the money (if i ever do) I'll have an idea what to do.
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Sure, gladly.

A good place to start is to poke around on the internet, doing searches for loudspeaker design. Eventually, most guys end up with Vance Dickeson's "Loudspeaker Design Cookbook". It's an excellent reference, however he gets very technical very quickly. Oftentimes I found myself looking for internet audio and electrical term glossaries, because I just didn't understand his explanations. However, those too are available online, and will come in handy.

One of the most important thing to know is how to match speakers to box size and construction using published Thiele/Small paramaters. Here Dickeson gives several practical examples, including sealed and ported (and others) designs. Along the lines of your car audio interest, he has a chapter dedicated to that. And while he shows you how to match speakers together generally given T/S parameters, in keeping with a "cookbook" approach, he has several examples of speaker designs he's engineered personally, including the drivers, where to get them, cabinet sizes and construction, where and how to purchase the crossovers, etc. Even an entire home theater setup with subwoofers.

BTW, the speakers I mentioned earlier that cost me almost $2,000 to build are actually 2 monsters, measuring 53" tall by 20" wide by 24" deep. Tweeter, mid, bass and 2 - 15" subwoofers. Each cabinet weighs about 140 lbs. ;) A really GREAT sounding 3 way for home (or car) can be built for far less. A fair component of my cost was for expensive REAL cherry veneer, which goes for about $75.00 a sheet.

If you start getting into it and decide to build something let me know. Good luck.
 
Big V

Yeah, it's a lot of fun, and very rewarding........ as you know. Have you built anything recently? What do you have now?
 
Big V

Yeah, it's a lot of fun, and very rewarding........ as you know. Have you built anything recently? What do you have now?
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Ive been into car audio for a while now, Ive designed and built several systems for myself and friends. My last sub was a simple sealed box for two 12" Alumapro's. I haven't even carpeted yet, but it sounds real nice hooked up to a Zapco Z50C2. Cleanest bass Ive heard. (although Im partial to my own design:)) I've only done a little bit with fiberglass and other slick fabrication methods, but I plan on starting something next summer.

I haven't done much with home systems , but for my first project Id like to build a set of pro audio monitors, or a passive radiated sub.

Those speakers you built sound sick!!! What did you use for components?

BigV
 
BigVrunga said:


Ive been into car audio for a while now, Ive designed and built several systems for myself and friends. My last sub was a simple sealed box for two 12" Alumapro's. I haven't even carpeted yet, but it sounds real nice hooked up to a Zapco Z50C2. Cleanest bass Ive heard. (although Im partial to my own design:)) I've only done a little bit with fiberglass and other slick fabrication methods, but I plan on starting something next summer.

I haven't done much with home systems , but for my first project Id like to build a set of pro audio monitors, or a passive radiated sub.

Those speakers you built sound sick!!! What did you use for components?

BigV
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Big V.......

I think this is a great hobby to have. With your knowledge of speaker design, you'll be able to build yourself an ass-kicking setup in your own home for a fraction of what you'd pay retail......... and you'll have fun doing it.

Car audio is fun. Maybe I'm getting old though, I usually just prefer quiet when I'm driving around.

On my big cabinets.............

Tweeters: Morel MDT 37's (horn loaded, fabric dome)

Mid: Focal 5K4411's

Bass: Dayton 12" (I forget model)

each driver has about a 92 dB efficiency on it's own, and overall they retain about a 92 dB efficiency, which is pretty good I think. I had Madisound make the crossovers for me.

I have a 4th order Linkwitz Reilly crossover on Mid-tweet, and a 2nd order bass to mid. The dayton's have about 2.5 cu ft. of dedicated volume space, the focal's have about 400 cm each. While a lot of guys these days are running with MTM's for Left/Center/Right home theater set ups, I still like the 3-way setup a lot better for straight audio purposes. you really hear the difference on, for example, a tight punchy bass drum.

On the audio side, I drive these with a Crown 800 CSL power amp (300watts/channel 8 ohms).

The REST of each cabinet is dedicated volume space (over 9 cu ft) for 15" McCauley 6142's pro audio drivers..... Their ultra low frequency 15" They're not even listed on their web site, they're a custom modification to their 6242's that they make for movie theater applications. The cabinets are ported, and the f3 approaches 21 Hz......... ;)

All wood is 1" mdf, and finished with a nice REAL cherry veneer. Big as they are, they're beautiful to look at. I built a small frame to attach speaker grille cloth to, that plugs into the face of each cabinet.

I drive these with a Crown Power Tech 3, which is 760 watts a side into 4 ohms. ;) I use a Behringer active crossover between the 2, and usually crossover around 50-55 Hz.

