TH & Unity Horn - Solar sound system
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Topic: TH & Unity Horn - Solar sound system
Posted By: Phil B
Subject: TH & Unity Horn - Solar sound system
Date Posted: 09 February 2012 at 11:59pm
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So since moving down here to Aus I`ve been helping some mates with their 12v systems, bit different from work playing with huge PA`s! So the plan is to make a modular , very efficient outdoor PA that runs off either a 12v battery bank or from a 24v bank with 240v invertor. The system has to travel as small as possible but then has to be big enough to cope with some big desert parties! We have an Ultradrive ( my old one shipped over from the UK!) and are looking at these for the 24v -240v invertor system...... http://www.pascal-audio.com/amplifier-modules.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.pascal-audio.com/amplifier-modules.html 1 x Pro3 module a side could run 2 or 3 TH`s easily and 2 x 700 for the Unities would be plenty. They are very efficient and small...perfect! I pushed them down the direction of TH`s with barn doors and Unity horns for the simple reason of efficiency and size. They were looking at Bill Fitzm LAB12 designs but I swayed them away from those as they would need a large number of boxes ( which are huge already!) and they wouldn`t have the power to run them? We ended up with 15" Tapped Horns using 12mm ply which are small and light enough to handle on your own, then barn doors can be added for outdoor venues. Unity horns are very, very efficient with a decent coverage and we are looking at stacking them inside each other for transport. They will be pole mounted on top of 2 horizontal TH`s with a yoke to allow them to be angled around. So the first 15" Th`s have been built ( following the Single Sheet plan from J Bell on DIY audio) loaded with RCF 15p200`s and we sat down to measure with and without barn doors...   The blue trace is a single box on the floor, red and green are with different sized barndoors. The Blue trace of the box itself matches what has been measured before with a hump at 120hz and a dip at 170 hz ( ish) . We simply wedged old ply onto the top and sides for the door measurements but they show what happens. There`s an obvious overall gain but there`s some nice smoothing after the 120hz hump. We went all the way out to silly big extensions but the best compromise seems to be around 600mm deep , 1800mm wide and coming off the horn itself and not the end of the box. The first two boxes having their barn doors fitted at a festival ( that`s my son inside the horns!! he loves them!)  So the system got named because of the extensions...it`s now called the " Strap-On Soundsystem" !!! Jeez some girls have filthy minds.... The Unity horns are waiting on the 5" drivers to turn up but will be a B&C De16 on the throat and will be a 60 x 60 first section flaring to a 90 x 60 second section. After having read a mountain of white papers and articles it seems that the size , position and depth of the holes is critical to get the mids to go high enough to meet the 1" and go low enough to meet our subs. So the plan is to build a very rough prototype and then start making different sized and positioned holes for the mid range tap, measure it and see what works! We are still thinking about maybe making them a 3 way Unity horn by using some 10" low mids and a further tap but seeing as the TH`s go up to 250hz easily it might not be needed and we`ll see what the measurements come up with! More to follow .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Replies:
Posted By: SamV
Date Posted: 10 February 2012 at 12:27am
| Epic. How much are the Pascals? |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 10 February 2012 at 1:14am
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Still waiting on a price to get them to Aus . I`ll let ya know. .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 01 May 2012 at 2:30pm
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So an update....the 2 x SS15 TH`s are complete with barn doors that clip on and off. Very neat system and all packs down to single boxes and a couple of flat sheets... The other 2 are built and await fitting out Here`s a photo from a little shindig in the Bush over Easter weekend. Managed to get a bit of measurement done as well ( just to annoy the relatives eh!). Amazing amount of bass/ sub for such little power. They only pulled 300w and it was more than enough!  And today we finished the first prototype unity horn. A very rough , quick build to test the new Celestion 4"`s that we picked up yesterday....literally cut/ screw/ silicon sealant! We have started the first prototype with a 45/45 degree first section flaring out to 90 in the horizontal   And an afternoon of testing ensued...which turned into an evening and on into the night!  Notice small child....oblivious to it all! So at the end of this marathon build / test/ re-build /re-test we have a working box that performs better than the sims. Other people have measured Unities against Hornres and Akabak and they don`t seem to quite follow the predictions. Ours certainly didn`t ! We tried shims under the mid drivers to increase the front area and it did the reverse of what Hornres said it would? BUT the main plus point is that the 4"`s go well above 1k to meet the B&C 1" so we can try different slopes and see if we can iron out the 2k bump in the B&C`s response. Another plus point was that it was barely ticking over ( no input or output lights on the Ultradrive and 0.5v on the mid drivers ) but clearly audible from 20m and it was crystal clear even at that distance. All the talk about Unities say they have this characteristic and it`s awesome to actually hear it ! Only downside was the horizontal coverage of the 1" which sloped off dramtically after the 45 degree to 90 degree flare. Was going to happen but we didn`t expect it to be so drastic... Next one will be 45 / 60 flaring to 90 in the horizontal ! The sims reckon we`ll loose a slight bit of gain on the mids but keep the dispersion down to the 250 hz we need. Another day of beeps and hisses awaits .....that`ll keep the neighbours happy .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: toastyghost
Date Posted: 01 May 2012 at 3:30pm
| Loving the measurement mic with gas bottle stand! |
Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 01 May 2012 at 6:04pm
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What size holes are you using? do you know how to work out the right delay/xover frequency to get the 1" and 4" to sum correctly? The 1" will have a 45 degree dispersion because it is only the first part of the horn which is loading it. The 4" mid will have a wider dispersion. good work! ------------- Minirig portable soundsystem movement |
Posted By: Teunos
Date Posted: 01 May 2012 at 6:22pm
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If you haven't done so yet, apply a sealant or automotive grade primer to the inside of the horn, specially the throat where the HF enters the horn. This will prevent the woord from soaking up the HF and extend the response. ------------- Best regards, Teun. |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 01 May 2012 at 11:37pm
