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Red Spade Audio

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  1. Coaxes can be tricky but I find that B&C make some of the better units. What is the casting like on the frame? Some of them can be a bit rough, which means you can't always fit them too tight.
  2. Thanks for the mention. We do custom flat packs and custom builds - both unfinished and finished.
  3. You can have both types of panels adjacent to each other or you can have panels with both absorption and diffusion combined.
  4. Keep in mind the room in question here is a home studio, not a stereo listening room. However, in a stereo listening room the situation is quite different. As you say, with first reflection point absorption there are multiple effects happening at the same time. When I have presented different options for clients, I've found a range of different responses. Some say "wait ... can you do that again, I'm not sure I can tell the difference." There are others who find absorption in first reflection points essential in their system. And others with a clear preference to not absorb the first reflection point at all. Then there are others who have a window and curtain on one side and simply want to bring the image back into the middle. It can also be the case that what people prefer can actually change and evolve over time. What I think we can agree on is that sticking up absorbers in first reflection points, in a stereo listening room, certainly won't be the best option for everyone.
  5. It depends on so many things. A dome tweeter is much more robust and versatile and will suit a lot more designs. You can get good silk domes for peanuts and they sound very good. You can get them to work in simple two way designs and please most people. In budget designs, they might be the only choice. A ribbon requires steeper crossovers and higher crossover points, which excludes many of them in 2 way designs, where the mid and tweeter might fight over a non-workable crossover point. The mid is pushing for a low crossover to avoid breakup, the ribbon is pushing for a higher crossover than is workable. Hence a lot of ribbons are seen in 3 way designs with smaller mid or dome mids. So now you're dealing with a more complex design. If done well, a ribbon can excel at detail and finesse but if done poorly they can also sound harsh and strained. So really what you have to do is think of the entire system. Where you use a ribbon, often its limitations will dictate many of the other design decisions.
  6. In a dedicated studio, I normally recommend 3 things to my clients: 1. As much bass trapping as you can get 2. Absorption for first reflection points 3. Diffusion as icing on the cake Actually there's quite a bit more to it than that, but this is a good start.
  7. As a rule, an "exercise in fun and learning" doesn't usually imply AE woofers! What are the current speakers you're running?
  8. As it turns out, I've used those drivers in projects recently, along with many using both AE and Faital pro. I don't generally get the luxury of sipping cocktails and making that kind of side by side comparison. However, in my experience and in my opinion, AE drivers do generally provide an audible improvement, even compared to the better pro audio drivers. I probably notice it most in the bass. If the woofers are only covering 90 - 1k that likely would narrow the margin. If I were making the decision, I'd factor in whether this is your "happily ever after" system or more like a 5 year relationship. AE drivers are always just really easy to work with. You mean because of the physical size?
  9. There isn't a meaningful relationship between speaker and room size. The devil is in the details. In your case, you have a 3x3m room. Typically that means both the speakers and your listening position will be close to walls and in that situation you can expect a very large boost around 57 Hz based on two lateral modes between the walls. A speaker which rolls off at say 65 Hz will tend to reduce the impact of those modes but a speaker with more bass extension will tend to excite that mode more. This could favour a smaller speaker or it could favour the larger speaker, depending on where your preferences lie. Some people will like more moderate bass and hence find the smaller speaker matches better, others will actually prefer the fuller bass. For a lot of people, getting a 15 dB bump up in the bass from the room is attractive. Coming to your question more directly ... This comes to Hoffman's law. There is sensitivity, size and bass extension. We can choose two and the third becomes a given. So if we fix sensitivity as being the same, and we compare a stand mount to a floorstander with a lot more box volume, bass extension is the difference. If all else is equal, the bigger speaker in this example simply has more bass extension. Often you get a bit of everything. A little more power handling, bass extension and sensitivity. In the case where all 3 increase, the magnitude is less. Transmission line cabinets introduce other variables. Often they are much larger than a ported equivalent and in cases where they are compromised in their size relative to tuning, often it has a high price in terms of performance. This can mean a design that is sub-optimal to make it acceptable in size. They can end up being bass shy and also quite resonant. They can perform very well but they can also have problems that far outweigh their advantages if not designed well. Also bear in mind they are not necessarily any different to ported speakers when it comes to distance to the wall behind them. Both can usually get close enough for the bass alignment to work fine. It's usually other considerations that determine where they sit. In general if you put it in your room and it doesn't feel ridiculous, then it's not too big. I wouldn't put dipoles in a room that size because space behind them is critical. I also wouldn't put very large horns like say Avantgarde Trio in a room that size - you need to listen from further away. These are exceptions to the rule with particular space requirements. But generally most speakers you feel comfortable with putting in your room will be fine, even if a bit on the larger side.
