advice for kick / midbass ?

Hello, lots of praises for all the knowledge hidden in this forum. That helped a lot to improve our sound over the years. Give thx.

we run a 4 scoop stack playing mostly roots, digi & steppas. We run the sound for 5 years now and we are quite happy with the sound exept for our 4 hd15. After lots of reading and real-life research I decided to ask u folks here again, despite midbass advice is kind of a speakerplan classic. Our main problem is we like the sound and the power kick-horn-designs give for modern reggae productions but we also like the sound of Bassreflex for 70ies Roots Reggae Sound. Havent found a really good compromise yet.

Problem with the hd15s for us:

- our 4 (loaded with kappa 15lf) cant cope with our 4 scoops atm -> I think the ideal 15inch membran for us should have 800-1200w. Kappa lf15 has 600w and we run them into clip sometimes to cope with the scoops.

- we run them 70-140hz - ideally a new design could hit deep (flat 60hz) and high (160/180 or higher)

- we like the punch of the hd 15 "horn-sound" for kick but for 70ies Roots a reflex design would be much nicer soundwise in the 100-200hz area - we tried some different membrans like oberton 15 400 and different 18sound membrans in the hd15s which was a little improvement soundwise.

- The hds were one of mi first diy boxes +5 years ago, so it is senseless to refurbish them again - I know better built hd15 sound a lot better and play a little higher ;) ->But its time for us to built/try something different

Designs we like soundwise:

- double 12 horn (mkb 230)
- double 15 reflex -> with that solution the 15inch membrans must be really powerful
- cubo 15 kicks -> Havent seen much reggae sounds running these (that would be the design we quite likely gonna prototype this autumn)
-We dont want 18inch because of size

-> So ideally we search a compromise / hybrid between horn and relex design running ca. 60-180hz with power ratio 8scoops:6kicks

Prolly somebody can give me a hint for a design we may have missed.

give thx


Edited by Miles - 21 July 2018 at 5:28pm

PD154’s would be my advice. I’ve had both kappas and PD154 loaded HD’s and the turbo sound 215 version, PDs will outperform the kappas in both terms of SPL and sound quality. I used to run 2 a side from an infinite 8mk2 and the PDs would be happy above 8 turbomax 1500i’s.

Miles, local shootout? 4 mkh230 vs. hd15 vs. orbit3? ;) 

thanks for all the hints!!

- the tips for hd15 sound interesting. still think to built 2 cubo15 kicks this autumn and have a test session with different membrans with the local authority bass*en*mass. As long as it is 60/75hz and 160/180hz depending on phase/slopes etc.and compact and "loud enough" with 4 bins its fine rest will be bonus, totally clear that there is no perfect solution ;)

2 other designs i forgot to research again is a rcf douple 15inch "sub" with v-angle baffle, very compact, heard it a few times used as kick boxes above hogs but forgot the name of the rcf design

+ the design obf uses since last year looking a bit like iration steppas new stack with angled corners at the backplate. not sure if it ist double 15 or 18 or horn or not havent heard the new stacks of them yet but looking interesting. ->Edit: obf def. is 2x18 design by looking at the with




Edited by Miles - 27 July 2018 at 11:45am

Maybe the xtro kick section is a good solution

just bulit the first 2 cubo 15 kicks. First test with kappa 15lfa was nice - 80-160hz no problemo. under 70 hz not much response, but havent closed the ports yet...

- Next step is to align them to our subs/scoops then i can give some real feedback and post some transfer/fq measurement
- All in all nice sound and much cleaner than hd 15 in the 100-160hz area especially for roots tracks with ebass imo
- The achilles heel is the back plate (got to be supertight and heavily braced) and lots of damping in the chamber !
- only downside is the size for us. 62x62x62 same as an average 18inch kickbin but dont want to lose the "lowend" around 70 - prolly we make a version which is deeper to safe some height


give thx to cubo the man for the design works!
1x 1,25m x 2,5m sheet of birch mpx = 1 kick bin incl. surplus for bonus braces and shit -  that is allways nice !!!