inside a blackline h3 |
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james folkes
Old Croc Joined: 08 January 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3064 |
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Posted: 03 January 2008 at 1:34am |
purely for reasons of academic interest you understand... it's a classy design in many ways, i like the sound of the cab too, as do many others. the layout has a few nice tricks that i tried to get pictures of in case anyone was interested. build quality is absolutely stunning, as you would expect from martin, everything is very close fitting and nicely finished.
for those unfamiliar with the box, the martin audio blackline h3 is a three way, horn/hybrid loaded compact full range cabinet. the 15" is on too short a horn to do much damage below 70 and is reflex ported to extend useable response. the 15" employs a classic martin letterbox throat, as featured on cabs from the 215 mkII to the wsx. you'd think it would rip the cone to bits, but seemingly this doesn't happen that often. the 10" midrange device sits in a sealed chamber made of thin plastic, but lined with a single moulded piece of polystyrene. looking beyond it you can see the ports for the 15" rear chamber, exiting either side of the hf device and adding stability to the overall cabinet via their box section construction. inside the back bowl there is also some fibrous damping material, spade connectors are used on all drivers and the cable is glanded into the mid driver's rear chamber for a non permanent seal. the phase ball itself is also polystyrene, if anyone fancies mucking around with this as a diy idea, the balls are available from many craft supply shops, just ask the decor hippies. the horn itself uses a few triangular pieces to assist in the transition from round throat to square mouth, but nothing fancy in the the throat area and the the design looks a little crude at this point. i think the lycra & fibreglass solution is far smarter here, but the blackline is an all timber construction and to be fair, it works well up to the 2 kHz crossover to the 1". sadly i didn't get a picture of the crossover, with hf padding resistors mounted on an extruded ally heatsink they were an inspiring sight. could the humble polystyrene ball take us to higher crossover heights with a smaller cone driver? i'd like to see if 2.5k on an eight isn't out of the question, but anyway it's dirt cheap and easy to replicate, in these times when the phase plugged small format cone driver is a "must have" rig accessory, i reckon it could be a very popular diy option. james. |
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mardy hippy.
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Mark James
Old Croc Joined: 15 January 2006 Location: rig side Status: Offline Points: 5309 |
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im a fan of these too, ive only heard them a couple of times though, think they could of done with more kick but an extra 15 might have cured that,. nice pics there james.
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me so horny me love you long throw
horn loaded for her pleasure |
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Disco Stu
Old Croc Joined: 03 March 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 2487 |
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Not too dissimilar to this then
http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/Omni15.html |
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All you need to know is:
Sensitivity + Power Handling - Power Compression = Max Output My acts: www.myspace.com/thebowiexperience www.myspace.com/scheisseelektronisches |
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pooju
Registered User Joined: 04 April 2006 Status: Offline Points: 254 |
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great post james!
ive been trying to figure a variant of the ported/horn hybrid top box like this, somewhere between a tms 5 and the backline, but using 12 + 10 and and 1 inch. Hows the low end with these cabs on their own/ whats the kick/throw like? The polystyrene ball info is interesting, certainly easier to work with that Lydon a's wood egg! Edited by pooju - 03 January 2008 at 5:54pm |
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TONY.A.S.S.
Old Croc Joined: 21 February 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 6878 |
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Seeing the polystyrene plug reminds me that it could be made by the same company that makes horns the same way. The horn I saw was at the ATC factory a long while ago. There has always been a link between Martin Audio and ATC.
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jbl_man
Moderator Group Joined: 12 January 2005 Location: London. Status: Offline Points: 11154 |
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Nice photos James....are all the drivers Martins`own?
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Be seeing you.
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Sounds_d_b
Young Croc Joined: 18 October 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1025 |
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Ive got a pair of these myself - cracking cabs and ideally suited to live work. They can be used on their own for small-med gigs (I have used them without any bass re-inforcement for full live bands with audiences of around 250). They have a very natural clean sound and give a lovely punchy mid, but can get a little aggressive in the top when driven hard. On their own they get a hi-pass at 45htz and a heavy limiter. For larger gigs I tend to run them alongside a pair of Void Impulse 8T Mk1's which they work exeptionally well with, and having dedicated bass obviously lightens the bass load on the 15" which, when dedicated to mid bass, sounds absalutley fantastic. |
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james folkes
Old Croc Joined: 08 January 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3064 |
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well... they are badged as martin dls522 and dls602 for the 15" and 10" respectively, but they look kind of b&c in nature. the 10" has an open circuit voice coil, the 15 measures fine, but makes a farty noise when played. i'm surprised it manages this as the cone is solid, absolutely no movement from even quite heavy pressure. might well be a job for our man in wembley... who isn't really in wembley from a post code perspective, but you know what i mean. james. |
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mardy hippy.
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Mark James
Old Croc Joined: 15 January 2006 Location: rig side Status: Offline Points: 5309 |
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so you own some h3 now then james????? i like them alot too....
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me so horny me love you long throw
horn loaded for her pleasure |
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ceharden
The 10,000 Points Club Joined: 05 June 2005 Location: Southampton Status: Offline Points: 11776 |
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15" is def a B&C, could be one off the shelf although possibly discontinued now. Not sure about the 10", doesn't look like a B&C chassis. Might be ATC.
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justamadman
Registered User Joined: 13 May 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1118 |
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f**k me there expensive
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in front of the bass bins baby
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wideload37
Registered User Joined: 05 July 2008 Location: oxford Status: Offline Points: 26 |
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could u tell me if the gaps eitherside of the hf horn are in anyway ports ?
thx
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