  10. Bargain at that price! Andrew often used a PAudio driver which had an unusual design. It had a motor with a single magnet and dual spider and voice coil assemblies, one on either side of the magnet, allowing a more symmetrical stroke. Normally those spikes on the bottom are screw in, meaning they could be removed for packing. BTW ... if this has either a Shiva or the PAudio driver, then it's more on par with SVS SB2000.
  11. There's a few ways you could do this but as a general rule I'd suggest high level inputs are a last resort. The main reason is that this excludes the possibility of using any kind of EQ or correction, either built in or external. The simplest solution is to run a line level to the sub and plug the port on your mains. This reduces bass extension by an octave, meaning that speakers with 40 Hz extension will now roll off with a 2nd order at around 80 Hz. You then adjust the crossover on the sub to match. Where a sub provides high or low level outputs, they will typically include a high pass filter. The problem here is that you have no control over the slope applied or corner frequency - these are fixed and often won't be a very good match for your speakers. There are two challenges in integrating a sub. The first is that it's a crossover, just like the one between a mid and tweeter. As such, it really needs to be optimised with measurements - you won't realise the full potential in doing it by ear. The second is you have a lot of peaks and dips due to the room interaction. Both of these challenges are best optimised with measurements and DSP. Now this brings me to a more advanced solution. You can run a line level to a DSP crossover like MiniDSP 2x4 and set up high pass filters on your mains and a low pass on your sub. You can adjust them precisely and apply EQ to each. These are the tools that give you the most control, but I'm not saying this is easy!
  12. Autex make their own version that looks identical on paper but in reality they are not the same. Their AAB has a texture on the surface (not as appealing in my opinion), they are slightly thicker and a little lower in density. They also tend to flex more. This means it's much more difficult to get neat cuts. When you place an order, make sure they are sending the correct version. Nothing worse than having HD panels show up when you ordered XHD. It happens. I generally recommend the black XHD 50mm as it's the most universal. Many people are tempted by the thicker panels but the properties are such that you very often get the best results with an air gap behind the 50mm. This works for general purpose absorbers and bass traps. Cutting is the biggest challenge. Yet another reason to go for the XHD 50mm. Lower density is harder to cut. Thicker is even more difficult and in many situations inferior in performance, when you factor in the air gap and frequency range targeted. You can use an insulation handsaw and it will get the job done but you have two problems. One, the saw is blunt after just a few metres of cutting. Two, the cuts aren't vertically square. Even if you knock up a jig to keep the cuts square (vertically), the cuts are messy. I use a purpose built cutting setup and it took a lot of trial and error to get it working properly. It's more trouble than it's worth for just a few sheets, but it's the only way to get cuts that you don't need to hide. I've seen some cuts that couldn't be fixed by putting the panel inside a timber frame with fabric over the whole thing.
  13. SVS SB1000 is probably what I would consider a minimum standard although the next model up is significantly cleaner (SB2000). Sometimes some of the older models come up in the classifieds. I've integrated a lot of these and they are a breeze to work with. Sorry, I know this is not helping with your budget at all.
  14. You may find this interesting: https://redspade-audio.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-surprising-reason-why-you-might.html The issue I find with subs around this price point is that they usually aren't very clean, even at modest levels. Is DIY an option you would consider? If so, I'd suggest a 12" Peerless XLS in a sealed box is a good option. That's the only kind of solution I would consider on a <$1k budget for a studio.
  15. As Al has eluded and mentioned at other times, adding a second sub is not always the solution many expect. Doubling up on identical subs adds +6 dB. 3 dB increase in sensitivity 3 dB increase due to twice the total power This only applies if the second sub is very close, so that both subs act as one larger sub. Beat me to it! There is no easy answer to the question you are asking based on the info we have on hand. In my experience, it's very difficult to make suggestions based on this kind of description. Mainly because we don't know what the room is doing, and that makes a world of difference. One person will say what you've just said and then I will test their room. What do I find? No problem that we can fix with a second sub. It might just be that their setup hasn't been calibrated very well for their particular tastes. Their existing sub may be all that they need. But then another person might say exactly the same thing and I find a major problem that does require a second sub. So in that scenario, it requires the two subs being placed in their optimal locations and also correctly calibrated. If the placement is sub-optimal or the calibrate isn't done well then either or both can undermine the improvement and in some cases be inferior to just one sub. This question comes up so often that I decided it was quicker to drop a post on the blog rather than keep saying the same things over and over again: http://redspade-audio.blogspot.com/2020/05/why-you-dont-need-two-subs.html There are some examples where the answer was fairly clear cut.
