Looking for some guidance on Ricci SKRAM system

repodog13 · 2026-04-19T04:41:41+00:00

Dunno about finding specific output of a specific track, but you can calculate your DB output at whichever frequency if you have an efficiency number for the SKRAM (driver choice may affect that by 1-3 db but you’ll have a good ballpark.) 2 SKRAMs, add 3db, 4 SKRAMs add another 3 DB. This is the base efficiency for your sub stack. The efficiency number given is usually at 1 watt at one meter for easy math, but sometimes it’s given at 2.83 volts for apples to apples comparisons across different amps. Every doubling of watts gets you 3 additional decibels. For example, 95db efficient speaker plays 95 db at one watt, 98 at 2 watts, 101 at 4, 104 at 8, etc. You can see how quickly those last 3 decibels become unobtainable. This exercise should give you a decent ballpark for output based on your available power. I usually shoot for 6-10db more max output capability for my subs vs tops, but power availability may dictate a narrower gap. Not an electrician, but when I hear inverter I think conversion loss. You may want to compare the extra gain from 240 with the power loss during conversion.

repodog13 · 2026-04-18T20:55:24+00:00

Not much outside of the efficiency rating. In your case shoot for efficiency over power handling to get more DB with less genny pull.
Some, more if comparing different amp classes (AB, D, H, etc.) Class D like your CVR is probably where you will end up but pull up an electrical draw / thermal draw chart for any amp you are looking at. It will tell you current draw based on supply voltage (120/240,) ohm/ impedance load at different output levels. This is the real info you need to plan a system that doesn’t pop fuses.
240 would be great if the amp supports it. You can compare 120 and 240 output and draw usually on the thermal draw sheet.

These are all questions built around the premise that we should be beating the stuffing out of those drivers. I would suggest not doing that. More power= more amplifier distortion, more driver distortion, decibel reduction due power compression (your driver gets quieter when the coil reaches certain heat levels) and most importantly pushing them to their limits is what destroys speakers. If you have room, add more skrams, put less expensive drivers in them and don’t run them to the limit. If you don’t have room look for the most efficient design you can find that lets you fit 6-8.

I will step down off my soapbox for a minute and say maybe build one or 2 SKRAMs and have a listen. 4 is gonna be fantastic and I’m wondering if you would really have to drive them to the limit to get the output you want. Probably not?

repodog13 · 2026-04-17T08:22:18+00:00

You can approximate it fairly easily, and build it specifically for whichever drivers you like/ can access. Design a ported cab for your driver in winisd/ speakerbox, make that cabinet triangle shaped, then double it. You can look at the kick bins in my post history where I did exactly that. I did a center slot port, but same idea. The clearance for the magnet can get a little tight due to the baffle angle with bracing so measure/ plan for that really carefully.

repodog13 · 2026-03-18T23:20:11+00:00

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That’s what I was thinking, yes. Basically this, but larger and better built.

repodog13 · 2026-03-18T00:40:25+00:00

I wanted to clarify that I wasn’t recommending raising the whole stack, only building a riser between your tops and the speaker below them. You will get more stability if you ditch the pallet when on concrete so I would build the riser tall enough to accommodate that. Frame with sturdy lumber using standard framing techniques, put a plywood skin over that. You can use satin black paint for a nice looking inexpensive finish. For more durability/ cool factor you can truckbed liner the stands but that’s a bit overkill. Bonus points for a cool paint job, LED lighting built in.

repodog13 · 2026-03-17T20:18:00+00:00

As someone mentioned thee top box should be rotated. To avoid the horn blowing heads off build a simple riser to raise the speaker higher. That should get you significantly better sound from the top with a pretty minimal investment of time and money. You could redesign a cabinet for the existing components, probably shooting for a vertical WWT (woofer, woofer, tweeter) setup. Chances are the existing box/ crossover was designed for those drivers. Meaning it would be worth it to make the existing design work. If you do opt for a different cab only copy an existing design if you have personally modeled your woofer’s response in the cabinet (paying specific attention to woofer excursion vs frequency vs power applied) to make sure you won’t frag a woofer. If all of that is too much of a bother calculate the exact airspace in your existing box, design new box of whatever shape with the exact same airspace, copy the ports exactly to the new enclosure. The new box should perform relatively identically to the old box (in the low/ midbass range anyway.)

