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500 watt BICYCLE "steet party" trailer system with a JBL 15" sub

68.227.253.158
Posted on November 5, 2016 at 01:17:01
thump
Audiophile

Posts: 416
Joined: April 19, 2016



i am in the process of building a bicycle trailer street party system to combat the lousy gangsta rap/banda only scene here playing funkier and more upbeat funk, old school (REAL as in positive) hip-hop, nu-jazz, electro swing, disco & a little bit of techno. i've been working on the system for a while as i can afford it. i have almost everything i need to get it rolling except the sub/box, wiring, switches, circuit breaker, 3 more batteries, a charger, a power meter, and a frame to mount everything.

the system's main components will consist of:

- a sun EZ-1 recumbent bicycle that's a darker cobalt blue than the royal blue pictured that might become metallic purple eventually when i fix the backwards brake cabling. it doesn't just look cool, it's a super comfortable all day long ride

- a schwinn trailblazer trailer i originally bought because it was about the only trailer i could find wide enough to fit a pair of 2x12 boxes that would have faced upwards and featured 4 goldwood "93dB" woofers with a Q of about .7. it was a strenuous ordeal with much swearing fighting with the trailer to get the canvas off in one piece (not counting the seam rip the second time i used it to haul soda) along with the rollbars whose apparently superglued free spinning chrome moly bolts required 3 hacksaw blades to dispatch, but the frame is ready to get everything tossed on now.

- my source will be an xduoo X2 media player with a 16GB card playing uncompressed WAVs that will eventually get mounted on my handlebars for thumb control. it sounds pretty nice and i like both the aluminum case as well as the dedicated control buttons with machined edges that make it look more like a stereo component and less like a unibutton plastic toy.

- my mains will be a pair of italian proel flash8P 96dB 8" 2 ways that feature celestion drivers including titanium waveguide tweeters. i scored them for just $100 for the pair at MCM after researching proel sound and they sound VERY nice, especially in the midrange playing vocals, and are uncolored for PA speakers. the tweeters DON'T spit, at least not yet at home levels. they do sound a little thick on my PC driving a cheap (20wpc probably) vintage receiver, but they did open up noticeably when fed by the xduoo and i bet class D amplification will really let the otherwise quick on percussion tweeters open up and do the air thing.

they were originally intended to be temporary "get rolling now" speakers i could also pull from the system for stereo imaging (which they do pretty well actually nearfield, and without ear fatigue), but they sound so nice, and i expect them to maybe open up even more at volume that i think i'll keep them for a while for their efficiency as well as the ability to pull them out of the trailer and maybe even mount on poles.

- the sub will be a JBL GT15 92dB 15" in a 1.9 sealed box (i prefer clarity and speed over volume and extension) for a Q of 1.135, but that's EXACTLY what JBL recommends (1.5ft3 - 2ft3).

as i said, plan A was 4 x 12" goldwoods, but at $70 each, they would take time to acquire so i planned on a cheap MCM 15" poly with a rubber surround to be able to move the most air possible as soon as possible financially, but i wasn't liking the 50Hz driver limit and decided i'd upgrade to a better quality sub that digs deeper and can handle everything my amp can throw at it with two channels bridged (600w allegedly, i'll call it 300w real world)

at first, i was considering a VM audio elux 15 because it was rated the cheapest in a top ten list and did get favorable reviews, but i just wasn't liking its high 1.35Q and prominent 54Hz resonant peak or amp frying/choking 2x4 ohm coils.

then i tried browsing woofers by price until i got up to the JBL, ignoring anything with a foam surround and the hifonics brutus because i couldn't find thiele small parameters for it to see how it'd do in a 1.9 box.

the reviews were very positive for the JBL, it has a nice 27.5Hz rating, can take some power, has an amp friendly single 4 ohm coil, and best of all has a massive 14mm xmax. when i ran the numbers on it, it performed MUCH better than anything else i modeled that's when i knew i found a winner. it's a little gaudy looking to me with the "fancy molded dustcap" and logo and exposed basket/gasket, but i'm buying it for the performance, and in the final system, it will be pointing downwards for pavement coupling. i doubt i can find another sub that hits harder at $75 delivered.

