FSP Subwoofer Shootout ! (24-25/05/08)

Adambomb wrote: I have to say, despite the void / 1850 loaded X1s being a little worse for ware they did kick the sh*t out of mine... time for a driver upgrade me thinks!

Badpass bertha... I thought she produced an amazing amount of sound for the size of box (even if we had to pile more into her), and also the depth for the size of box was amazing... just think what could be done with a box the size of a full scoop!

Yes apologies for the ropey condition of My X1's,they get alot of use!still for only £225 for the drivers and all wood reclaimed, they do deliver the earth pounding lows that we all love, as you guys might agree,looks aint everything.
Was mainly the wheels rattling on them!
Would have liked to have put more power intomy stack but can understand why we didn't.The farmer seemed to agree that it was powerfull kit!
Florian the box you forgot the name of was my Frankenhorn.Offcuts from a skip and 2 hours of jigsaw surgeryand she came to life.I'd created a monster...
You all seemed impressed considering?Comments please.
Chris your ported horns were verygood,very high SPL's ,but without the depth and warmthof the X1/215 stack. I can't help but think that if you stick some 18's in there they would be even more mental as you could fit them in such a big box.
Thank you all for an ace day in the country.Rupe.
PS.when is the next link up?

Pics:

Rupe does you h350 fall backwards? one with castors.

@ Rupe:

Thanks for the comments on the horns. I would never expect those cabs to deliver the low end of an X1, after all they are only a 15" driver. The port doesn't quite keep up with the horn section (as you'd expect) so they will always sound a touch bass-light. But, they do what they were designed for very well (getting the most sound out of the drivers available and being a one box solution).

Was good to meet you and I'm impressed with what you've managed to build out of recycled wood.

It wasn't on even ground ,so not normally!It is a bit on the unstable side,im going to make sure it has something under it when in use to keep it stable.
(Coughs)Would love to see the plots for everything.

chaudio wrote: @ Rupe:

Thanks for the comments on the horns. I would never expect those cabs to deliver the low end of an X1, after all they are only a 15" driver. The port doesn't quite keep up with the horn section (as you'd expect) so they will always sound a touch bass-light. But, they do what they were designed for very well (getting the most sound out of the drivers available and being a one box solution).

Was good to meet you and I'm impressed with what you've managed to build out of recycled wood.

Thanks,you too.If your ever down this way give me a shout.
youhorns werebrutally loud,amazing what a fifteen can do in the right box.

So is there any sign of plots from this yet Chris? I appreciate you're busy but were all salivating with anticipation.

Stu

Ok ok, here's one to keep you happy! The one most people will want to see....

Hi All,

I should say really.. it was a great weekend, even if we didn't get the full turnout expected it was still good fun and I think we all learned something again (or confirmed the theory atleast)... all goes towards the building of knowledge.

Anyways... heres my run down:

CH Double 18 Reflex :

Exectly what you would expect from a well made and designed double 18" reflex, good solid lows, nice warm / rounded sound.

CH Ported Horns :

Blimey, they make a whole lotta noise! I would say efficency over the 90 / 100hz mark was about on par with the HD15s.. below that Chris's ported horns really did take the lead, good warm / musical sound and an ideal all in one bass solution... you'll do well with those Chris!

My X1s:

I have always been fairly impressed with them, even outdoors they seam to be good to me and the bass travels further than people claim, however they really only come alive when they are on the edge of death... as we found out (again).. 2 dead C18-650ELs... so that's 5 down so far, I think this confirms that this is not the right driver for this box, unless your really carefull with the gains.

Rups X1s:

Agressive, air moving bass, I think that sums them up well, they take the power, and seam to live past the point that mine would die, so instead of being on the ragged edge to sound good they are in the comfort zone and sounding good.. (no offence was ment by my earlier comment Rup, I know it was the wheels / grill rattling a bit.. and stood back / in use I doubt if anyone would notice... and amazing from reclaimed materials.. good stuff!).

A massive difference to mine that really got your body wobbling... and a mind bender for me cos now I just HAVE to upgrade my sub bass.

Franken Horn:

I thought it was cool little box, lots of sound from something so tiny and light, could perhaps have done with a little more bracing as we all commented how much the walls of the box were moving (although ladies may enjoy a ride on it!)... still, musical, useable and I would have thought a good and satisfying experience / experimantin horn building.

12 HD15s:

Well, I had never heard my HDs without X1s so I was suprised how you could probably, with certain music / live bands (probably), get away without dedicated sub bass cabs, we high passed at 50hz with a 24db slope, sounded pretty good to me.. and they certainly bang it out for tekno, I like the almost vacum / pressure / vacum / pressure thing that you get if your stood right in the middle about a foot away... but I'm sure it's not good for your ears.

So, all in all, a great weekend, learned stuff, met nice people, what more could you ask for!

Oh, should also comment on, although not bass relaited...

Chris, your reflex 12 and 15 boxes.. lovely mate... very hi-fi sound... I kow you probably wont agree with me, but for some reason, to my ears the 15" sounded sweeter.. no idea why that might be as you would think the oposite.

and Rup.. I don't know what those old coloumn boxes were but for something that old, blimey! still sounding good.. and measured suprisingly flat ay!

And the story witht he farmer made me laugh...

The local farmer (we call him Hoss Massy.. fukin huge bloke, makes a transit cab look like a bedford rascal cab).. anyways, he gets a call from the police, they say they have had complaints that thers a rave going on in the quarry (only a stones throw away from the back of our house), does he own it, does he know who owns it, he says no, they put the phone down on him.. he then calls the owner and tells him, "don't worry but the police will call you in a minute about a rave in the quarry, it's not in the quarry, I know where it is, aint in the quarry"... then sends his son up (the chap that appeared in the land rover.. who last time Florian met had veins popping out the side of his head with rage), came up and gave us the nod, we killed the volume, then the police cars started circling the area.. so thanks to the farmer no trouble.

I have learned that with the locals, if your nice to them, they are nice to you.. this proves it I think.

It's still the talk of the village!Edited by: Adambomb

Regarding the mid-tops, there could be a couple of reasons why you preferred the single 15" cabs. Firstly the 15" boxes are passive and are a plug and play solution whereas the twin 12's are active and I didn't really get a chance to set the controller up properly. The compression driver on the 15" boxes has a better top end (2.5" diaphragm vs 3") so will sound better without corrective EQ. Plus the other big factor was where we were listening to them. We didn't get a chance to hear what the twin 12" boxes can do because the wind was blowing the top end around and they were somewhat underpowered.

It really depends what you're using them for. For smaller systems and especially indoors the single 15" cabs will probably have the edge but for doing live bands in larger rooms and outdoors the twin 12" boxes really come into their own.

Thanks for the comments, nice for someone else to confirm that you're heading the right way!