Picking up my Thunderchild 112 af midday tomorrow! Boom!
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AudioKinesis Cabs Part VI...
- Thread starter Thor
- Start date
Got it! I have been playing for the last few hours and damn! It's so bright and open and... Awesome! Can't wait to take if to band practice.
I played my basses straight into the amp, I'll see what they sound like through my pedals tomorrow (it's getting late)
No pics no cab, so here it is:
I played my basses straight into the amp, I'll see what they sound like through my pedals tomorrow (it's getting late)
No pics no cab, so here it is:
As the woofer's surround breaks in, it should sound more balanced with the low end & low mids warming up a bit.
Congrats!
- Nov 24, 2008
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- Owner & designer, AudioKinesis; Auth. mfg, Big E (Home Audio only)
Thanks for the encouragement! I'm pretty excited about that new woofer... possibly counting chickens before they hatch here, but if all goes well, it could lead to a revamped Thunderchild 115. A few months ago I got a request for a cab with "growly mids but super smooth highs", and this would be one way to get there.
That's great!
Glad you were able to snag it... or spear it, as the case may be...
The switch on the back rolls off the top end of the compression driver, for a less "bright" sound.
Thanks for posting the photo!
Just got off the phone with Duke and put my order in for a Hathor 1203. What a great guy to talk to! and so informative. Once he comes out with his 1533, Ill once again be "donating to the college fund" as we put it 
Gotta love the look of the new incarnation of the TC112, I've had my original TC112 for 3+ years now, and it's just the greatest doubling cabinet I've ever owned. I have to admit the new cabinet with the smaller horn
really peaks my interest.
Ric
How is the 1533 going to differ from the Hathor 1544 I read some reviews of a couple years back? Aside from being eleven less, or course.
- Nov 24, 2008
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- Owner & designer, AudioKinesis; Auth. mfg, Big E (Home Audio only)
How is the 1533 going to differ from the Hathor 1544 I read some reviews of a couple years back? Aside from being eleven less, or course.
Ha! Yes, the new cab will be eleven less!
When I designed the original Hathor cab, the 1544, I still hadn't developed a game plan for a "deliberately voiced" bass cab. So it ended up being fairly smooth, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it's what some people are looking for.
Nowadays my paradigm has shifted, as seen in the 1203: The cab has a somewhat growly native voicing, which can be smoothed via a midrange smoother switch. Yes there was such as switch on the Hathor 1544, but its effect was too small to really be useful.
Okay with that background information in place, the 1533 will start out with a deliberately somewhat growly voicing, and then we'll have the midrange smoother switch. So it will be a lot like a ballpark 3-4 dB louder version of the 1203.
Why the 3" cones instead of the 4" cones? I've been happy with the performance of the 3" cones in the 1203, and they're small enough to be used side-by-side and still retain the horizontal dispersion of a good 6" cone. That being said, I'm considering going back to the vertical in-line geometry for the mids, as the cabinet height has grown enough to make that practical.
The woofer in the 1533 will be a Kappalite, either custom or off-the-shelf. I used a Faital 15PR400 in the 1544, and both have their relative strengths, but having played with both I think the Kappalites are a bit better suited for what I'm trying to do.
If I end up with a custom woofer that does everything I want, one area where the 1533 will forge into new territory (for me anyway) is, it will incorporate a 4 ohm/8 ohm switch. The idea would be, use it in 4-ohm mode for stand-alone gigs, and in 8-ohm mode when paired with another cab (like with any of my 8-ohm Kappalite-based cabs).
I'm pretty excited about the Hathor 1533... its development has gone through some convolutions, but I think it will end up as an unusually versatile big brother of the 1203.
Just wanted to report:
Had our regular gig last night. Using a P Bass with Monique through two Hathor 1203 cabs. The stage has been updated with band risers. The risers and their position on stage really helped as far as being able to hear everything. The performers positions on the stage has been changed and it is much better. Monitors were easier to hear as well.
