Titanic Mkiii 15"

[GMichael]

Tweaking depends on your willingness to go back in there. Different damping material can really "customize" the overall punchiness, transient response, fr extension and resonances to your liking. I like pink fiberglass, or even better, rigid fiberglass or mineral wool. Poly fill might be better than the foam. You could port it and adjust port sizes for some added dB, FR, and make for a very cool way to build a variable parameter subwoofer. I have a sub that I bought plugs for and adjust the ports manually now and then. Kind of fun. I prefer the sealed sound though, but sometimes it's nice to have the +4 to +5 dB below 30 Hz for free at the expense of some musical sound quality.

Maybe even internal bracing and sealing, it's been awhile since I saw the inside of the cabinets, can't remember if their caulked or not along the seams internally (that helps prevent air leaks).

Anyhoo, for the cash, those are just about the best subs I've found still, in a pre-assembled, or kit form. Adire use to have a pretty affordable model that was impressive too but I think it wasn't worth while to them. Those should keep you satisfied for awhile.

What subs do you guys have to compare to the 15" Titanic? I get a lot of PM's from newbies and the like here (probably resulting from me shilling the Titanics so shamelessly at times) asking me about the 15" and what commercial models it compares to. My best commercial sub was the Paradigm PW-2200, but the 12" Titanic whooped that. I don't own the 15" Titanic and have only spent a few hours a few times with one - enough to know it's awesome but not make a good comparative guess..

I have the Infinity Primus PS-12. It's a 12" rear ported sub with 350 w/rms. It was OK but was maxed out to fill our 700 sqrft main room. I was worried that it would give out at that level. It does a fine job in the bedroom now, but you can't really compare it to the MKIII. The MKIII goes lower & louder and does it with a much tighter sound. I love the sealed sub sound. I would never port it. Even at below 1/2 volume it fills every bit of the main room+, so it doesn't really need the extra boast. I'd just have to turn it down anyhow.

So, how's it going down under? When are you and wifey coming back?

[L.J.]

Tweaking depends on your willingness to go back in there. Different damping material can really "customize" the overall punchiness, transient response, fr extension and resonances to your liking. I like pink fiberglass, or even better, rigid fiberglass or mineral wool. Poly fill might be better than the foam. You could port it and adjust port sizes for some added dB, FR, and make for a very cool way to build a variable parameter subwoofer. I have a sub that I bought plugs for and adjust the ports manually now and then. Kind of fun. I prefer the sealed sound though, but sometimes it's nice to have the +4 to +5 dB below 30 Hz for free at the expense of some musical sound quality.

Maybe even internal bracing and sealing, it's been awhile since I saw the inside of the cabinets, can't remember if their caulked or not along the seams internally (that helps prevent air leaks).

Anyhoo, for the cash, those are just about the best subs I've found still, in a pre-assembled, or kit form. Adire use to have a pretty affordable model that was impressive too but I think it wasn't worth while to them. Those should keep you satisfied for awhile.

What subs do you guys have to compare to the 15" Titanic? I get a lot of PM's from newbies and the like here (probably resulting from me shilling the Titanics so shamelessly at times) asking me about the 15" and what commercial models it compares to. My best commercial sub was the Paradigm PW-2200, but the 12" Titanic whooped that. I don't own the 15" Titanic and have only spent a few hours a few times with one - enough to know it's awesome but not make a good comparative guess..

Dang!!!! I knew I should have waited to put this together. Kex where can I pick up some of that fiber glass? Is that the same stuff I would use for DIY acoustic panels?

[kexodusc]

Dang!!!! I knew I should have waited to put this together. Kex where can I pick up some of that fiber glass? Is that the same stuff I would use for DIY acoustic panels?

I bougth my fiberglass from a commercial air conditioner/heater supplier, but theres a few good sources for cheap stuff:
http://www.atsacoustics.com/cgi-bin/...0.69&act=&aff=

That's an excellent site for raw material for both acoustic panels and speakers, and the sell quality panels. Pink fiberglass might be more cost effective. The foam is well, not the greatest for a subwoofer, IMO. I'm sure many would disagree. You won't know until you try. Just line the walls with the stuff using spray adhisive or a bit of sticky glue or something. Batts of fiberglass will even hold in place if stuffed right. Rigid fiberglass might need stapling, but if you cut it to fit right should hold in place on all but the top wall. I'd glue it on though for some holding strength to be safe.

Up to you. I noticed a big difference taking some stuffing out of my 15" subs cabinet, but going with a more dense, sound absorbing material lining the walls. You're not just absorbing internal standing waves (better done by fiberglasses than foams or polyfill), but you're also changing the internal volume of the cabinet the driver "sees" by up to 20%. This changes the total system Q, affecting the "punchiness", "tightness", FR, SPL (yup, a few dB sometimes, especially at the lowest frequencies which can lead to less work for the amp) and all those other cool audiphile buzzwords. I do a bit of trial and error with all my speakers. Everyone's ears are different so there really is no "best" stuffing solution, some prefer the colorations that using no damping material creates. Some manufacturers stuff the snot out of some models to cover up shoddy cabinets. Just be careful you don't strip the screw holes down so they don't hold the driver down anymore.

