Robert_J

Large Low Tuned. Think of the EBS alignment and go larger and tune lower. Depending on the driver, the enclosure will be around 400L to 600L and tuned below 15hz. I've seen people go as low as 11hz with a replica of a Polk power port. Check out the DIY section at AVS Forum or Home Theater Shack for a lot more details.-Robert

I use one to power a pair of quad VC TC-3000's in stereo (2 ohm /channel). It works great and provides loads of power. I did put a resistor on the fan since it is pretty loud. There are a few 24v quiet fans that are great replacements and make the amp virtually silent. I also use a Behringer Feedback Destroyer to flatten may sub response. -Robert

I bought eight of the TC9 motors with 1" mags. I've only opened 2 boxes but one of the motors has a sticker on it that reads "Elemental Designs E12A22". -Robert

The PR needs to be at least double the swept volume of the driver. So if your 18" has an xmax of 30mm, then the 18" PR needs at least 60mm of 1 way travel. Most I've seen stop around 40mm so you would need a pair of them. Remember that PRs need to mount on a vertical plane. Their weight would cause major cone sag if you mount them horizontally.TC Sounds and AE Speakers are the only two places I know that build PRs in this range. -Robert

I hang out at most of the home theater forums and I have never heard of this brand. From their site, they look like they take OEM speakers and put their label on them. The BC-600 for example. A few years ago, I ordered this exact speaker from Home Theater Direct for about $120/pair. In my new house I needed a similar setup in the living room so I checked out the Dayton line from Parts Express. They had the EXACT same speaker for $60/pair. Unfortunately they have discontinued that line of speakers and introduced an upgraded line with Kevlar woofers. I haven't used them but I have read reviews on different forums from many satisfied users. link -Robert

The home theater IB crowd would be all over it if the parameters were right. And we don't even need a 3" voice coil. 2" would be fine since we don't use more than a few hundred watts per sub.-Robert

The regular TC9 motors are for overhung designs. That's where the voice coil windings are longer than the thickness of the top plate. For example, my 3HP neo motors have a 35mm top plate. The voice coil on the 18" recone kit is 60mm long. Undernung means that the top plate thickness is more than the voice coil length. My guess is that overhung TC9 motors are left over from the Audiomobile Mass/SVS Ultra line. Copper in the gap of either design will lower the inductance and eddy currents. I've got some Lambda Acoustic 10's that are desparate for a recone but no one has 2" voice coils. These motors are packed with copper. I got my two 3HP ceramic and four 3HP neo motors when High Desert Audio on Ebay. They are the motors from the Lightning Audio Storm series. I paid between $22 and $35 plus shipping for each of my six motors.-Robert

That's why I got eight TC-9 motors with 1" mags from TC Sounds. I'm going to put my 18" recone kits on four of them. If they work out, I'll recone the other four the same way. It will be nice having a total of eight 18's in my home theater.Then I'll take my neo 3HP motors and recone for smaller, sealed boxes. Probably 15's or 18's. Using those motors in an IB configuration would have been a waste of BL. -Robert

Is a claw basket the same depth as the standard basket that Fi uses? That is critical in getting the voice coil centered vertically in the magnetic gap.-Robert

The 3HP motor has a 4 bolt pattern on top of the motor as well as 4 bolts on the side for the quick change TC Sounds top assemblies. The 12 spoke basket (or the 6 spoke 18" basket in my case) is not a direct bolt on. Scott is supposed to be making me a set of adapter rings but it has been 3 weeks since I received my baskets, gaskets and soft parts. It has also been 5 days since I e-mailed him and no reply. I placed my order in July and I still don't have all the parts in. -Robert

I e-mailed Scott a few times and then talked to him once when placing the order. We discussed how I plan on using the subs (IB for home theater) and how I will power them (Behringer EP-2500) but in the end, I let him pick what would work best. He is the expert.-Robert