I gotta say, my rig sounded great. I was loving every song! I was running Monique close to flat (with a little mid boost and a tiny bass cut) and both cabs in "Full Nasty" mode (as Nostatic would say). The rig was killing. So solid, cutting & musical. As I have stated before, great lows but no mud. Great mids and highs without being sterile.
I am SO satisfied with my rig. Everything is working very well together. The Audio Kinesis cabs are holding up well. I've been hauling them around a good bit and no problems. The bass community has two great friends with Duke LeJeune and Jule Potter!
Had our regular gig last night. Using a P Bass with Monique through two Hathor 1203 cabs. The stage has been updated with band risers. The risers and their position on stage really helped as far as being able to hear everything. The performers positions on the stage has been changed and it is much better. Monitors were easier to hear as well.
I gotta say, my rig sounded great. I was loving every song! I was running Monique close to flat (with a little mid boost and a tiny bass cut) and both cabs in "Full Nasty" mode (as Nostatic would say). The rig was killing. So solid, cutting & musical. As I have stated before, great lows but no mud. Great mids and highs without being sterile.
I am SO satisfied with my rig. Everything is working very well together. The Audio Kinesis cabs are holding up well. I've been hauling them around a good bit and no problems. The bass community has two great friends with Duke LeJeune and Jule Potter!
- Nov 24, 2008
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- Owner & designer, AudioKinesis; Auth. mfg, Big E (Home Audio only)
Thank you very much, dmrogers! Very nice to hear your little rig is working well. That "full nasty" is what I'm aiming for in the 15" Hathor cab that's on the way (the 1855 has it too).
Eminence just went public with their new little [Invalid or Expired Link Removed], so I don't have to pretend not to know about it anymore. I REALLY like its curve, and it will show up in some of my cabs. Like the 1533 might well end up being a 1505. The only bummer is the timeframe: Won't be available until April.
Eminence is also offering 4-ohm versions of their Kappalite LF woofers (with 550 watts thermal power handling), which opens up some interesting possibilities too.
That's not a jive 550 watts. Jerry McNutt told me that they were power testing one of the new 4-ohm woofers to see where the voice coil failed. They stopped testing at 550 watts, and decided that was high enough. The reason for the improved thermal power handling is the greater thermal capacity of the thicker wire they used to get the DC resistance down into the 4 ohms ballpark.
Eminence is communicating with people in the industry, as well as in the hard-core DIY sector. Jerry McNutt, who designed many if not most of the woofers we talk about on this forum (including the Kappalites as well as the aforementioned 5" mid), is now Product Design Manager at Eminence. In my experience the little design choices he makes, nudging performance a bit this way or that, add up to very fine products. The devils are in the details, and Jerry is on a first-name basis with those devils. This is a very good time to be a boo-teek bass cab manufacturer.
Eminence just went public with their new little [Invalid or Expired Link Removed], so I don't have to pretend not to know about it anymore. I REALLY like its curve, and it will show up in some of my cabs. Like the 1533 might well end up being a 1505. The only bummer is the timeframe: Won't be available until April.
Eminence is also offering 4-ohm versions of their Kappalite LF woofers (with 550 watts thermal power handling), which opens up some interesting possibilities too.
That's not a jive 550 watts. Jerry McNutt told me that they were power testing one of the new 4-ohm woofers to see where the voice coil failed. They stopped testing at 550 watts, and decided that was high enough. The reason for the improved thermal power handling is the greater thermal capacity of the thicker wire they used to get the DC resistance down into the 4 ohms ballpark.
Eminence is communicating with people in the industry, as well as in the hard-core DIY sector. Jerry McNutt, who designed many if not most of the woofers we talk about on this forum (including the Kappalites as well as the aforementioned 5" mid), is now Product Design Manager at Eminence. In my experience the little design choices he makes, nudging performance a bit this way or that, add up to very fine products. The devils are in the details, and Jerry is on a first-name basis with those devils. This is a very good time to be a boo-teek bass cab manufacturer.
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svtb15
Inactive
- Mar 22, 2004
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- I play it all. Whatever works for the gig. Q+
i was looking at a fearful. But after a brief listen I determined that it may be too much low extension for my needs. And i like deep lows too. But the more i read about the hathor 1855, the more i think it would work great for me.
