DIY Double Bass driver S9800

[bigeye]

Hi all,

A friend of mine put me onto this forum and I am most glad he did.

I am a huge JBL fan, and recently got a pair of the K2S9800SE.

I love the bass driver, but....i want more

I have decided to purchase another 2 bass drivers and construct a heavy, all-alumimium cabinet (I also have the Krell LAT-1000 that inspired the aluminium idea...). This will allow me to add the extra bass driver on top.

I wonder if the plans for the Project May are available. I would like to view them, and if allowed, possibly copy them with my aluminium cabinet model.

I will be triamping these speakers using the DEQX digital active crossover, which i currently use to great effect.

As I operate this system in conjunction with my home cinema, I will also construct a matching centre channel speaker using 2 of the 15" bass units, and the same K2S9800SE compression drivers, for the ultimate in movie sound too :-)

As I am in Australia, sourcing the drivers may be difficult as there are no dealers here to purchase them from. Any help you could provide in where I can buy the drivers (and horns for the centre speaker) would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance if you can help, or offer ideas or advice.

Yours kindly,
David.

[Mr. Widget]

Welcome to the forum. I have added the Project May threads to your permissions so you will now be able to view our work in this area... warts and all. If you have the time and inclination you should be able to sort through the many hundreds of posts. I apologize for the disarray. The project grew in an organic fashion and it is very difficult to weed through, but there is a vast amount of very useful technical information that is buried in there.

At present the project is still alive, but has been semi dormant for a few years as life got in the way for many of the participants. Once we pull it together again we will return to the project and complete it.

Your project as you describe it sounds like it'll will be quite a monumental task. Please keep us posted as you move forward.

In answer to your question about locating an additional pair of 1500AL woofers... I'd suggest you focus on Japan. You may find some there that are new or on the used market. They had been sold through JBL dealers as individual components. I am not sure if they are currently available.


Widget

[4313B]

I haven't had time yet to figure out how to get specific curve shapes with the DEQX.

Mr. Widget, do you know off hand how to create the voltage drive necessary for bi-amping the Everest II using the DEQX?

[4313B]

Hi all,

A friend of mine put me onto this forum and I am most glad he did.

I am a huge JBL fan, and recently got a pair of the K2S9800SE.

I love the bass driver, but....i want more

I have decided to purchase another 2 bass drivers and construct a heavy, all-alumimium cabinet (I also have the Krell LAT-1000 that inspired the aluminium idea...). This will allow me to add the extra bass driver on top.

I wonder if the plans for the Project May are available. I would like to view them, and if allowed, possibly copy them with my aluminium cabinet model.

I will be triamping these speakers using the DEQX digital active crossover, which i currently use to great effect.


Thanks in advance if you can help, or offer ideas or advice.

Yours kindly,
David.

Project May was originally basically the K2-S9800 with dual 1500AL's instead of single 1500AL's. It has since been changed into a vertical Everest II type system using the H9800 horn in place of the DD66000 horn. Obviously the DD66000 horn would be inappropriate for a vertical array. Don will be able to run it in "Everest II mode" or "K2-S5800 mode".

It is quite tough to source these drivers, both JBL Consumer and JBL Pro (as of a conversation a couple days ago) have gotten out of the raw component business.

Are you sure that you wouldn't rather just add a pair of subs to your K2-S9800's? The 1500 Arrays are quite nice and they use a true very low frequency transducer unlike the 1500FE or 1500AL.

[Valentin]

would it not be better to use the array1500 sub or a 4645c sub or subs
there is also the specifically made sub for the k2 the hb5000 sold in japan which has the same driver of the array sub

having the deqx you can spike up the bass easily

i also have the deqx 2.6HD

[4313B]

Yes, or the HB5000...

having the deqx you can spike up the bass easily

True, JBL advocates VLF EQ these days. Unlike the older 2235H and 2245H the newer drivers can take it. Be careful of the 1500AL specifically though, the 1501AL was designed to better handle VLF EQ after 1500AL's started blowing up with too much EQ. The W1500H is the better driver by far for that application. It's a monster.

[Valentin]

horses for courses

[Mr. Widget]

I haven't had time yet to figure out how to get specific curve shapes with the DEQX.

Mr. Widget, do you know off hand how to create the voltage drive necessary for bi-amping the Everest II using the DEQX?

I am not sure that it is set up to do that. You obviously can manually simulate them by adjusting the gain at the different stages and playing with the parametric EQ.

In the automatic correction mode if you could get outdoors or in an anechoic chamber, it will create very accurate "correction" filters that would likely be quite similar to those that are in use in the DD66000, but dialed in for the specific drivers.


Widget

[4313B]

Yeah, you gotta drag them outside into a quiet field though. Which reminds me... what is the interface you use between CLIO and your laptop?

[Valentin]

photo of a hb5000




http://audio-database.com/JBL/speaker/hb5000-e.html

[Mr. Widget]

Yeah, you gotta drag them outside into a quiet field though. Which reminds me... what is the interface you use between CLIO and your laptop?

M-Audio Transit.

http://www.audiomatica.com/sounddevices.htm

If your laptop doesn't have a couple of serial ports you need an additional external power supply and USB/Serial converter.


Widget

[mvaldes]

what is the interface you use between CLIO and your laptop?

I'm using this

http://www.magma.com/products/pci/1PCI/


Work fine with Clio (fully supported) and any laptop, but....it's quite expensive.

Michele

[Mr. Widget]

With version 7 you no longer have to use the PCI card and expansion slot... with version 8 there is an entirely new interface box which is even more laptop friendly. I guess the folks at Audiomatica finally saw the light.

Oh dear, once again we've drifted off topic.


Widget

[bigeye]

Welcome to the forum. I have added the Project May threads to your permissions so you will now be able to view our work in this area... warts and all. If you have the time and inclination you should be able to sort through the many hundreds of posts. I apologize for the disarray. The project grew in an organic fashion and it is very difficult to weed through, but there is a vast amount of very useful technical information that is buried in there.

At present the project is still alive, but has been semi dormant for a few years as life got in the way for many of the participants. Once we pull it together again we will return to the project and complete it.

Your project as you describe it sounds like it'll will be quite a monumental task. Please keep us posted as you move forward.

In answer to your question about locating an additional pair of 1500AL woofers... I'd suggest you focus on Japan. You may find some there that are new or on the used market. They had been sold through JBL dealers as individual components. I am not sure if they are currently available.


Widget

Thanks Widget!

I will troll through the info with glee!

Yes, a monumental task indeed, but fortunately I have extensive machining skills so cabinet construction will be easy for me once final design is completed.

I will post progress as I go, for anyone who is interested. If i can get design finalised by Feb'09, then I will begin construction then. That gives me ~3 months design...I hope that will be enough, given that I will have access to the work that has gone before me.

Thanks again,
Kindly,
David.

[bigeye]

Yes, or the HB5000...
True, JBL advocates VLF EQ these days. Unlike the older 2235H and 2245H the newer drivers can take it. Be careful of the 1500AL specifically though, the 1501AL was designed to better handle VLF EQ after 1500AL's started blowing up with too much EQ. The W1500H is the better driver by far for that application. It's a monster.

Hi 4313B,

So maybe I should consider another driver to augment the 150AL? OK, i will investigate. I am new to JBL...

Adding subs not really an option, as space is in too short supply, therfore vertical addition makes sense (to me...).

Thanks mate,
David.