AudioKinesis Cabs Part VI...

[DukeLeJeune]

... the cab had developed a rattling or buzzing sound (for lack of a better term)...

Could be a blown woofer, but here are a few other possibilities:

Might be wires rattling against one another, against the inside flare of the port, or against the crossover board. Wrap wires in duct tape wherever they look suspicious. My wire-securing technique sucked way back then, improved as I went along, and I now try to err on the side of too much tape securing the wires.

Are the ports secured with 4 screws each, or 8 screws each? Some of my early cabs only had 4 screws per port, but after one cab came back a noise issue I started drilling 4 more holes in the flange to make sure there was no air passage underneath the flange.

If you have to remove the ports for some reason, if they have 8 screws, mark the top of each port with bits of tape. This is because there's a fair amount of variation in my four hand-drilled screw holes, so this makes returning to the proper orientation for each port much easier.

When removing the woofer mounting screws, use strong downward pressure ONLY for starting the process. Once the screw turns easily, use ONLY ENOUGH downward pressure to keep the tip securely engaged. What you want to avoid is, pushing out the "hurricane nuts" (variation in the T-nut theme) that the screws go into. Same thing for the screws holding the grille tabs in place. When replacing the screws, same principles apply - only ramp up the downward pressure at the very end. Always use a manual screwdriver instead of an electric so that you can stop immediately if something binds, and back out. You don't want to either spin or push out the hurricane nuts. It's not the end of the world if you do, but it is a hassle.

Feel free to call or e-mail me with any questions, 504-251-2311 and audiokinesis at yahoo dot com.

 

[DukeLeJeune]

What about swapping out the existing Faital 5,s with some of the other 5,s that have a extended range upward such as a Beyma 5P200Fe and there is a Neo version of the same speaker plus there is a Coaxial version in 5 inch that goes up to 20 k? Our even just replacing one of the Faitals with a Beyma ?Think of Frankenstein !! You would still use existing crossover . I get enough high end the way the Hater 1855 the way it sets now though! See there Duke that Hater thing is catching on !!!

The cross-firing arrangement that I use has an upper frequency limit beyond which it's worse than just firing straight ahead, because we get a hole in the middle. So crossfiring mids that go up higher, and/or crossfiring coaxials, don't work as well as we might hope.

Since not everyone will want the extended top end (and eventual increased cost) of the three-way revised version, I am looking at other options for an 18" Hathor cab that would be competitive with the original 1855 in performance but less costly.

 

[Dave Hill]

Hey everybody! I recently picked up a used V1 TC112 and I really love the sound. My main band uses IEM's but I like to have an amp on stage so everyone can feel it a little bit. I have gotten quite a few compliments on the stage sound since I started using the TC!

So, I got back from this weekends travels and I noticed the cab had developed a rattling or buzzing sound (for lack of a better term). The sound gets worse as the volume is increased and it seems to center around a particular note (B flat on the E string), but it will occur on any note with enough volume. It's been a while since I blew a speaker so it could be that, but I run it at such low volumes, it would be hard to imagine. I did a search and all I came up with was loose screws, so I went through and tightened all the screws I could access. Unfortunately, this did not help. I also tried different amps, basses, cabs, cables, rooms, power situations, eq, etc...

Does anyone have any ideas of what this could be? It has sort of a blown speaker sound, but it is volume and (somewhat) frequency dependent. I really didn't want to bother the Duke because it was bought second hand. Thanks for any advice!

Air leak

 

[Freddels]

Air leak

Probably. I know when I have an air leak it sounds like I'm farting.

 

[DukeLeJeune]

Duke, any chance you took another look at amp-width smaller cabs?

Let me know a bit more about the size you have in mind. I do have something on the drawing board that might be a possibility.

Does it have a fold out stand on the bottom? Mine does and if I don't play with the stand folded out, it sounds like a blown speaker. Even at low volumes.

Thanks for posting this, and sorry to hear it has that problem. I'm going to resist requests for the fold-out legs a lot more vigorously in the future.

