short version:
I want to take 4 speakers out of an SWR 8x8 and build a 4x8. I want the speakers to behave as closely to the way they do now as is possible.
I like the idea of an 8x8 sliced in half vertically (as opposed to horizontally like the Henry Jr). I figure I could still do tilt back casters and also get some free dispersion advantages that way.
This means I want precisely half the internal volume of the 8x8 and the same port tuning frequency, no?
Volume is easy but what do I want for ports? The 8x8 has 3 tubes, say of length x and diameter y.
longer version, or why someone would do such a thing:
I am addicted to first generation SWR Henry the 8x8 speaker cabinets. These are all I have used for well over a decade and for the purposes of this discussion you can assume I am medically unable to change.
I use about 1000 watts to drive the speakers well in to power compression and well past the region where things are behaving in a nice linear fashion. By 'about 1000 watts' I mean a Crest CA9 or CD2000 hitting the clip limiters when I really lay in to it(*). I'm also getting harmonic distortion from a Rusty Box preamp set to start getting hairy on the loud parts. In doing this I am absolutely playing the amp as much as the instrument. My rig is set up to allow a massive range of timbral variation from touch alone. This is good because my signal goes pickups (hardwired to the output jack, no preamp or volume knob or tone control) -> preamp(Rusty Box) -> power amp -> speaker box. No effects ever.
I've been using the same basic set up for a long time. Before there was such a thing as a Rusty Box the preamp was a Traynor TS50B, which is (don't tell anybody) the same thing. A couple different power amps have come and gone but all were for-real stuff in about the same range power-wise.
It sounds really good. At the levels where it is sounding it's best it's also pretty loud(**). Not Sunn O))) loud, but on the high side of average for your typical original aggressive type music sort of band. In the ballpark of an SVT rig turned up to where it starts acting like an SVT rig. Way louder than almost any cover band or 'my amp is just a monitor' type of situation.
I've got a project where I don't need that much volume.
I would like at least some of the same character at the quieter levels.
I have 8 or 16 extra speakers kicking around.
Also, as stated earlier, I am medically unable to use anything other than this setup.
Hence the project.
* - Yes the speakers can handle being run like this. At least if you know what you are doing and are paying attention. In 15 odd years of using the 8x8 I have damaged exactly two drivers. Both easily repaired minor tears at the surround and both when using an SM500 and it's stupid down to DC frequency response. The current setup has never damaged a driver.
** - Yes, some people play in and enjoy listening to loud bands. I've played a whole lot of shows and I've done a whole lot of live sound. I know what I want and I know what I'm doing, my bands sound good. Or, if you prefer, my bands sound exactly the way they are supposed to.
I want to take 4 speakers out of an SWR 8x8 and build a 4x8. I want the speakers to behave as closely to the way they do now as is possible.
I like the idea of an 8x8 sliced in half vertically (as opposed to horizontally like the Henry Jr). I figure I could still do tilt back casters and also get some free dispersion advantages that way.
This means I want precisely half the internal volume of the 8x8 and the same port tuning frequency, no?
Volume is easy but what do I want for ports? The 8x8 has 3 tubes, say of length x and diameter y.
longer version, or why someone would do such a thing:
I am addicted to first generation SWR Henry the 8x8 speaker cabinets. These are all I have used for well over a decade and for the purposes of this discussion you can assume I am medically unable to change.
I use about 1000 watts to drive the speakers well in to power compression and well past the region where things are behaving in a nice linear fashion. By 'about 1000 watts' I mean a Crest CA9 or CD2000 hitting the clip limiters when I really lay in to it(*). I'm also getting harmonic distortion from a Rusty Box preamp set to start getting hairy on the loud parts. In doing this I am absolutely playing the amp as much as the instrument. My rig is set up to allow a massive range of timbral variation from touch alone. This is good because my signal goes pickups (hardwired to the output jack, no preamp or volume knob or tone control) -> preamp(Rusty Box) -> power amp -> speaker box. No effects ever.
I've been using the same basic set up for a long time. Before there was such a thing as a Rusty Box the preamp was a Traynor TS50B, which is (don't tell anybody) the same thing. A couple different power amps have come and gone but all were for-real stuff in about the same range power-wise.
It sounds really good. At the levels where it is sounding it's best it's also pretty loud(**). Not Sunn O))) loud, but on the high side of average for your typical original aggressive type music sort of band. In the ballpark of an SVT rig turned up to where it starts acting like an SVT rig. Way louder than almost any cover band or 'my amp is just a monitor' type of situation.
I've got a project where I don't need that much volume.
I would like at least some of the same character at the quieter levels.
I have 8 or 16 extra speakers kicking around.
Also, as stated earlier, I am medically unable to use anything other than this setup.
Hence the project.
* - Yes the speakers can handle being run like this. At least if you know what you are doing and are paying attention. In 15 odd years of using the 8x8 I have damaged exactly two drivers. Both easily repaired minor tears at the surround and both when using an SM500 and it's stupid down to DC frequency response. The current setup has never damaged a driver.
** - Yes, some people play in and enjoy listening to loud bands. I've played a whole lot of shows and I've done a whole lot of live sound. I know what I want and I know what I'm doing, my bands sound good. Or, if you prefer, my bands sound exactly the way they are supposed to.
.
