12v Powered Systems - Mid-top recommendations to compliment a Cubo 15

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Mid-top recommendations to compliment a Cubo 15

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Category: General
Forum Name: 12v Powered Systems
Forum Description: From Mini-rigs to ICE, all your low voltage audio needs here...
URL: https://forum.speakerplans.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=105821
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Topic: Mid-top recommendations to compliment a Cubo 15

Posted By: northoftheriverswan
Subject: Mid-top recommendations to compliment a Cubo 15
Date Posted: 28 October 2020 at 6:53pm

We're researching a 3 way, 12v mini rig build. It's very early days. Popping this thread here instead of in Newbie Discussion due to the 12v relevance.

We're thinking about starting with the Cubo 15 as the base of the stack as it's the right size to fit on a mobile trailer we planning on buying.

I'm looking for recommendations on mid-top cabs that will compliment the Cubo 15 but also spatially fit well on top of it.

In terms of usage, it's to broadcast a community radio station in outdoor pop-up locations over the summer to smallish crowds, typically playing funk/reggae/dub/disco type sounds.

We have no constraints on amp or battery options at this stage either.

Thanks in advance.

Replies:

Posted By: Chris Grimshaw
Date Posted: 28 October 2020 at 9:08pm

For the music you're playing, I'd be looking to hit 40Hz, and I'm not sure the Cubo 15 does that. I'd probably go for a couple of ported 18"s, and have some 10 or 12" coaxials (nice compact mid-high box) on crank-up poles for easy deployment.

Chris

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Quality sound from Sheffield
www.grimshawaudio.com

Posted By: nejten
Date Posted: 28 October 2020 at 10:27pm

Look on the Eighteensound website, they have a few nice mid top plans. And according to Mr Cubo the Cubo 15 plays from 40Hz up to 110Hz so it should play deep enough.

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From small acorns oak trees grow.

Posted By: Noud
Date Posted: 29 October 2020 at 6:27am

I can highly recommend a paraflex.

Just finished building 4 altcon 15 a really love then!

312L playing flat till 40hz and has a great sound with a nice kick!

See pictures

https://forum.speakerplans.com/2x10-vented-horn-idea_topic100997_page8.html" rel="nofollow - https://forum.speakerplans.com/2x10-vented-horn-idea_topic100997_page8.html

Posted By: slaz
Date Posted: 31 October 2020 at 2:42pm

Even though it might seem inuitive to start by choosing the largest/heaviest part of your rig first, I'd say you need to consider stuff like logistics, run-time, possible weather-proofing etc.

Power is at the heart of the matter with these kind of rigs - major implications for the weight (and cost) of it all.

I'd say (and I think you'll find a general concensus in here on it) there are 2 approaches to power ....

1) Use 12V lead-acid batteries and (the right type of) car amplifiers. This the simplest way - there'll be a bif DIY to achieve the right wiring etc. - but nothing too tricky. Car amplifiers are usually bridgeable i.e. 2 channels can bridge to 1 or 4 channels can be bridged to 2 ... this also helps to achieve a sensible impedance match to PA-type drivers which are nearly always 8 ohms. Also, car amps usually have built-in filters to use as basic crossover.

Disadvantage is the weight - especially if you need long run-times.

2) Use chip-amp modules and (possibly) lithium batteries. The latter could be (for instance) an e-bike battery at nominal voltages of 24, 36, or 48.

Advantages are power-efficiency and weight. But you'll need to DIY up some kind of casing for the modules and probably some kind of crossover (could be analogue or some kind of DSP). You might very well need some signal gain to run the chip-amp modules from usual sources like laptops, phones/ipads etc. .... so your amplifier enclosure may need to supply 2 or more voltages to various things ... more complications. Chip-amp modules are nearly always rated into 4 ohm loads (or lower) - which is fine when you using multiple drivers - not so much if you run a single driver per amp channel.

This approach can ge quite costly - when it comes to chunky lithium batteries.

Also - if you go with this approach, get some help with it unless you're fairly savvy with electronics, wiring, and have access to a decent workshop/tools etc.

Now you mention the Cubo 15 for bass ... I'd say that could very well be a good choice (but not the only show in town). There's a pair of FBT Maxx2 on ebay right now for £150 .... thats a 2-way 10" box in a quality plastic enclosure and (and I think) neo drivers - one of those would do a lovely job as mid-top above a cubo 15 (crossing somewhere around 100Hz).

If you want to give us some details like what kind of trolley you want to use, how it gets moved around, how long you need to play for, what kind of crowd you expect, what kind of budget you have ... we can probably give you useful pointers.

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REMEMBER....POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS SHOULD BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON

Posted By: northoftheriverswan
Date Posted: 11 November 2020 at 7:39pm

Thanks for the detailed post slav, and apologies for the slow reply. To address your questions:

Trolley: We're looking at something similar to this trolley (http://https//www.outspokencycles.co.uk/product/carla-cargo-trailer/). We don't anticipate being mobile when the rig is operational, but more use it to transport the rig when packed down then as a stationary base when we string it up.

Power: We've been looking at car amplifiers, particularly the Pioneer GM D8704 which seems a popular choice for 12v rigs. Does this mean we’re limited to 12V lead-acid batteries?

Session time: We’ve set a benchmark of 5 hours sessions. Besides the rig we also hope to power 1 x turntable (portable Vestax or similar), 1 x mixer (https://m.thomann.de/gb/behringer_xenyx_1002_b.htm), 1 x aux connected device (maybe a laptop which arguably could run off battery). Any more than 5 hours would be a welcome bonus.

Parameters: Part of the ethos of this project is that it should be as DIY as possible so we wouldn't be looking to buy any existing cabs such as the FBT Maxx2 you suggested on Ebay. We’d probably even sacrifice weight for some beautiful looking, wooden mid-top section. That being said, we are wondering if we can get away with 15mm ply (as opposed to 18mm) to save on weight?

We’re lucky enough at this stage to not really be constrained by a budget.

Crowd: This is a bit of an unknown but it would be small. I would expect 50-75 yet I don’t anticipate the crowd would be solely focused on the sound coming from our rig. It might be more ambient sound for many not close to the rig. We might be set up at a stall at a community market, or a gallery space, or down the park on a summer day. Thanks in advance for the advice.

Posted By: cinghiale
Date Posted: 17 November 2020 at 12:43pm

My buds and I built a very similar rig around a single cubo 15. It works very well for this application! With a eminence kappa 15lfa it hits 40hz and sounds bangin bass music, funk, techno. Mainly used outdoors for around 50 people dancing and for 50 it's sufficiently loud. We combine the cubo with this top: https://www.lautsprechershop.de/pa/d2544_d10_en.htm

and a 10" paraflex (1/4 wave resonator) kick cabinet. The kick cab was a real game changer. Gives it some real slam.

Powered with the Emphaser EA-m4x class-d car audio amp (much more power than the pioneer) Run off a single 50ah deepcycle battery.

The whole thing weighs about 100kg and is extremely efficient. We power the amp, dsp, two cdjs, and a dj mixer directly off the battery (no inverter) and it will run for 10-11 hours at full volume.

The key is to stick with very high efficiency speakers and amps. If you have to use an inverter to power turntables, use a small inverter. Big ones will suck a lot of battery.

As far as I know, it would be hard to get much more power than this (2x700watts rms) with a 12v amp. If you want to go bigger then perhaps lithium batts and wondom sure chip amps are the way to go, but lithium batteries require a lot of circuitry to regulate, discharge safely. And high voltage dc can be dangerous if you don't know what your doing! The powerful chip amps like to have 100volts dc!