Dual RLP-15 passive radiator design

[mfishmike 0]

Well, it's been a while since I've posted on this site and need to update my success with the RLP/passive design.

For those of you who have read the following thread, a lot has changed. (about 2,400 visits to the thread)

http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/i...shmike&st=0

By hitting each of those drivers in the sub cabinet with 1450 watts each, my wife blew the speakers while changing movies to a hard hitting Jurassic Park scene via Direct TV. I couldn't get to the living room in time to shut it down. I had to order two more drivers from Mike and received them promptly.

Being dual 2 ohm, I wired all 4 coils on both drivers in series and am now presenting an 8 ohm load to the QSC amp resulting in about 800 watts for the subwoofer.

Well I asked myself, what are you going to do with the other amp and the obvious answer was that I just need to build another identical subwoofer!!!

After the recent completion of the second sub, I tried to locate them on opposite sides of the room and got cancellations, so I took some good advice and stacked them. (Co-locating) Now they are acting as one 6.5 ft tall subwoofer with 4 drivers, 8 passive radiators, and two amps.

Mike P., a good solid member and regular poster ran the numbers in WinIsd and I'm at 23.5 hz tuning on paper, with actual tuning testing out at 22 hz. With room gain, these subs really get low, distortion and port noise free.

The RLP-15 dual 2 ohm drivers have a low Q of .33 which is ideal for this design.

I've ordered the Reckhorn B-1 equilizer and will use the 20 hz bass bost with subsonic frequency protection and built in high pass filter and get these puppies tweaked to perfection.

For those of you who have never heard a very good passive radiator sub, you will be surprised at how clean and low they reach with the room gain, providing you with their own unique bass quality not found in a sealed or ported subwoofer.

There are some major companies working on production of some affordable passive radiators to be hitting the market this year as the demand is increasing due to the increase of popularity of this type of desgn. They will be capable of a heavier mass loading than the ones I'm using and with a larger box and heavier passive radiator, we can get those hz down even lower, even though I don't need it any lower than what I've got. I don't recommend a box tuned too low so you don't take the risk of bottoming out your drivers and or passives.

Michael Murray's organ music hits his lowest notes very clean and undistorted. Movie explosions and soundtracks have broken the seal on my 5' x 6' plate glass window in my new home as well as knick knacks and vases falling off of shelves. It could have been the concerts with kick drums or kettle drums.

I'm very pleased with all of the help I've received from Mike @ Soundsplinter over these past few years and will continue to do business with him every time my wife blows my drivers. His email and pm response time, as well as prompt shipping is unmatched by any distributor I've ever bought from.

Visit my link below to see the construction details:

http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b148/mfishmike/

Enjoy your Soundsplinter drivers in what ever application you are using them for! They really deliver, just like Mike

Mike Cason

Edited March 29, 2008 by mfishmike

[///M5 2,833]

Nice work again Mike, you aren't helping my home itch

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

[mrray13 30]

gotta love that!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[mfishmike 0]

gotta love that!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

How about a teaser?.....The Reckhorn B-1 just hit my front door........I'll post some results later today....

I've got both pro amps set to 30 hz filter protection, losing some bass for sure. The options are 30 hz & 50 hz or none. I can't wait to turn the amp's protection off and get it down to 15 with a bass boost at 20hz (adjustable)!

Edited March 29, 2008 by mfishmike

[mfishmike 0]

gotta love that!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

How about a teaser?.....The Reckhorn B-1 just hit my front door........I'll post some results later today....

I've got both pro amps set to 30 hz filter protection, losing some bass for sure. The options are 30 hz & 50 hz or none. I can't wait to turn the amp's protection off and get it down to 15 with a bass boost at 20hz (adjustable)!

The Reckhorn is installed and whew.....Have you ever watched your curtains dance with the music?????

This finely built German made box allows home and pro audio equipment to work flawlessly together! It is a well engineered, finely machined, and is a good looking box. The controls feel like they are very high quality. It is heavy for its small size.

Now the filters on the amps are turned off and I'm only using the clip limiters and am taking full advantage of the Reckhorn's controls. The 20 hz bass boost really makes a difference. I've got the subsonic filter set around 15hz.

I had the Arts Clean Box installed for only about 10 minutes before I yanked it out.

With the bass boost set to 20 hz and gain for the boost about 50% I'm getting even better bass with less cone excursion, probably due to the fact the drivers are close to the box's tuning frequency. I'm seeing about a 30% improvement in overall performance.

Mike

Edited March 30, 2008 by mfishmike

[///M5 2,833]

Sweet.

This guy?

http://www.reckhorn.com/index.php?ln=en&prod=b1

Curious as to the "street" price of that unit.

[mfishmike 0]

MI5,

My PayPal bill with shipping to Houston was $89.00 total, and very well worth the money.

Here is the link.

http://www.creativesound.ca/products.php?make=CSS

This appears to be a Canadian company but ships out of Washington State. Expect only a 4 to 5 day shipping time via USPS priority mail. There is no customs wait.

Mike

Edited March 30, 2008 by mfishmike

[mrray13 30]

not very expensive at all, considering what it does and what market it's in.

i need to do an ht setup.

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[mfishmike 0]

not very expensive at all, considering what it does and what market it's in.

i need to do an ht setup.

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I started on mine years ago. I've rebuilt my speakers many times and have near 20k in it now. I had some chaps come from England and audition my system and were going to sell some land holdings there to buy my complete package. I guess they never were able to come up with the funds or figured out the cost of shipping. Never heard back.

Be careful, it's addicting! The better they start sounding, the better you want them to sound.....(Ooooh, I just might want to adopt that phrase!.....just made it up...)

Take care,

Mike

[hayes55987 0]

man...i saw passive radiator and it always intrigues me so I had to look.

I dont know to much about them, but I run a pair of 15"...maybe 2100 gram also, I dont really remember in my home theatre and the low end and clarity is amazing.

I figured though I would also point out a good company to look at (and where I got my PR's from). Acoustic Elegance (used to be known as stryke) is back up and running after they were down for awhle and I love their PR's. I got mine before they switched over to their new line up so I dont know if they're the same or different, but mine are simple and work perfect. I got mine at an amazing price of 45 dollars a piece to.

www.aespeakers.com is the website if you wanted to check that out. I believe they are based out of Greenbay

[mfishmike 0]

man...i saw passive radiator and it always intrigues me so I had to look.

I dont know to much about them, but I run a pair of 15"...maybe 2100 gram also, I dont really remember in my home theatre and the low end and clarity is amazing.

I figured though I would also point out a good company to look at (and where I got my PR's from). Acoustic Elegance (used to be known as stryke) is back up and running after they were down for awhle and I love their PR's. I got mine before they switched over to their new line up so I dont know if they're the same or different, but mine are simple and work perfect. I got mine at an amazing price of 45 dollars a piece to.

www.aespeakers.com is the website if you wanted to check that out. I believe they are based out of Greenbay

I'm glad to hear a good report from another passive radiator user..... A lot of cheap speaker builders stick in some of them to make them look great but the passives are really garbage and not designed correctly. We call them "white van speakers"...Google that phrase....

I've bought from John before. He won't return my posts in the threads or private emails. We had a strained relationship when he had all of his personal problems and closed shop. He is selling his 18" 1600 and 2100 gram passives through CSS though. They are similar to Adire's flat mdf passives and do work great.

I've got 8 Eminence cone passives loaded to 1100 grams each and 4 of the SoundSplinter RLP-15 drivers, so I don't plan on making any more changes unless I get an offer for the ones I've built. They are great as is! I don't think that will happen because they will be pricey....

Edited March 30, 2008 by mfishmike