Panacea Engineering

Also, When the screws are removed, you will need a Stiff Putty knofe or a paint scraping tool, to break the seal of the old gasket material. Sometimes this is tough to do without doing damage to the bottom of the cabinet. take your time and slide it under and twist all the way around the bottom, and it should break free after several "Laps" around with the stuiff putty knife. this gasket material also becomes like wet paint and gets into everything, so be ready with some acetone or mineral spirits for clean up as it is sticky as hell and gooey......[]

The 3/4", somewhat smaller bottom plate on the La Scala, is actuallty the access port cover for the woofer. It has about twelve Phillips screws securing it to the cabinet. Be careful; depending on whether these screws have been subjected to moisture, over the years, they may strip out very easily, upon trying to remove them. Be sure that you have an intact "Head" on the screws, before attempting to remove them.If they are visably rusted, you will need an Impact Screw remover to break them loose.

We are listening to the DX 38/Jube/K-402/Tads now........! Give me a few hours to "Play" and we will report back around Fiveish (sp).........or for that matter...is it a new word...?[]

Richard, As a minimum, the braid needs to be grounded on the source end, or it will have a "Slight" affect on the signal. The ungrounded braid will creat a field, if not grounded. It is perfectly OK to leave it unattached on the "Receiving" end. You can reduce the number of starands to make the connection as it is only a shield for the other conductors. I am sure there will be some argument to this...and that is OK.....

Thad, The F-20 looks very Stately....standing tall in the corner.....! Nice finish and great job......!

After making the hole big enough, bend the wire over and pull out the hole, twist and you are finished. This piece of coax had an Aluminum shield under the braiding, which made it a bit harder,

I use a Dental Pick....As long as you do not "Nick" the wires, you are OK. Open a hole in the braiding close to the strip cut.......

Very OLD piece of Coax....but hopefully you will get the idea.....

The braiding is woven just like a Chinese Finger Grip. After stripping the outer sheathing back the required length (Longer is better), use a pick like above or a deburring tool. Something that has a point but not sharp. Close to where you trimmed the outer sheathing, make a hole by pulling the braiding to either side of the wires it surrounds. Keep doing this uintil the "hole" is large enough to take the tool and slid it through betwen the braiding and the wires and work the wires out through this hole. After they are seperated, just straighten the braiding back out and you are good to go. Very quick and it maintains the braiding to the end of the cut. This is one of the first things you learn when working with Coax. I will post a picture in a bit.....

Bruce, The WACI is hard at work....I sent you a PM....The plate isn't overflowing but we are getting ready for two events at the Flying Field in SC, that are at the end of August and the beginning of September. I will be down there from next Tuesday through September 10th.....so I am having to divide time between several different projects.

Yep....That is definately a Factory Boo Boo......!

OK.....Very Long Day........Had to do some work on the Construction part today...Really wish I had the time you guys think I have, so we could do this full time, but we are also building a building and it takes away from the other stuff I would like to do. Anyway, what I have hooked up is the DX-38 ahead of two SS amps: SAE A-502 for the Base Bins and A302 for the K 402/TAD's. We are Biamping, if that is OK. If there is another configuration that you would like me to use, please let me know. I am pretty sure that I have the files loaded correctly and we will send some signals through them tomorrow. Been a very long day and I am tired...........[|-)] As to the EQing...NO I did NOT EQ anything Thursday. I just hooked the TADS up to the HF output of the two way passives that we have. I really do not know how anyone can tell they are wrong for the application, when you have NO idea of what I am using for passives. That is a completely different thread and this one is about the DX-38 and the K-402/TAD's in comparison. I connected them just to make some sound/noise, as everyone was SOO anxious for me to do something. As I said earlier, I was very surprised at how good they sounded on the poor ole passives, that we have. Mike, sadely, the Martinelli's nor the Eliptrac's need any "gimmicks" (Your Term) to soud pretty good through the two way I presume you mean EQing the passives.....? W. C.

What is stamped on the Tweeter? It may have been a way that the factory matched sets of drivers with "special" serial numbers.

Richard and Everyone, I am hoping to get the DX-38 up and running today. Yesterday was a complete bust, as I had to take the Black Lab to the Vet in the morning, for a little surgery. She had a growth on her left paw that needed removing, along with all of the blood work, testing for whatever and surgery to recovery. We picked her up at 7:00 PM and Seven Huindred Dollars later, she is doing fine. The Human in the group also had a Doctor's appointment yesterday at 2:00 PM for continued Pain Management for a back injury, so the day was pretty much shot....... I wish being mesmorized by something that sounded THAT good, was truly the case........

