Finally, I managed to get some photo's of the SPH-30X speakers today, I only managed to get some external shots as I was listening to them at the time:
This is the one with the amp in, you can see the 4 bolts on the left which are hold the Amp6 PCB inside. I've found 80mm fan grills also make pretty good speaker grills!
Rear - I'm using XLR plugs as speaker cable connectors, this allows me to power both speakers from the Amp6:
Underneath - the hole is a port. The bolts hold down my port tube:
This is the rear of the other speaker, I have a piece of perpex bolted to the back which is handy for attaching my MP3 player to:
So far I've been mainly using 12v batteries to power the amp, and have been using them around the house and in the garden, it's quite nice having such relatively small and light speakers. Here's they are all connected together:
I've also got some shots of the internals on my phone but I haven't figured out how to transfer them yet...
That sounds cool with the amplifier integrated into it, very tidy
I was inspired by someone over at the 41hz forum, he made very similar speakers and used a mono Amp11 in each speaker, There is something to be said for an amp in each speaker, much less wiring and the Amp11 board is also smaller. Still, I just managed to squeeze in the Amp6 but there was quite a bit of wiring that took quite a while to do. However it all works and I'm more than happy with them.
The detail is perhaps the most remarkeble feature of these drivers, so much low level detail. I guess it's the strong motor and light cone with high-ish efficiency that helps, but also the close proximity must be important, no smear from early reflections. How do you have your enclosures stuffed?
I've found that some music really sound amazing with these speakers, today I was listening to some chilled electronic music (stuff like Burial, Phaeleh, Mount Kimbie) and I swear that l was hearing subtle sounds that I've not noticed before.
As for stuffing, mine are totally unstuffed right now... Am I right in saying that stuffing can flatten the frequency response at the expense of efficiency or is it a little more complex than that? It should be pretty easy for me to try stuffing them, it's only 4 screws to remove the front panel.
I decided to enter the driver data (4ohm) into ISD Beta (with 30cm sq too!
) and it comes out just the same as yours. Strange, but I assume Alpha is more accurate as it calculates actual values for many more parameters rather than relying on manufacturer specs for everything.
Check the help guide on entering data as it won't take all data if there is a conflict. I do Mms, Cms, Sd, BL, Re, Qms, Xmax (ideally Hc & Hg), Power handling, correct impedance; in that order. The 4ohm seems to have slightly lower BL than the 8ohm, but seeing as how BL relates to impedance this may not be surprising, don't know, it could make some difference.
I've got the alpha version installed now, when I get more time I'll try it with the values I used from the beta version as well as the official specs. I did try the official specs in the beta version and the spl curve was almost identical to my original spl curve.
Try turning them up if you get chance, I expect you'll notice some fuzzyness in the bass. Then try a test tone at tuning frequency (it's 88Hz on mine), you may be shocked! I just tried it on my wedges, and unlike my test box the ports only make a noise at very close to Xmax levels. They have 8.4cm square area (between 2 slot ports), and this seems to be a good amount to shoot for. A 20mm tube has 3.1cm square. The ports do eat into a fair bit of internal volume on my wedges, but it's worth it I reckon.
I've tuned my ports to around 110Hz, so I'll hook up my laptop and try some sine waves to see if I can get any strange sounds... I was hoping that having downfiring ports may make any port noises less noticeable, but we shall see...
I've been wondering weather to go sealed after all, especially if I'm going to use these outside from time to time. I don't want bugs to crawl up the port and and make a nest in my speakers! Still, I guess I could stuff a sock or something similar in the port if I want to see what sealed sounds like or if I'm going to use them outside, so I think I'll stick with ported for now.
I think the enclosures are IP65 or ip67 rated which means water resistant, they do seem pretty good for outdoor use. 