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[lawrencemueller]

Anybody hear labs with xtros before?

What ratio of xtros to labhorns do I need? 2:4, 4:6 and 4:8 is how I was thinking of scaling as we go...

[Mike Maki]

Marjan Milosevic(MarjanM) wrote on Tue, 15 July 2008 00:11

Midbas are Martin 215 (or was it ASS 215). I will check and the tops are Turbosound Floodlights.

Actually the tops look like Flashlights.

[Marjan Milosevic]

Yeah, my mistake.

[peter.golde]

I think only a small handfull of people have actually built and use the xtro, most not in the US. To me the box has yet to be proven or used by any substantial number of people, but it still gets recommended highly by some. It is a heavy, non arrayable box, very complicated and expensive to build from where I sit. If your going the DIY route, try checking out some top offerings from Bill Fitzmaurice, as good as anything out there for your uses. I would recommend DR280's over Labs, awesome true horn loaded bass to 80hz, clean, clear and LOUD.

[Marjan Milosevic]

Unlike the DR290, X-tro uses top of the line drivers and hardly needs any EQ to sound good.
You will have to play a lot with the EQ settings in order to get DR290 sound good.
And if you say X-tro is a complicated build, than you didn't actually see the inside of the DR290.

[peter.golde]

Marjan Milosevic(MarjanM) wrote on Tue, 15 July 2008 11:54

Unlike the DR290, X-tro uses top of the line drivers and hardly needs any EQ to sound good. You will have to play a lot with the EQ settings in order to get DR290 sound good. And if you say X-tro is a complicated build, than you didn't actually see the inside of the DR290.

Yes I agree the DR290 is complicated, I built some, but the efforts are not wasted, you can load premium drivers in it as well. The results are an efficient, lightweight, arrayable box,  and with some eq, (the hard work done and results posted) sound damn good. I have heard these side by side against JBL SRX dual 15 tops playing EDM and the DR's shined, to where the owners of the JBL's came over to take measurements and scratch their heads, and ultimately compliment the system.
I built on faith, because I enjoy the process, but I would expect any end user to demo the boxes first before deciding.
Peace

[Chris Gruber]

I agree on the brace cut. It has this stealth look and imho makes it look like a totally different sub. Sweet!

[Jeff Woodford]

lawrencemueller wrote on Mon, 14 July 2008 17:31

Yeah, I've seen that pic. I forwarded it to the guy that funded this project. He loved it so much that he made it his desktop image. Speaking of 'American' isn't this setup in the UK? Or am I thinking of a different huge stack of 12 labhorns that are painted blue? Makes me think of that song that Trent Reznor did with David Bowie. I think it's weird that you don't hear at least a sample of it anywhere these days.

Hello there, that big pile of blue lab's is mine. Great to hear that someone has that picture as their desktop image. It's been mine for a while too!!

That pic was taken at the Notting hill Carnival last year, we will be doing the same pitch this year with 12 labs again but with our new Turbosound Aspect 880s for mid tops..

pictures to follow in a month or so...

[Jeff Babcock]

peter.golde wrote on Tue, 15 July 2008 20:45

Marjan Milosevic(MarjanM) wrote on Tue, 15 July 2008 11:54 Unlike the DR290, X-tro uses top of the line drivers and hardly needs any EQ to sound good. You will have to play a lot with the EQ settings in order to get DR290 sound good. And if you say X-tro is a complicated build, than you didn't actually see the inside of the DR290. Yes I agree the DR290 is complicated, I built some, but the efforts are not wasted, you can load premium drivers in it as well. The results are an efficient, lightweight, arrayable box,  and with some eq, (the hard work done and results posted) sound damn good. I have heard these side by side against JBL SRX dual 15 tops playing EDM and the DR's shined, to where the owners of the JBL's came over to take measurements and scratch their heads, and ultimately compliment the system. I built on faith, because I enjoy the process, but I would expect any end user to demo the boxes first before deciding. Peace

The X-tro is a nice looking design, and I have spoken with one person who is extremely happy and whose opinion I trust.  However, it is heavy, not cheap to build, not arrayable, and tri-amp.  Not exactly simple or cheap once you take amps, cabling, and processing into consideration.  NL8 cables ain't cheap these days.

The fitz DR's are not easy to build, although Lab subs are not that simple either, so if you built labs you will probably be OK.  They are very cheap in terms of material costs, but if building 290's I would never consider the recommended Eminence HF.  Loaded with something like a pair of BMS 4552 drivers (which are a great driver for the price) crossed at about 1K they would be more serious boxes IMHO.

[Jeff Babcock]

One other thing... keep in mind that homebrew cabs like Xtros and DR's and even Lab Subs have much poorer resale value than a commercial box.  This may or may not matter to you.