[L.J.]

Thanks for the info Kex. Those panels aren't that bad looking and pretty cheap too. I already talked to wifee and I'm gonna put some designed fabric on the panels to make em look pretty. I'm hoping to make them look like decoration for the room as much as possible. Any tips for that?

Seems like lining the sub with fiber glass has some great benefits. Not bad!

I gotta chance to watch Cars over the weekend and this sub is definately an improvement over my S12.3. I also threw some space ship fly over scenes at it and this baby can play deep. I also played LOTR ROTK scenes with the ghost rider flying on the dragon (or whatever that thing is) when Frodo makes it to the beginning of the stairs in the mountainside and a huge green pillar would shoot in the sky. My sub would always choke on that scene but the Titanic handled it just fine. You could feel the bass slap you evertime the dragon thingie took a flap of it's wings. Yeah, nice sub for $578.

[kexodusc]

Thanks for the info Kex. Those panels aren't that bad looking and pretty cheap too. I already talked to wifee and I'm gonna put some designed fabric on the panels to make em look pretty. I'm hoping to make them look like decoration for the room as much as possible. Any tips for that?

Seems like lining the sub with fiber glass has some great benefits. Not bad!

.

I just used cheapo burlap, and made frames out of 1" x 2"'s (I think, maybe 1x3's) and wrapped the fiberglass panels in cotton batt off a roll, then cut the burlap to wrap around the back. Then I took my trusty staple gun and stapled the fabric to the back of the frame. There's a little air gap behind the fiberglass, but this saved me a lot of fabric by not having to wrap the back side that rests against the wall. This was incredibly easy, and once you figure out how to fold the fabric to make it look clean and trim, it's simple. Saved a ton of money over buying premade panels.

Careful with the fabric - use burlap, muslin, or an acoustically transparent designer fabric like Guilford of Maine. Pricey stuff though.

[L.J.]

Careful with the fabric - use burlap, muslin, or an acoustically transparent designer fabric like Guilford of Maine. Pricey stuff though.

Most searches seem to only pull up fabrics of solid color. No designs or patterns. Do you know of any sites that have some type of designs on these fabric?

Thanks

[kexodusc]

I don't know of any off the top of my head, but I know if you search for the GoM stuff you can get patterns of various styles. I'm guessing either a fabric shop or pro audio sound treatment company could fix you up.

[L.J.]

Kex, thanks for all the info. You've been very helpful. I don't understand though, what's the problem with using any type of fabric?

I've been trying to find some info but cant come up with anything. I did find some patterned fabric on the GoM website.

Edit: I just ran across this quote "For acoustics projects, the weave on this fabric is open enough to let the high frequencies pass through, but not so open that you can see through it." That makes sense.

[kexodusc]

Kex, thanks for all the info. You've been very helpful. I don't understand though, what's the problem with using any type of fabric?

I've been trying to find some info but cant come up with anything. I did find some patterned fabric on the GoM website.

Edit: I just ran across this quote "For acoustics projects, the weave on this fabric is open enough to let the high frequencies pass through, but not so open that you can see through it." That makes sense.

Good for you! Don't underestimate fabric's affect on frequency levels. There some absorption, reflection going on, especially at the highs. But if it's not acoustically transparent fabric (no fabric is 100%, but some are much better than others) the sound waves won't penetrate the fabric and get absorbed. Basically, you'll end up with a reflective surface on top of an acoustic absorptive wall panel, on top of a reflective surface which you tried to treat in the first place...

I'm trying to think where you can get patterns at but I can't recall any. Most treatments I've seen commercially have used single color fabrics, maybe a few to accent each other, but no real patterns. Gotta be some though.

[GMichael]

Hey LJ,

How's that sub working out for you? What have you watched/listened to so far?

I was home sick for almost 2 weeks, so I've seen a lot of my DVD collection over again. So far I'm loving this thing.

[L.J.]

Hey LJ,

How's that sub working out for you? What have you watched/listened to so far?

I was home sick for almost 2 weeks, so I've seen a lot of my DVD collection over again. So far I'm loving this thing.

I gotta chance to listen to some tunes (R&B) over the weekend and did a little HT demo for some family. This sub was impressive while listening to music. I'm lovin' this sub more and more. I was wastching Ice Age 2 and everytime the huge ice wall would crack the sub would hit hard and you could not only hear but really feel the ice wall shifting. I let visiting family watch the ending band battle on Drumline and let's just say there was complete silence in the house while this was playing. I also pulled out my DTS demo disc which has some great clips. Hits deep but is very smooth. Hurts me to my heart that I put it in storage yesterday

Were moving into a bigger place in a couple of months and I just didn't have anywhere to put this beast. My S12.3 will have to handle the low end for a little while longer. I was gonna get the sub in Feb. after the move but pulled the trigger early because the sale ends Jan. 4.