The reason the thick ply is there is to provide a smooth transition from the 1" to the horn flare....this is what it looks like inside...  We made the horn deliberatly shorter to allow that extra wood so as to shape the horn entry point. Yes it was correctly time delayed , we let the Ultradrive do a few auto aligns and it matched what we saw with the response, and what I guessed it would be. I didn`t have Smaart working but will get some proper phase traces at the crossover point next time. Holes were 12mm dia in a 12mm sheet of ply. We started with 10mm holes but they seemed to cut off the lower response compared to the 12mm. The 4mm spacers were supposed to extend the top end response but in reality they made it worse? We thought maybe mounting the driver flat on the horn the cone might be touching at full excursion so maybe we`ll put in a 1mm spacer and remeasure. An alternative would be to rebate a surround cutout but it would be pretty tricky! Also we will try some frustrum holes...like this ...  That might give us an even better upper response whilst keeping the low extension. The traces we got from Holm Impulse were doing weird things low down. We would get different traces from either pink noise or a sine sweep? In the end we used pink noise and an rta to see which was correct and it seems the pink bursts in Holm gave a better representation of the lower end?? It`s probably Holm trying to guess the lower end, under the 150hz filter we put in. Having 45 degree 1"s is not so bad, but for outdoors with them set maybe 3-4m apart it won`t be enough. It was an experiment with the 45 degree anyway! Yes Mr Teunos I forgot about giving it a primer coat! It`s very rough cheap ply so would def be pretty bad for the 8k and above! Anyway it`s a start and we won`t be making the 4 x real ones until we`ve got a response that works with a decent coverage! .p. ( oh and Toasty that was the gas cylinder from the bar which we had drunk dry! Makes a pretty solid mic stand if a bit heavy) ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
davey t wrote:Posted By: slaz
Date Posted: 01 May 2012 at 11:55pm
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Fookinell mate .... thats quite a rig you got developing there. Not exactly "tuck it under your arm and toddle off down the road with it" style though eh ?  What about powering it ? Got plenty big PV panels ? ------------- REMEMBER....POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS SHOULD BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 02 May 2012 at 4:08am
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Powering is via Richies fire truck at the moment ( It`s in the background in one of the above photos). He has a decent set of 12v amps and the truck has some SERIOUS batteries and panels. He has developed his set up over about 10 years but has mainly only powered 2 x small full range boxes off it plus a Cinema projector. When we get the Pascal amps we`ll have to see how much power it draws off the wall on a set of 240v amps then get inverting to that spec! Not the most efficient way but I haven`t yet asked the Pascal lot if they can adapt any modules to 12v dc supply? Probably not but worth asking? Next on my very full list of things to do! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 02 May 2012 at 9:20am
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Yea those 4" celestions should work very well... the fs is about right and they look right. I'm not sure that your holes are big enough, most people use around 20mm diameter... 12mm sounds a little small to me My conclusions after 2 prototypes on the unity were that a close approximation to danleys boxes can be made, however the problem is always going to be the fact that you are running that 1" compression driver right down to <1.5khz which never stood well with me. I always tried to get those mid to go as high as possible and sit as close to the 1" as possible. You can smooth the transition from round to square with a bit of filler. Have a look at red spade audio ... he's got an interesting 90x45 design he's working on using the same mid drivers. Keep up the good work! I wanna see some plots and xover settings next please ------------- Minirig portable soundsystem movement |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 02 May 2012 at 11:50am
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Funnily enuff we bought the Celstions through a group buy organised by Mr Redspade Audio! Been following his builds and had a few emails back and forth with him about our plans. As for the 1" going down to 1.5khz it seems to do this quite easily? Moving the holes closer might improve the top end but we`ve already got the mids going upto 1.5 khz so we are looking at low end extension more. I`m not sure we can get higher than 1.5khz but we`ll def try a few more experiments! We would have preferred a nicer driver like a DE25 or a BMS but everything audio in Aus is either outrageously expensive or not available here! So these drivers were scavenged from another set of boxes and the whole rig is supposed to be as much re-cycling of old materials we can get our hands on. The RCF`s for the subs were bought second hand and needed a bit of love to get in working condition. As for lots of plots of the Unities.....well that will have to wait till we`ve got another horn built and run some comparisons ....But here`s the SS15 Tapped horn subs with and without the Barn Doors, LPF at 150hz. Bit of a difference! Really not sure what Holm is measuring low down, we think that it`s not catching the sweeps against background noise and just trying to fill in the blanks, even at quite high volumes. This is with a 40hz HPF , no idea of slope, in built into the 12v amp ( which is going to be disabled soon)  .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: slaz
Date Posted: 02 May 2012 at 12:00pm
Might be a bit much to ask them to design and build DC-DC upconverters, but mebbe there's some off-the-shelf 12V -> xV DC modules that could be inserted into the right bit of their circuit .... mebbe they'd be willing to run up/test/tweak one for you ? ------------- REMEMBER....POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS SHOULD BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON |
Posted By: slaz
Date Posted: 02 May 2012 at 12:08pm
Ahem .... well just realised after I typed that .... I'm probably talking crap there. With those designs the PSU "bit" is closely integrated into the design I think ..... aah never mind - I'll get my coat  ------------- REMEMBER....POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS SHOULD BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 21 May 2012 at 12:29pm
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So we have now built and tested a Mkii Unity...60 x 45. With a second flare all round. We also managed to get the mids closer to the 1" and do some experimenting with flaring the ports... Yes it`s rough shutter ply again...but it`s prototypes ! Notice how tight a fit it is to the edge of the horn!  We started with small final exit holes and worked back up to 12mm again and then up to 14mm. Going higher than 12mm didn`t improve anything noticable lower down and we started losing the upper response. So we now have a decent set of measurements and it was time to see how it worked with the subs. So impromptu plastic tub power stand got the Unity Horn up high and VOILA!  And it works! Obviously the finished Unity horns will have yokes and be pole mounted from the subs . The plan is to mount 2 vertically to allow for a decent vertical dispersion and possible splay them as needed to get the horizontal. Power wise though 1 box was loud enough just ticking over! So not sure if 2 a side would be needed for most applications using the 12v setup. After Richie spent a lot of time running sweeps and doing some eq tweaks ( much respect to his family and neighbours!) we have a very nice system. I love the vocals through this setup, after a week of line array sidefills for monitors it`s like hearing vocals as they should be again. So down to measurements... Subs with and without barn doors again. We re-did the tests in REW after the anomalies with Holm and they still show how the doors smooth out the response and extend the low end slightly. I have offset the "with doors " measurement by -1.3db though. As pointed out by another forum if we add the doors we have to move back with the mic.  