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Big E Speakers Part 4 - Quadraphenia

Bob, 2 112's would kill. Someone here has 2 red ones that keep horizontal that looks killer. Post pics if you ever pull the trigger. And thanks for the likes.
Might you be talkin' about Mr.Bear's not two, but THREE horizontally oriented 112s???

20150618_090320-jpg.jpg
 
Might you be talkin' about Mr.Bear's not two, but THREE horizontally oriented 112s???

20150618_090320-jpg.jpg


The above is the composite rig.
45 watt Thunderman into the top MAS112LPT.
Glockenklang Heart Rock II into the remaining MAS Signature 112 cabs.
Lehle little dual splits the input.

Long time ago there are vertical and horizontal shots of a pair posted.

I can also run all three with just the Glockenklang HR II.

Cheers
 
Recently, I made the relatively short trip from my home to the Big E headquarters for a shop tour and to pick up a pair of double 18” subs my band purchased.

I have been following the development, and have been in contact with Big E Loudspeakers almost since the beginning of this thread, and couldn't wait to finally hear them in person. Even in the early Youtube videos, I knew that something different was taking place with their cabs, but until you actually experience them first hand, nothing can prepare you for what you will hear.

I met Stephen (Dr. PsYchoBoom) Regier at the office door and the tour started at a whirlwind pace!

After showing me the shells for the double 18” build, he started pulling out different cabs and plugging them into a power amp.

The first thing he fired up was a Michael Arnopol Soundworks prototype that had 8 x 5” speakers and 2 small tweeters. He plugged his phone into a small mixer that was set flat, and it was instant heaven! I have never experienced a cab with any size speaker, much less 5” ones, that sounded so full and sweet. The lows were deeper than anything I've ever heard and the highs were just perfect. We then hooked up a double 15” with a disconnected horn to use as a subwoofer for this rig, and it just became too much for my brain to handle. I've been around P.A. systems most of my life, but I've never heard a double 15” like that! They call it “Mjolnir”, the hammer of Thor, and I'd say that accurately describes it!

After that experience, we calmed things down a little bit and plugged in a home theater box. It consisted of 2 x 5” speakers and a rear-firing tweeter. The lows, again, were unbelievable, and the highs were amazing. You can't even see the tweeter, it's inside the box and facing away from you, but it had the most present and immediate highs I've ever heard! The top end is just brilliant, the hi hats were sitting in the mix perfectly, and sounded neither harsh nor dull. The Big E crossovers and cab design just make everything a delight to listen to. It quickly became apparent that their cabs all share a signature “Big E” sound, but what a sound it is!

We then turned our attention to the real reason I was there. The Big E 218SLVX Tourmaster double 18” cabs! I got to experience cabinet building first-hand, as I got to help put the finishing touches on the boxes. We installed the B&C speakers that I actually purchased two years ago, in anticipation of this build, in one of the cabs. The other cab would have to wait until the next day, as it was getting late. We used the “Mjolnir” cab as our top-end and we fired the system up. We had no crossover on the amp, so the SLVX was running full-range.

And then we had lift-off!

The vortex wave effect is mind-numbing, it actually makes you feel disoriented. My pant legs were moving, from the sound, at a distance of 15' away, where we were also hitting levels of 123db. When we finally couldn't take anymore, we shut it down, and I immediately missed the sensation. That kind of power is incredibly addicting! I feel that one double 18” cab could easily replace two, possibly three double 18” cabs. My P.A. has four double 15” tops and I have no doubt that two “Mjolnir's” could replace them all.

The manipulated vortex waveguide also does some crazy things. I walked outside, half a block away, around a building, and I could still hear the system even though we were running it at a much lower volume!

My band, SLAMABAMA will be out all summer using these cabs for street dances, fairs, and festivals. Feel free to come out and hear them in person if you happen to be in the area. We are back at it again this week at Country Fest in Cadott, Wi.

Our info is,

www.slamabama.com

www.facebook.com/slamabama

I would like to thank Stephen Regier, Thomas Ewers, and everyone at Big E Loudspeakers for their incredible generosity and hospitality, and I look forward to doing more business with them in the future!

Me & Subs.jpg
 
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The vortex wave effect is mind-numbing, it actually makes you feel disoriented. My pant legs were moving at a distance of 15' away, where we were also hitting levels of 123db...
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Sounds like fun! I've visited Mike's place a couple of times to hear/try out/pick up cabs, but never made it to the Big E headquarters, though I considered it early on. Maybe I'll have to get out there some day. Those cabs look intimidating, like you could make them out of titanium and they'd be right at home on a Decepticon. And picking up the speakers two years in advance -- that's forethought and/or a good deal of faith in the designers.

A word of caution: 15 feet is generally considered too far away to be from your pants in public. True or not, the cops generally aren't gonna buy "vortex disorientation" as a valid excuse for that.
 
Sounds like fun! I've visited Mike's place a couple of times to hear/try out/pick up cabs, but never made it to the Big E headquarters, though I considered it early on. Maybe I'll have to get out there some day. Those cabs look intimidating, like you could make them out of titanium and they'd be right at home on a Decepticon. And picking up the speakers two years in advance -- that's forethought and/or a good deal of faith in the designers.

A word of caution: 15 feet is generally considered too far away to be from your pants in public. True or not, the cops generally aren't gonna buy "vortex disorientation" as a valid excuse for that.

Haha!! I bought those speakers for another Big E DIY design that was on their website, but I could never find anyone in my area that I trusted with the build. Luckily Steve stepped in this year with a solution!
 
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Suggestion for routine maintenance: Check the tightness of the woofer mounting screws, especially on 10" and up woofers.

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.
 
Thanks, Duke. My first Flex is getting some miles on it - I'm going to check the torque of the bolts holding the ten. :cool:

Yeah, good idea. I'm the happy original owner of an early production MAS112 with an 18sound, and as of this past week the third owner of another MAS112 with the Faital 1000. (Thanks, Dee-man, for a great transaction.) Def gonna do that maintenance on both of 'em, just because careful maintenance is a smart thing IME.

Why, no...I haven't yet tried them both, in parallel, with my MB 800...but there's an MB fusion 800 that's supposed to land on my doorstep on Monday, and I'll need to put some burn-in time on it before I take it to the weekend gig... (Good God, what am I thinking?!?! Two of these monster cabs?!?!)