Yes, they DO POUND, heh ;)

The nice thing about the McCauleys is that they're still very musical for the audio side. And they handle a lot of power. Spec wise, they're very similar to JBL pro audio drivers, but are considerably less expensive.

With the size of the cabinets (like most things in life, you know that to get deep bass out of a speaker, size DOES matter ;) I get really low bass sounds on any decent dvd movie sound track. If I turn it up a bit, it's enough to shake the couch. When I first planned out my system, I considered making some tactile transducers. But I don't need them ;)

So I tend to like movies like the Matrix, or the Lord of the Rings trilogy not only because they're great movies, but because of the quality of the audio sound track as well. Although to Warner Home Video's shame, the 2 Matrix movies were released in 5.1 not 6.1....... boo hiss.
 
The REST of each cabinet is dedicated volume space (over 9 cu ft) for 15" McCauley 6142's pro audio drivers..... Their ultra low frequency 15" They're not even listed on their web site, they're a custom modification to their 6242's that they make for movie theater applications. The cabinets are ported, and the f3 approaches 21 Hz.........
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PC1,
The whole set up sounds awesome!! So basically, each cabinet contains a 3 way loud speaker AND a dedicated dual 15" sub? Incredible!! They must be the size of a refidgerator! I totally agree...size definately does matter when it comes to bass, especially with a vented enclosure.

I still like the 3-way setup a lot better for straight audio purposes. you really hear the difference on, for example, a tight punchy bass drum.
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I totally agree - there's no replacing a solid mid bass driver.

I designed a sub for 2 Audiobahn AW1200X's for a friend's jeep cherokee - quad ported 3" PVC tuned to 28Hz in a 4.3ft^3 box. I build it out of 3/4" high density particle board, braced to all hell on the inside with 1.5" x 1.5" treated pine. Then, I sprayed the entire inside of the box with 3 coats rubberized undercoating. After that, Super77'd heavy felt to the entire interior. 2" of R14 fiberglass insulation was afixed to the walls after that, and the ports braced in place. The faceplate was 1.5" thick - two 3/4" pieces of particle board sandwiched together with a layer of silicone and sand between them. Then, I coated the enclosure with a few coats of urethane.

Overkill to the extreme, but rest assured those walls DID NOT resonate:) Damped beyond belief!

When the sub was finished it must have weighed close to 80-90lbs with the woofers installed.

I hooked it up to a Lanzar1200D power amp, and for the ininital test run played one of the bass test discs that has a frequency sweep on it. When it got down below 80Hz, I thought the kid's jeep was going to rip in half!!! You could actually see the windows flexing from the outside from the internal pressure.

Just goes to show what you can do with cheap componets and righteous enclosue design!

I cant wait to get into home audio - I basically havent because I dont have room...Ill be looking into buying a house in a couple years and believe me Ive already got some cool stuff planned out!

Do you have any other projects in the works at the moment?

BigV
 
PC1- Do you have any suggestions for headphones? I've been looking at some in-the-canal style ones and wondered if you have any input on these. Somthing like these:

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edit: This is open to everyone not just PC1 if you have opinions about headphones I'm open to suggestions.
 
What are you looking for in a set of phones Z0rr0? Audio monitoring, DJ'ing, or just listening to tunes?
 
I'm looking more for a reference set. Somthing that I can fall back onto to get my ears back into tune, if you know what I mean. For example, if you listen to a set of headphones, and then to a different pair, one can pick out differences in the two. Basically, be able to listen to the headphones, and know that's what the recording is supposed to sound like, and then listen to, a system (whether its in a car, home, or even another pair of headphones) and critique it.

Of course, i'd also like to be able to just listen to music on them. I listen to all types of music (except country....GAG!) but I'm looking for somthing that I can listen to classical on. My brother has a pair of sennheiser hd 590's, and those are AWESOME for listening to classical music, but in crowded places and airplanes they're 1. too big and 2. the open air design allows too much ambiant noise in. Oh, and when the music gets loud, people look at me like i'm deaf because so much of it escapes out also. They're amazingly loud when you're not the one wearing them :).

*yaaawn*

I'm not sure if that made sense, it's 0330 here, my bed time :), hopefully you can figure out what I'm gettin at.
 
Z0rr0,
Sounds like you want a good set of monitor headphones, which will accurately reproduce the sound with the flattest possible frequency response. In other words, they dont color the sound you are listening to, and play it as it sounded in the studio.

I use a pair of Yamaha RH-5Ma's for recording. They deliver an accurate sound, and work well for just listening as well. You can get them for around $50, too.

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I'm TOTALLY out of the loop on headphones guys. 15 years ago I used to have a pair of Koss 4-AAA's. I thought they were incredible and blew everything else away.