The 170hz dip is the only real issue. It is inherent in the design and we have had to eq around it. Not ideal or very good for the phase response. So the Mkii Unity measured similiar to the Mki but with slightly better upper response. We are not going to get lower than 220 - 250 with the mids as they are. The only ( expensive) way would be to use a higher quality 1 or 1.4 " which would allow us to cross lower and then we could re-design to get a lower extension. Or add a 2nd tap and use something like a sealed back 6-8" , but that means another amp channel and processing. Again the rough shutter ply has lost us loads of 4k and above with a very peaky response but we`re pretty sure the finished painted horns will give us some of that back. This plot is for the Mids + Highs...with 1.6k crossover..no eq`s, no gains set.  And now with the subs added and before / after first eq`s.  So overall not too bad. A few rough holes higher up but nearly + / - 3 db from 45hz to 3k. I`m back in the Uk for the summer and the system will be out in the desert doing what it`s been designed to do : A very efficient, small , compact, hi-fi sounding 12v soundsystem. Wish I could be there for the first outing....  Roll on the next " idea" we hit upon whilst building these! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 12 June 2012 at 2:21pm
The 4 x Unity Horns are coming along nicely....  Bad news is that Pascal will only deal with OEM manufacturers for the modules..... So a change of plan is needed for powering them in the future. For the moment the car amps used for the old system will be used...not ideal but workable. .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 01 July 2012 at 5:56pm
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Update... Mr Richie has been producing miracles in his shed....     The rear cover is to protect the drivers in transit and also to give a flat surface for the yokes to mount to. As for amps we had to find something to drive the subs and tops efficiently and 4ch`s which would work with an invertor setup. So there`s now an FFa 4x1.0 in Melbourne...don`t know if that`s a first??  It` s a single 20amp powercon in which would translate to 2 x 10amp modules for a L+R setup. It will have to run mono for a while until some passive crossovers can be built for the tops. ! Another FFa would be the best plan for 240v use and allow an amp a side but we would lose a lot of efficiency on the 12v setup. Not ideal but at the moment budget is everything System is ready for the desert ...just! Mr Richie is a broken man but the end result is worth it mate. respect ! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Dave FFA
Date Posted: 01 July 2012 at 6:02pm
| great report Phil! good to speak to you last week all the best Dave |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 01 July 2012 at 6:06pm
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Cheers Dave. I`m gutted I`m not there helping but Mr Richie has done a sterling job and I can`t wait to get back and hear it all running together! I was gobsmacked at vocals through a shoddy prototype...roll on the real thing. .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: bitSmasher
Date Posted: 03 July 2012 at 1:18pm
| I love this setup... was it you or a friend that posted up (possibly elsewhere) a group buy/build for these horns? |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 04 July 2012 at 12:05pm
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If you check out Paul Spencers blog page here... http://redspade-audio.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/synergy-horn-flat-pack-kit.html" rel="nofollow - http://redspade-audio.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/synergy-horn-flat-pack-kit.html He`s currently gearing up for some cnc cut kits. Funnily enough we have some Celestions left over from the group buy which you could buy off us if you wanna forge ahead on your own ? And another update. The amp rack is finished, and it takes 12v or 240v....so can cover gigs intown or out in the desert. Again Mr Richie has done wonders!  ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: bitSmasher
Date Posted: 05 July 2012 at 1:46pm
 just curious for now... but I'm interested in building a high quality, efficient PA stack for battery powered operation. Will get in contact with Paul and follow the progress of your system and his builds. |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 7:18pm
  .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: bitSmasher
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 7:07am
| Woah... awesome! |
Posted By: Nemesis
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 11:13pm
| Amazing build guys (gals?) Loving it! |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 05 January 2013 at 11:28am
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So an update..... After buying a Pulse 4 x 300 and getting it shipped from the UK we now have 8ch`s of power for the system BUT we now know we will definitly need a mid bass driver adding. This is because the Unities only really go down to 250 efficiently, after that they fall of very quickly. So we need something to cover the 90 - 300 range and are investigating what will fit the best...2 x 10" with rear ported back to the horn or 2 x 12" with only a FLH??? It will also be easier to build a whole new box with a larger flare to cover the low extension we`re looking for as well. It`s boiling down to some hornres predictions versus whats available in Aus...!! So it also means we need to free up more amp channels and the obvious path was passive crossovers for the mid / highs. The mids naturally roll off from around 1k and after a bit more phase and freq testing we reckoned we wouldn`t need a LPF on them. So a simple design which fits neatly into the exisiting boxes was come up with . The adjustable Lpad allows us to match mid/ high ratios better for different venues.  So after fitting a prototype crossover the other day we tested the response which was all a bit horrible till we remembered it was a 2nd order and that we had to flip the phase ..DOH! And we got this trace straight away with no mucking about....pretty damn good ...!  So all coming together nicely.....which leads us onto this monstrosity which is being fitted to the trailer this weekend...say hello to 800 watts of windy power!  .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: bitSmasher
Date Posted: 07 January 2013 at 5:38am
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I love this system! After much research from initial inspiration, will look to build my own SS15 + extensions for running on 24V. Unity horns are a challenge for another day (year)... |
Posted By: loonie
Date Posted: 07 January 2013 at 11:52am
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What happened to this in the end Phil? What a project! ------------- Team DB |
Posted By: cravings
Date Posted: 07 January 2013 at 12:52pm
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well his last post was only 2 days ago.. so i think it's safe to say it's ongoing. great thread! |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 07 January 2013 at 1:49pm
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Project is def` still ongoing! Just walked in at midnight from day 3 of fitting that wind turbine and other trailer / system mods. We have the main stage to do at a little Eco Festy this weekend near Melbourne so it`s flat out prep! More pics and vids to follow! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: fat_brstd
