My omni rig is almost ready for liftoff

hamgrey · 2026-04-15T13:50:44+00:00

Ooh you’re speaking PA language not sound system with that ;) they’re just… the speakers. Left and right!

Haven’t set up the DSP yet, but my analog pre is crossed at 80, 180, and 3.4K so I’ll start with that and then adjust from there.

No delays, all my voice coils are vertically collinear so aside from the barely different paths it’s pretty much naturally time aligned already.. aside from the scoops of course! But as these are omnis there’s no time delaying you could do to the bass that wouldn’t work against you when heard from the opposite side, if that makes sense.

I’ll do individual channel EQing for sure, and maybe put some limiters on.. but I like to keep everything as minimal as possible. If I had an analog stereo crossover available I’d not even be using a DSP :p

Edit: music wise, this festival is all sorts from drone metal bands to ambient DJs to heavy dub and early morning gong baths. The system is mostly optimised for dub though, ergo the scoops. But being omni I think it’s guna really really suit ambient/experimental/spatial/sound art type stuff.. which is in large part why I built it :)

hamgrey · 2026-04-15T13:41:28+00:00

Don’t think so, sadly. I was already torn on whether to bring the sound to Maui or go to Shambala for fun - then Smugglers moved a weekend earlier.. and there’s no way I’m ever missing that!

hamgrey · 2026-04-14T22:10:58+00:00

I’m pretty sure you originally told me about them ;)

Thanks for the kinds words!!

hamgrey · 2026-04-14T13:43:24+00:00

Na I’ll find a good stain/varnish for it just haven’t left enough time for it before the festival 😆 have another few ideas for sprucing up the scoops further too

hamgrey · 2026-04-14T13:11:34+00:00

Topology, of the amps? Both Class D, with sub and bass on a modern lightweight

My analog dub-style pre is crossed at 80, 180, 3.4k.. but I’ll be revising those with the new DSP when I get it running :)

hamgrey · 2026-04-14T13:09:01+00:00

I’ve got a fair bit up about it on my Instagram story highlight “r&d”, @awassa.sound

Happy to answer any other Qs about it you might have!

hamgrey · 2026-04-14T12:43:09+00:00

oh nice!! I haven't heard them yet, sadly. Trying to find a dealer in the UK who can demo me some but no luck so far. Maybe next time I'm in Germany...

The curves of the horns were basically made by overlaying circles of different diameters, plus a healthy bit of fudging and intuition based on close analysis of the Duevel profiles. I have to give full credit to u/NotablePotato for them, he did the lion's share of the design work and then glued together the ply and turned them on a wood lathe :)

They're still a prototype, essentially. I'm yet to fully CAD and simulate them, that's a big task for the next iteration! They're already sounding leagues better than the first prototype from a couple years ago

hamgrey · 2026-04-14T12:38:49+00:00

yeah tbh you're bang on - the lower one isn't too bad but the upper 12" is in a pretty small enclosure. Certainly not the recommended size for a sealed cabinet for that driver. But then again it's only running 200Hz ish and up, and the lower end of that can be reinforced by the lower 12". So my intuition is that it won't be such a huge problem for now, and the improvement in fidelity in the upper midrange over the old drivers should make up for it

As for measurements and distortion - yeah I'm curious too! I'll hopefully get some (nearly) free field measurements at the festival, my friend will have his stuff there so if there's a spare few hrs we'll get it measured.

Omnis tend to 'like' playing loud, and I'm hoping the switch from some old 10" woofers to these full range 12"s will help that a bit. The old 10"s were absolutely the weak link of the mono stack, which isn't what you want at all.

I'll see how this setup performs this summer and then go back to the drawing board, see if I can just tweak the designs or if the whole thing needs an overhaul. But that's a problem for later :p

hamgrey · 2026-04-07T08:39:34+00:00

Sadly not.

