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Building a reggae soundsystem

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    Posted: 16 January 2011 at 5:15pm
Hi,

Me and my friends want to build a quality reggae & dub soundsystem because of our love for the music.
We're thinking of building something with 3 scoops, a kickbin, 2/3 cabs for mids and 2/3 tweeterboxes. It's what we see when we go to dances, so we figured that something along those lines is a step in the right direction. 
We haven't got a clue on wich cabs and drivers work together though, so any help and advice is welcome Smile

Thanks in advance,
SSS
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studio45 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote studio45 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 January 2011 at 5:33pm
I would reccomend:
- Rhino mini scoops, the plans are still available if you google it. The Mk2 (medium chamber) works well with most drivers. The Fane Sovereign Pro 18-800 is a bargain at around £125 new.

- Two 15" ported boxes for upper bass which you can easily design using WinISD and could perhaps load with Sovereign 15-500's at around £70 each. You'd want to tune the port/ box volume of these to about 50Hz. These could then be used on their own as bass bins for smaller events.

-Two 12" + 1" mid/top boxes which again are very easily designed using WinISD. Tune to around 65Hz. Sticking with the Fanes you could use the Sovereign 12-300 (£50) or for a clearer midrange the Crescendo 12MB (£90) and then on top the CD130 (£18) on an 18Sound (from thomann.de) or Celestion (from Bluearan.co.uk) horn (about £10-20). You could even put two horns in each box if you want lots and lots of top end capability but do have a care for people's ears! LOL

If you want a better top end then I'm told BMS compression drivers are the way to go for not much more than the Fane and they also do horns suited for their drivers, PM Tony Wilkes on here and he will sort you out. 

For Fane, PM PauliePaul as he is their main man.

If you MUST have tweeter boxes......The Fane FPT80 (aka Eminence APT80) is alright, I suppose. Steer clear of £5 piezo tweeters from Maplin, they are not proper. Then the next best thing would be a box of Beyma CP22's, but they are something like £55 each (and a wait for delivery from Spain!)

Most importantly: have fun building :)


Studio45 - Repairs & Building Commotion Soundsystem -Mobile PA
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gee136 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 January 2011 at 6:17pm
Also invest in a good Pre Amp (very important) this will give you the authentic reggae musical sound through what ever speaker combination you go with.

Pre-amps : 
Mostec mostec.co.uk/electronics/preamps.htm (UK)

Sirens: 



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When Goverment ah play, infidels, ginals & masqueraders run away.....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tweeter box Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 January 2011 at 10:14pm
rob a bank,would be a good start Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote imageoven Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 January 2011 at 11:01pm
Originally posted by Gee136 Gee136 wrote:

Also invest in a good Pre Amp (very important) this will give you the authentic reggae musical sound through what ever speaker combination you go with.

Er...

I'd wait a bit before you invest in a custom made peice of kit like a "reggae" pre amp. I'd build some speakers and have a play around with a more generic and versatile crossover (probably something cheaper too) which will allow you to try some different set ups. If you get to the point of wanting the "authentic" pre amp, you'll know enough to specify exactly what you want.

Studios recomendations seem excelent to me.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Maarty Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 January 2011 at 3:49am
Originally posted by imageoven imageoven wrote:

Originally posted by Gee136 Gee136 wrote:

Also invest in a good Pre Amp (very important) this will give you the authentic reggae musical sound through what ever speaker combination you go with.

Er...

I'd wait a bit before you invest in a custom made peice of kit like a "reggae" pre amp. I'd build some speakers and have a play around with a more generic and versatile crossover (probably something cheaper too) which will allow you to try some different set ups. If you get to the point of wanting the "authentic" pre amp, you'll know enough to specify exactly what you want.

Studios recomendations seem excelent to me.
 
well put! +1
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote studio45 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 January 2011 at 11:57am
Indeed. Having recently had a proper preamp in the 'shop for some analysis and testing, I can say if you don't understand quite a lot about soundsystems before you get one, it will confuse the bejesus out of you! 