Date Posted: 07 January 2013 at 2:05pm
Some photos I took when I first met the guys building this awesome system.              ------------- Melbournes Rootical Warrior Roots - Dub - Steppers http://www.facebook.com/adrians.wall" rel="nofollow - facebook page |
Posted By: bitSmasher
Date Posted: 08 January 2013 at 4:45am
Hi-Tech hippies  |
Posted By: biotec
Date Posted: 08 January 2013 at 9:25am
Phil or Adrian, do you know what the bent cable lining the inside walls of the trailer is for? Great work, looks like a usefull trailer! Be careful piling stuff on the batteries though, a damp tarp will cause a short which'll drain a battery, and a metal object will cause detonation, particularly if the batteries are gassing. Nick ------------- me so horny, me love you long throw. |
Posted By: Teunos
Date Posted: 08 January 2013 at 10:15am
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foldable beds? ------------- Best regards, Teun. |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 08 January 2013 at 10:52am
Dunno what cable you mean Nick.... you sure you`re not looking at the bed frame ...? Well those photos were taken when it was all a big mess ! and yes the inevitable happened and someone managed to short a battery against the chassis and take out the solar regulator. We knew it had to be done ...just finding the time So after 3 days solid hard work here`s the new look trailer!  All tidied up with new benchs and supports covering the batteries. Wind regulator and shunt mounted and all cabling tidied up! The motor winch for the wind genny mast is on the right. Support angle pieces to take the stress of a rear mounted mast. And a mounted fire extinguisher! When big currents go wroung it usually involes flames.... All will be revealed of the full Wind Genny setup when I get some photos this weekend...lets just say it`s bloody awesome! Can`t have everyone thinking we are messy hippies! ( Remember Never trust a Hippy kids....) .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: biotec
Date Posted: 08 January 2013 at 11:31am
|
yep was probably the bed frames. Look much tidier now! I did something similar with a battery once but managed to knock the offending item off the terminal before it welded itself to the metal frame and killed the battery. A dead short on big batteries is frightening stuff, it's easy to get 1000a+. A mechanic I used to use once got his wedding ring and spanner to short a battery and nearly lost his finger when the ring melted in a split second. Be carefull of the vibrations and oscilations from the wind turbine; they can get pretty violent in the right conditions so make sure you don't get fatigue cracks in your welds. Nick ------------- me so horny, me love you long throw. |
Posted By: fat_brstd
Date Posted: 10 January 2013 at 4:27am
Wind generator in place ------------- Melbournes Rootical Warrior Roots - Dub - Steppers http://www.facebook.com/adrians.wall" rel="nofollow - facebook page |
Posted By: bitSmasher
Date Posted: 10 January 2013 at 4:51am
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should throw a few long-range horns up there too |
Posted By: hond
Date Posted: 10 January 2013 at 2:17pm
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this is amazing! cutting edge shit right here! |
Posted By: fatty jee
Date Posted: 12 January 2013 at 9:24pm
I think that is the finest 12V system i have seen, well done sir!!! 
|
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 16 January 2013 at 11:51am
|
So after a weekend of great music, fantastic organic solar beer and a million mozzies at Fest la Frog on French Island , VIC, we`re mulling over our first ever live band festy with the Solar Sound System. Firstly there was an issue with the wind generator. Output of the Genny itself is 96 AC 3 -phase which is rectified to 24v DC BUT it didn`t put out anything like it should ampage wise. After testing everything and a bit of head scratching we reckon the system doesn`t support 24v DC and needs to be hooked to a 96v DC off-grid supply. The Genny would load up but at too low a speed to make any good power. Secondly the backline pulled twice as much as the system..EKKK! It was only 2 x gtr and 1 x bass amp! But current draw went from about 2amps with the system on playback with 2 x self powered monitors to 6-8 amps with the backline. This seriously dug into the battery bank very early on... Outcome of that issue was that we had to resort to a backup veggie-oil generator to charge the batteries for the last day. Not ideal but we weren`t getting enough amps back from the wind side of things to catch up during down times. Also we popped a fuse on the solar side of things ( under -specced ....but at least we now know!) and lost about 6 hrs of good strong sun power. Other than the power issues everything else was fantastic. Sound with bands was awesome ( I`ll just repeat that...AWESOME!!) never heard such vocal clarity and refined dynamics with instruments like horns / harmonicas / violins etc etc. The passive crossovers sounded fine and we didn`t even have to eq the system at all.. Didn`t really crank it either until co-owner Monkey Marcs` band ( Combat Wombat) played ...and then it was just a bit too much volume at the front so backed it off a bit. Only casualty was an already badged RCF 15" in one of the subs, some glue came off but that was on the last day and it was pulled out before self destructing! So a few things to think about... Backline ...why not make our own with efficient amps and just some speaker emulation DSP in front??? Subs .... some tracks from the electronic bands were going down lower than the SS15`s could go, still there but if we are going for full range we need something under them. So an idea floated around the after festy campfire was some kind of servodrive tapped or transmission line horn for efficiency to cover 20 - 40hz... Wind Genny... some kind of AC-AC step down to match the 24v battery bank..??!! I blame the awesome organic solar beer for the crazy ideas ... a few photos   And an awesome photo taken by Francesco Vicenzi  .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: biotec
Date Posted: 16 January 2013 at 12:38pm
Awesome stuff Phill. It's worth reading through the blog below: http://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com Paul generates all his power from wind and water but you'll be most interested in one of his stream turbines. The turbine is too far from his batteries to use DC as he'll lose too much in voltage drop, so he has a turbine which generates high voltage three-phase AC (400v+) which is rectified down. He seems to have ironed out his problems so I reckon you should get in touch with him. search for rectifier and powerspout to get some relevant posts. I reckon your best bet will be use a rectifier to get high voltage DC out, then use an MPPT regulator to squeeze maximum amps into your battery bank. I have a 45a morningstar MPPT regulator which will take up to 150v so I'm sure it could be made to work. Also try the Navitron forum, there's a load of clever people working with wind, sun and water energy there. ------------- me so horny, me love you long throw. |
Posted By: toastyghost
Date Posted: 16 January 2013 at 12:39pm
| That last one makes me want to move to Oz more than almost anything else I've seen. You utter bastard. |
Posted By: bitSmasher
Date Posted: 17 January 2013 at 3:27am
|