 

[El Spearo]

Get..Down....Boooogie oogie oogie,
Get Down...


Oh, sorry. Why did that song just pop into my head?


Carry on.

Funny, but I have just learnt this song for an audition, I've been humming it all day!

@DukeLeJeune I'll need one of your badges. I would love to get a hator, but with the state of the NZ dollar, it's going to take a while...

 

[M Sterling]

I've been in email contact with Duke and he is getting my issue all sorted out. I just want to take a moment and say the level of service he is giving me is extremely high. I bought a used cabinet and he is going well beyond the call of duty to get this sorted out. This is how you earn a customer for life. I will be buying a new AK cab or two in the near future!

 

[Marial]

There is simply no one else like Duke.

 

[Type-55]

There is simply no one else like Duke.

I had the same issue and it turned out to be a fried motor.
Duke sent me a new driver the next day. I also bought the cab used. Folks it doesn't get any better when it comes to service after the sale. Way after the sale.

 

[morebassbaby]

Any fellow AKers play a Rob Allen MB2? I've been thinking about my needs, time, resources, etc. While I'd love to be able to spend more time to get truly competent on the upright, I don't know if that's a realistic goal for the next ten years (or more). The kidlet won't turn two until April, so that's a lot of very important years where he needs my focus. So, with that in mind, I'm thinking about the Rob Allen MB2 fretless instead. No, it won't really sound like an upright, and I certainly can't bow one, but it would give me some of that tonality and I'm already able to acquit myself pretty well on fretless BG.

So, anyone here using one with their AK cab?

Yes, I have played my Rob Allen Mouse with both a Thunderchild AF V1 and a Hathor 1203. They both rock!

 

[morebassbaby]

Also, these 2 tracks I recorded with the Mouse and the AF Thunderchild, just for a point of reference.

 

[El Spearo]

I had the same issue and it turned out to be a fried motor.
Duke sent me a new driver the next day. I also bought the cab used. Folks it doesn't get any better when it comes to service after the sale. Way after the sale.

Exactly what happened to me. Bought the cab used, driver crapped out, Duke sent me a new one. All the way to New Zealand. He is the man

 

[nutdog]

Your daughter's car fund is safe. Width is 20" so it's not going to stack neatly with the Hathor 1203, which is 18" tall. And the two in parallel would present a lower impedance than a "4 ohm" amp would be happy with.

I gots a 2ohm amp. But a 3rd 1203 or 15 seems like the way to go.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I'm going through withdrawls and I haven't even gotten my cab yet! Ha ha ha
I think the mistake I made was not ordering two H1203's at the same time, this waiting period is TORTURE!
So, @DukeLeJeune does this mean you will still continue to offer the H1855 as an alternative to the new 3 way H18XX?
Second question. So I lean more towards a growly sound like you're offering in the H series. You've mentioned crossover performance due to your switching. Does this mean that the TC118 will sound growly like the H1855? Thanks!
I'm really happy to be a member of this exclusive club! And I really hope your club gets larger!

 

[Snaxster]

So, @DukeLeJeune does this mean you will still continue to offer the H1855 as an alternative to the new 3 way H18XX?

Hello. While we wait for the official reply, here are recent comments that might answer your question:

I'll change over entirely. I promise no steps backwards in performance and no price increase, at least not right away.

Since not everyone will want the extended top end (and eventual increased cost) of the three-way revised version, I am looking at other options for an 18" Hathor cab that would be competitive with the original 1855 in performance but less costly.

 

[DukeLeJeune]

So, does this mean you will still continue to offer the H1855 as an alternative to the new 3 way H18XX?

I'm looking at alternatives to the pair of cross-firing mids in the Hathor 1855, as they add a lot of time and complexity to the build. Several promising new midrange drivers have come out since the Hathor 1855 was designed. I've found a clear front-runner but there is one other possibility that I overlooked until late last week,, and now I'm waiting for a sample to come in. So the original (tweeterless) Hathor 1855 will be replaced by something tweeterless that is slightly less expensive but has similar performance.

