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[Steve Shafer]

Hello all:

I saw this on the web, and thought it to be a bit of a stretch that this design could compete with the Lab Sub.  What class of design is this?

How realistic are these stats?  BTW-who is Bill Fitzmaurice was he connected to a major speaker company at one time?


http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/plans/product_info.php/produc ts_id/8








Steve S

[blades976]

The design utilizes a 12" driver not a 15".

I just built one and can honestly say it belts out the bass, and I am hard to impress.  I have not built a LAB subwoofer nor do I have access to one so I cannot give an AB comparison as far as overall output is concerned.  The Tuba30 does blow away any dual 18 cabinet I have come across.  

The low end extension is much lower than I had hoped for; a big surprise considering the output of the cabinet.  The high impedance makes it a breeze to drive with relatively inexpensive amplifiers.  The design is simpler to make than the LABs from what I have seen in the designs.  The cost of one driver vs. two drivers is a no brainer.  It took me well over a month to decide which cabinet design to go with.  In the end, overall price vs. performance pointed me towards the Tuba.  

I hope someone can put the two side by side and give a fair and objective comparison some day.  


pic. shows internal design of the Tuba30 I built.  

[Elliot Thompson]

Quote:

blades976 The Tuba30 does blow away any dual 18 cabinet I have come across.

What Dual Eighteen are we talking here?

McCauley EA 588, or Soundtech's version of a Dual 18.

And, when you say blow away, what do you exactly mean,
in terms of frequency response, when comparing the two?

Best Regards,

[Mr.Nightro]

I saw this design awhile back & have always wondered what kind of sound does this design produce? In that I mean does it sound musical or is it just another boomy box that spits out high spl's at one given frequency?

[blades976]

Disclaimer:  I do not claim to be an expert on acoustics or sound reinforcement.  I am an average guy who likes having fun with audio gear and I am on a lean budget.  I chose this design because it was the most cost effective way to get some serious bottom end for the modest gear I have access too.  I can chain 6-8 cabinets on one amp as opposed to 2-4 LAB cabinets; this will save me a lot of money.   I am in no way touting one design over the other in terms of sheer performance.  

The dual 18 cabinets I am referring to are some cabinets I have heard from Carvin (standard and the Kilomax loaded TCS Boxes now discontinued), JBL, an EV loaded cabinet (Don’t know the brand) and a few other retail chain boxes.  In terms of extension the Tuba30 easily blew them all away.  In terms of output only the Kilomax loaded Carvin cabinet and the EV loaded cabinet came close, but I still think the Tuba30 is louder.  Basically on paper the Tuba30 has the output of ~ 3.5 good 18’s in reflex cabinets; more expensive drivers level the field somewhat.  

The extension of the cabinet was somewhat difficult to get used too.  I didn’t like it at first and thought it was not giving adequate output.  This is my first horn speaker and it does not behave anything like a reflex box.  I think it sounds very musical and not the least bit boomy, in fact I thought something was wrong because it wasn’t booming.  The upper midbass response is a bit obnoxious if it is not filtered out.  Under moderate volume I run it without a low cut (30Hz) and get some very cool shaking and some unheard of extension.  When its time to raise the volume the low cut gets engaged and the beatings commence.    

The enclosure I made is for a Bass Guitar rig and to see if the design performance is up to par before I invest in more wood and drivers for a P.A. setup.  From what I seen and heard thus far I think I will go ahead with this design for P.A. use.  I plan on scaling the design up to 15” drivers for P.A.  Bill keeps grumbling that it is overkill but I’m just like that .  

[Nicklas Bengtsson]

Hi

Do you have any moore pictures?
I'm planing to build the Tuba 24 and it would be nice to see some pictures.

[blades976]

Email me and I will send you some pics; my email address should come up when you click on my name.  I don't want to piss off the moderator by filling the board with non-LAB pics and subject matter.  

[ChainedDragon]

blade, why nopt just link him to fitz's forum?


ohh, and there's been PLENTY of comparison/flame threads recently



(i'm monomer)

[Mark Seaton]

Stevesb65 wrote on Sat, 30 October 2004 20:19

Hello all: I saw this on the web, and thought it to be a bit of a stretch that this design could compete with the Lab Sub.  What class of design is this? How realistic are these stats?  BTW-who is Bill Fitzmaurice was he connected to a major speaker company at one time?

Just a few thoughts here...

From what I've seen, Bill has done a good deal of building and design, and has experience with a fair range of professional offerings.  He does post some basic measurements as shown in the link provided.

The posted graph does offer an interesting comparison, and it further clarifies why many of us initially involved with the LAB sub project suggest not bothering with the LAB if you are going to be running only a single box outside.  In the graph, we have only one snapshot of a comparison.  I expect that in comparing more boxes and including excursion and power limited output, the comparison would shift drastically.  Of course the Tuba 30 is a bit less expensive, and also smaller in total volume.  Personally I see some issues with transporting a 30" cube, as doorways and corners can make for some rather tight manuvering.  I tend to prefer at least one shorter dimension.  The dimensions might be just fine for many though.

In particular, I would expect the LAB sub's low frequency response to change much more with 2 or more boxes packed together.  Of course this is obviously a benfit of the Tuba 30 in that it is optomized more for single box use.  I would think anyone with 4 LABs and more than 4kW of power would have no feelings of inadequacy in any such comparison, and I'm sure that those with Tuba 30s are quite impressed with this sort of output from a single 12".

[blades976]

ChainedDragon wrote on Mon, 01 November 2004 00:39

blade, why nopt just link him to fitz's forum? ohh, and there's been PLENTY of comparison/flame threads recently (i'm monomer)

Anyone interested in learning more about or discussing the Tuba subwoofer, or any of Bill's other designs feel free to check out the forum at

http://audioroundtable.com/BillFitzmaurice/