Large H/T Subwoofer system

[95Honda]

Well, I'm new here so I figured I would post one of my recent subwoofer builds. I built a pair of large (16ft3 IIRC) cabinets tuned at about 20Hz with a pair of Aura NRT 18-8 subwoofers in each cabinet. They were fed about 3KW each and had a very strong low end. Here is also a link to the build up, I couldn't post pictures directly from this computer.

My current home theater system uses a pair of XXX18 drivers in large ported boxes also, with around 5KW of power...

[Sonnie]

Rather than making members search through that thread here's a few shots...

[Warpdrv]

Wowsers.... Monsterous to say the least....

Welcome to the shack 95Honda.... Looks fantastic....

[WillyD]

That is a really really awesome setup. Built for great output but using really superb drivers as well!

[thekl0wn]

Wow! Very nice choices, and nice build too!

[95Honda]

Thanks for the comments. It was really tough to describe how powerfull these were. We tested them in a small (20' x 25') room with all 6KW or so going full tilt for a long time. Mind numbing describes it well. They would get retarded loud and still stay together, those are some serious subs. The boxes were made of 1.25" MDF I special ordered and weighed over 400lbs each. Zero port noise also. These were for a pretty large theater that seated over 100 people, so they weren't really overkill. They would be overkill for a small home I guess, or not... I carpeted them because I didn't have the time or resources to have them sprayed with Line-X like I usually do with Car and Proaudio gear I build...

[95Honda]

And BTW, the top picture is the center channel array, it was fed by a 4KW Crown amp. 4 JBL 15s and 2 horns all together in those cabinets. I fabricated the steel brackets for them out of 1/4" mild steel to set them at the proper take off and dispertion angles.

[Ricci]

I remember following that build. I thought it was one of the more interesting subwoofer builds.


How about showing us the XXX18 set-up? Are they the newest model?

[Warmon]

I reckon those boxes must be roughly 2'x2'x4'...somehow they look bigger. I think my daughter could live in one those!!! First time I''ve seen good pics of some Aura's - thanks for posting them.

Warmon -

[95Honda]

Pretty close, 49" x 27" x 30" External dimensions. A few of my guys had crawled inside to see if they could fit...

There are pictures of my XXXs in another thread on here- http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...dio-xxx18.html

I have my own site, Forceaudio, and there are many build-ups like this on there.

I have the last Generation of XXXs, not the newest ones. I have the best XXXs ever made in my opinion, the XBL2 motor is the best sounding I have ever heard, I would have already upgraded to the newer XXX or something else if I thought it would be better. Alot of people never really like the XXX or Tumult subwoofers. especially in a car, due to thier lack of distortion, they "don't sound right" to some people, when in reality they are hearing more music and lower distortion. The XBL2 tech also gives you a relatively small coil as compare to a standard overhung with the same stroke, I like that, lower inductance....

One of the reasons the Aura 18 sounds so good is it has an underhung coil, probably the best motor topolog in my opinion, it just gets real hard and expensive to use with super high stroke drivers. The gap for a sub like the XXX would have to be over 4" long..... That would be alot of steel and a very powerfull magnetic source to keep it full of flux, I think the Aura kind of pushes those limits, that is why they are $1000 each.... And have been for some time...

[Warmon]

95Honda wrote:

One of the reasons the Aura 18 sounds so good is it has an underhung coil, probably the best motor topolog in my opinion, it just gets real hard and expensive to use with super high stroke drivers. The gap for a sub like the XXX would have to be over 4" long..... That would be alot of steel and a very powerfull magnetic source to keep it full of flux, I think the Aura kind of pushes those limits, that is why they are $1000 each.... And have been for some time...

Interesting. Do you know anything about the Sonicraft SC12NRT with the Aurusound NRT motors that Madisound is selling? At $129, you'd think they would be a hellavu deal...

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/pro...roducts_id=428

Warmon -

[95Honda]

I honestly have never played with one, or looked real close either. Could be real nice though....

[95Honda]

More construction pictures

[Exocer]

Very nice work.
I always wanted to try building an enclosure with slot ports...

[Iggster1986]

Any pictures of the whole theater?

[95Honda]

Quick picture from behind the rack/ I ended up using 3 racks. Processing is the Outalw 990(?) I can't remember the model # but it was thier $1000 one that had balanced ouputs... Center channel on the stage is a pair of JBL 2-ways with dual 15s, that array was fed by a bridged Crown CE4000 (4000 WRMS) the mains were a pair of the same speakers again, fed by another CE4000. Side surrounds were 2 pairs of JBL monitors, 12" 2 ways, fed by a 1000 watt Carver proaudio amp, and 4 more monitors for the rears fed by another 1000 watt carver. The subs acted like stands for the mains, each sub cabinet had a dedicated 3000 watt QSC PLX amp. There is also a Mackie 16 channel mixer and 3 wireless sure mics for other uses of the system. Video was the Eike (Sp?) Powerhouse, a monster projector that weighed a ton and was ridiculously expensive, but it lit up that huge screen pretty well. DVD was the source, can't remember the exact one..... I am sure I left a bunch of stuff out, but you get the picture anyway...

[vinculum]

95Honda wrote:

Well, I'm new here so I figured I would post one of my recent subwoofer builds. I built a pair of large (16ft3 IIRC) cabinets tuned at about 20Hz with a pair of Aura NRT 18-8 subwoofers in each cabinet. They were fed about 3KW each and had a very strong low end. Here is also a link to the build up, I couldn't post pictures directly from this computer.

My current home theater system uses a pair of XXX18 drivers in large ported boxes also, with around 5KW of power...

Nice build! I love that NRT 18-8. Expensive, but virtually bulletproof.

I find it interesting that you are using 2 NRT18-8's in 16ft tuned to 20Hz. I was modeling a single driver last week and it appeared to me that it liked atleast 20ft for a SINGLE driver tuned around 20Hz. Maybe I'll try a different program. Or else throw modeling out the window and just build some boxes!

Dr V

[95Honda]

I have no doubt that a larger box will give a more low end with that driver, I kind of ran into space/weight issues. These still had to be portable, somewhat, they are on a stage. 8ft3 per driver seemed a good compromise to me, efficency wasn't a real big issue, I had plenty of power also...