$1 aurasound drivers in an array?

[Kornbread]

Just a thought before trying to schlep some heavy a$$ speakers around the room. Someone correct me if I'm off. OB bass radiates in a cardioid pattern below a certain frequency (dependent on design), that's why it can sound so clean, it radiates most energy to the front and back so it fails to excite room nodes to the sides.

Maybe not for the epique, but don't most normal line-arrays have a distinct sweet spot? Maybe this can be dealt with using dsp and fir filters?

While this may be fine for HT use, I'm thinking very few of the 50 people are going to hear the same thing with an OB setup and wondering if more traditional subs and maybe some kind of omni for everything above that.

Just my $.02. YMMV

[blamus]

Yes please! i don't know how EDM would sound on a simple 2-way OB, let alone an OB 6' array. I genuinely don't even know where to start thinking about this!

[Kornbread]

I'll have to drag the Carver Amazings up and play 'Old Town Road', Infected Mushroom and some Orbital through them ... I'll let you know. I listen to almost everything but I've never played anything 'edm like' through em'.

[blamus]

I wonder how all this ended up, and what are the lessons learned.

I also bought a box of 50 of these 3" auras (and also a box of the 5.25" auras) years ago. (http://www.madisound.com/store/manuals/ns3-194-16a.pdf)

It will soon be time that I finally turn them into arrays. This thread pretty much went where I was planning to go - 6' tall open baffle arrays.

The main difference is that I'd want to use DSP/eq.

And in the same way where this thread went, I'd like to use an array (8 per side??) of the 12" GRS @ $12 each to do 100Hz down
(https://www.parts-express.com/grs-12...fer--292-412#!).
Or 15" GRS @ $24 each.
(https://www.parts-express.com/grs-15...oofer--292-415)
OB (U frame?) or otherwise. But I'd like them to go down to at min 30Hz, if not 20Hz.

My application is a system for HT and music to "night club levels" in a 25'x50' room with half of it being a double height space. But really only the first 25'x25' area (double height) needs to be "night club levels".

Questions/Concerns:

1. If I EQ, can I get the arrays to play "full range" from 100Hz up? If not, I also have a box of tweeters to do tweeter lines, and in that case crossed actively and with DSP/EQ

2. For that loud, maybe I need to cross the mid array from 200Hz up? I'd much prefer to cross at 100-120Hz to give my sub array more flexible placement options.

3. Just how low can I expect the $12 subs in OB to play at that level? even with lots of them (say 16). Would 8 of the 15" do better in this case? (the 15"s cost double the 12"s)

3. And this one I really need people familiar with OB to comment on: I want this system to be good for modern EDM music (which is why F3 needs to be low) I have not experienced OB mids or OB bass, I have read in many places that OB gives a great natural sound, but not many people use OB for Electronic music. Do people think OB will make electronic/synthetic music sound smeared/strange/bad? And at "clubbing levels".

Now you can all piece together that I'm hoping to have many dance parties in this living room (~50 people) :-)

Is this a good way to go with what I have?

Best regards

[jhollander]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

Mike these #s are max SPL at x-max "so" above this your using the "safety" factor or moving the high pass upward.

Here's the Peerless vs. a GRS, yes 1 Peerless = 1 GRS

[mikejennens]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

I have a chance to get 4 of these for a good price. http://www.parts-express.com/peerles...oofer--299-246

Any advice or comments about whether they'd work better or worse in an h-frame or u-frame than these? http://www.parts-express.com/grs-12p...oofer--292-412

Thanks,
Mike

[jhollander]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

Mike, Linkwitz also has a max spl spread sheet if you don’t want to use ABC Dipole. Here’s pic of Linkwitz with the GRS woofers in a box and dipole

[thekorvers]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

Mike the important factor in this is the c-t-c spacing between the drivers, which determines the allowable x-over frequency which in turn dictates the choice of tweeters.

I have attached a little cheat sheet I use in my designs, which I have created from data from Jim Griffin's white paper: "Design Guidelines for Practical Near Field Line Arrays". I suggest you read his white paper as it has very useful information for line array design.

