2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

[Organcat]

I just took delivery of 14 of these for a tapered line-array PA project. Since they're so fragile I wonder if anyone who has mounted them can give any tips on the proper cutout hole diameter. I tried 2" and 2 1/4" hole saws to test, but a, guessing a 2 1/8" saw would be ideal (if I had one). The specs say 2.05" but I'd prefer the voice of experience.

Would you recommend a tight fit, but scoop out 'ears' for the terminals?

Before I buy a new hole saw, drill 14 holes or try rasping out errors, anybody have an accurate size to recommend from their own build? My buddy just told me he's got a fully adjustable hole saw, so odd figures are OK.

Can't wait to get started. Eat your heart out in advance, Bose PAS.

UPDATE: It's complete and works great! under $100 and 9 lbs. total weight. Almost 180 degree horiz. dispersion.

[drmcclainphd]

Re: 2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

I just took delivery of 14 of these for a tapered line-array PA project. Since they're so fragile I wonder if anyone who has mounted them can give any tips on the proper cutout hole diameter. I tried 2" and 2 1/4" hole saws to test, but a, guessing a 2 1/8" saw would be ideal (if I had one). The specs say 2.05" but I'd prefer the voice of experience.

Would you recommend a tight fit, but scoop out 'ears' for the terminals?

Before I buy a new hole saw, drill 14 holes or try rasping out errors, anybody have an accurate size to recommend from their own build? My buddy just told me he's got a fully adjustable hole saw, so odd figures are OK.

Can't wait to get started. Eat your heart out in advance, Bose PAS.

I mounted 8 on a board. I started with 2" holes in a sheet of that styrofoam centered poster board. I traced these holes onto a sheet of 1" thick styrofoam and cut those out too. I mounted them to the posterboard (using both screws and silicone caulk), simply pushing out the edge of the holes with a fingernail for a snug fit, wired them on the bottom side of that, then covered the wiring with the 1" foam. This was then mounted to a 1/2" thick piece of pine. The lead into the network was run through both 1" foam and pine. The 1" foam was thick enough that the magnet didn't touch the pine. I'd bent the ears 90 degrees to be flat against the bottom of the posterboard.

The pine was actually the inside base of a box and the baffle was cut to fit in it snugly. The box had a lid, but only for transporting. It was a portable extension speaker for my Pignose guitar amp and Dayton DTA-1. Probably not the materials you'd prefer to use, but it gives you an idea on where to start. On thicker, stiff baffle, I'd start with 2" holes and route/file/dremel-grind them out for a snug fit and seal them in with silicone caulk. But I'd also lay them out and attach the wires to the ears before mounting. Once mounted you can them simply wire the network. If the ears need a little space, I'd use a cylindrical grinding stone and grind out a bit from the bottom side and at an angle so as not to cut a notch all the way to the top of the baffle. On the other hand, bending the ears towards the magnet after attaching the wires might make them fit.

Yes, I think snug fit in a baffle is important, as well as damping, because I've also turned them over and attached them to various things. They make awesome little surface transducers, likely due to the small mass of the square plastic frame. Again, something you probably don't want in your configuration.

[Organcat]

Re: 2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

Thanks so much for your quick and detailed response. I'll post pics of the progress as I go.

[Organcat]

Re: 2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

I mounted 8 on a board. I started with 2" holes in a sheet of that styrofoam centered poster board. .

I thought about designs a bit more and I'm going to try cutting my holes in that 1/4" thick foam posterboard, getting the holes precise, then putting the speaker mounting screws through the foam, into rear-attached wood struts glued along the sides, top and bottom. That would put no weight on the foam, it would just be holding the speakers tight and allow me to make more precise cuts working in that medium. The foam, which comes in a nice flat black, would actually be the front surface of the baffle (which would be covered by a cylindrically curved grille, made from my old favorite, a Home Depot metal gutter guard spray-painted gloss black, screwed into the struts).
Any thoughts on how much of the rear of the speaker needs to be exposed so the sound can resonate in the cavity ( a small one admittedly, to be lined with acoustic foam)? The speakers have weird openings on the back and I'm not sure how functional they are, given the new design concept of the speakers.
Thanks again.

[rbobbitt]

Re: 2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

I have used these in an array of 16 drivers in a 44" tall 2 1/2" square aluminum fence post x 2. They stack for a 7' tall stick. I used a 2 1/8" hole saw spaced 2 5/8" apart. I used electrical tape and bent the leads in a bit to prevent any shorts. The wiring terminals are different sizes. The large one is positive (battery pos makes cone go out). My application is for a practice PA for my band so I'm not too concerned with full fidelity and these are weak in the last octave. Mine are crossed over at 250 hz so I can't comment on their low freq response. Good luck!