So, @DukeLeJeune So I lean more towards a growly sound like you're offering in the H series. You've mentioned crossover performance due to your switching. Does this mean that the TC118 will sound growly like the H1855? Thanks!

The TC118 isn't a growly cab, because the woofer has no growly upper-mid peak, but it does take EQ well. In my opinion any baked-in growly needs to come from a paper cone rather than a compression driver, so if we want to do an 18" cab with growly, we need a cone mid (an 18 with an upper-mid peak will be beaming too much). And if we're going to use a cone mid, might as well use a really powerful woofer because the mid will be supplying the mids anyway. That's the train of thought which resulted in the Hathor 1855 (which required two mids to keep up with the woofer at high power levels). Also, I wanted it to be a 4-ohm cab, and the woofer in the TC118 is 8 ohms only.

 

[steubig]

duke, when you decide you want something to be a 4 or 8 ohm cabinet, what are your criteria?

i love my tc112 v1, but the 4 ohm thing was actually something that would've steered me away from it—but the sound drew me in.

 

[foderaman]

Duke the more I play through my Hater 1855 the more I know for sure in my opinion it is the best of all my other AK cabs I own! The fullness and tightness of the lowend are perfect and mids to me are so much more balanced and natural compared to my horned cabs. There is no lacking of high end out of it at all.As far as the growl switch I usually leave it off and have found just by panning to bridge pup I can get all the growl I need without switching to growl on the back of the Hater!!

 

[DukeLeJeune]

duke, when you decide you want something to be a 4 or 8 ohm cabinet, what are your criteria?

i love my tc112 v1, but the 4 ohm thing was actually something that would've steered me away from it—but the sound drew me in.

My idea with the original Thunderchild 112 was the smallest lightest cab that would deliver a powerful first overtone of low-B and handle the output of a "500 watt" amp without farting out. Said "500 watt" amp was 500 watts into 4 ohms; if there were any 800-into-4/500-into-8 amps out back then, I wasn't aware of them. And my custom 4-ohm woofer didn't have that rise that starts just north of 500 Hz that the stock 3012LF has (nor does the new factory 4-ohm version), so I definitely liked my woofer better.

Eventually I did the TC212 and realized that a few more crossover parts could beat the stock 8-ohm 3012LF into submission, so I started doing 8 ohm versions of the TC112 as well. And in fact the more small-box-friendly parameters of the stock 3012LF enabled me to do that little bitty cabinet for the Hathor 1203.

So now my thinking is, if it's a big enough cab that it's virtually certain to be all the cab you'll need for any gig you haul it to, then 4 ohms makes the most sense. If it's a smaller cab that will probably combined with something else at some point, 8 ohms (or a cab with the "4/8 ohm" switch) makes more sense. But where it's feasible for me to offer the same cab in either 4 or 8 ohms, that's not a bad thing either.

The Thunderchild 118 really would make a lot more sense as a 4 ohm cab, but to the best of my knowledge there are no 4-ohm 18" woofers that go up high enough to partner well with a 1" throat compression driver. So it's an 8-ohm cab.

Duke the more I play through my Hater 1855 the more I know for sure in my opinion it is the best of all my other AK cabs I own! The fullness and tightness of the lowend are perfect and mids to me are so much more balanced and natural compared to my horned cabs. There is no lacking of high end out of it at all.As far as the growl switch I usually leave it off and have found just by panning to bridge pup I can get all the growl I need without switching to growl on the back of the Hater!!

Thank you for this feedback, it is especially helpful as I move into working on the revision. Yes I also like the solid feel of that woofer. Just curious, how many ports do you normally leave open?

 

[foderaman]

Thank you for this feedback, it is especially helpful as I move into working on the revision. Yes I also like the solid feel of that woofer. Just curious, how many ports do you normally leave open? Been using with 2 ports plugged and also all 4 plugs plugged.