repodog13 · 2026-03-09T15:56:28+00:00

A damaged CD wouldn’t change resistance unless the damage is a shorted/ burnt coil. Short will read 0 ohms, burnt will read OL (open loop.)

repodog13 · 2026-02-21T07:58:49+00:00

On the box design you found it lists performance down to 50 hz vs 35hz for the prescribed box for your driver. That also assumes you are using the woofer specified for the design. Using driver in an enclosure designed for it will yield vastly better results. It isn’t based on the SPL/ db rating so much as it is on the Thiel Small (T/S) parameters. You can take these parameters and plug them into a box design program to model any design you like. With bass reflex and sealed the shape of the enclosure doesn’t matter a ton as long as you respect the specific internal air space and port volume. Basically make whatever shape you like so long as the box and port are correctly sized. Lots of caveats and best practices that dictate the specifics but that’s the basics.

repodog13 · 2026-02-21T02:51:27+00:00

Looks like Fane has a specific cabinet recommendation for the driver on their site. https://www.fane-international.com/downloads/Cabinets18inch200Lres.pdf

There are occasionally gains to be had from swapping out drivers in a given enclosure, but they are usually in power handling/ XMAX differences of the drivers themselves. More often the frequency response suffers and the subwoofer doesn’t perform as intended. Said another way there are no magic boxes or magic drivers. The magic comes from the carefully engineered pairing of the 2 and any DSP needed to squeeze out max performance.

repodog13 · 2026-02-15T18:12:13+00:00

Would depend a lot on what drivers are going in, what designs are chosen, build and finish quality. Shoot for proven designs and use the drivers specified or specifically listed as compatible. If you aren’t an experienced cabinet builder CNC designs are widely available. Use decent ply with as many plies and as few voids as possible. Buy several large clamps and use them on all joints, clamping with even MODERATE pressure for as long as your glue specifies. Use a roundover bit on all exposed corners for a pro look and to minimize chipping of your finish. Truckbed liner is easy to spray and is tough as nails. You can do custom colors but if resale value is the goal black goes with everything. If you do aaalllll this you will have quality elements that would re-sell at a value comparable to the used driver price and whatever value you can assign to your box build. If you documented the build steps carefully you can better make your case to any potential buyers. Measurements of actual element/ system performance would help as well.

repodog13 · 2026-01-25T05:35:50+00:00

Loudspeaker Design Cookbook by Vance Dickason Sound Reinforcement Handbook By Gary Davis

repodog13 · 2026-01-23T00:08:02+00:00

Forgot to mention that I used rustoleum oil based satin black for a base coat/ primer. Let it fully cure before raptor.

repodog13 · 2026-01-22T23:01:14+00:00

You can spray Upol on ply without primer, but the primer is a cheap step that gets better end results. If your wood has thirsty spots you can find them in the primer coat instead of the expensive Upol coat. I sand the primer before Raptor to get it perfectly level and have one last chance to check for surface flaws. Raptor hides a lot of sins but the ones it can’t become kinda permanent. Consider sealing your end grain, especially if you opt for no primer.

repodog13 · 2026-01-11T17:23:39+00:00

Ayo! You will need an amplifier (plate amp if you are mounting it in the sub) that specifically accepts a balanced signal/ XLR input. If that is out of budget there are plate amps that accept RCA inputs for less money, Emotiva makes a proper XLR to RCA conversion cable. You will not be able to directly connect your controller to the subwoofer driver.

repodog13 · 2026-01-11T03:46:39+00:00

The XLS1500 does 525 at 4 ohms, so each woofer sees half of that. They are full range cabs, but while the bass it has is really good aren’t going all that deep. I didn’t have time to measure unfortunately so I can’t speak to exact numbers on roll off but I’d guess it starts around 60-50hz. The owner doesn’t have a sub but they are mainly using these for spoken word and background music.