Tony, As a thought...Most here can assemble something of this size and I have often thought of using the THX ProMedia speakers for the "Innards". Perhaps you could do a "Flat Pack" of the cut pieces, for a minature La Scala and see how it goes. Cutting the pieces is by far the most challenging part. Just a thought......... W. C.

Mike, Please don't take me wrong, as I really do appreciate your input and explinations. Your technical knowledge is far beyond mine and I am just trying to satisfy, in my mind, which sounds better to me. It is just the beginning and I have just made a few very brief observations, on the fly, so to speak. I am just of the OLD and I mean very OLD.....[] school of passives. I use electronic crossovers for our Commercial work and they have a place there. The passive for Home use, just seems like the cleaner and "possibly" less expensive route for the average listner. No matter HOW the sound is reproduced, I only have my ears to tell me how it sounds. All I am saying IS, after a few hours of listening to the K 402's through, evidently the wrong passives, they sound pretty good. We just began the testing and I don't want to kill the horse before it even begins to pul the cart. We will have many more pages to critique and discuss the outcome of what I am doing, but I also want to keep this as simple as I can. I am not looking to reinvent the wheel, after all, it is just supposed to be a comparison of what sounds better to me....YMMV.

Richard, That Intro is probably in the top five for a listening test of speakers...some may feel different, but I know what that particular Lick is supposed to sound like Live, as I have heard it many times from Back Stage......Yep...30 seconds is enough to tell you the quality of the Reproduction...just shut your eyes and enjoy.....! I personally do not need any type of graph or measurement to tell me how it sounds.......

Mike, At present, we are running a S.A.E. SS A502. I personally am very fond of S.A.E. equipment and have used it for the past thirty years. There are also a myriad of other SS amps out there that will do an equally good job of getting the signal to the speakers. I can easily Bi-Amp with Quicksilver Tubes, but for simplicity of testing, we will use the A502 for everything. I want to eliminate as many varibles as possible and stay in the "Real World", that most people can afford. One of my problems is: If you have to go active and have some special settings on a processor that is very expensive, becoming more difficult to find and then EQ and PEQ the hell out of it....what is the point? I think we all would like a REALISTIC system, that sounds great, without having to spend a fortune, in all of the ancillary equipment. W. C.

Claude and Mike, I realize that the passives are not at the correct crossover for the TADS, as it should be around the vicinity of 500Hz, but I must tell you, that at 750 Hz, it ain't too damn shabby.......for one thing, the higher cross gives the Base Bin a bit of breathing room and you should hear the drums on "Hotel California"...The Intro will bring tears to your eyes.....Please don't "Condem" it until you have experienced it for yourself. We will do the DX-38 as designed by Roy and see what comes, but please don't tall me what I am hearing, as I am perfectly capable of judging the quality of sound, for myself. Claude: BTW, I am not sure where you are getting the "Generic" passive term from and I am not easily Blown away...as you should well know.

And............Finally for today....Tomorrow's Project........and we will get into the MiniDSP over the weekend...should be FUN.....!

Here it is in the corner Right Channel - K 402 - TAD Driver Passive two Way

here are the connections to the passive.......

Bob, Thanks........and glad we could help. They are ordered.... Had to cut gaskets and put everything together...and Of course I had to redrill the brackets. Nothing lined up...no matter how I turned them. The slots should have been 1/2" longer..... We have actually been listening since about 2:30 PM or so and I must say....First Impression is...I AM impressed....It is a much "Bigger" sound, for lack of a better term. We are playing through the two way passives....Running through the test CD's that Claude left with me.......great mixture of music. The K 402 is right channel and the Martinelli is on the left. K 402 has great projection...kinda room filling, where the Martinelli is more directionsl. the clarity for both is about the same, leaning towards the Martinelli for "Crispness". Again just first impressions with passives. Waiting for the Bass singer in the five man quartet....Northfield Four, I think. More to follow..........We will be working on the DX-38 tomorrow.

Along with other construction going on around here, we are in the process of replacing those windows..... Looks like we will Blow some sounds through the K 402's tomorow.......Get READY.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This last shot is to let you know that I have to deal with outside noise...also. If you look through the "Broken" window (there is a whole "nother" story attached to this and the cracks are on the outside payne), you will see Rail Road Tracks. My building is 25 feet of of Norfolk Southern's Main Freight Line that runs from Florida to Masine. The concrete slab in the sound room is three feet thick (added concrete blocks [waste from the Concrete Plant acreoss the street[) and the freight trains that come by still shake the Hell out of the building.........