[Organcat]

Re: 2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

Thanks for the tips, rbobbitt. I'm going to be mounting these on a 3 1/2" wide baffle made of 1/4" plywood fastened to support struts, as will be the other panels of the box. I'd actually thought about mounting them in a rain gutter downspout just because the size would be right and I have a fetish for re-assigning Home Depot parts like the grille for my other 3' line-array was an aluminum gutter leaf-guard painted black.
I'm going to keep the spacing as tight as I can and will probably skew speakers # 1 & 2 and 13 & 14 alternately L & R by a few degrees to extend the off-axis coverage.
This will actually be my main PA. I'm a single act and usually play rooms of
less than 200 when doing shows. I use a direct box to a house system for
bigger rooms and since I have lots of onboard EQ I can usually get everything
sounding as good as the room's acoustics will allow anywhere. My philosophy for 2 live sound toolkit essentials are good EQ and good ears. I already use a sub and
will probably put a capacitor in the line array to filter out below 200, as I did with the
array in the picture. I love it, and it weighs 23 lbs. - not bad, but when I saw
the BMR 12s at $5.50 I hadda have 'em and had fantasies of a 6 lb. array
invading my thoughts. Thanks again for all the info especially the polarity,
which I had to use a battery to find. I sorta guessed the big one was + but
would it have killed them to put a red dot somewhere nearby?

[drmcclainphd]

Re: 2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

Any thoughts on how much of the rear of the speaker needs to be exposed so the sound can resonate in the cavity ( a small one admittedly, to be lined with acoustic foam)? The speakers have weird openings on the back and I'm not sure how functional they are, given the new design concept of the speakers.
Thanks again.

I just went for tone over volume (it was after all a modeling amp) so what little space there was behind them I just packed with stuffing (pillow/comforter stuffing to be precise).

If you want to calculate how much they should have for best performance, go to http://www.mh-audio.nl/ClosedBoxCalculator.asp and plug in the speaker parameters, along with your planned dimensions and a scientific wild guess on how much of that the back side of the speakers plus mounting stuff will take up, and it'll tell you the internal volume they should have. Each. Multiply by the number of drivers in the enclosure, of course. Be aware it's a European website and you may be doing quite a few conversions from metric. If you weren't aware, you can type a conversion into a Google search window and it'll give you the result (ie. "0.0063 ft^3 in liters" returns 0.178396 liters). But if you're lining with acoustic foam, I'm betting the very small probable result will be much farther off than with larger drivers and cabs, and getting the dimensions right will require very precise fitting. To my mind, if you're using foam, go ahead and fill them up. But do check out that website with all its many speaker related calculators.

P.S. Downspout? Awesome. I do a lot of shopping at Guitar/Speaker Depot myself. The second version of my portable cab was built in an old clarinet case. Structural hacking, I call it. Junk aesthetics. That second cab was also sealed and packed with pillow stuff.

[Organcat]

Re: 2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

I just went for tone over volume (it was after all a modeling amp) so what little space there was behind them I just packed with stuffing (pillow/comforter stuffing to be precise).

If you want to calculate how much they should have for best performance, go to http://www.mh-audio.nl/ClosedBoxCalculator.asp and plug in the speaker parameters, along with your planned dimensions and a scientific wild guess on how much of that the back side of the speakers plus mounting stuff will take up, and it'll tell you the internal volume they should have. Each. Multiply by the number of drivers in the enclosure, of course. Be aware it's a European website and you may be doing quite a few conversions from metric. If you weren't aware, you can type a conversion into a Google search window and it'll give you the result (ie. "0.0063 ft^3 in liters" returns 0.178396 liters). But if you're lining with acoustic foam, I'm betting the very small probable result will be much farther off than with larger drivers and cabs, and getting the dimensions right will require very precise fitting. To my mind, if you're using foam, go ahead and fill them up. But do check out that website with all its many speaker related calculators.

P.S. Downspout? Awesome. I do a lot of shopping at Guitar/Speaker Depot myself. The second version of my portable cab was built in an old clarinet case. Structural hacking, I call it. Junk aesthetics. That second cab was also sealed and packed with pillow stuff.

I appreciate all the info. A clarinet case? Unusual choice but nice look I bet.
I got a 2 1/8" hole saw for 1/4" plywood and that will give me a good fit for the speakers with leeway for some shifting if my holes are slightly off in any way. I can use caulking if I have any gaps. I abandoned the foam idea. Thanks again. I'll post pics of the project as it develops.

[blongstaff]

Re: 2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

I came across this thread after buying one of the Hiwave speakers. I wanted to test it on my system before buying more. I went to Home Depot and found this. It's pretty close to perfect volume for these speakers and is has a seal. They are 4x4x2 electrical boxes. The only thing I needed was a 2 1/8 hole saw and a small hole in the back for the speaker wire to poke through (which I caulked back up). I've only done a short test so far but it sounds pretty good. I'm using it for rear surround right now but may buy some more.



Do you think if I used three or four of these for a center channel it would sound ok? I have limited height below my TV. I wasn't sure if these had enough range to be effective

[patrickm]

Re: 2" HiWave BMR12 8ohm speakers- who's got mounting tips?

I thought about designs a bit more and I'm going to try cutting my holes in that 1/4" thick foam posterboard, getting the holes precise, then putting the speaker mounting screws through the foam, into rear-attached wood struts glued along the sides, top and bottom.

i'd just use a small scrap of 1/4" plywood to test fit one first. and the 2" hole saw to start. many hole saws have some outward-facing teeth that make the hole a fraction smaller than sized. but the foam board will give a little when you try a tight fit, whereas the plywood won't. you can always dremel or sand a little if you need an extra 1/16", although if you find 2" too small, then find a 2 1/8" hole saw or its metric equivalent (54mm). for some reason, i think you can get 54's in the cheap 4-pack from home depot or lowe's.