No need for amplifcation in the backline at all IMO, would take a bit of work but all DSP/Emulation/DI for the instruments running in to a bunch of monitor speakers. It's interesting how some of the biggest bands in the world, with huge resources behind them, go for the simple options like DI and DSP to get their sound... but the little guys and beginners can't shake the need for hundreds of watts of guitar amp and monster bass stacks. |
Posted By: hond
Date Posted: 25 January 2013 at 10:27pm
| Phil B, I'm digging your mindset |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 18 March 2013 at 7:16am
|
So I have sawdust on my feet today...things have been stirring in the shed... We finally agreed on the plans for the Mkii Unity 3-way build so got straight down to business. The whole thing boiled down to choosing a xover point for the subs to low-mids. We`ve plotted and re-plotted the low-mids with different volume rear chambers, rear port sizes , drivers etc etc and it seems as stated by Tom D himself that the hornloading of the low-mid via the front ports only goes down to around 160-180hz on such a short horn. So we chose 100hz as our x-over and adapated the rear chamber to fill between 90 and 180hz. The rear volume seemed to be the key to getting a good xmax and low extension.....so we have a cunning plan that will reduce the rear volume enough for us as just fitting a trapezoid cover leaves too much. 1 x RCF ND2530T3 1.4" comp driver 4 x Celestion TF0140MR Sealed back 5" 2 x Ande 10-1 10" ferrite Firstly dust of the ropey old prototype horn in the shed....adapt the throat entry to the new RCF 1.4 comp drivers. These should rock compared to the old B&C DE16`s ! They go lower, higher and are way smoother.....  Then mount the 10"`s and drill the port holes for the front ( hornloaded) side of them. Re-mount the 5"`s.  So the plan is to fit the rear cover and measure the highs and mids with just the first ports for the low-mids and then after fitting the baffles to extend the rear path we will start with small rear ports and work upwards! Here`s a clue to the cunning plan....  More to do tommo including annoying the neighbours again with beeps and sweeps....! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: mk2_ginger_biscuit69
Date Posted: 18 March 2013 at 2:22pm
|
bloomin' amazing project, the self contained trailer too is such a quality touch, is indeed hi-tech hippy work, simply how it should be done/managed! Some serious investment must be going on to achieve all this though, but good on you. I love the idea of unity horns, i have alway preferred a 'real' point source over other speakers, and you don't get much better than unity! Only downside is i like to run the mains to 70-80hz yet still keep a solid sound, which few commercial cabs [ignoring reflex/front loaded] do, although those that do, are definatly the war horses popular around the world. Keep up this amazing work, truely bloomin' marvelous! ------------- ''Remember that the object of a subwoofer is to enhance the output of your main speakers, not overpower it'' ''Dubstep - an elongated electronic fart'' |
Posted By: snowflake
Date Posted: 18 March 2013 at 4:47pm
| your mid taps look quite small and much nearer to the throat than I've done. what are your throat dimensions? |
Posted By: toastyghost
Date Posted: 18 March 2013 at 7:13pm
| Where is this going to be playing out the next few months Phil? A friend of mine moved over recently and I want to get him to come have a nosy. |
Posted By: BP1Fanatic
Date Posted: 29 March 2013 at 1:37pm
| AWESOME build! |
Posted By: mr. doom
Date Posted: 29 March 2013 at 2:09pm
Great job! Musical instrument speakers are generally efficient, the amps are toasters though. Some DIY bass and guitar rigs/monitors would be fun to build and save a ton of power. Getting that last octave of bass (outdoors) is going to take exponentially more speaker, you may want to consider larger horn that gets to 35hz but I would just build another pair of SS15's and get creative with the eq.
|
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 02 April 2013 at 12:18am
|
Well we have done a a LOT of measurements but have hit a brick wall with getting our Unity Mkii`s low mids doing what was expected! Pictures tell a thousand words... How we reduced rear volume.... and made it easier to put the rear cover on with clips like the SS15 extenders  First set of rear ports  Path length extenders ( to increase path length of rear output - copied from pics of SH50`s)  Double rear ports in first position!  Single rear ports nearer to front ports...gaffer over old ones!  The results..... Front output only.. ( as in the front of driver ports with back of box sealed)  Front + Rear ports  We have the peaky response that a rear 6th order bandpass should give but just can`t seem to get it too go any higher than around 110hz. We guess the front output is too high in freq and will try to move the ports futher down the horn to try and flatten out the hole around 150hz. It was good to see exactly what happens when you move the rear ports, and we also tried loads of mad stuff...like tins cans in the rear box to reduce volume further ! We put in extra baffles which do that now....which is the green plot above . The plot of Mad Extention is when we just put shutter ply around the horn to make a BIG horn..and of course it responds like one! So the poor prototype horn is going to get another hack about and we`ll see what we get! Far too busy with work at the moment ! Toasty next gig is.... Ecotopia Junction Festival April 21st. Little Community festy with pedal and solar rigs. Cheers for the compliments everyone.. .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: snowflake
Date Posted: 03 April 2013 at 2:51am
| what's the sensitivity like compared to the mid section? |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 04 April 2013 at 4:35am
When I`m next home I`ll get some measurements done with a set input Voltage for ya... This is a very rough smaart trace ( mic in same position and same amp setting but no checking of actual input voltage across the different loads)  .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 22 May 2013 at 11:57am
|
Bingo ! So these slot ports ...  Plus reducing the rear volume with foam and wood Having a bit of a fiddle with the cross over points Equals with mids....... 91hz to 1.1Khz +/- 3db !! Still have a bit of work to do on the phase trace..... more Smaart time !! But as we are crossing into the Subs at 100hz I reckon we can work on the HPF of the Low Mids to get us back in the ball park!  Got a bit dis-heartened for a while but just kept on plugging away with changes and mods till we had a good understanding of the trends we were seeing..... Now just to build 2 proper ones !! The poor prototype is looking like Swiss Cheese! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 02 September 2013 at 11:57am
|
So we have finally finished the Unity Mkii`s. After all those measurements and testing it was down to doing a CAD drawing of the finished boxes and then modding 2 of the original 4. We kept the original horn flare , then fitted the new 1.4" RCF comp drivers which meant hand crafting the new throat. This is probably the trickiest bit as to keep the Oblate Spheroid horn flare is critical to the whole design. The new front piece was glued to the horn flares, new holes cut for the 10" ports and a new yoke assembly made...all sounds great but when you`ve only got a couple of days before a gig deadline it was hectic... We didn`t really have time to add the extra foam to reduce the rear volume but we knew we could just EQ that out and run them a bit higher.... Anyway some pics...     They sound awesome.... full range down to 100 hz ... Now to start really sorting the Wind Generator and some Li-Ion batteries...I see more late nights before summer...! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Pasi