You can go as large as 18". That's what I'm doing with my four 3HP neo motors. I think the 12 spoke basket has the same mounting holes as the 6 spoke baskets that I received. Mine had six mounting holes and didn't even come close to the four holes on my motors. Scott is building an adapter ring for each motor.For my pair of 3HP ceramic motors, I just went with TC Sounds top assemblies. Since my 3HP motors were from the Lightning Audio Storm series, they were not tapped on the sides to bolt to the top assemblies. I ordered my assemblies without the wire screens that protect the voice coils. Even then, I had to drill 4 holes into the bottom of each assembly. Careful drilling of a pilot hole and then a larger hole into the aluminum frame was pretty easy. I also used a piece of wood to keep the drill bit from puncturing the spider when it broke through the metal. I've been listening to my 15" TC-3000/LA Storm hybrids in my home theater since January. They are unbelievable with 1,000w each on them. -Robert

Jon, Thomas and the rest of that crew have a lot of experience and I take their recommendations. As for my input signal, I'm driving my EP-2500 with a Pioneer receiver. Using both the MCACC auto calibration and Video Essentials audio calibration with a Radio Shack SPL meter, I have the LFE output set at -2. It works great and provides the best bass I have ever heard. Now, I shouldn't have stated that as fact. Turning it up to "11" works in my case. -Robert

Since this is my first pro amp, I'm just following the recommendations from HT Guide, DIY section. It is moderated by a guy named Jon Marsh who was involved with the design of the Crown K series pro amps.-Robert

Doing this will raise the tuning frequency since you now have more PR surface area. It's the same as adding a port. Remove the driver and replace it with an MDF disc of the same size. Just temporarily bolt it in.-Robert

The ongoing amp measurement thread at AVS - link. -Robert

I run a Pioneer VSX-1014 into a Behringer EP-2500 and have no clipping problems at all. The input levels on the EP-2500 are set at max (like they should be on any pro amp) and adjust the levels of my LFE at the receiver. If I pushed it to clipping, the output would reach the unbearable levels. My wife is already asking me to turn it down. -Robert

I've seen you post about this over at the TC Sounds forum but I don't remember what you are planning on doing for the video portion of this. Have you given that any consideration? What's wrong with the Behringer? I'm running an EP-2500 and a pair of 15" TC Sounds TC-3000's in 3.5cf, sealed boxes. It sounds great. I've recently modified the fan on the amp to make it quieter. It does it's job. A lot of power for a little money.And I also use a Behringer Feedback Destroyer as an EQ to flatten the sub's response. Any problems with this or do you only disapprove of their amps? -Robert

Port tuning is determined by the size of the enclosure, the port area and the port length. The calculations are here - link. The formulas are written for a round port. If you are using a slot port, just convert the port area to the equivalent sized round port. -Robert

I didn't say it looked good. I said it looked the same as the day I built them. That's a big difference. I think they are hideous. Green marble to match the green logo on the woofer. It's a 3 way design using an Annihilator 10" woofer (Earthquake's cheaper brand), a Pyramid 2" dome mid and Pyramind 1" dome tweeter. This was back when I was just starting to build speakers so I used a textbook crossover with 2nd order slopes. The enclosure is ported and tuned to about 35 hz. It would make a great dorm speaker because it rocks. Not a bit of sound quality. With a parametric EQ you could have easily dialed in a hump in the frequency response to give you that punch that was lacking. Were you the only guy over at The Cult of the Infinitely Baffled that didn't like their IB sub?-Robert

It's a laminate used on countertops that just looks like a natural stone. Look in the laminate sections at Formica or Wilsonart. The vertical grade is the thinnest and shows the smallest lines at the corners of the box. The "grout" lines that everyone keeps mentioning are either cut directly into the laminate with a pointed router bit or the box was covered with laminate pieces with a slightly beveled edge. It's a very easy process. Cut the laminate slightly larger than what you are going to cover. "Paint" both sides with contact cement and let it get dry to the touch. Place wax paper on box and place the laminate down on top of it. Slowly slide the paper out and press the glued surfaces together. Once they touch, they are stuck. That's why you have to get everything lined up first. Use a J-roller to really get some pressure. Slide some more paper out and repeat. Once the entire piece is adhered to the box, get a router and a laminate bit to trim the overhang flush with the box. Repeat on all sides of the box.I covered a pair of speakers in green marble for my sister-in-law back in 1993. They still look EXACTLY like they did 15 years ago. The material is very tough. -Robert