The information on the cheat sheet is useful in the design of simple MT's, MTM's etc. as well, as IMO it is always a good idea to keep driver spacing to a minimum in order to get as close to a point source as possible.

http://diy-audio.narod.ru/litr/nflawp.pdf

[mikejennens]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

Thanks Roman. The RS28 is listed as going down to 1.2K and the SPL is listed at 88dB 1W/1m. If I were to use a tweeter that went down to 2K and the SPL was listed as 92dB at 1W/1m, would that work? I'm still not clear on how low the tweeter needs to be able to go. I'm not using the Auras/array as a woofer, so I don't need to worry about BSC yet, correct? My thought is to use the array for the 200hZ to 3KhZ range. Once I measure the array, I'll post the results and adjust/seek advice from there.
Thanks again.
Mike

[r-carpenter]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

I'm not following why the tweeter needs to cross lower. What should I be looking for? I'm definitely willing to go with the advice from Roman. But since this is a learning experience too, it appears to me a higher sensitivity tweeter that can cross, say around 3K or below would work. Won't the Auras cover the complete mid range up to around 4K? And like thekorvers posted, it seems more sensitivity is needed in the tweeter. I'm not questioning anyone's advice, just asking a student-esque question.
Thanks,
Mike

You should not follow my advise just cause.
But here's why. In the array, depending on the size and individual driver response, summation of the drivers responses will not equal a single unit. In other words, you take 1 driver, it has one frequency response, take a bunch of them and line them up in the array and you got something else.
What will happen is some cancellation in mid-range. The issues will appear between 1khz and 2khz (depending on the design). So, having a tweeter that can reach low is very much beneficial.
After you start massaging the response of the Auras in the array, sensitivity will drop down. It's uncommon to do bump filters and passive EQing is done with lowering SPL of the problematic areas.
Here's an example.

http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-5-woofers/hi-vi-m5n-5-wide-range-woofer-copper-color-cone/

If we look at the response at 2khz it's around 92db. This area most likely will be tuned down by the crossover and now we really need to look at the pass-bad. Hi-Vi approximates it by looking at the flattest part of the response around 87db. The next step is to look at BSC if it's really used as a woofer. There will be some loss there too. So in the end, we really are passively dialing the knobs down to make the woofer sound the way we want.

[mikejennens]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

I'm not following why the tweeter needs to cross lower. What should I be looking for? I'm definitely willing to go with the advice from Roman. But since this is a learning experience too, it appears to me a higher sensitivity tweeter that can cross, say around 3K or below would work. Won't the Auras cover the complete mid range up to around 4K? And like thekorvers posted, it seems more sensitivity is needed in the tweeter. I'm not questioning anyone's advice, just asking a student-esque question.
Thanks,
Mike

[kenny_k]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

The MCM driver is not for OB, BR yes. This may work for an h-frame [URL="[URL="http://www.parts-express.com/15-square-frame-paper-cone-woofer-black--290-920"]http://www.parts-express.com/15-square-frame-paper-cone-woofer-black--290-920[/URL"]http://www.parts-express.com/15-square-frame-paper-cone-woofer-black--290-920[/URL

I want to use the h-frame for a stand for the Auras. How do you like the tweeter you're using? I am thinking of trying this one. http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-...eeter--275-057

This tweeter won't cross low enough, that's why Roman suggested the RS.

[thekorvers]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

How do you like the tweeter you're using? I am thinking of trying this one. http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-...eeter--275-057

Mike

You will need a tweeter with a lot higher sensitivity than that if you are going to use it in an array, unless you are going active. I don't think that tweeter is up to the task.

[mikejennens]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

Thanks Kenny. I'll give it a try. I want to use the h-frame for a stand for the Auras. How do you like the tweeter you're using? I am thinking of trying this one. http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-...eeter--275-057

Mike

[kenny_k]

Re: $1 aurasound drivers in an array?

It should, if you're measuring, you can wire the auras to match in FR. May make for easier XO design.