Date Posted: 02 September 2013 at 12:02pm
|
I've always wondered on these unity horns, how that pressure created by cone drivers affects the diaphragm in the HF unit? |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 02 September 2013 at 12:09pm
Well the old 1" Celestions we took out were just fine..... same can`t be said of the 4" Mids.  4 out of 8 had exactly the same damage to the surrounds. Same position on the driver on all of them, which coresponds to directly opposite the ports so the place of highest pressure. When we fitted them originally we were concerned at how close they were to the baffle using just the front seal and it seems we were right. We`ve added foam spacers to add 1.5mm so hopefully enough to stop the damage?? .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 24 February 2014 at 3:24am
|
So after running the new Mkii Unity tops for a few months we can pretty firmly say they are winners! Compliments at every gig by punters and artists about the clarity / punch / looks ! We`ll be converting the last two Mki`s over to 3 ways sometime in the winter, only difference will be some neo 10"`s to try save weight as they are pretty tricky to get up on the pole right now. Managed to acquire a decent amp rack and distro from work....ex Nexo Alpha stuff thanks Bruce! Rewired the lot and squeezed it all in ! Bit weird having an SSE logo looking at me...!  Here`s a few recent gig shots....     Next on the agenda is a new MPPT for the wind generator to get around the 96-24v mismatch we have right now. And we also haven`t damaged any more 4"`s after we added a 1mm shim to all of them . ...wahoo ! We think they were just too close to the baffle with the pressure from being opposite the ports causing the surround to fail. .p.
------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: bitSmasher
Date Posted: 24 February 2014 at 5:04am
|
how hard does the FF4 push Your Mum? also, I still love this rig... will make an effort to check it out if I ever get down to Melbourne again |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 24 February 2014 at 5:17am
Pushes the 10"`s nice and hard..... fnaar fnaar .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Tapeworm
Date Posted: 03 March 2014 at 2:42am
|
Hered this last nigh. I must say i was really impressed! Fair play lads!! Crisp, and them barn doors make a hell of a diference! Big up! ------------- http://www.nslproductions.com/" rel="nofollow - NSLproductions.com http://www.neverlution.co.uk/" rel="nofollow - neverlution.co.uk |
Posted By: Danny A
Date Posted: 03 March 2014 at 11:30pm
|
loved reading this thread. Very nice project indeed |
Posted By: Mark James
Date Posted: 04 March 2014 at 4:25pm
|
lol random mum off on sp again ------------- insert silly sentence here |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 23 March 2014 at 11:08am
Why ....thank You Mark....gotta keep the SJ level of humour alive somehow ! Anyway back to other stuff..... This is what`s going on in the wind department......you`ll have to work it out yourselves.  ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 06 December 2014 at 4:54am
|
Ok...so a pre-summer ( Southern Hemisphere) update... Firstly the whole Wind / Solar charge and in/outs has been tidied up...evrything mounted properly with breakers and in-line fuses...  Next was the task we`ve been putting off for a while. Batteries are HEAVY..... and the trailer was not really legal to pull ( or stop) that amount of weight. So ... Take everything out of the trailer ....jack it up, and chop out all the old axles/ guards ..  Purchase a whole new 2.8t twin axle set with new bigger tyres, electric brakes and breakaway system. Weld new box section alongside the existing trailer frame, weld in a new drawbar support down the centre, fit a new 3t towball and handbrake !!   Along with that...refit spare wheel support at front, re-wire whole trailer for electric brakes, fit new mudguards , seal & paint the underneath and fit a new bracket to hold the wind turbine and a mount for the turbine vane....PHEW !! Anyway it`s now LEGAL and slightly better looking with our white rims!  Next job is to go fully analogue using the 2 x BSS FDS360`s I bought in the UK when I popped over a few months ago. I`ve only ever had to add maybe 1 msec delay subs to tops using the Ultradrive so hopefully I can get a decent enough match using the phase alignment of the 360`s. So cards to make and more speaker testing to come ( sorry neighbours !) Also maybe buying/ making some 18" tapped horns.... ( I have a bass habit to satisfy!) but they obviously won`t fit in the trailer ! Roll on some summer gigs! .p.
------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: AM55
Date Posted: 06 December 2014 at 9:45am
|
Any Melbourne gigs lined up? |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 06 December 2014 at 10:20am
|
Let Them Eat Cake on New Years Day out at Werribee.....a full stage to ourselves... 3 live bands plus DJ`s through the day... .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Danny A
Date Posted: 06 December 2014 at 12:07pm
|
Loving your work phil, what batteries are you running and what config? |
Posted By: cravings
Date Posted: 06 December 2014 at 12:38pm
| it's one of the coolest projects on here for sure. |
Posted By: Earplug
Date Posted: 06 December 2014 at 3:26pm
|
"it's one of the coolest projects on here for sure." +1 You should change your tag to Mad Max!  ------------- Earplugs Are For Wimps! |
Posted By: Shortrope
Date Posted: 06 December 2014 at 5:30pm
|
Inspirational stuff!! Love to hear those horns. ------------- My Tinnitus is coming along nicely!! |
Posted By: AM55
Date Posted: 06 December 2014 at 9:09pm
I was considering ltec, have you done it before? I may be in sydney though. |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 08 December 2014 at 6:57pm
|
Yeah we were at LTEC last year...getting a better site and stage this year . .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 08 December 2014 at 7:02pm
Batts are Yuasa 1100amh 2 v cells. Twelve of them run in series to get 24v.. this is one side of the trailer before they were all connected up.  .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Masssive
Date Posted: 11 December 2014 at 9:33pm
|
Loving your work guys. This trailer just gets better and better. What voltages do you set the MPPT at for Bulk and Float. Those Yuasa 2v's get treated a little differently to your standard deepcycle batteries. I use the same batteries but never quite got around to getting confirmation from Yuasa on the correct charging voltages. What 18" tapped horn design are you looking at. If you can hold out until Regrowth Festival in February you can come up with Marc for a listen to our MTH-4654. ------------- www.thegroundedsound.com |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 11 December 2014 at 9:58pm
Can`t remember bulk and float of the top of my head... 28.4 and 27.6 ring a bell but I`ll go have a look next time. 18" Tapped horns .... well the Xoc1 design with a bad ass driver is as close to a Danley TH18 as you`re gonna get... MTH 4654, I`ll have to have a read up of `em. It`s all still pie in the sky as there`s no room in the trailer for`em so maybe we need to come up with a smaller footprint 18" that our existing barn doors hook up to...hmmm? And as for Regrowth...why aren`t we doing it as well?? Eh? .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Danny A
Date Posted: 12 December 2014 at 12:04am
|
thats a proper battery bank too, bet you could run all day on those and nothing else easily! Does the solar and wind turbines provide enough power to keep them topped up or do you sneak in a mains supply?