[GMichael]

I gotta chance to listen to some tunes (R&B) over the weekend and did a little HT demo for some family. This sub was impressive while listening to music. I'm lovin' this sub more and more. I was wastching Ice Age 2 and everytime the huge ice wall would crack the sub would hit hard and you could not only hear but really feel the ice wall shifting. I let visiting family watch the ending band battle on Drumline and let's just say there was complete silence in the house while this was playing. I also pulled out my DTS demo disc which has some great clips. Hits deep but is very smooth. Hurts me to my heart that I put it in storage yesterday

Were moving into a bigger place in a couple of months and I just didn't have anywhere to put this beast. My S12.3 will have to handle the low end for a little while longer. I was gonna get the sub in Feb. after the move but pulled the trigger early because the sale ends Jan. 4.

Glad you're liking it. Sorry about having to pack it up. I know that feeling well. Time will pass and soon you'll be having even more fun in the larger place.

[L.J.]

Boy how time does fly. 2 more weeks until I'm reunited with my baby. I can't wait

[L.J.]

I just used cheapo burlap, and made frames out of 1" x 2"'s (I think, maybe 1x3's) and wrapped the fiberglass panels in cotton batt off a roll, then cut the burlap to wrap around the back. Then I took my trusty staple gun and stapled the fabric to the back of the frame. There's a little air gap behind the fiberglass, but this saved me a lot of fabric by not having to wrap the back side that rests against the wall. This was incredibly easy, and once you figure out how to fold the fabric to make it look clean and trim, it's simple. Saved a ton of money over buying premade panels.

Careful with the fabric - use burlap, muslin, or an acoustically transparent designer fabric like Guilford of Maine. Pricey stuff though.

Panels are ordered and on the way. I talked it over with wifee and going with a solid color burlap is cool. Kex do you recommened glueing the burlap to the panels? Not sure if I asked already.

[L.J.]

4 panels complete, 2 to go.

[Dusty Chalk]

Very nice. I like the way they match the couch.

[kexodusc]

Hey LJ, nice job! Where'd you get all the materials from?

Crap, I missed your post. I just used a staple gun, cheap and fast. No messy glue...Glue can be messy and I worried about the long term adhesiveness.
I used a natural Burlap - kinda beige in color. Yours is a nice greyish/white. I might order some of that stuff to add a second neutral color. The only hard part I found was pulling the Burlap tight enough around the frame so the panels looked professional and square.

I've been so busy lately I still haven't finished all my panels. Haven't done any DIY'ing since October.

I have a few pics somewhere at home of my panels...I'll see if I can't find'em and post em.

[GMichael]

Very nice job L.J. Can you make a few in maroon?

[kexodusc]

Very nice job L.J. Can you make a few in maroon?

I bet you could!!!

Edit - okay, this new "winky" smiley has a little "kiss" feature...that ain't cool - it's being replaced by a non suggestive normal smiley....there, that's better

[L.J.]

Very nice. I like the way they match the couch.

Wifee picked the color

[GMichael]

I bet you could!!!

Edit - okay, this new "winky" smiley has a little "kiss" feature...that ain't cool - it's being replaced by a non suggestive normal smiley....there, that's better

Thanks for changing that.

[L.J.]

Hey LJ, nice job! Where'd you get all the materials from?

Crap, I missed your post. I just used a staple gun, cheap and fast. No messy glue...Glue can be messy and I worried about the long term adhesiveness.
I used a natural Burlap - kinda beige in color. Yours is a nice greyish/white. I might order some of that stuff to add a second neutral color. The only hard part I found was pulling the Burlap tight enough around the frame so the panels looked professional and square.

I've been so busy lately I still haven't finished all my panels. Haven't done any DIY'ing since October.

I have a few pics somewhere at home of my panels...I'll see if I can't find'em and post em.

I ordered from atsacoustics. Total came to $155 shipped for 6 panels and fabric.

I skipped the glue as well. One mistake after glueing and your pretty screwed!

I orginally wanted to go with natural but the wife thought the parchment would fit the furniture better. She was right.

[L.J.]

Very nice job L.J. Can you make a few in maroon?

Yeah I'm gonna make a few more panels. Maybe a natural or darker brown though.

[GMichael]

Yeah I'm gonna make a few more panels. Maybe a natural or darker brown though.

Brown? Now, you know that won't match my living room.

[kexodusc]

$155 for 6 panels ain't bad!!! I think the cheapest I've seen is $38 per 2'X4' panel - 6 of those will run you dandy to $300 shipped. And they're just the same as what you did by yourself.

I ordered my fiberglass from a heating/ac distributor and got it for $0.65 per sq ft - that's about $5.20 a panel....6 for $31.20 - you do the math. So I ordered 100 sq feet of it (condition of getting the good rate). Shipping added another $30 - so $1.80 per panel I have a bunch of fiberglass I still need use in my basement now (and a bunch of burgundy foam). But I think buying the bulk allowed me to do it a wee bit cheaper than LJ. I think I worked it out that $4 of fabric will do one panel and change. That's $11 per panel + $5-$10 or so for the lumber and hardware...
$20 per panel? The more you buy the cheaper it gets. $200-$300 can do a room quite nicely.

This has got to be one of the most effective home theater upgrades you can do.
I have a lot of explaining to do when people walk in and see 12 big panels around my room hanging on walls...my Dad makes fun of me and my inlaws think I'm crazy....they just don't understand.