TC Sounds LMS-Ultra 5400 18″ sub

Introducing the ultimate sub drivers, TC Sounds LMS-Ultra 5400 18″ sub. It's now available in Australia through the Loudspeaker Kit.

See it here >

What is so special about this driver? There are quite a few good sounding sub drivers that are clean from 40 Hz upwards to deliver musical bass. However, conventional subs tend to require a vented box to achieve low distortion to lower frequencies. This is a compromise in other areas. This driver is the only one I've seen that can deliver ultra low distortion all the way down in a sealed box. The reason for this is an extremely linear motor design. The coil is wound with extra turns towards the extremities, so that as the coil leaves the gap on large excursions, the motor retains linear as B starts to decrease.

Bass modules

Bass modules are now complete. 

Textured black Duratex finish on the outside. Bitumen rubber on the inside. 60L sealed box. 

These are available now as a flat pack and they are designed to go into a corner on a 45 degree angle. 

They are heavy! The MDF in each box would weigh about 20 kg, but the completed boxes once heavily damped weigh in at 43 kg! That makes a very inert box, when knocking on them they have a very solid sound, well damped. Add in 12 kg for the driver and you have 55kg!

Chimney rack

This is my rack which is designed to fit in a fireplace:

The rack has holes for rack mount components and there is one adjustable shelf. On the bottom you can see Emotiva UPA700 - a 7 channel power amplifier. Moving up, Behringer DCX then Emotiva URC1 (surround pre pro) and the Bluray player on top will be replaced with a combined Bluray and media player source.

The rack comes out on wheels for easy access to the rear.

The system is being configured to power up with a remote switch, which also eliminates standby power.

The rack will sit in the fireplace with hinged shutters and cover panels that will neaten everything up and give the room a nice clutter-free look. This room will be a good example of how to integrate a lot of equipment and large speakers into a small room yet with less clutter than a typical system that would go into such a room.

I'm also working on a second rack located in another room. It will house the other amps and DSP crossover for the surrounds. Fortunately there is a convenient space for this rack. I have removed a return air duct from a previous central heating system and the existing grille will provide ventilation.

Waveguide surrounds

Surrounds for my home cinema and demo room.

You can see hanging hooks and their orientation I'll use when installed. Since there is just one seating row, this arrangement yields a better integration between the tweeter and mid.

These began as prototypes where techniques were tested for dealing with butt joins. The box has been filled with fibreglass reinforced filler and coated with fibreglass resin. This is not a process I'd repeat since it is overly labour intensive and not suited to commercial production and affordability. In the end I've finished these with Duratex which requires priming as it doesn't like the fillers used. So you see here priming and stopper putty prior to applying Duratex.

Stopper putty applied over primer:

After Durate application. You can also see internal bitumen rubber lining. The box is heavy and dead.

 

Sealing gasket tape is applied:

S3 again ...

I had to move to detachable panels. This helps with machining the ports accurately and swapping options more quickly.

Testing with and without sealing foam.

Bass bins

Some progress on my bass bins to go under my S3 horns. 

I've used automotive primer, with stopper putty over, then Duratex textured paint applied with a roller (not shown).

The internals have been primed with bitumen rubber and will have a thick damping layer. The boxes run up high enough to benefit from damping.

HE2 prototype

This is HE2:

This is my prototype, but the production version will be MDF with your choice of veneer, sold on a made to order basis. The black stripes won't be included. Available in kit and finished versions.

Note: production versions are now quite different.

S3 development progress

There has been a massive amount of development in progress with S3. So much that I don't have time to document, photograph, show measurements with explanations. There is a lot that I'm not showing, but here are a few snippets to give some idea of what has been going on behind the scenes. Last Saturday, a full day of testing concluded the acoustic design phase. A fully day of tweaking and testing is actually a drop in the ocean as far as this project is concerned.

Measuring directivity:

You may notice a change in the directivity rig. The mouth of the horn or front of speaker is now aligned with the central axis, to ensure angles are more accurate. In future the whole rig is going to be rebuilt, since it's difficult to measure speakers like HE2 at this height. Most likely there will be a hydraulic lifting system and a more stable custom made turntable. 

Previous ports:  

Conical ports to allow different port depths were tried. This is one of many:

Slot ports - lots of bog!

 

 port relative to the horn throat.

Just a few examples here of the work that has been going on.

LSK The Loudspeaker Kit & Red Spade Audio at the 2013 Audio and AV show in Melbourne

LSK The Loudspeaker Kit and  Red Spade Audio will be sharing a room at the Australian Audio and AV show this year! It will be in Melbourne again this year:

http://www.chestergroup.org/

Room 342 on level 3 right at the end.

What will you see?

Planning is only just starting, but my plan is to show ...

LSK:

• a flagship LSK kit (undecided - most likely a new design)
• a couple of other LSK kits available for demo on request
• LSK branded acoustic treament kits and products
• LSK audio rack kits
• Mini sub array

Red Spade Audio:

• HE2 - high efficiency 10" Ewave styled speaker
• Custom Acoustic treatment panels
• Possibly some kind of room analysis demo

Please introduce yourself if you are coming to the show - it's always a pleasure to meet my readers!

CNC Flat packs - making DIY simple

You can't believe just how easy it can be to assemble a box when it's been well designed. Here is one example:



This is my first attempt at assembling a Loudspeaker Kit flat pack. It's not a polished attempt! A box comes together in minutes with nothing more than glue and a rag!

You can buy M4 kits here >