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AudioKinesis Cabs Part VI...

#2,341
John D Harris said:
Did Duke get his domicile sorted?
Too quiet out there in Audiokinesis-land...from here anyway.
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We've moved into a house in the town of Princeton, Texas, in a rural area about an hour north-east of Dallas. Right now working on converting the space I have into a decent workspace, and then have to go out of town for pretty much all of next week, but should be back in production after that.

I have really missed doing bass cabs, as that - and interacting with bass players - has been the part of my audio-related world that I enjoy the most. I haven't wanted to post a lot here and possibly stir up orders because I need to get caught up on the ones I have first... and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE those of you who have orders in place. I'm really amazed by how patient and understanding you guys have been. This move thing has been a lot more complicated than expected, and some things still are not really sorted out, but I'm working on it.

Looking forward to the days when I'm spattered with Duratex and glue, hands sore from installing crossovers, just barely getting cabs boxed up and shipped before Fed Ex closes.
 
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#2,342
DukeLeJeune said:
We've moved into a house in the town of Princeton, Texas, in a rural area about an hour north-east of Dallas. Right now working on converting the space I have into a decent workspace, and then have to go out of town for pretty much all of next week, but should be back in production after that.

I have really missed doing bass cabs, as that - and interacting with bass players - has been the part of my audio-related world that I enjoy the most. I haven't wanted to post a lot here and possibly stir up orders because I need to get caught up on the ones I have first... and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE those of you who have orders in place. I'm really amazed by how patient and understanding you guys have been. This move thing has been a lot more complicated than expected, and some things still are not really sorted out, but I'm working on it.

Looking forward to the days when I'm spattered with Duratex and glue, and hands sore from installing crossovers, and just barely getting cabs boxed up and shipped before Fed Ex closes.
Click to expand...
I love in northwest Fort Worth. It's a shame we're not closer or I might be able to lend a hand.
I know what a pain selling, moving, & buying houses can be, much less trying to get a workshop set up. All the best to you my brother!
 
#2,343
John D Harris said:
I love in northwest Fort Worth. It's a shame we're not closer or I might be able to lend a hand.
I know what a pain selling, moving, & buying houses can be, much less trying to get a workshop set up. All the best to you my brother!
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One of the major upsides to being in this area is, I'm within reasonable driving distance of a lot of bass players! When I was in Idaho, I had more sales into the DFW area alone than into the everything combined within 500 miles of me.

Wanted to pass this along: Maybe once or twice a year, you might want to check the tightness of the woofer mounting screws.

The reason is, with a heavy cone and a powerful motor and a lot watts, and the inevitable compressiveness of wood, over time you can get a little bit of "play" in the woofer mounting system. That play can cause distortion on some notes. The solution is, check 'em every now and then and take up any slack that has developed.

No need to super-gorilla; that can be counter-productive with the lightweight plywood that I use. "Good and snug" is about right.
 
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#2,346
DukeLeJeune said:
One of the major upsides to being in this area is, I'm within reasonable driving distance of a lot of bass players! When I was in Idaho, I had more sales into the DFW area alone than into the everything combined within 500 miles of me.

Wanted to pass this along: Maybe once or twice a year, you might want to check the tightness of the woofer mounting screws.

The reason is, with a heavy cone and a powerful motor and a lot watts, and the inevitable compressiveness of wood, over time you can get a little bit of "play" in the woofer mounting system. That play can cause distortion on some notes. The solution is, check 'em every now and then and take up any slack that has developed.

No need to super-gorilla; that can be counter-productive with the lightweight plywood that I use. "Good and snug" is about right.
Click to expand...
The DFW area has a lot going on. They're constantly trying to make traffic flow better, but I think, so far, we seem to be out-growing whatever improvements they try to make. [translation: traffic usually sucks]
That said, commuting around is not superbad; just allow extra time for snafu's.
After you get rolling along with your new workshop, I might pop out for a visit sometime (with plenty of warning).
Especially, if you should ever have a TC212, Hathor 1855, & a pair of Hathor 1203's in the shop at the same time!
 
#2,347
p
nutdog said:
Sounds like you were living in your own private Idaho...
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Kind of a cross between that and Napoleon Dynamite... which doesn't quite work, does it?