Im a tire kicker!!!!!
The comments on the 1855 sound real enticing.. Especially with that new driver. Could it really be almost as potent as an 810?.. Even if it were 80% of an 810, i would not need more that that ,, ever.
Wondering how it would sound with a GK MBF800, Fender TB1200, SM9.2 or SVT?
Are they enough power to drive that behemoth well enough?
Im a tire kicker!!!!!
The comments on the 1855 sound real enticing.. Especially with that new driver. Could it really be almost as potent as an 810?.. Even if it were 80% of an 810, i would not need more that that ,, ever.
Wondering how it would sound with a GK MBF800, Fender TB1200, SM9.2 or SVT?
Are they enough power to drive that behemoth well enough?
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A Hathor 1505 sounds very enticing!! Duke, how do you think a 1505 would pair with a 1203?
Duke made a post here, where he says the 1855 beats a fridge in displacement below 90 Hz, and the fridge wins above 90Hz where the 1855 becomes power limited
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/audiokinesis-cabs-part-vi.988858/page-93#post-16693301
I'm curious about the relative loudness of the two in a real world situation, though. I'd imagine the 1855 is incredibly resistant to fartout.
- Nov 24, 2008
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- Owner & designer, AudioKinesis; Auth. mfg, Big E (Home Audio only)
I'm not your best source for amplifier matching, as all I would know is what their specs say.
The 1855 can be run with any number of ports plugged, as it has a double-spider suspension so that cone rock doesn't happen. So you would have five different low-end shapes to choose from (0-4 ports plugged). As the number of active ports decreases, the cross-sectional area also decreases but so does the tuning frequency, so you get less airflow demand... point being, I don't think plugging ports significantly increases the likelihood of chuffing.
As for the kicking of tires, I will be shipping a couple of 1855s later this week, right now Duratexing the cabs is held up by the extremely high humidity we're having. So you might wait a bit and see what sort of response those cabs get from their new owners.
Whatever I do in a 15" Hathor cab, and let's assume it's a 1505, it will be designed with the 1203 very much in mind. One of each would give a very modular setup: Use the 1203 for small gigs, the 1505 for medium gigs (in 4-ohm mode, assuming that's an option), and both for large gigs (with the 1505 in 8-ohm mode if your amp's lower limit is 4 ohms).
Another option that might be useful in some situations is to bring both cabs, with the 1505 firing into the house and the 4 dB quieter 1203 aimed wherever you need it onstage.
Excursion-limited power handling will probably be effectively identical, and thermal close enough (the 1505 might be closer to that 550 watt figure).
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Don't worry, moving to Texas will fix the humidity problem right up. We always have low humidity here, right?
Oh, never mind then...
Carry on.
- Nov 24, 2008
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- Owner & designer, AudioKinesis; Auth. mfg, Big E (Home Audio only)
Don't worry, moving to Texas will fix the humidity problem right up. We always have low humidity here, right?
Oh, never mind then...
Carry on.
Ha! Good point!
Actually it's a combination of low temperature and high humidity that's the problem. Usually we don't have such high humidity in the winter, but right now even with my heat lamps going full blast I'm still outside of safe parameters.
- Apr 3, 2003
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I can report that the 1855 sounds great with the MBF800 and with tube power, as well. It has held up to anything I've thrown at it, so far.
How much power do you need to put into your 1855 compared to your more traditional cabs to get a similar loudness?
Given that my main amp is a ShuttleMax 9.2 I don't think I'll be wanting for power, but I am curious given that this sort of design has a lower sensitivity than I'm used. Duke's quoted sensitivity of 96dB puts it at about 3-4dB lower that most traditional "big cab" designs I've used, but the thermal power handling is insanely huge.
Hopefully the 1855 won't feed GAS for something like a 2000W power amp.
Yours has the smoothing switch right?I can report that the 1855 sounds great with the MBF800 and with tube power, as well. It has held up to anything I've thrown at it, so far.
Does that give the cab an overall thicker tonal balance?
