ok...so far, so bad...i know this project is a bit of a stretch, i'm just trying to think "out of the box".
ok...so let's pick it apart:
the enclosure...
a box that may have the shit in the '80s
is the 4520 THAT outdated of an enclosure? the one's i've heard over the years, set up right, sounded GREAT. punchy with a bite. i also realize that a lot of these setups had no dedicated sub system, and a lot of these boxes were required to play from about 350hz, or so, and below.
I don't think of scoop style cabinets as "long throw".
i believe the "scoop" IS designed for medium to long throw applications, just not extremely long throw. i think they would work great outdoors (i my head...)if they are capable of doing what i hope. and without trying to sound too sophmoric, i think they look COOL! with the right drivers, and dubious amounts of power, does the 4520 have the potential of becoming a high-output, good-sounding, sledgehammer-hitting sub?
the driver(s)...
these drivers are oriented for autosound, and may not translate well into pro sound designs-it remains to be seen
taking a box that may have the shit in the '80s, and loading it with drivers meant to be in cars, doesn't necessarily make a good combination
there are fundamental truths in both these comments that i quite agree with. auto sound speakers, per se, are not proven performers in the pro audio world. with that being said, i would like to rant on what seems to be a popular misconception, imho, about "auto sound" and "pro" drivers.
to put it rediculously oversimplified, a speaker is a speaker. autosound and pro drivers share the same basic design; you have baskets, some type of magnet, voice coils, spiders, cones, surrounds, yada-yada. i take exception to the thought that ALL autosound drivers are sub-par (excuse the pun...)when compared to pro drivers. in probably about 95% of the time, this is absolutely true. but there is some gear out there that i believe is the exception to this rule. i know their parameters are designed for a given usage, and used outside this niche there are no guarantees, but i think the auto-smirk that comes with talking about possibly using these products in alternative ways is unwarranted. look at the quality of workmanship on quality qutosound subs...stiffer cast baskets instead of the standard stamped steel...some are multiple voice coil such as the one i mentioned in my original post...gold connectors at the driver...surrounds that look like half of a charged firehose...extremely long excursions...take LOTS of power...field rebuildable. theile-small parameters are needed to engineer a proper enclosure for any given driver whether it be pro or autosound. good physics is good physics...i'm just saying keep an open mind, and don't auto-smirk when an alternative approach is considered. rant done.
think if these speakers were originally intended for dB drag racing they were probably designed to be loaded by the small sealed volume of a car. Mounted in scoop type cabinets, with only the loading of the horn in the back, they will likely launch themselves out the front of the box the first time you fire them up in anger
this is a DISTINCT POSSIBILITY! i overlooked this possibility; you would probably have to equalize the load on the front and the back of the driver, or it might look like a stinger missle launch battery!
i realize that this probably I'SNT the right driver for the right job. i AM more interested in finding a driver with LOTS of excursion, and LOTS of power-handling capabilities. is there such a beast? which driver would YOU recommend?
powering the monster...
in my op, i spoke of using the atomic sub because they were quad 4ohm voice coils. i also spoke of using a ce4000 per DRIVER. two drivers per cab = two ce4000's per cab.
I also would use something more robust than a CE4000 in 2 ohm stereo mode on something like this. You also can't use an amp in "2 ohm stereo mode" on a pair of 4 ohm drivers. The amp would be rated at 1200 watts/channel into 4 ohms(each channel).
i might not have been clear enough on the connections.my initial idea was to tak two of the 4ohm voice coils and wire them in parallel for a 2ohm load. with each driver having 4 voice coils, you can get two 2ohm leads from each driver. the reason for doing this is in case you have problems with a vc pair, or an amp channel, you can still use the setup, just shut down the problem channel. this is done 2x (two ce4000's) per cab. again, i realize this probably isn't the right speaker for the job, but i do want the driver to be capable of handling A LOT of power.
well, there it is again in a nutshell...i AM going to build the 4520's regardless...even if they don't do as i hope. i'll just build me a nostalgic old school pa with the 4520's, some 4560's as mid-bass, and come up with a mid/horn combo for upstairs.
just trying to keep idle hands busy...
keep the opinions coming...