Now Offering Services For Transmision Line Enclosure Design

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

Considering the demographic, I'm fairly impressed with the number of gentlemen on this site who are interested in venturing into the Sound Quality end of the spectrum recently, so to perpetuate that spirit, I would like to begin offering my design services pertaining to transmission lines. I've done about a dozen or so for various members and the feedback has been wonderful. I'm only one man and I do the math long-hand, in the evenings, so depending on my workload it may take a little time to get back to you with the final design. Maybe one day, maybe two or three days. If I become too busy to provide a reasonable turn around time, I'll let you know before I accept your submission. Don't really see that happening, though. Nominal fee is $30 with sketches and a cut list. I don't provide a cut sheet that shows you how to get the most out of your sheet of MDF.

To be clear, when I say design, I do not mean a fancy drawing that you can start a thread with to receive attention from your friends. By design, I mean arriving at a target performance (frequency response, etc...) for a given driver based on applied mathematics. I utilize the design principals of Augspurger, Bailey, and a tiny bit of D'Appolito. Yes, you will get a drawing. It will be a simple, but very neat, pencil sketch to aid in identifying each piece for the purposes of assembly (sent by file, either a Photobucket link or an email attachment).

You should be aware that transmission lines are not very efficient and are not generally associated with high output. If you're looking for high output, build a vented enclosure. At best, the efficiency will match that of a sealed enclosure for the same driver (although, there is a gain in output for the lowest octave compared with the sealed enclosure, but it remains relative to the overall efficiency). As a norm, a properly designed TL will actually have a lower efficiency than sealed, especially with a shorter, tapered line. That's not to say that you won't be loud with a TL, but it basically becomes a function of the driver's abilities. TL's are also usually quite large and impractical for most, and some can be quite challenging to build, so this isn't for everyone.

So why build a TL? Well, as I said earlier, for the purposes of SQ! Musicality on a completely different level. The only thing I've heard that sounds better than a TL for bass duty is no enclosure at all (dipole and IB). You will enjoy a relatively benign impedance/phase profile (which means your driver will appear as a less reactive load, ensuring your amplifier will maintain it's composure and have very little difficulty delivering power and keeping control), a very wide bandwidth, and a superb group delay/transient response. You will enjoy impact and great upper end response, facilitating a potentially seamless transition into the midbass being produced by your front stage. You will also enjoy effortless subterranean low frequencies, which is what subwoofers are supposed to be all about in the first place. But most importantly, you will retain musicality. You will enjoy the rich harmonic complexities that you've been missing with your high tuned, transient degrading, boom boxes. All within the limits of your driver selection and your vehicle's transfer function, of course.

TL's are fairly forgiving when it comes to driver selection but there are limitations. I can manipulate the enclosure to a small degree (potentially limited by your available space) to allow for a wide variety of driver parameters (or your musical tastes for that matter) but please avoid drivers with a very high or very low Qts number. Shoot for the combination of a low Fs and a high Xmax. Good thermal and mechanical power handling is important but it's not necessary to use these beast multi-kilowatt, triple spider, nut-busters. In fact, that would be counter-intuitive. Remember - it's all about retaining the musicality. I'd also be glad to assist you with driver selection once you're booked for a design.

Things I'll need from you in the form of a PM;

* Your desired form of contact (PM or email) and some PayPal love.

* Driver specs - as much detail as you can provide.

* Maximum physical dimensions allowed and any preferences you may have for appearance (proportions, driver/terminus orientation, etc...).

* Acoustic environment (trunk, hatch, wagon, etc...).

* Some basic info regarding your listening habits, goals, equipment, etc...

* Any other concerns you may have.

Shoot me a PM when you're ready. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Click to read more...

 

[Kastlez_ 10+ year member]

Thanks,

Ciaonzo definitely knows his stuff.

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

I've edited the above to include sketches for every submission as well as a single price, rather than offering two levels of service. Thanks!

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

Up.

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

Only two people so far, lol.

Don't be skeered. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/up2something.gif.dd110ecf3ae4b76050d87598f2f8de7c.gif

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

sounds like a bunch on essque hogwash to me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[ShiningBuick 10+ year member]

Very interesting.. I have no desire for an enclosure like this, however I am verrry interested in where you learned your stuff!!

Did you take classes and so forth in sound and enclosure dynamics, or is it the culmination of years of independent book research? I'd be interested in knowing more about this.

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

sounds like a bunch on essque hogwash to me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

lol

Very interesting.. I have no desire for an enclosure like this, however I am verrry interested in where you learned your stuff!!
Did you take classes and so forth in sound and enclosure dynamics, or is it the culmination of years of independent book research? I'd be interested in knowing more about this.

No formal classes or anything, just LOTS of reading and experience over the years. I built my first "normal" enclosure when I was 12, and my first TL back in '94. It was mostly guess work based on my new understanding of the 1/4 wave theory but there was very limited information at that time. What was available, was widely varied since there was no real consensus for what was correct. Anyway, it was successful. I built a line for a 4" Vifa driver and it blew me away. I've barely built anything else besides TL's since that time.
These days there's a wealth of information out there so it shouldn't take you long to inform yourself on the topic. Happy hunting!

 

[grimreper912003 5,000+ posts]

Definatly a guy to trust here! I would put him in charge of me system if he did SPL. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

Definatly a guy to trust here! I would put him in charge of me system if he did SPL. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Thanks! I can do the SPL thing, I just don't enjoy it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[Jroo 10+ year member]

im very interested in a Tline. I bought some cheap clearance woofers that I was told would work well in a Tline. Is there any way with the specs you could tell me how big the box would be before buying plans. If the box ends up taking all of my hatch, I dont want to do it. I was told a quarter wave would give me some space back. Any truth to that

 

[bhsdriller 10+ year member]

are these boxes a lot bigger than normal ported or no?

I'm interested just don't have a lot of room

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

im very interested in a Tline. I bought some cheap clearance woofers that I was told would work well in a Tline. Is there any way with the specs you could tell me how big the box would be before buying plans. If the box ends up taking all of my hatch, I dont want to do it. I was told a quarter wave would give me some space back. Any truth to that

are these boxes a lot bigger than normal ported or no?
I'm interested just don't have a lot of room

Yeah fellas, these enclosures are relatively large. Easily as large their vented counterpart, or larger, in some cases. I would never reccommend a TL for a space-saving solution, lol. There are ways to get clever but we're still somewhat limited by the minimum requirements for line length and cross section, depending on the overall goal. You can only make them so small before you begin to compromise performance in some way or another.
If either of you would like to send me a PM with the drivers in question and the maximum dimensions for your available space, I could let you know if it's feasible.

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghK4GVpZaVc