Big V.......

Your buddies jeep sub sounds like it's AWESOME. You obviously put a lot of yourself into building that box. No doubt he was blown right out of the jeep, along with any "unsuspecting" passengers who heard a song and said "turn it up!". ;) And you're so RIGHT about being able to build great stuff at a fraction of the price of retail. Not ONLY that, but most retail products assume people don't want big cabinets. So anyone willing to build bigger cabinets can design a system that will blow away most retail systems at any price.

Not to knock the good people at Bose, because I think they do a good job building decent sounding systems using smaller designs. But a lot of people see that name and think that's the best the audio world has to offer. I love to see their reaction when they hear and FEEL my family room shaking at only modest volume with a decent movie soundtrack. At that point I ask them if they'd prefer a seatbelt ;)

Just recently I built a dedicated center channel spaker for my hT setup...... what a difference. I had replaced the crappy coaxials that came in my Toshiba with 2 decent Boston Accoustics coaxials. That helped, but the sound really is better in a dedicated cabinet. Also, I prefer the idea of having 2 tweeters with 2 mid/bass in the center rather than MTM. The Boston Accoustics co-axials also have a 92 dB rating with fabric domed tweeters, and as car speakers, they're 4 ohm. I wired them in series, so they're 8 ohm like my left/right. Sonically, they're a good match. The nice thing too is that I didn't need crossovers ;) and I built the cabinet out of scrap 1" mdf I had laying around. CHEAP and good sounding, the best of BOTH worlds ;)

My FOUR surrounds are also full range 3-ways that employ a 10" woofer as well ;)

It will be nice for you to be able to design a system when you get into a bigger house. If you end up building a house which many do at some point, you'll really enjoy working with an open pallet so to speak. You COULD for example, build some really big cabinets to achieve deep earth shaking bass, but have the cabinets located in either your attic or cellar, and vent the sound into your home theater room. So if your spouse doesn't want to be looking at big cabinets, you still can enjoy full sound. Plus you'd enjoy the benefit of guys looking around scratching their heads wondering how in the HELL you got all THAT SOUND coming from small satellite speakers, heh heh.

In my case, I didn't want to listen to the cooling fans inside the 2 Crown amplifiers. So they're located in my cellar, just below my audio setup in my family room. It was very simple to mount them on 2 shelves just below the floor joists and run diy interconnects/speaker cable to/from. And as I mentioned earlier, I just ran 2 dedicated 20 amp power lines, 1 to the 2 Crowns, and 1 to the rest of my audio/ht stuff. All turned on/off from 2 wall switches (finally) in my family room.

BTW, I also built 2 cabinets inbetween my speaker cabs and my tv. 1 houses all my other gear, the other a turntable/albums I still listen to. Each made of 3/4 mdf and finished with cherry veneer. I also veneered my tv face, and replaced the standard tv speaker cloth with the same cloth on my main speakers. So it all matches very nicely. If I had a digital camera or scanner, I'd post a pic. But it all looks very slick as well.
 
Not to knock the good people at Bose, because I think they do a good job building decent sounding systems using smaller designs. But a lot of people see that name and think that's the best the audio world has to offer. I love to see their reaction when they hear and FEEL my family room shaking at only modest volume with a decent movie soundtrack. At that point I ask them if they'd prefer a seatbelt
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You've got to admit that 'wave guide' enclosure design they use is pretty spiffy though...Id like to try to build something like that using a 12" sub. Definately would need some sort of CAD for that, though. Or more time with my calculus book:)
But you're right, because of their Infomertials and all the hype - the general public does believe Bose is the best thing since sliced toast. But that little clock radio isnt going to move 1/1000 of the air those monsters you build will. And, it wont sound as good either!
I do think its a decent trade off in size vs sound quality - but Id rather save my money and design my own enclosures.

I did do a lot of work on that sub, and it was well worth it...I can't wait until I have the time to take my hobby to the next level.

BTW, I also built 2 cabinets inbetween my speaker cabs and my tv. 1 houses all my other gear, the other a turntable/albums I still listen to. Each made of 3/4 mdf and finished with cherry veneer. I also veneered my tv face, and replaced the standard tv speaker cloth with the same cloth on my main speakers. So it all matches very nicely. If I had a digital camera or scanner, I'd post a pic. But it all looks very slick as well.
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PC1, the set up you're describing is one of the most extensive Ive ever heard of someone buidling by themselves. Id love to see a picture whenever you get a chance! Did you also build the surround speakers? Also - what are the dimensions of your living room and how big is your TV?

Please PM me and keep me posted on any future projects!

Good talking with you,
BigV
 
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