 |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 12 December 2014 at 7:20am
If the trailer is parked in direct sun we can pull back over 30a @ 24v solar between mid morning & mid afternoon. Add onto that a possible 10 - 20a @ from a constant wind and we have 4 - 5a @ 240v which is what the system pulls on average. So in theory we can put back what we are drawing but then of course the sun goes down ! We have in the past though had to get a "top up" off a veggie oil generator, running bands for 8hrs a day without good sun over a 3 day festival meant we didn`t have a choice. .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 05 January 2015 at 12:07am
So our Stage at LTEC 2015 ....hand built and designed by Rich , totally awesome shack design. It`s actually a normal metal frame Marquee under that facade and that is the front end of a Coaster Bus " crashing " through the wall. I can`t believe how good it was and how easy to put up and pack away......  Wind and Sunshine powered....  How to cram a 5 piece band onto the porch !  And then we had to pack it all down quick and re-locate to the worst sounding room in the Universe for the afterparty....  So we learnt a couple of things.... The invertor overloaded for the first time ever ! Having a whole heap of backline / lights / bigger mixing desk/ more outboard was just too much for it and we had to re-jig stuff around to take the load off and ended up running backline and lights off genny power. So next time we will need a bigger invertor and maybe use the 2nd battery bank for lights. And never do a party in a tiled swimming pool room....awful doesn`t even come close ! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: app
Date Posted: 05 January 2015 at 12:19am
|
This thread is ever inspiring! Big UP ------------- "what!?" |
Posted By: toastyghost
Date Posted: 05 January 2015 at 11:16am
| Still one of the very few reasons I might head out to Oz one day! I know you'll probably never do this but would something like an X32 with one or two choice bits of outboard not be a more efficient way to do live stuff on the inverter? |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 05 January 2015 at 11:14pm
Well yes...BUT it falls out of keeping it all in the analogue domain. It is something that we are trying to keep as a main selling point of the system.I personally might buy one of the soon to be released X18 Behringer Wifi stage boxes and use it for smaller DJ gigs. The Midas Venice 32 we used the other day pulled 4 times as much current as a Mix Wizz 16ch ! Plus a heap of toys for the visiting engineers added up to us pulling 2.5a @ 240v without any noise coming out! The main issue is that the backline and lights draw as much as the PA ... So for bigger gigs we will run two invertors and possibly a second bank just for them. Your welcome any time Kyle if you fancy hanging around Melb ! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 11 October 2015 at 4:48am
So I`ve bitten the bullet and bought one... First impressions are great...lets see how much current draw we save . I feel an A/B audio test into the speakers coming up ! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 12 October 2015 at 9:27am
Hot girls in swimwear splashing around in the pool while you play.... must have been awful. ------------- Minirig portable soundsystem movement |
Posted By: fat_brstd
Date Posted: 12 October 2015 at 11:41am
If you do can I lend you a QSC Touchmix & an A&H Qu-pac and see how they compare? ------------- Melbournes Rootical Warrior Roots - Dub - Steppers http://www.facebook.com/adrians.wall" rel="nofollow - facebook page |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 24 October 2015 at 11:38pm
You mean drunk  tards in their clothes dropping glass in the pool and turning it inky black with their scumness. I had hoped it was what you were imagining but didn`t happen !.p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 24 October 2015 at 11:44pm
|
Ok so first gig with the Bellringer Xair... small community market in West Melb. Took the other solar trailer and just ran a small stack a side. Had the newly modified 2nd set of Unities which are a newer shape and design to older ones. No difference in porting or size but still running old 1" comps. V.v impressed with the funtionality and was easy to use. Main issue seems to be what we power with...sunlight ! I have to wear a baseball hat to get the shade to be able to see the screen ! I also had the surface on full brightness which obviously chews up battery time. Never ran out but missed a cue due to screen save taking over and the few seconds to log back in..doh ! A few pics..   .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Masssive
Date Posted: 27 October 2015 at 2:09am
|
What's inside your fancy blue solar trailer? ------------- www.thegroundedsound.com |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 27 October 2015 at 6:59am
Not much .. 4 x 12v 150aMh Batts. SLA. Set up series /parallel to get to 24v dc. 1 x Midnite Solar Classic solar controller 1 x 3000w invertor. The panels are new though and give a lot more power than the older ones on our main trailer ! it normally lives out the back of a house powering the fridge and lights ! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: valve head777
Date Posted: 27 October 2015 at 8:54am
|
lovely set up, that looks like a future... ------------- Freedom of choice, choice of freedom. |
Posted By: Aman Gebru
Date Posted: 27 October 2015 at 11:25am
The right answer is: Hookers, drugs and guns. |
Posted By: valve head777
Date Posted: 27 October 2015 at 1:05pm
------------- Freedom of choice, choice of freedom. |
Posted By: Padde298
Date Posted: 17 November 2015 at 6:51pm
|
Love your designs, any possibility of shearing...? Maybe building a pair but smaller. Pics are awesome! |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 17 November 2015 at 11:18pm
Not really, seeing as we have built our own interpretation of Tom Danleys designs which are patented....it`s not that difficult to figure out the maths for Unity designs and we have given you lots of clues and where we went wrong ! .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Padde298
Date Posted: 18 November 2015 at 6:28pm
|
