| Maryland subwoofer shootout. [message #257850] |
Fri, 26 October 2007 18:38  |
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Evan Kirkendall
Messages: 5243
Registered: November 2004
Location: Abingdon, MD |
Has No Life |
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Hi guys,
Im in the process of throwing together a down and dirty subwoofer "shootout" in Maryland. It will mainly be a listening test with different tracks and tunes. I'll also have SMAART up and running for basic comparisons.
We will be doing 2 different groups for testing, horn loaded and front loaded.
See last page for updated sub list and times.
After we come up with our favorite from each group, we'll do a head to head of the "best."
Im trying to keep the amount of subs and size of subs limited to make it fair. Plus, I dont want to get too many subs on the bill. Each sub will be run in pairs, possibly 4 if we really want to have some fun. 
This will be taking place in Glen Burnie, MD. Right off of I695. It is in a 5000 sqft. warehouse.
The date is December 15th. Please note: this was supposed to be the date of my get together, but due to problems with the venue and bands for that, it is officially canceled. So come to this instead! 
Ill have more detailed times and info as it gets closer.
So who's coming!?
Evan
[Updated on: Wed, 28 November 2007 23:04]
HarfordSound
ATL Tour Blog
"This rig needs some finesse to get rid of the excessive spectral buildup." -Tom M.
Member of the Maryland EV QRx Mafia
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| Re: Maryland mini subwoofer shootout. SImple "measurement" idea [message #257946 is a reply to message #257850 ] |
Sat, 27 October 2007 07:40  |
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 Ivan Beaver
Messages: 5583
Registered: January 2005
Location: Atlanta Ga area |
Has No Life |
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Since you have Smaart and this is intended as a listening event, as opposed to a measurement event, it might be helpful to the rest of this community, if you could collect some comparitive measurements of the different boxes for others to look at.
This would not be absolute and SPL would mean nothing to any box that was not there, but would give an idea of differences between boxes. Often just the freq resonse does not give an idea of the "sound" of the box, but it is nice to have both.
This would only take a couple minutes each, and with help, you could do the whole lot in 30 minutes or less.
A suggested procedure. Choose a spot for the center line of the cabinets. Put a cabinet up against the line. Mic placement is going to be the real issue. If it is inside, then I would go at 1-2M (depending on the size room-larger room=large distance). If outside I would go 5-10M.
When putting boxes in the "test zone", make sure the other boxes are a good distance away (at least 2-3 time the distance of the mic to cabinet distance), so they will have little influence on the measured cabinet.
Since this is only comparitive, there is no reason to even measure the distance. Just stick it "somewhere on axis" 
Turn it up to a decent level that is quite a bit louder (at least 10dB but preferably 20dB) louder than any ambient noise-road noise, HVAC, large motors (coolers etc).
Set up your Smaart rig as follows. Freq window something around 16-250Hz. Your vertical scale should be something like +-20dB.
Averages 32 or 64. I would either turn the smoothing off or just use 3 pt. Use the FPPO as your FFT parameters.
Now put in pink noise and set your levels so they are in the middle of the screen. Just guess at the delay time, it is not really important to get it "dead monkey nuts on" unless you are going to show phase plots also, but in my opinion, for this type of test and what you are trying to get out of it, I would not bother with phase.
Now save and title that trace AND WITHOUT TOUCHING ANYTHING regarding the measurement system, unplug the existing cabinet and put another in its exact same place (front of cabinet) and store that trace etc.
Once setup, you could run them all really quick, then proceed with your subjective listening.
I think it would be a good idea for people to see the comparitive responses of the various cabinets, as most of the cabinets you have listed do not have any published response curves of any kind, just single numbers trying to describe (poorly  ) what they are capable of.
Can I have some more talent in the monitors--PLEASE?
Ivan Beaver
dB Audio & Video Inc.
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| Re: Maryland mini subwoofer shootout. [message #258031 is a reply to message #257850 ] |
Sat, 27 October 2007 13:22 |
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Hi Evan,
If I can make the date, count me in. I could also bring along Danley TH-115's and QSC PL380's if you want them.
Jeff
Cobra Sound
An authorized Allen&Heath, Ashly Audio, Audix, BenQ, Da-Lite, Danley Sound Labs, FBT, Mackie/TT24, QSC Audio, RCF, Sabine, Whirlwind, and Yorkville Sound dealer
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| Re: Maryland mini subwoofer shootout. SImple "measurement" idea-Forgot to add [message #258105 is a reply to message #257946 ] |
Sat, 27 October 2007 18:04 |
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Ivan Beaver
Messages: 5583
Registered: January 2005
Location: Atlanta Ga area |
Has No Life |
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Forgot to add another "step" in the setup process in Smaart. Do not use the -12dB usual was your reference.
Since you do not know what levels you are going to get from the different subs, I would set both reference and measured levels closer to -15 or -18 to allow for the situation that if your 1st sub would be quite a bit less sensitive than some of the later units. TO avoid possible input overload.
You might want to choose one of the more efficient units to begin with.
[Updated on: Sat, 27 October 2007 18:05]
Can I have some more talent in the monitors--PLEASE?
Ivan Beaver
dB Audio & Video Inc.
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