BFM Custom PA cabs

[OtterOnBass]

You can see the chart isn't a flat landscape. That's what conventional boxes are good at doing. However this is a real-honest-to-goodness measured chart, with very high sensitivity across the spectrum.


The big gain with horn-loaded speakers isn't a flat response --it's a super-low distortion speaker with very wide dispersion. I'm using under 100 watts instead of, what, 600 watts? That means significantly less distortion and power compression. The speaker is also a line array (although too short for serious effect in the mids.) That's why my ducking drops out the highs in the video. Line arrays limit vertical dispersion (great inside reverberant gyms), and lose volume at a lower rate than standard audio sources. This means clarity farther away.

What do I mean when I say they don't sound "loud?"
Crank up the music on your iPod or whatever else has a small speaker and notice that, despite the fact that it's not shaking the room or even louder than your speaking voice or snapping fingers, it sounds loud and irritates your ears. That's the presence of distortion (to the extreme). In my subwoofer test video, you can hear my voice shaking from the volume, along with the rattle of the garage doors, but no distortion of the sine wave (my camera doesn't pick up 50hz very well, so it's nearly silent.) The tops can get loud enough that you don't want to be near them longer than it takes to walk by, but it's not an irritating loud that makes you think the speakers are hurting your ears.

It was really hard for me to make my DR200 tops, took a long time and lots of help from more experienced woodworkers with more tools. If I broke these, or needed something bigger, I'd do the easier OT12. Or buy someone else's DR200s. It would be hard for me to buy commercials speakers again. I have read of a few users on the forum have missed the distortion in the bass (Dhun-dhun? Where's the banf-banf?) and gone back, and at least one who didn't like the processing it took to get the tweeters where he wanted, so there are other opinions.

[SBsoundguy]

Originally Posted by Barisaxman

I don't particularly live on one side of the fence or the other, since I haven't heard any of the BFM designs myself, but you should be aware that there are several Pro Sound forums where his designs are very poorly thought of. Again, you need to search and find out for yourself, but be aware that there are those on both sides of his designs.

A lot of people don't like hearing that a cab that costs others $300-$500 to build can compare to the $2000+ cab they bought. As if these cabinet manufacturing companies don't have huge profit margins.

[Bredian]

Originally Posted by SBsoundguy

A lot of people don't like hearing that a cab that costs others $300-$500 to build can compare to the $2000+ cab they bought. As if these cabinet manufacturing companies don't have huge profit margins.

Don't for a minute think you aren't earning much of that difference via your own labor and the knowledge and designs practically given to you via BFM, Greenboy and the like.

I don't see a lot of margin available for the small boutique builders who roam these pages.

[SBsoundguy]

Originally Posted by Bredian

Don't for a minute think you aren't earning much of that difference via your own labor and the knowledge and designs practically given to you via BFM, Greenboy and the like.

I don't see a lot of margin available for the small boutique builders who roam these pages.

Oh neither do I, but I'm talking about the big companies where much of the production is automated.

[MysticMichael]

Bump!

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by bertbass666

Gets loud without sounding loud. Perceived loudness is generally the result of distortion and a distorted P.A. sound can sound louder than it actually is. A loud undistorted clean sound doesn't sound loud at all until you try to talk to your mate standing beside you and he can't hear what you're saying until you shout loudly in his ear. Does that make sense?

This is my perception, as well. When you hear a great PA, so much less distortion to color the sound and while being loud, it doesn't seem to hurt your ears..probably does but ear plugs are another topic.

[Justin Tuskey]

I guess I should chime in. I own two DR250s and two Titan 48s. use them with my band. they perform VERY well. used them outdoors in the past few months, and at about 100 yards away it was still chest bumping and crystal clear, in the low 100s decibels.

I run a Crown XLS2500 to the subs (one channel of course) and a Crown XLS2000 for the mains for the clean headroom. our previous amp only sent the subs about 200 watts each, which was enough to power them yes, but the amps clipped and the subs didnt like that signal. they didnt fart out like normal subs would, but they were not getting their full clean power. new more powerful amps remedied that.

these subs freaking BUMP. its pretty terrifying when you couple them with the triangle wood piece over them (subs laying flat 90 degrees to eachother. creating a larger mouth of the horn). they aren't Bills best choice for going low, but I put oth of them stacked on their side in my room....yes it happened, and I was able (because of room cabin gain) to get them to more air in my room at around 15hz. listening to dubstep actually brings out the low frequency content loud and clear, and no distortion. its almost bizarre. one day I'll build a THT that is meant for just that application

the tops are very clear, almost too clear sometimes. meaning be careful with the piezos, they can get chimey and harsh. compensate with a rack eq that is for the mains. you,ll have to adjust for taste. also compared to other mains there are way more upper mids. it might sound like too much to you, you may enjoy it. I wouldnt say the cabs are honky,but they are not highs and lows cranked lower level jbls. messing with eq on them is very present and sensitive....you'll hear what you are changing.

overall I am very happy with them. they get loud easily and are clear up close and at a distance. one time is DID sound better to separate the subs about 10 feet laying down center. doesn't make sense at all according to charts, but clustered center they just didn't sound as good. it was a VERY funky shaped room though with triangle ceilings. all of the other places we have clustered center. hope all of this helps, if you have any more questions just ask!
-Justin

[MysticMichael]

Great information, Justin. I picked up some good insight.

Thanks for sharing...

MM

[DukeLeJeune]

Originally Posted by OtterOnBass

In my opinion, there is something VERY IMPRESSIVE and VERY GOOD about these curves.

See how closely the 45 degree curve tracks the on-axis curve? Here is one thing this means: Everybody in the house hears pretty close to the same thing.

And here is something else it means: When you EQ the on-axis curve to correct its peaks and dips, you are ALSO fixing the off-axis curve! The two do not necessarily track one another, but in this case they do, and that is because Bill Fitzmaurice knows what he's doing and takes the time to refine and optimize his designs.

[jswingchun]

I am running OmniTop12's with Deltalites and 20" T39s with 3012lfs. Great system for "normal" bar sized venues. Cabs are lightweight and the entire system is very modular. Horizontal dispersion on the tops is very good using the melded tweeter array. Subs are amazing, especially when the V plate is added as was mentioned in an earlier post. I have had plenty of musicians and sound guys ask about the system and are amazed the subs are loaded with only one twelve each.
I have had quite a few ask about the tops and rave about the sound quality.

I run the entire FOH system off of a single Crown XTi2000.

EQ and a hard limiter are necessities. I use the DEQ2496 and DCX2496.

I am going to double my system this year for outdoor shows. I am going to build the new T39s wider for more output. I will run the four subs off the XTi2000 and the tops off an XTi1000.

[MysticMichael]

Originally Posted by jswingchun

I am running OmniTop12's with Deltalites and 20" T39s with 3012lfs. Great system for "normal" bar sized venues. Cabs are lightweight and the entire system is very modular.

So you're operating two of each right now? Two OmniTop 12s, and two Titan 39s? Is that right?

MM

[jswingchun]

Originally Posted by MysticMichael

So you're operating two of each right now? Two OmniTop 12s, and two Titan 39s? Is that right?

MM

Yes, one OT12 on each side on poles. Two 20" T39s, usually center clustered with the V plate, sometimes wall loaded with or without the V plate.

My current OT12s are built with the melded array of piezo tweeters. My next set will be built with a flat array of piezos. I will stack the flat array OTs on top of the the melded array OTs.

Throw away what you know about piezo tweeters. Lots of guys come in thinking they need CDs. We usually talk them into trying the piezo arrays and they never look back.