Introducing: The Pit Vipers (Ooh Yeah!!!)

[Serenitynow]

Paul Carmody

Hi again. Well, I've gotten in everything except the L4 inductor and a couple other odds and ends for these.

Would it be possible for you to post a picture of your crossover board layout. I'm wanting to organize this correctly.
Thanks again for everything you do for us !

[djg]

I would make 3 separate crossover boards given the room available, one for each driver. Leads to less confusion if you're new to crossovers. No condescension, I would do 3 boards myself. More coil separation possible.

[Serenitynow]

I would make 3 separate crossover boards given the room available, one for each driver. Leads to less confusion if you're new to crossovers. No condescension, I would do 3 boards myself. More coil separation possible.

I actually had considered that.
I guess I could mount the woofer board on the bottom of the enclosure and the mid and tweeter boards on the window pane braces closest to those drivers.
Does that sound logical ?

[djg]

Yes, good plan.

And that would make it easier to biamp your pit vipers with this terminal cup.

https://www.parts-express.com/Bi-Amp-Speaker-Terminal-Gold-Binding-Post-260-281

[Serenitynow]

This appears from the part number to be the same as what is back-ordered on PE.
Can anyone verify ?

[djg]

That looks like it. .49DCR

[Drummer]

I can't wait to see these and hear what you think. I've been dragging my feet on a pair of Vortex15 speakers, but I saw this and really love the design and the price range. Summer has been very busy, and it's motorcycle season, so here's to living vicariously! Glenn.

[beenzapped68]

Afternoon Paul,
I have to ask...
How does the Pit Viper compare to the Tarkus?
Seems like it would be similar in voice.
I am thinking of using my Tarkus for surrounds and the Pit Vipers for my mains.
What are your thoughts?

[9sheng]

@Paul Carmody I would like to confirm, how thick are the cabinet boards you are using?
I feel like 18mm will look thin.
The second is how much filling is needed inside the box? Is it possible to cover the whole thing?

[Paul Carmody]

18mm is essentially the same as 3/4" stock, correct? Because that's what I used.

[9sheng]

Thank you, please allow me to thank you again for your designs, I am a big fan of yours

[Paul K.]

18-mm wood has a thickness of 0.708 inches, as compared to 0.75 inches for 3/4" wood. I've been using 18-mm Baltic Birch Plywood for years for speaker building and it works just fine.
Paul

[Serenitynow]

Can this be used for C3 in the crossover instead of the Electrolytic Non-Polarized Cap ?

[djg]

Yes. NPEs are a cost saving measure. All of the NPEs can be poly caps if you wish. Large poly caps get expensive.

[Serenitynow]

Thanks djg.
I guess I'll go with this and the 5.0 mH air core inductor then.
It should work out fine then correct ?

[djg]

I don't mind giving advice but this is Paul C.'s design. Read back in this thread and follow his advice on what's an acceptable substitute. I believe he clearly addressed this. He forgot more today than I know about XO design. I just have experience following plans, schematics and instructions. Good luck.

[Wesley H]

I'm working on a similar project, big old-school box, also inspired by the JBL L100 (but very different). It's 4-way and I was originally going to go active between the SW and upper end but decided to go full 4-way active. I'm using the following drivers, all independently sealed.

RSS390HFÂ4 15" Reference HF Subwoofer 4 Ohm
RS225Â4 8" Reference Woofer 4 Ohm
RS125TÂ8 5" Reference Woofer Truncated Frame 8 Ohm
RS28F-4 1-1/8" Silk Dome Tweeter 4 Ohm

I started on the cabinets last summer and am pulling them back out to start up again. Here are a couple pics from my previous work on them:

[Paul Carmody]

Cool! I really like the bracing you did in the back.

[beenzapped68]

Whoa,
Moving up to Gorilla coffins!
Looks like you will have big sound too.
Start a build thread please.
Ron

[Paul Carmody]

Afternoon Paul,
I have to ask...
How does the Pit Viper compare to the Tarkus?
Seems like it would be similar in voice.
I am thinking of using my Tarkus for surrounds and the Pit Vipers for my mains.
What are your thoughts?

I knew this question would come sooner or later, so i've been giving it some thought.

Now, keep in mind that the Tarkus live hundreds of miles away from me, and I only get to hear them once or twice a year. But with that said, I feel like the Pit Vipers are just "more-ish" of everything. Like, you know when a photo has HDR boosted? That's what the Pit Vipers sound like to me. Like, nothing is "subtle" about the Pit Vipers. Imaging is almost exaggerated. Bass is almost exaggerated. Treble... well, I never exaggerate treble... treble is very well-behaved on both designs.

According to the simulations, the Pit Vipers WILL go louder... the 12" Dayton DVC in the Pit Vipers just has more xmax than the 10" Peerless in the Tarkus.

Both designs are still after the same sort of vibe, though. They're for studio-produced music. Rock, Hip Hop, Metal, R&B, EDM, etc. The Pit Vipers are just a bit more ostentatious.

It's funny, I was having lunch the other day with a friend of mine from college. He's a professional guitar player. He doesn't really know much about speakers, but he asked me, "What did you think of the speakers they had in XXXX* studio?" (*a studio we both had recorded in many years ago) And I'm like, "Of course they sounded great!" And that's when it hit me that THAT was the sound I've been chasing all these years. That massive, articulate excitement you get when you're hearing your mix in a studio on big mains monitors. It's like, everything just sounds so huge, yet clear. You can hear all the little nuances you put in the recording. I want people to feel that same sense of excitement the people in the studio get when they hear the mix.

Does that mean that I'm aiming for ruler-flat FR and perfect polar plots like one might get in true studio mains? No. Your living room ISN'T a recording studio, so it doesn't have all that fancy room treatment and geometry that studios get. So in essence my speakers are like a simulation of that experience. It's a holodeck

[beenzapped68]

Paul, that's what I was hoping.
I had the opportunity many years ago to vist a major recording studio in Toronto a friend worked at.
Wish I could remember the name...
They had just built a state of the art anechoic chamber that was huge, what a trip that was to be in.

What you are describing is exactly what I thought at the time when I heard the studio monitors.
Been chasing it ever since.
Thanks for leading the way!

[Wesley H]

Thanks. I braced the heck out of it.

[Serenitynow]

Thanks. I braced the heck out of it.

I see you didn't use the PVC cap on the rear of the mid. Instead you enclosed it. I've been thinking this as well.
What size enclosure did you use for it ?
Oh. Nevermind. I see now it is for your design.

[Serenitynow]

Nevermind. I see now it is for your designed speaker