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The Cyclops, a tweeterless 115

Arjank

Arjank

Oct 9, 2007
3,311
1,781
Above Amsterdam
#1
It's time for a new project and it's going to be the opposite of my 210+coaxial mid/high unit.
This cab (The Cyclops) is going to be a tweeterless 115 that will kick most 115's in da nuts (so to speak) :woot:.
It's going to be the big bad brother of the piccolo 8 Piccolo8, cab build for piccolo bass | TalkBass.com (see picture below).
The driver is going to be the Oberton 15MB500 which offers the best of both worlds, a smooth extended midrange and a high xmax. It also has excellent TSP's for a nice bassresponse.

Stay tuned! :bassist:

AKS_piccolo8.jpg

Piccolo 8

WP_20151001_001.jpg

15MB500

WP_20151001_004.jpg

15MB500
 
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#6
So you're thinking of a horn reflex build? The Horn reflex is fairly interesting IMO, just a bit of a compromise between the reflex cabinet and the horn. Not as big as a horn but more efficient than a reflex cabinet.
 
#7
pie_man_25 said:
So you're thinking of a horn reflex build? The Horn reflex is fairly interesting IMO, just a bit of a compromise between two designs.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's going to be a horn-reflex cab like the piccolo 8. The nice thing is that the 15MB500 lends itself very well for such a design. With most woofers the response curve shows a massive hickup somewhere between 200-300hz (depending on the port lenght) but with the 15MB500 this isn't the case, the hickup is there but not as dramatic. I'll post the simulations later.
 
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#10
The total volume of the cab will be approx 110 liters (3.9 cu ft), and approx 1/3rd of that volume is for the horn/port.
The -3dB point is 56hz which is low enough for 1st overtone of the low B, the response is focused on the meaty part of the bassguitar sound. The max spl curve shows that it can handle 500watts from 56hz and up, max spl is 125-127 dB (halfspace).

15MB500 horn-rflex 70-111ltr 54hz .png
 
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#11
I see what you mean by hiccup now. I imagine that is where the port starts kicking in. Are you planning on shaping the cabinet with the driver pointed upwards a bit, like the piccolo?

For some reason I thought that oberton made some of the mcm drivers, but having searched a bit, they seem much better than that. I wonder what their distribution is like in Canada, I know that b&c are actually a bit cheaper here than eminence, and cekestion aren't much, if any, pricier than eminence either.
 
#12
pie_man_25 said:
I see what you mean by hiccup now. I imagine that is where the port starts kicking in. Are you planning on shaping the cabinet with the driver pointed upwards a bit, like the piccolo?
Click to expand...

Yes, for improving dispersion of the mid/high frequencies the 15" driver wil point a bit upwards.
I did test the driver without cabinet with my bassguitar and on-axis it has enough highs for most applications, slap 'n pop has this nice classic 70's sound to it. The Cyclops won't have the modern "zing", it's for the classic tones in a modern package.
 
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#13
I think I need a new amp..... Yesterday I did a very short power test on this 15" driver with my Bugera BVP5500 (it needed to be short else the neighbors would get really mad). The 15MB500 was not in a cabinet (I need to build that first) but I cranked the volume, turned up the basscontrols on the amp and slammed the E-string. The 15MB500 took the juice without giving a pinch but the amp ran into it limits.... The BVP5500 is about 350watts (continues power @4ohms) and 225watts @8ohms, this means the 15MB500 can handle these 200watts (probably 300watt peaks) even without a cabinet :thumbsup:. I still think it will get loud enough for most applications since it's going to be a very efficient design (at least 100db 1w/1mtr and about 102 dB in the mid lows).
 
#14
After running some more simulations I could reduce the volume by 10% (it's 100 liter now) and slightly increase efficiency in the important frequency-range. The -3dB point is 62hz and tuning 58hz. You can see that it can handle 500watts from 45hz and up (red curve), black curve is 1000watts (the simulation doesn't account for powercompression).
It's a balancing act between size, bandwidth and powerhandling, I think I've found the perfect balance right now, even a low B should sound right (probably a bit lean sounding).

15MB500 horn-reflex 100ltr 58hz.png
 
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#15
Here a comparison between the "Fridge" (red curve) and the "Cyclops" (black curve), both simulated in free-field instead of halfspace.
The "Fridge" has better efficiency (as expected) but when you increase the power the "Cyclops" will beat the "Fridge" below 100hz.
remember that the fridge is more then twice the size of the cyclops and more expensive to build.

Fridge vs Cyclops.png

Fridge vs Cyclops, 1w/mtr and full RMS power.

Fridge vs Cyclops max output.png

Fridge vs Cyclops, peak power.
 
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#17
Kirk Bryant said:
Looks cool, are you going to run the two together? As in "Piccolo the Cyclops" the stack. Did you ever do any finish work or grill for the Piccolo or just leave it raw?
Click to expand...

The piccolo 8 is still like that but it'll get a grill and a paint job in the future, 1st I'm gonna build the Cyclops :)
It wasn't my idea to run them together but I might stack 'm when I need to play a gig with normal bass and my piccolo bass :cool:.
I'm also curious how the Cyclops will sound with my EUB, it sounds very nice through the piccolo cab due to the woody character of the sound of that cab.
 
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#18
Arjank said:
The piccolo 8 is still like that but it'll get a grill and a paint job in the future, 1st I'm gonna build the Cyclops :)
It wasn't my idea to run them together but I might stack 'm when I need to play a gig with normal bass and my piccolo bass :cool:.
I'm also curious how the Cyclops will sound with my EUB, it sounds very nice through the piccolo cab due to the woody character of the sound of that cab.
Click to expand...

That sounds pretty awesome, I'd embark on a few projects of my own, but I'm rather far from any of my tools. That said, I'm sure this will work out.
 
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#19
Totally hyped :hyper:
Two days ago I stumbled upon an add of an 81' Aria Pro II SB-700, the seller still has this bass and I'm going to audition it asap. I always told myself that when this John Taylor bass comes across my path I'm gonna buy it! The typical tone of that bass will match perfectly with the Cyclops (I think) so I really need to build it asap :hyper::bassist::woot:
 
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