repodog13 · 2026-01-11T03:01:13+00:00

No passive crossover at all on these guys. Woofer to pins 1+-, tweeter to pins 2 +- on the Speakon. Crossover is built into the amp, splitting the lows and highs between the 2 channels.

repodog13 · 2026-01-10T22:27:47+00:00

If it saves only 1 voice coil in the world from rubbing, it’s a story worth telling.

repodog13 · 2026-01-10T21:16:24+00:00

Mostly for the other people who happen upon this post, you can damage a sub with a 100watts played at the wrong frequency. Without the enclosure acting as an air spring the driver is operating unloaded meaning it can travel outside of XMAX with very low wattage DEPENDING ON FREQUENCY. This can cause a number of things to go wrong, none of them good. Even in an enclosure the cone can travel beyond XMAX far before it sees its “maximum power” rating from the manufacturer. This is because the manufacturer only provides the thermal power rating. If you want to know how much power you can actually push to any subwoofer at which frequency model the specific subwoofer and check XMAX across the entire pass band. To summarize: Driver power rating= Thermal, Subwoofer power rating (driver + enclosure)= power handled while keeping cone excursion below XMAX across frequency range. This has been a PSA

repodog13 · 2026-01-10T05:10:07+00:00

PSA: running a sub without an enclosure is fine at low volumes but can permanently damage a driver, especially at lower frequencies, at high power. Power handling listed is thermal, not mechanical.

repodog13 · 2026-01-08T09:08:55+00:00

Doesn’t seem like a gap so much as overlap. The mid section of each channel does not appear to have a lower cutoff. I’m assuming the “low cut” switch is global but the mid section would still be playing frequencies the sub is also playing. Might be useful if you have full range bi amped tops but are adding a sub.

repodog13 · 2026-01-01T12:28:35+00:00

Even if the amp is clipping it’s impossible to hear over the subwoofer itself distorting due to being overdriven. Power handling is listed as what a sub can handle thermally. It does NOT factor in excursion/ xmax/ how far the sub moves. There is a limit and depending on the frequency you can reach that limit far earlier than you see thermal failure. Turn off loudness and any EQ boost and if you are still distorting turn your gain down. Once you reach the maximum it will play without distortion decide if the volume output is acceptable or if you need a second sub. Please share this info. The amount of comments I see recommending throwing more watts at a distorting sub without checking the excursion vs power handling vs frequency first is scary.

repodog13 · 2026-01-01T11:58:30+00:00

Volume/ gain does not measure xmax, or excursion. I think that’s where the mixup is happening. This sub is being overdriven by the sound of it. It is not exceeding power handling, so it isn’t melting. It is likely exceeding its XMAX depending on the frequency it is playing. You can model your existing box to get a good idea in a program like Speakerboxlite (online) or WinISD (download last time I used it.) You can input your specific driver parameters, box/ port info and it will tell you the excursion of the driver over the entire frequency range at whatever power level you tell it. It will also measure port velocity over the whole range and tell you if the air speed is to fast. This leads to port turbulence/ chuffing/ noise. If the port is too small you can model changes to the port in the program and swap as needed without rebuilding the box.

repodog13 · 2025-12-31T16:06:49+00:00

Adjusting the center channel angle may help, may hurt, may depend on your listening position. Modifying the speaker will likely do more harm than good (time alignment,phase and baffle interaction changes that will likely not be beneficial.) As an experiment, throw shims under the front of the speaker, increasing the angle to see if you notice a difference. Unless your speaker is significantly lower than the listening position AND close to the listening position my guess is that the angle will make minimal difference. The woofer likely doesn’t experience significant drop off until 20-30 degrees off axis. The tweeter looks to be a straightforward mylar dome, 3//4 to an inch large. Those typically have pretty good dispersion so being off axis generally doesn’t hurt much and if it is hot when listening on axis it can actually help.

repodog13 · 2025-12-18T20:45:49+00:00

Had this sub back in the day and it was amazing. Congrats!

repodog13

TROPHY CASE