Millercarbon's Mega Moab Mod Meander


One of the all time great automotive engineers, Norbert Singer, was a key player in every one of the 16 Porsche LeMans victories from 1970 to 1998. His dominance was such that at one point Porsche had won LeMans more than all other marques combined. This was all accomplished by building on the already solid foundation of Porsche production models. The air cooled flat 12 in the 917 was really two flat sixes combined to make 12. This car so dominated motorsport the rules had to be changed to stop it!  

So Norbert Singer modified Porsche production technology to extract the absolute most for racing. His legacy is today’s Singer Vehicle Design https://singervehicledesign.com Norbert doesn’t make for a very good car name so they called it Singer. What is a Singer? It is a modified Porsche. It is in essence a hot rod. What Norbert Singer did was make the most hot rod racing Porsche. What Singer does is take that to the next level, capturing every aspect of Porsche right down to excellence of design and aesthetics.  

I am not anywhere near the level of Singer. But that is the spirit of what we are doing: taking an already world-class design and hot-rodding it to be even better. Well, better for me anyway- or so we hope!

The early modders started with substituting off the shelf parts to get more power or less weight. That is pretty much all we are doing here. Would be cool if some day people are doing this with a lot more sophisticated approach. Maybe they will. Maybe even I will. For now though we have the current crossover project.

My approach is pretty simple: better parts sound better.  

This lesson was learned back in the late 90’s with Linaeum Model 10 speakers. The designer had a new tweeter and told me how to modify the crossover for it. Simple mod, one cap, one resistor. Bought the parts from Radio Shack, put it together, sounded like crap. Absolute horrid crap! Called him up, he said those parts are crap. Said Musicap, Vishay. But they measure the same? Just do it. I did. It worked. Even though they measure exactly the same, the sound difference is off the charts.  

Even though they measure exactly the same. There is a lesson here. For those willing to learn.

So this is the essence of it: Eric Alexander has made a speaker the equivalent of a Porsche 911. Even better: an affordable Porsche 911! But after a while with my 911, after learning what makes it drive and feel the way it does, it was only natural to change the shocks and torsion bar and other items to bring out even more of what I like so much about the 911.  

That is what we are doing here. Hot-rodding a speaker. Thank you Rick for the metaphor!  

The parts are on order. Next week the fun begins!
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Showing 3 responses by oldhvymec

https://www.google.com/search?q=rolls+royce+with+chauffeur&sxsrf=ALeKk00msiPWpvkpdSVP12dwNKMb5G8...

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Chauffeur Please!!!! :-) I don't care to drive anymore. Did it for a living I BACHED more miles than most folks accelerated forward. I guess you call it driving. I call it herding..

One incident DRIVING involving another piece of iron. Chrysler LeBaron
22 years ago. Dented a rim on a 15 ton service truck (drove home on it) and broke the ornament on his hood. Drove me into a curb.. I chose the curb vs his FULL front end... He was sited for distracted driving, his third wreck at the SAME intersection... The cop was just SMOKING.

The guy continued to talk on his cell phone until he was told to hang it up or "Go To Jail", he almost got a "Reckless Driving". HE should have had his license pulled right on the spot.. Admitted to being in THREE wrecks at the same intersection... The paint wasn't dry from the last wreck.. Still wasn't buffed...YUP..

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How's that crossover coming along MC?

You're using an IC or going point to point on your new larger boards? I couldn't sort out if it is Point to Point or an IC (you know with traces) You're mounting them inside?  INSIDE? one more time INSIDE!! :-)

As I tipped a pair of speakers over (410 pounders) I was thinking, my new rear pole for the modified bipole could house the internal XO inside that box. Then I thought about it a little more and said.

A WHOLE NEW BOX. because I can't get the NEO 8 Driver fields far enough away from the XOs. BIG and or STRONG magnets have a 6-10" field.. According to my little experiment (mag compass) I know there is an issue running coils parallel. I also found HEAVY mag fields can change the XO parameters if they are too close. There are TWO serious drivers pretty close to the internal XO (existing bass section that is still intact).. and at right angles to one another..

I'm going External... On the fly changes and ease of location.   No other way around it for me..

Regards
I found direct coupling the bass actually works. No passive XO for me anymore. My bass is all active XOs. At the very least my onboard Plate amps have DSP. One system is servo, one is Direct coupled with full blown DSP 300hz and below..

I like the way DSP pressures the room. more so than the servo units..

DSP I can actively see on a Laptop what is going on and change it on the fly.. Servo plate amps I can't.. I have to get up move the unit listen, play with the controls... YES PLAY! It takes forever..

DSP is a LOT more convenient using a Behringer set up.. Never tried it above 300 hz though.. I'm all passive 300hz and up.. 6 different crossovers at a time and daisy chainable... 6+6+6+6 etc. 256 nodes I think..

MC's set up has a single woofer on the bottom. that is better from a mag field perspective. I had TWO, close, at right angles. One is a double stack the other a single. LOL I stick a compass in there... It just spins.
I'm not putting an XO even close. I think its 18" from the bass section.
Need to remove the drivers all together. I haven't used the bass section in most speakers in years..

The Bass and monitor section in the same box? How do you separate the vibration there, if it so dog gone important? Vibration that is..
Just wondering from a guy who did do it.. ME... No bass and I limited the effects of bass on bass drivers (phase plug design)

All the other drivers use a foam directional wave guides and weirs in the planar design (Back wave return).

I've designed a LOW distortion, low vibration system that really works well. A lot of the acoustic tweak is right in the BOX and DRIVER design..

I actually though inside the box.

Then outside the box for the bass. Just made sense to me. 

A manic mechanic :-)
Solenoid Boxer (E) engine (motor). Cute!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4im3M9IFcI

Enjoy.. I did..

Few parts you could use in your new crossover.. :-)

I'll tell you one thing I noticed, the larger the cap and higher the voltage rating the longer it takes to brake in. BIG teflons take WAY to long. A guy at Parts Connection 15 years ago told me.. BE PATIENT.. He built the crossovers I was breaking in..

I though I was having a stroke a couple of times the wiggy sound that would come out those speakers 24/7 for 2 whole months. I borrowed a pair of NC400 class ds for the task... It worked.. Never again for me.

Copper foils and oils took 50 hours. Night and day in break in time. I just did a set on Six Pacs coupling (CF) and decoupling caps (AF)..

Happy Happy MC..

Regards