Re-thinking the home system

[Adrian_D 520]

It's finally time to re-do some things.

Should be selling some stuff this weekend, which means I'm going to buy some plywood and build some diffrent enclosures for the mains (also put the HDS tweeters to use). Porting the ca18's should bring out a bit more mid-bass

Since the Rl-i is going in the car because of space limitations and I've always wanted an 18, I'm going to replace it with an xxx. I've already started the box for it...here is where I am now :

1 inch mdf, undecided wether to flush mount it or not (baffle is going to be double). Still need a couple more braces and a magnet support after seeing how fragile is the basket, more precisely the mounting lip.

]

[///M5 2,833]

Flush mount ftw

[topgun 262]

Flush mount it.

The brace looks nice too.

[JimJ 11]

CA18's and HDS's in a floorstanding tower would be the makings of a very, very nice setup

[ford302redneck 15]

Oh, I like that.

[johnecon2001 82]

Fancy pants.

[Acidburn 10]

lookin' good, and definitely flush mount it

[Adrian_D 520]

CA18's and HDS's in a floorstanding tower would be the makings of a very, very nice setup

Unfortunately there isn't any room for a pair of floorstanding towers because of the listening position

Ignore the "stand", I've replaced that.

I'm going to stick with the same general shape, only around 0.7cf ported.

Just got the package with the sub amp. Some rather cheap China amp but I'm going to mod it a bit.

Got it for 1/2 the price of a new one for people breaking amps

Thanks for the comments, more pics coming soon

[Adrian_D 520]

This is how the box looks now :

Should I brace it even more ?

There is some carpet between the magnet and the brace and it sits really flush.

The amplifier :

As soon as I fix it it's getting bigger / more caps for the power supply.

[tejcurrent 13]

Fancy fancy! Should be nice.

[Adrian_D 520]

Replaced one of the rezistors in the soft start circuit and the amp turned on. Problem is one of the channels is in protection, but it's a very simple AB amp and I've got the schematic. Just with the silly dmm method I've measured around 450w @ 4 ohms, on one channel. F'ing clip "detectors" turn on waaaaaay too soon.

[///M5 2,833]

Imagine that, Chinese protection mode activated early

[Adrian_D 520]

They might be correct when running it at 2 ohms stereo, but I have to fix one of the channels before I can try

I also need measure the voltage drop at high levels and see how I can upgrade the cap bank. Maybe fill up the whole available space with caps...

[Adrian_D 520]

Fixed the amp. Got around 82v @ 4 ohms bridged, on a 50hz tone, which means around 1.6kw. The dust cap got a bit warn

Something seems wrong with the amp's crossover, definately a change in sound (not in a good way) from the cheap separate sub crossover I was using. Looks like I might spend money on a dcx2496.

The clip indicators still turn on too soon

[Adrian_D 520]

Updates :

Half the sub amp crapped out on me as soon as I finished the box so now I'm running the xxx with 500w. Plenty to keep me happy

I've bought a Rotel pre-amp and I'm using my old rack amp for the mains.

I also found some old ply and built a test enclosure for the ca18.

It's about 0.7cf, ported at 40hz, far bigger compared to the old sealed one.

First impression : nice improvement in midbass, but it's lacking a bit on the vocals. Right now the HDS has only a cap in series and the ca18 is running full-range so I suspect the problems are either some standing waves in the cabinet (correct me if I'm talking BS) or the lack of crossover.

[///M5 2,833]

Where is the HDS crossed?

[Adrian_D 520]

Around 3k IIRC.

[ANeonRider 3]

So, at 1.5k, it will be down only 6dB, at 750Hz, 12dB. Need more crossover

[Adrian_D 520]

Thanks

I'm going to try to cross them higher and see what happens. Probably not going to wind inductors before finals are over.

[///M5 2,833]

Perhaps some sort of L-pad as well...unless you are biamping with adjustable gains.

Have you listened to just the tweeter with the cap alone and the CA alone? It will give you some insight as what else to address besides just the slope.

[Adrian_D 520]

Haven't tried either alone but I will as soon as possible.

I forgot to mention I have some sort of L-pad, for ~2dB cut

Thanks again for the input.

[Adrian_D 520]

Turns out they were crossed at 2k

They're crossed at 4k right now. Parts for L-pad's (2db, 3db, 4db cut) are on my desk waiting to wire them up.

EDIT : I've opened the gains of the sub amp and with a measly 500w I measured it on the TL...for shits and giggles. 127.4dB on the desk

[Tmax98 3]

should get pretty loud

jealous!