- a planet audio BB1200.4 "1200w" 4 channel class D amplifier. ORIGINALLY i planned on using cheap sure modules, but they want high voltages. in another forum, everyone was shouting me down for wanting to use passive inline RCA filters and insisted i use an active crossover which created 3 problems... i couldn't afford dedicated crossovers, building an active one is beyond my technical abilities, & using a car EQ/crossover would require a separate 12v circuit requiring another battery to weigh things down.

the planet audio proved to be a "perfect" problem solver. it has a build in CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE (!!!) HP/LP selectable filter on each pair of channels, bass boost (which would let me use just my bass starved proels to start with), would make finding a power meter much easier, with the simplification of going 12v from the start, i could easily add an EQ or power inverter for A/C lights. as each front/back pair of amps is also bridgeable, i could run my proels on the front channels and dial whatever sub(s) i'm using in on the rear channel bridged to mono for more power, and it would be more durable (if also much heavier) mounted on the underside of my trailer. i also like the simple looks of the amp and having planet in its name appeals to my tree hugger (recum)bent. (pun intended)

with 8 ohm mains and a sealed 4 ohm sub, the amp should see a very friendly load i don't intend to push. i'm looking into getting it SMD measured so it never goes into distortion. if the shop wants $100 to do that though, i'll pass and just use my ears. i don't like distortion at all. that's why i prefer sealed woofers. i'm not expecting it to meet it's power specs, but it's gotten great reviews, and at least to start, it should be more than enough to get people wondering what the heck a bike's doing thumping so hard.

- 4 x mighty max 12v 18aH ALLEGEDLY deep cycle AGM batteries. i already have 1. eventually, when i can afford it, i want to switch to li-poly. i chose this battery because it gets good reviews, offers about the best boom for my buck, & because they're small & can be mounted in any orientation. i intend to lay them on their backs, just behind the trailer frame for better weight distribution, lowering them below the frame for a lower center of gravity, and "stacking them" across the width with their terminals facing up so i can daisy chain them in parallel, but i bought a pair of distribution blocks too. i figured daisy chaining will use the least cable, so that's the better route to go and i can use the distribution blocks for adding an EQ and inverter etc. later using the 4 "ins" as outs.

finding a charger around $50 or less is proving a challenge though. even the highest rated chargers on amazon have up to 10% horror stories about chargers ruining batteries by undercharging or discharging them, boiling batteries, not having enough juice to charge anything but a small battery, or just breaking with warranty service that costs more than half of list price. if anyone could recommend a reliable charger that just gets the job done, i'd appreciate it. i don't plan on leaving the batteries hooked up and will disconnect them no more than 24 hours after they're charged as soon as i see they're ready. i just can't see investing in a $100+ charger as i hope to be running li-pos by summer.

that is the BASIC system, and what i'll be starting with, but it still needs a light show and i've finally found the "perfect tech" to do it. i've always thought about color changing LEDs as ground effects and mounting projectors on towers, but that would look wonky, and the heavy lights would be in a high stress area wobbling at the top of towers with every bump or sidewalk transition etc. and possibly could even cause a self-destructing tip over.

then, just last week, i stumbled upon self contained $10 (or less) 48 LED sound activated sunflower lights like this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao_Cj7wivdQ&index=98&list=PLITfP3d88mvYjtG9akbaNsjjxs0r5sclV
the very first video i saw of them BTW

i thought... hmmm... they're cheap, small, sound activated, and do make interesting patterns, but they'd look stupid outside a system and might not project downwards enough for ground effects. a few days went by until it hit me... hide the entire system inside a white (maybe even grey) nylon shell and project patterns from the inside! then, i could have a really nice monolithic looking "slab system" and if i used thin fiberglass, or even carbon fiber strips at 45 degree angles inside along all of the edges, i wouldn't need a heavy and fugly light blocking frame around the displays (top & all 4 sides) but instead might have 1/4 inch or so of shadowing at the edges of the system with the shell's frame ALSO serving as a light blocker so each light's output doesn't spill over onto adjacent sides.

it's a nice elegantly simple solution that will allow me to build "the coolest street party system ever", maybe if not the absolute loudest, but loud enough and then some. no-one has seen a system like this YET. it's neither intended to be an SPL drag racer or an SQ finalist, but merely a good "loud & clear system" people can dance to and that thumps instead of booms. (i'm THINKING of calling it thumper) any car systems i embarrass along the way though are nice little notches in my booty spankin' belt.

 

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    ...
Please avoid my street. , posted on November 5, 2016 at 16:00:22
srdavis2000
Audiophile

Posts: 10699
Location: Deep South
Joined: January 11, 2003
Contributor
  Since: December 16, 2004
 No one wants to hear someone else's music. I doubt that anyone will be impressed except you.

 

you jump to conclusions there, don't you?, posted on November 5, 2016 at 20:25:13
thump
Audiophile

Posts: 416
Joined: April 19, 2016
 you seem to think i intend to roll down the streets blasting it. that's not its purpose. it's intended for downtown cruising on club nights and events.

you're also quite WRONG about "everybody else". people, especially the ladies used to go nuts when i rode around with just my little saddlebag system. one busty milf even freaked on me (humped my leg basically) to my sharona downtown. another gorgeous hippy chick was loving disco tunes and dancing to them downtown until some jealous hater, much like yourself apparently, relentlessly panhandled her until she left. another woman jumped up and started dancing to "play that funky music" as i rode by on a bike path through a park... not far from where a large group of people danced to another woman's PA system rave.