I'm also of the opinion that "the authentic reggae musical sound" as produced by most preamps, leaves a lot to be desired and can certainly be improved upon by careful use of standard separate DJ mixers, equalisers and crossovers and even (dare i say it) LIMITERS.....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gee136 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 January 2011 at 12:44pm
Very true, these reggae pre amps are very confusing to use, but only if you are not experiance in using them, they are expensive too, it all depends on if SSS has got the funds & commitment to learn how to operate such pre amps, it's not for everyone, but for a reggae soundsystem, in my opinion they are of great use, hitting the echo return when changing or pulling up a wicked tune, sweeping the parametric on the mids & tops or bass when you running a wicked instrumental riddim, & not forgetting the deep round (springy) b line when dropping the right tune & rocking a session!! That's why I wouldn't do without my pre amps (Links, Mostec & Charley), budget permitting, I'll always opt for a pre amp, got to admit, @ Studio 45, the 1st time I used a pre amp it scare the bejesus out of me!!! 
Goverment Sound (weight & treble roots machine)

When Goverment ah play, infidels, ginals & masqueraders run away.....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote studio45 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 January 2011 at 5:29pm
Well the one I got to play with wasn't a very good one, I think. The guys who own it think it's the best thing since sliced bread, but then I demonstrated how much louder and clearer their set was without it (using a DCX2496 instead) and that did raise a few eyebrows. 
I mean, this thing was a total spaghetti mess inside; didn't have proper crossover filters, only summed outputs from combined filters in the graphic EQ section, and the "parametric" was in fact a huge fixed boost which could only be moved around, not altered in level or bandwidth. When I swept it quickly thru 100-300hz ish, the box did a very good impression of Rolf Harris and his wobble board (Woopwoopwoop - oscillations!). The bass section had switches (operation of which caused some impressive thumps and bangs from the woofers) to set its response and that was basically a choice of six notes, but nothing approaching flat, anywhere. The lowest highpass appeared to be at around 40Hz, astonishingly, and the high frequency band started to roll off at about 7kHz - no wonder they are always complaining they can't get enough "chip" despite having 44 tweeters in their usual stack!
To top it off the whole thing was noisy as hell, a proper "HMMMMMM" and quite a lot of white noise on all outputs under the music, and the low mid output (actually *just* the 250hz band from the graphic, buffered and routed to a socket on the back thru a kill switch) would cut out randomly and require to be turned right up, before it would burst back into life with a "BANG!". 
< ="utf-8">The preamp's owners have been big in the game for 35 years, and they say it's the best thing they've ever had. So presumably their last preamp wasn't even as good as this one....crikey Shocked
So the one I've had experience of obviously has some problems. I'm sure other preamp builders could do it better, I've seen pics of Mostec's units and they look great, much better built. 
But still I reckon, if you learn about soundsystem only using a preamp, especially one of dubious provenance, you'll find other more common equipment baffling cos they just don't work in the same way.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bush HB Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 January 2011 at 7:39pm
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote space-face Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 January 2011 at 7:59pm
Originally posted by studio45 studio45 wrote:

Well the one I got to play with wasn't a very good one, I think. The guys who own it think it's the best thing since sliced bread, but then I demonstrated how much louder and clearer their set was without it (using a DCX2496 instead) and that did raise a few eyebrows. 
I mean, this thing was a total spaghetti mess inside; didn't have proper crossover filters, only summed outputs from combined filters in the graphic EQ section, and the "parametric" was in fact a huge fixed boost which could only be moved around, not altered in level or bandwidth. When I swept it quickly thru 100-300hz ish, the box did a very good impression of Rolf Harris and his wobble board (Woopwoopwoop - oscillations!). The bass section had switches (operation of which caused some impressive thumps and bangs from the woofers) to set its response and that was .............


Hehe! Care to spill the beans of who is was?!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote YoungBlood Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 January 2011 at 8:54pm
Originally posted by Bush HB Bush HB wrote:

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


exactly LOL

some people hear one below par pre amp and think say all pre amps is the same LOL

maybe somebody should ask SSS which 18 driver him have or can get before recommend scoop

not everbody impress with rhino mini scoop some of us prefer eminence full scoop

"chyll wynstan.."
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