John D Harris said:
Not only do I love in NW FtW...
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I've never loved in NW FtW but hear it's quite the place.

rmars said:
Thanks for the info guys! I may pop for one 1203 later this summer and give it a run. If it's my thing I'll order a second. Then again if Duke has a 212 out soon I'd probably just go that route.
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There will very likely be a Hathor 212 some day, but probably not in the near future. Need to turn a few other projects into products first.
 
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#2,353
I'm still formulating my thoughts about it and trying to find the time to do some demo recordings. Once I have them together I'll share my thoughts in full. Passinwind also had the cab for a bit.
 
#2,354
whirledpeas said:
Would you please elaborate for the uninitiated? Thanks!
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Fritz is beta testing the prototype 4 X 8 cab which I previously had here for a few months, there's a pic and some discussion here. What happens in beta test land stays in beta test land for now, I guess. Link Removed
 
#2,355
Aha, there you have it. I did check in with Duke about sharing my impressions but I think he's been so busy with his move that I didn't get a clear go ahead. Anyhow, I'll write up my impressions and do the recordings when I get a chance, but I probably won't post anything until I get the Man's blessing.
 
#2,356
Passinwind said:
Fritz is beta testing the prototype 4 X 8 cab which I previously had here for a few months, there's a pic and some discussion here. What happens in beta test land stays in beta test land for now, I guess. Link Removed
Click to expand...

Marial said:
Aha, there you have it. I did check in with Duke about sharing my impressions but I think he's been so busy with his move that I didn't get a clear go ahead. Anyhow, I'll write up my impressions and do the recordings when I get a chance, but I probably won't post anything until I get the Man's blessing.
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Hi Passinwind and Marial,

Yes you guys can go ahead and post your impressions on the Birdhaus 48 here. Please be brutal in your criticisms, just as you would be in a private e-mail. I will refine the design if needed, or bag it altogether if it has some fatal flaw. I'm particularly interested in whether it work well for your fellow bandmates.

Thanks!

whirledpeas said:
Would you please elaborate for the uninitiated? Thanks!
Click to expand...

A picture being worth 1.0k words, here's a shot of the original prototype 4x6 cab in the Birdhaus configuration (so named because if the cab had sucked, I'd have repurposed it as a bird house, or at least tried to):

gi.mpl?u=2112&f=P1000989.jpg


The fourth 6 is on the other side, opposite the one you see.

The idea for that cab was, maintain pretty much the same spectral balance off to the sides for acoustic jam sessions (wherein your audience is the other musicians) and/or coffeehouse gigs. My beta-tester bought that cab, so I guess he liked it. The 4x8 mentioned on this page is a scaled-up version. I also have a 4x15 version out there, as I wanted to see whether it was practical to scale it up quite a bit.
 
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#2,359
A 4x15 sounds like it would be insane in the best way possible.

One quick bit of feedback is that my bandmates really dug it. I have the 4x8 version and while we were in a trio configuration sans drums, we still got to a pretty decent volume. Everyone could hear me, it wasn't boomy and had plenty of punch, and I was definitely able to dial in my tone.

More to come once I have all of my thoughts together.
 
#2,360
I just realized that I've had my Hathor 1855 for six months and haven't said much about it.

In summary, it still rocks my world. The baked in sound that it delivers in "full nasty mode" not only sounds great, but it really cuts through a mix without sounding obnoxious. I've really appreciated the voicing in a band context - I can hear myself clearly without goosing the volume. I'm assuming this is in part due to Duke voicing this to have a spike in the mid range where guitar amps/cabs tend to have a huge dip. Whatever it is, it helps everyone to hear themselves.

After learning how to EQ the thing, I'm back to using it with all four ports wide open. Not surprisingly a cab with this much low end extension doesn't need the bass knob up quite as high as my old relatively bass shy Genz Benz dual 1x12 rig. Go figure :)

This thing still has more clean power handling capability than I'll ever need, and is way easier to schlep than my old pair of 1x12 neo cabs. Couldn't be happier.

Oh, ya, this thing sounds incredible with a dirt box. I totally don't miss having a tweeter in this thing.
 
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