women love to dance, and aren't generally the ones into gangsta crap. i've seen the same type thing here riding with the "loud bike" playing old school funk. people all over were loving it downtown. a couple riders, one with a cowbell, joined us. one guy ran into the street and started dancing at a stoplight while someone else hung out a car window whooping it up while someone else beep beep beeped sand a bunch of people cheered at the bus station as we rode by.

people are STARVING for upbeat dance music these days and i'm fighting against the gangsta crap, soulless techno and ESPECIALLY hell spawned heavy metal forces of evil. i won't go so far as to call banda evil, but it IS freakin' annoying.

any cruising i do will be at reasonable conversational levels. i'm not a fan of people blasting their music in residential areas either, but downtown, tailgate parties and public events are fair game for turning it up. people at events tend to congregate around even mediocre music or go somewhere else if they don't care for the music.

besides, loud music is part of the CULTURE in THIS TOWN. people are always bringing portable PAs to the 2 parks i live by and really cranking it up. a lot of stores have outdoor systems too. there's been more than one annoying after dark gangsta crap party right outside my window in the parking lot too.

i'm trying to fight negativity with positivity.

THIS is where i'm coming from:

 

RE: THIS TOWN, posted on November 6, 2016 at 06:00:44
genungo
 Which town?

 

I'll rephrase., posted on November 6, 2016 at 08:57:17
srdavis2000
Audiophile

Posts: 10699
Location: Deep South
Joined: January 11, 2003
Contributor
  Since: December 16, 2004
 Please stay off of my street. I don't want to hear it.

 

RE: I'll rephrase., posted on November 6, 2016 at 12:18:37
thump
Audiophile

Posts: 416
Joined: April 19, 2016
 again... if i'm just cruising around or passing through a residential area to get to an event, you WON'T hear it unless you're on the sidewalk, or someone i pass wants to hear it burp, maybe.

if you don't want to hear other people's music, then whatever you do, don't move here.

8am? hey, why not cut some wood?

10 am... the people 20 feet away in the next building like to play banda.

10pm... now the fun's REALLY starting! there's a chance for another gangsta crap car party in the parking lot, a live banda dance party at the garage about 50 yards from here, the banda club across the street's doors might be open, a couple of souped up pickups, rice rockets or motorcycles might be drag racing down the boulevard, someone might be getting shot in another bar's parking lot down the street and/or helicopters might be hovering directly overhead and shining spotlights in your windows, someone could be having a party in the park on the other side of the next building, there could be a concert level event at the other end of the park or at the fairgrounds on the other side of the road from that, OR freakin' monster trucks might be having an all night dragster motor revving party there.

that doesn't even include dogs yipping or howling at all hours of the night or my "favorite" the whiny little brat that has half hour momma's boy sobbing meltdowns at least once a week on average as late as midnight.

yeah... you would not like it HERE, and that's just THIS BLOCK.

 

RE: THIS TOWN, posted on November 6, 2016 at 12:47:04
thump
Audiophile

Posts: 416
Joined: April 19, 2016
 the one that i live in. that one.

 

Okey, you're right., posted on November 6, 2016 at 14:30:45
srdavis2000
Audiophile

Posts: 10699
Location: Deep South
Joined: January 11, 2003
Contributor
  Since: December 16, 2004
 I really wouldn't like it there, and I don't even want to visit.

 

RE: THIS TOWN, posted on November 6, 2016 at 17:01:49
genungo
 Any good restaurants on your block?

 

RE: "good restaurants", posted on November 7, 2016 at 03:44:07
thump
Audiophile

Posts: 416
Joined: April 19, 2016
 well, there are several establishments that all produce at least acceptable food. one place has a really good deal on a big cup of french fries, but their chicken does nothing for me, their burgers are overpriced, and their "fish sandwiches" are basically a couple of so-so fish sticks with nasty, sickeningly sweet, miracle whip based "tartar sauce".

everything close by, at least, closes by 9:30 here.

"in the hood" back east, i was within walking distance of a lot of delicious foods... a REAL fish restaurant that served super delicious (east coast only) HADDOCK sandwiches on real hard rolls (can't find those anywhere here) with delicious hellman's (aka best foods) mayonaise based tartar sauce, an italian bread bakery where i could get DELICIOUS fresh made loaves including extra tasty "twice baked" round loaves on sunday almost 24/7 (they've never heard of hard rolls or italian bread here), a corner store/sub-shop where i could get almost inch thick half subs with cappicola (another thing that's very hard to get on the west coast) that were more than enough to leave one full for $3.50 if memory serves me right, and a $5 full sub was too much to eat (compared to $5 for a couple pieces of meat here and at $ubway), the corner store just around the corner had THE BEST creamy hummus i've ever had ANYWHERE including restaurants and home made, and finally, just up the block, i could get big & cheap so-so slices of pizza (with pseudo-cafeteria crusts) and GRILLED hotwings. once you've had them grilled... fried doesn't make sense anymore. i really do miss the food at least back east.

