Line Arrays, Bitches.

[RuSsMaN]

Fred Arrays are in the house.

95db, 9 Ohm Nominal, Ten Silver Flute 5" Woofers, One 'Straight Eight' MCM Tweeter, Biampable, twin 4" rear firing ports. Seventy-Two inches tall, all 1" MDF construction with extensive internal bracing. Built by my good friend Fred Thompson (hence the name) of the Lone Star Bottleheads and Houston Audio Society.

It's great to have a speaker that you can run on 3 or 300 watts.

Be you. Be me. Be you wanting to be me. I haven't had this much fun since I brought the SRS 2's home (pictured also ;) )

Cheers,
Russ

(picture taken standing in my chair, only way I could get the entire speaker in frame)

[dorokusai]

I love the look of line arrays, formidable in height yet unassuming in girth. There is nothing like a speaker that can throw staging full length....although, keep the Martin Logans in the closet.

It looks like that will be my next foray into audio....if these folks only knew the quality of craftsmanship those arrays have in person.

[hoosier21]

HELL YA, LOOK COOL. HOW DO THEY SOUND?

[TroyD]

pffffffffffft.....Russ was standing on his chair with his Matt Polk labcoat on, wide open just whackin' it.

BDT

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Anyone care to educate me on exactly what a line array design is and what it means in terms of sound characteristics?

[RuSsMaN]

Simply an array (multiple) drivers in a line. The benefits, LARGE soundstage due to size, great imaging (tall, reasonably thin), usually very efficient (amp friendly), and tight, FAST bass from multiple small(er) drivers, vs one big driver.

I can't wait to get back home to listen to them.

[unc2701]

seeing those reminds me something I've been kicking around for awhile: the biggest ghetto blasters known to man...

take about 32 of these:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=269-741
and 16 of these:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=269-708

cut a 4x8 sheet of MDF in half for an open baffle, wire 'em up series-parallel and let 'er rip.

Total cost would be about $80...

edit: forgot the 1st order crossover :) ...so throw in 2 capacitors and 2 inductors.

[organ]

WHOA! Awesome speakers! Very efficient too. Do they have a flat imp curve?

Maurice

[Shizelbs]

Those are some tall mofos. They make the SDA look more like a monitor.

[organ]

Originally posted by Shizelbs
Those are some tall mofos. They make the SDA look more like a monitor.

That's what I was thinking too. But the SDA are more sexy with the bigger waist.

Maurice

[mhardy6647]

in my cheesiest Crocodile Dundee accent:

That's not a line array...
Now this is a line array!

http://www.ratch-h.com/1005a.jpg

[RuSsMaN]

Ok, let me rephrase:

"Good sounding line arrays, bitches."

There.

Edit- Those dolls are spooky man. You guys run a house of wax?

[Early B.]

I've done a little research, but haven't run across a DIY line array website -- one that walks you through the process of building a pair of these yourself. Anyone have a source?

I would imagine the crossover in those puppies is quite complex.

[mhardy6647]

I agree about the dolls, not to mention the picture on the mantle!

Those line arrays were built by a (female!) high-school student in CA a few years back using the (in)famous PartsExpress 269-469 fullrange drivers. No idea how they sound, although I suspect they're, if nothing else, impressive: especially from, maybe, 50 to 100 feet away. I CAN say that the drivers themselves sound really quite good, espcecially cosidering that, by the end of the supply, PE was selling them for 69 cents a pop! I paid 95 cents each for my case of 'em.

http://www.ratch-h.com/113.jpg

Dr Higgins' physics class site http://www.ratch-h.com is worth perusing for some DIY line array info, too, as would be the forum archive at James Melhuish's "Full-Range Driver Site" www.fullrangedriver.com

Based on my own (limited!) DIY experience, line arrays are hard to get right. Comb filtering has (IMO) a real impact on imaging unless the listener is way far away from the array. Some of the interesting options for nearfield listening include Bessel arrays and curved arrays.

[organ]

Whoa those are tall. Very cool looking speakers.

Maurice

[ohskigod]

those are the NSB's (no stinkin badges) right? i wanted to do a computer speaker project with those. i guess those arrays have no crossover, which is intriguing. would love to see how they sound (and how therewired)

as tolerant as my wife is, divorce would hover over my head if i brought those friggin things into my home

(especially with that big picture of the face) :D :D :D