4 LAB horns

Took us 7 weeks to build 4 LAB horns and was soul destroying.

Used them for the first time last weekend.

LAB HORNS= SILY SILY SILLY SICK SICK SICK SILLY SILLY and shouldn't be allowed.

Very stange speakers. Ran 4 from 1 MA5000 (yes, it did handle 1.5ohms all night!) so thats only just over 1k a bin. I couldn't stack them in the middle, so it was 2 a side. Wasn't a huge room, so that might have affected things.

Standing infront of them it was quite loud, but the weird thing was that they got louder the further back in the room you went. At the  back of the room the bass pressure in the air was rediculous. It did weird things to your ears, almost as if the air was saturated. It drowned out the rest of the soundsystem. This was when we turned it up at the end, which we didn't do for most of the night.

Strangly, it wasn't the cleanest bass i'd ever heard. Being 30-75hz, the kick isn't very "kicky" and a little slow. May be something to do with the fact that the crown was running at 1.5ohms and didn't have proper control over the drivers?

I'm just scared to think what would happen when you put them in a stack of 4 with 2k a bin in a large enough room.

Basically, i don't think they're suited to everyones needs. You need 4 to work properly, and a LARGE amount of kick and top to keep up. You also need a big enough room or to be outdoors.

I don't think you can compare them to annother bin and say "they are as loud as 2 double 18's " etc. because the sound that comes out of them is competely different to everything else i'd heard before. Some may like it, some may not.

can't wait to get them out again tho. Will try to get some pictures posted.

yeah don't build them, they're sh*t.

interesting results, when i had em at the tek to about 2m infront of the rig it was brutal, then the bass disapeared quite a lot.

i've only had em out and running about 4 times and need a lot more fiddling time to get it right, just dont get the chance to take the rig out enough

the kick is not there though like you said, for d n b wobbly bass they are brilliant but for fast banging techno they dont quite cut it.

the LAB's are a sub bass speaker though, so dont realy produce the frequencies that give a kick as such. they have to be used with a upper bass box to provide the punch part of the music.

Talking about punch, has ne1 experienced an F1 dance stack & felt anything 'different' with their use of a 100-200hz horn? I found their patent for it on that magical patent site mid-bass   I've heard really good things about several HD15's a side, but this seems to get away with one 15.
Eventually I want to try something like this as i think there might be a soft spot where i x-over between sub & mid horns (currently this is going to be around 180-220hz,) ideally i'd like to cover about 120-250 with this type of horn. Maybe even put an 18" driver with an enormous phase plug into a short straight horn (1m) If that doesn't have enough punch i'll have to get some plastic explosives.

cheers,
Rob.

gonna make it down to bristol again soon, i really wanna hear those labs davey :)

yeah i know what you mean about the f1 jeff though i think that the 'dry' sound was that of a complete lack of distortion and very flat response. sounded beautiful in a way, but personally, to party to at least, i prefer a slightly more coloured/warm sound. maybe it just takes some getting used to though.

martin - im well up for a project to design a bark-style kick horn. i love our hd15s to bits but the throw isn't going to be able to keep up with the labs and midtops. it shouldn't be too hard to design something with really low HD and high efficiency if we limited it to a bandwidth of 70-180hz or something similar.

davey t

Took us 7 weeks to build 4 LAB horns and was soul destroying.

Used them for the first time last weekend.

LAB HORNS= SILY SILY SILLY SICK SICK SICK SILLY SILLY and shouldn't be allowed.

Very stange speakers. Ran 4 from 1 MA5000 (yes, it did handle 1.5ohms all night!) so thats only just over 1k a bin. I couldn't stack them in the middle, so it was 2 a side. Wasn't a huge room, so that might have affected things.

Elliot Thompson

When I got my first 5000, I ran 8 Double Eighteens on it for a 12 hour period. The amp will do it. Providing you can feed it the current it needs, 1.5 ohms per channel is not an issue.

 

davey t

Standing infront of them it was quite loud, but the weird thing was that they got louder the further back in the room you went. At the  back of the room the bass pressure in the air was rediculous. It did weird things to your ears, almost as if the air was saturated. It drowned out the rest of the soundsystem. This was when we turned it up at the end, which we didn't do for most of the night.

Elliot Thompson

Sounds like you've had first experience of horns throwing the sound. Everything you mentioned, is exactly what horns are supposed to do.

davey t

Strangly, it wasn't the cleanest bass i'd ever heard. Being 30-75hz, the kick isn't very "kicky" and a little slow. May be something to do with the fact that the crown was running at 1.5ohms and didn't have proper control over the drivers?

Elliot Thompson

The Lab Sub was designed to offer Sub Bass. It wasn't designed to offer a "kicky" sound. There are too many other horns floating around that can offer a kicky sound. While alot of people like a kicky sound, alot of people need sub Bass. For those people, the Lab Sub will offer the goods.

The Damping Factor on a MA 5000, is around 1400 from 100Hz to around 1.5 Hz in 8 ohms. So, even at 1.5 ohms, you have more than enough control. Damping Factor is overated, and, anything over 200 will drive your speakers accurately.

What you've experienced, is, the power of Sub Bass. Something that none of previous bass cabinets could offer. I'm pretty sure you know, a 40 Hertz bass wave is larger than an 80 Hertz wave. So, when you have boxes that can play 40 Hertz, you'll find out many of the music offered today, has a tone of Sub Bass recorded.

 davey t

I'm just scared to think what would happen when you put them in a stack of 4 with 2k a bin in a large enough room.

Elliot Thompson

I don't see anything scary about that! Providing, you have a strong Low Midrange, you should have a more High Fidelity Rig.

davey t

Basically, i don't think they're suited to everyones needs. You need 4 to work properly, and a LARGE amount of kick and top to keep up. You also need a big enough room or to be outdoors.

Elliot Thompson

Again. These are not bass bins. These are Subwoofers. They are designed to play Sub Bass. If you like a "Kick" Sound, these boxes are not for you. You are better off building HD 15's, or 1850's. Those are bass horns. The Lab Sub, is a Sub Bass Horn.

Actually, using groups of 4, is the proper way, and, recomended by the designer... Tom Danley.

davey t

I don't think you can compare them to annother bin and say "they are as loud as 2 double 18's " etc. because the sound that comes out of them is competely different to everything else i'd heard before. Some may like it, some may not.

Elliot Thompson

Agreed. The Lab Sub is for the person who likes Sub Bass. If thats not your thing, don't make Lab Subs.

As for the Dual Eighteen Comment, it varies on the box you are comparing it to. Double Eighteens offer different responses, like horns.

Some will go lower than others. Some will be punchier than others.

Its a matter of evaluating multiple boxes, and, let your ear decide, which one sounds, best.

Best Regards,