back to local though... further up the street, there's a place where i can get pretty satisfying (as a meal) and delicious grilled chicken breasts for probably $3 now as prices have gone up. they used to be a very reasonable $2.50.

i CAN also get decent, if not best ever, reasonably priced, mexican food a few blocks away 24/7 and a couple blocks closer, there's a grocery store where i can get any steaks i buy grilled for free friday - sunday nights. i never even knew that for about 3 years, but it's a really good deal that's cheaper than restaurants.

i'd rate the local restaurants as OK, but there IS a pizza shop, way on the other side of town, that has REALLY good (medium thick NY style) slices that are pretty big for $5 including a drink.

i think the local food is on the expensive side here and not quite up to the standards of the foods that are both cheaper and more delicious back east, but i don't miss uppity self centered east coast culture much either.

now, pacific northwest? OK, you can't get decent SPICY food anywhere (someone could make a lot of money bucking that trend!), and foods are almost as overpriced as here, but the culture is very laid back, people respect the environment, and women are sooooo down to earth without the annoying social climbing east coast attitude which only relates to food if you're talking about a certain type of bearded clam.

so, the french fries, a little ways away are a good deal, the grilled chicken breast on the next block is a good deal and yummy (but less so after you eat it almost every day), & the grilled steaks at the grocery store about a quarter mile away are fair priced and tasty. most of everything else is overpriced and merely OK as far as i'm concerned.

oh yeah... there's ANOTHER chinese restaurant within a mile of here that's pretty good and reasonably priced on weekdays when you get lunch specials. their kung po chicken is really good and at around $6, i think, you get a full meal out of a lunch special.

there's a vietnamese/chinese food van on the other side of town that has a REALLY yummy spicy beef fried rice that will fill you up for just $5. up the street, there's yet ANOTHER chinese place that charges about $8 for beef fried rice. i ordered it twice there. the 1st time, it was DELICIOUS, though i wish they'd used onions, but the second time, it was only OK, on the dry side, and not worth $8, especially when i'm used to $4 pints of pretty much almost anything back east where there was this one place about a mile away that used to have THE BEST szechuan tofu! it was so delicious one time, it had me literally rocking and humming happily... a perfect balance of sweet, heat, heartiness, thick sauce and chewy/crunchy textured tofu.

the place right across the street has mediocre chinese food, but a cup of their hot and sour soup is just a couple bucks and CAN be quite tasty, but in the last 2 times i've ordered it, one time, i payed AND tipped only to be told they're out (made me quite angry even after the refund as it would be in bad form to take my $1 tip back) and the second time i ordered, the woman that served me skimped big time so there was really only one piece of tofu and a shred in it where there should have been at least a dozen chunks.

given cool enough temperatures, i'd rather cook my own food.

 

RE: wanting to visit, posted on November 7, 2016 at 23:06:51
thump
Audiophile

Posts: 416
Joined: April 19, 2016
 i don't want to visit here either, but here i am

 

another parking lot gangsta crap car party..., posted on November 13, 2016 at 17:30:29
thump
Audiophile

Posts: 416
Joined: April 19, 2016
 right outside my livingroom window

fun fun fun...

NOT!!!

 

mother effer! the JBL was just discontinued!, posted on November 19, 2016 at 14:09:28
thump
Audiophile

Posts: 416
Joined: April 19, 2016
 it was the PERFECT woofer for my application... SINGLE 4 ohm coil, high efficiency, rubber surround, perfectly mated to the 1.9 cubic foot box down to the exact same cutout diameter and reasonably priced too.

now i can't find a replacement. i've looked at everything up to $140 at sonic electronix and EVERYTHING there, so far, has hideous foam surrounds, lousy efficiency, would force a 2 or 8 ohm load, and/or refuses to give thiele small parameters!!!

it would have even more overall output than even $$$ dayton reference HO & HF woofers, but i missed the chance to get one by about an effing WEEK!

OK... i see other dealers still have them, but one'll cost me $13 more now.

 

RE: mother effer! the JBL was just discontinued!, posted on November 20, 2016 at 09:44:13
SpotcheckBilly12345
 The answer for you is..............Kaopectate.

 

RE: Kaopectate, posted on November 27, 2016 at 13:03:17
thump
Audiophile

Posts: 416
Joined: April 19, 2016
 do you know how hard it is to find a 4 ohm, single voice coil, reasonable efficiency, 15 inch sub that has a rubber surround AND thiele small data (that shows it compatible with 1.9 cubic feet sealed?)

the JBL is the ONLY choice unless i want to spend more than twice the price

it also chose to disappear RIGHT at the very moment i'm almost ready to buy one.

 

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