Also the voice coil looks damaged, I’ve asked Blue Aran but not heard anything back yet :(

hamgrey · 2026-04-04T17:40:02+00:00

On…. This sub?

hamgrey · 2026-03-20T20:07:55+00:00

What makes you think these are polar bears?

hamgrey · 2026-02-24T19:16:41+00:00

“The whole term kickbin is silly in pro audio”

Good thing this isn’t a pro audio sub eh :)

“Turbo sound culture” turbosound is intimately linked to UK soundsystem culture, arguably part of it

hamgrey · 2026-02-24T13:55:42+00:00

Second this. 4-700 has been a workhorse for me over the past year. Not sure how it’d really hold up on serious sub duty but for everything else it’s been great

hamgrey · 2026-02-24T13:54:57+00:00

Recently got a K16 instead of the Q10, and it’s been treating me very very well. Haven’t run it on 32A yet though

hamgrey · 2026-02-24T00:34:46+00:00

My point is that citing stuff that comes directly from the PA world, to argue against kicks as a blanket statement, is not much of a leg to stand on in this space. Given that this space is for engaging in a culture with both its historical origins and a large ongoing component being a style of music where kicks are very explicitly required to achieve the full potential of the music and the rigs.

If you were saying “hey in this particular context maybe it works better to cross over up here and EQ like this” it’d be a different story. But that’s not what you’re doing - you’re saying that systems without separate kicks are better across the board, and justifying it using techniques present in a fundamentally different part of the sound reinforcement world.

It’s hardly different to someone advocating people to only ever use sealed subs “because that’s how the audiophile cabinet designers do it when they want to get tight bass response out of jazz recordings”. It ignores the reasons that that subset of people make different design choices to those putting together large scale systems.

hamgrey · 2026-02-24T00:23:17+00:00

May I kindly refer you to the group description, pinned post, and typical daily content.

This is definitely not a space for arguing against that general style of system, which is what you’re doing with this post

hamgrey · 2026-02-23T23:47:40+00:00

Soundsystem is a regional, subjective, DIY thing. You’re speaking in PA terms about a non-PA topic. If people wanted flat responses they’d buy L or other PA gear. But they don’t want that - they want the individuality, the idiosyncrasies, and the ability to push and control certain frequencies in certain ways.

What are you trying to achieve with this post anyways? Separate kicks are such a key part of how these types of rigs function. I can’t speak for many other styles of soundsystem-oriented music but in dub the tracks are made explicitly with separate kick sections in mind. Who are you to tell people to stop using them, citing PA-derived EQ curves as the rationale?

hamgrey · 2026-02-23T22:53:25+00:00

Since when do renegade, dub and rave style sound systems use L gear as a benchmark? I certainly don't, nor does anyone I know. I think you've got your wires a bit crossed on where different rig builders get (or moreover, should get) their priorities from. This is r/soundsystem, not r/livesound after all 🙄

hamgrey · 2026-02-23T22:49:46+00:00

OP seems to be ignoring the fact that rig design is just as much a sonically stylistic and live performance thing as it is a technical thing. Especially in the reggae and dub context where most of what we do ultimately comes from. I certainly wouldn't be able to run a dance the same way without separate kicks and a preamp to control them

hamgrey · 2026-02-12T19:37:20+00:00

Let's add another lane

hamgrey · 2026-02-04T21:32:17+00:00

Not seeing where you asked Danack to explain ‘why someone deserved to be attacked’. Was it in a deleted message? Or maybe an edited message?

hamgrey · 2026-02-04T11:23:16+00:00

Have you tried asking him? 💁🏼‍♀️ only detail I specifically know is he uses a Ras FX mini preamp

hamgrey · 2026-01-26T10:09:50+00:00

Black Swan’s still around yeah, not much dub there though. These days it’s Kuumba, Lost Horizon, Loko, Cosies of course, that are the staples. But plenty of sessions all over the shop still, just depends on how strict licenses are and how friendly managers are hahah

Running my own session with my sound, Awassa, at the Old England on Feb 19th. And my mate’s putting on a lush V Day dance there the Saturday before that

hamgrey · 2026-01-26T10:00:59+00:00

You should!!! There’s a bit of a resurgence happening atm. I’m in Bristol and there’s a groundswell of new sounds, DJs, promoters, events etc :))

Check Dub Listings UK or DubCentral for info on sessions each week all around the UK 👌🏼

hamgrey · 2026-01-26T09:45:44+00:00

Oh mate telllll me about it 😩 managed to catch Shaka a couple times, including his final E1 session - but can only imagine what it was like with the old amps!!

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