  16. "Darling, I promise you, there always was a giant return air duct in this corner! What do you think? That I just added a useless air duct in the corner for no good reason?!" If the matter goes to the high court of interior design, I had nothing to do with it! There is a mix of things you can look for, including bottom end extension, avoiding major dips, flattest overall response, highest output. The emphasis changes as you change the number of subs and also the number of listening positions you want to optimise. For one sub and one seat, the answer is often relatively straightforward. It's mostly about avoiding dips, as you can EQ out the peaks very well in that one position. As you start adding more seats you want to optimise, especially in more than one row and also as you start to consider more subs, the exercise becomes more complex. The answer leans more towards reducing seat to seat variation.
  17. There's always some risk of localisation with a single sub at the back of the room. Simply having a 4th order crossover at 80 Hz won't necessarily avoid the problem. Different subs vary in their tendency to be localised and different listeners vary in their sensitivity. I've ran demos like this countless times and a surprising number of people don't notice a problem, where I'd call it distracting. So there is always some degree of uncertainty. The best solution that I've found to the localisation issue is to have at least one front sub and to limit the rear sub to about 60 Hz. Often the rear sub will help with the midbass where front sub positions might have a major dip. Yes, I know this is not quite what you had in mind. Your DCX speakers could actually be used to run tests. One speaker goes into your listening position, the mic goes into sub positions you want to test. In a room that big with custom DIY on the table, I'd be thinking if you can find a creative solution ie. another position for a sub somewhere along the front wall. Perhaps something stealthy with slim proportions. Don't rule out multiple smaller drivers, or a coffee table sub or something made to look like part of the room. If you are feeling even more daring, there is also IB. The other factor is of course how each position impacts the room response. Sometimes positions like that work perfectly, sometimes they are awful. Sometimes they are so bad that even with plenty of power and EQ, they still behave badly. But in most cases, you could still expect better than no sub at all.
  18. I'd call 140 - 400Hz low midrange. Others may define this differently but I'd class midbass as approximately 40 - 60 Hz. I came up with the 120 dB midbass chest thump threshold based on a particular system that I designed and set up for a night club client. It was a 4 way horn loaded system. I found that once the level on the dance floor reached 120 dB around 45 - 55 Hz, you could feel that chest pounding sensation. The mids and highs were lower in level. Of course, using different music or even a system with a different response, you may find a very different result. The details around how you measure can also have a big impact. As a rule, clients don't specify SPL targets.
  19. Keep in mind that if you use high level inputs, this eliminates the chance of using EQ, either from your AVR or an external device. For this reason I'd call it the "last resort" option for systems that have no other way. In the vast majority of systems, it's a big compromise.
  20. When you reach a midbass level of 120 dB, I'd call that the "chest thump threshold." That's the easy part. There are too many variables to give a definitive answer in terms of power/m3. The room in particular adds so much uncertainty. If someone wanted to actually design a system to reach a specific target, it would take a process with several steps. It involves things like testing sub positions and measuring the actual response in the listening position for a known reference. Armed with the right data, I can then work backwards to determine how to reach the target. Power is just one of the parameters. In reality, people don't usually have a specific SPL target in mind.
  21. I've seen this many times in systems that I've tested, it's quite common. I've also seen many cases where the setup wasn't lacking in this aspect but they hadn't dialed in a suitable room curve. I've seen many systems where they actually have more actual in-room bass extension than they realised, yet they didn't have the impression of enough extension. Quite often there is a big difference between what people have and what they think they have. If you are talking about that live concert experience, in which you feel the kick drum thump in your chest, this is an experience very few people achieve at home. Most likely you won't get there if all you do is upgrade your sub. Even the Fathom range will fall short of delivering that chest thump in many rooms. Firstly, most subs lack the necessary fire power. Beyond this, it's also about having the right number of subs for your room, optimising their positions, and correctly integrating them. There are several steps involved, all of them essential.
  22. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  23. Enclosure has been picked up ... hope to see some photos!
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