Hi Phill. Thanks for swift reply. I will take your build as guide lines for my own Unity horns. As I plan to make a 2 way , I expect to be facing the same problem in making the horn meet the subs. What is your input to choosing scoops for LF? They can be driven higher than front loaded tapped versions. You use Ultracurve. I plan to employ Mini DSP. Any comments there..? Again, thanks for posting this amazing build, and even more pictures on your web site. The horns are from 2012. Any changes since..? BR Peter |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 19 November 2015 at 11:02am
|
Hi Peter I think you`ll struggle with scoops using only a 2 way Unity of the same design as ours? The Celestion mid 4" doesn`t go down much past 300 - 250 before running out of steam. Scoops outside of their band pass are notorious lumpy and trying to run a 15" scoop up to 250-300 will not be great. Our TH`s have a big dip at around 170 but are less lumpy higher up. If you must go 2 way use a decent 6 or 8" and the best 1 / 1.4" comp driver that will get you as low a high / mid crossover as possible. As for mini dsp/ ultradrive...no idea mate. Both good enough for starters. No changes since 2012 except a newer design outside shell for the 2nd pair of 3 ways. .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 23 December 2015 at 12:54pm
|
So.... Digital = 6 KG ( that`s tablet, Xair, all power leads and secondary Wifi router in the box)  Analogue ...Mixer, core, outboard eq , dynamics , fx and inserts = 88 KG  That`s quite a weight saving in our ( very ) over weight battery trailer ! Still keeping the analogue gear though for the engineers who just " can't" cope with mixing on a tablet. Means also we can do all our EQ in the X air and move over to the BSS360`s I bought a while back. I reckon it makes best of both worlds..analogue limiting with digital eq...? On another note we experimented with cone correction in one of the subs a while back to see what happened, and guess which one had no damage to the surrounds or cracked front panel on a closer inspection of our rig last week.... So 3 other subs were " corrected" , drivers bodged, cracks repaired and we are ready for summer , actually WTF am I talking about it was 41 degrees last week and Xmas is going to be " white" hot ! Must be Summer already ! .p. edit...what is going on with Google photos ..can`t paste a link even with removing https etc etc ... edit 2...has to resort to Picasa web albums??? Never had any issues linking G photos..some things changed no doubt ! ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 15 August 2016 at 3:02am
So more updates to the system.. New solar panels , new inverter and goodbye to the wind power. We have tried getting decent power out of the wind system for a few years now and for the weight / size and safety factor it just doesn't make enough juice to justify itself! Yes it looks great and promotes the other side of renewable energy but we were looking at a desert mission and trying to save weight...it had to go ! So all those big heavy brackets, poles , winch etc were taken off. And on with a new set of 250 watt 24v panels.. 4 on the roof and 2 mounted on fold out frames down the side ..so a total of 1.5kw of power on the roof compared to the old 680 watt !  In with a newer 3000 watt Invertek inverter. We on average draw about 2.5 - 3.0 amps @ 240v running dj's / program material but with bands and lights that can creep up to 7 - 9 amps @ 240v,the old one ( Selectronics 1500 watt) was right at the limit of our current draw ( 7a constant) and would occasionally trip out under hard use. New one is super clever and can take incoming 240v and distribute to add to load or to charge the batteries. Will do a 6000 watt peak for a few seconds as well, so loads of headroom.  All new cabling throughout, new breakers on everything, new 240v breaker box and 32a ceeform output on trailer exterior, big fuses on batt + and batt - and the Midnite Solar is now doing just solar power with a whizzbang jnr shunt giving us the state of charge info over a wifi connection. Panels running in strings of 3 x series and the 2 strings parallel. And then we drove it straight to the desert.....  Everything worked! Loads of solar ( a peak of 1.25 kw one day) and the inverter coped with bands and even veggie oil fuel pumps ! The one thing that really loaded it up was the organ. Some crazy individual dragged an original 1971 organ out there and it had inbuilt Moog section plus rotating speaker. Never had so much fun setting something up... added in a harmonizer in the mixer to really give the bottom end a 2 down octave boost! That had the system running flat out for a couple of hours in the midday sun and it survived! Job done....  .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |
Posted By: Phil B
Date Posted: 15 August 2016 at 3:50am
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And whilst I was out there with time on my hands..... 80kms to the nearest small town so no cheating and buying anything here, it's all gotta be local and free ! Take 1 x spare 15" RCF we had in the trailer... consult hornres about what we can do with it ... so mount on old piece of plywood...  Then use old aircon duct found on the local scrap heap....  Seal off back chamber with box foam and a cut of piece of wood...  Use an old chimney duct as first flare and throat... from same scrap heap  Then just bury it all in the ground !  Dig a 5m long 2m horn path in the rock hard soil !! It took me a week on my own....  Cover it all up with a wooden roof, put the soil back on top run it from 25 - 45 hz.... and you get a...  The gate over the horn mouth was to keep the small children out ! It worked really well under our tapped horns as they have a 40hz 48db HPF and I really miss the low down stuff. Not incredibly powerful but you could tell it was adding to the overall sound if you went back 100m.. So if you happen to be on the Oodnadatta track and passing Mutonia Sculpture park / Plane Henge at Alberrie Creek. .... https:////www.google.com.au/maps/place/Alberrie+Creek/@-29.6261011,137.5506171,226m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x6a906e88b1cc4421:0x44e87775e46fc2ed!8m2!3d-29.7661699!4d137.64999?hl=en" rel="nofollow - https:////www.google.com.au/maps/place/Alberrie+Creek/@-29.6261011,137.5506171,226m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x6a906e88b1cc4421:0x44e87775e46fc2ed!8m2!3d-29.7661699!4d137.64999?hl=en And you have a spare amp plus NL4 on board it's still there waiting for you to have a play.... .p. ------------- Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut. Solar Sound System Shennanigans.. http://diyhifi.biz/" rel="nofollow - http://diyhifi.biz/ |