Cutting Down RTi150s

mijotu · May 2018

I'm currently using a pair of RTi150s as mains for my home theater. However, given that I'll have kids in and out of there, I'm limited in their placement.

I'd like to wall mount them, but, given their mass and their being so close to the wall, I feel that isn't ideal. Tethering to the wall also presents the latter issue.

What if I cut the speaker into their two "halves," mounting the upper two-way section to the wall and standing the lower woofer section away from the wall? I would have to add another panel to the affected section and play with the wiring, but it seems like it could be feasible.

Of course, I'd like to get some feedback on this before I begin loading up the Sawzall...thanks to all in advance!

—Michael

txcoastal1 · May 2018

Bad idea, the cabinets are not a simple rectangle box
Crossovers, ports, binding posts etc. All the characteristics will change

Get a different pair of speakers for your application

mlistens03 · May 2018

I imagine it would sound bad, and it would look bad, and it wouldn't work right. Is it possible? I guess, in theory, yes. but remember the crossover is in the bottom half of the speaker so you would need to either run a bunch of cables up and down your wall, or build another crossover.
overall, nice idea, but I don't think its gonna work.
Micah

heiney9 · May 2018

Terrible idea, will result in terrible sound and zero value speakers. Buy the right kind of speakers for the job.

pitdogg2 · May 2018

Is it groundhog day or April fools day ....AGAIN ????

The lower woofers are designed with the whole cabinet volume in the equation. Making that volume smaller will seriously negatively affect the speaker sound. BIGTIME !

sell them and by some bookshelf speakers or better go to in-wall speakers

lightman1 · May 2018

May Day!

rooftop59 · May 2018

you dudes are harsh, the man is asking a serious question.

But yes, unfortunately that will NOT work. You would basically need to build two (four) new cabinets with new crossovers, etc. At that point you may as well either 1. buy new (or used) speakers or 2. buy a kit from parts express and build them that way.

You can probably get a couple hundred bucks for those speakers on craigslist. Then purchase either something like the rt55i or rt35i or the new S20 bookshelf speakers, and one or two nice little subs. Lots of subs on the used market that would give you good bang for your buck, or if you want new most of us recommend SVS or HSU for subs.

BlueFox · May 2018

For my next act, I will saw a speaker in half. Ooops.

Clipdat · May 2018

BlueFox wrote: »

For my next act, I will saw a speaker in half. Ooops.

mhardy6647 · May 2018

I hope/assume this thread is a joke... please let it be a joke.

tonyb · May 2018

rooftop59 wrote: »

you dudes are harsh, the man is asking a serious question.

I dunno man, serious questions in audio related topics usually don't include sawing speakers in half.....just sayin'. If a tweeter was too harsh and someone wanted to "turn it around", so that it faces in ward, should we also entertain that as serious questioning ? We've had one dude building a subwoofer out of a cardboard box, wanted to know what size and where to put the port hole. You can imagine the responses he got.

Anyway, Ron answered his question on the first post and nailed it.

rooftop59 · May 2018

tonyb wrote: »

rooftop59 wrote: »

you dudes are harsh, the man is asking a serious question.

I dunno man, serious questions in audio related topics usually don't include sawing speakers in half.....just sayin'. If a tweeter was too harsh and someone wanted to "turn it around", so that it faces in ward, should we also entertain that as serious questioning ? We've had one dude building a subwoofer out of a cardboard box, wanted to know what size and where to put the port hole. You can imagine the responses he got.

Anyway, Ron answered his question on the first post and nailed it.

dude, I didn't say it was a GOOD question. Good and serious have two different meanings last time I checked. But I am pretty sure he is actually thinking about sawing his speakers in half as a solution to his problem lol..

mlistens03 · May 2018

rooftop59 wrote: »

you dudes are harsh, the man is asking a serious question.

But yes, unfortunately that will NOT work. You would basically need to build two (four) new cabinets with new crossovers, etc. At that point you may as well either 1. buy new (or used) speakers or 2. buy a kit from parts express and build them that way.

You can probably get a couple hundred bucks for those speakers on craigslist. Then purchase either something like the rt55i or rt35i or the new S20 bookshelf speakers, and one or two nice little subs. Lots of subs on the used market that would give you good bang for your buck, or if you want new most of us recommend SVS or HSU for subs.

I don’t think I was being harsh...

Viking64 · May 2018

mlistens03 wrote: »

I don’t think I was being harsh...

No, you weren't. Being "harsh" would be to say: "Lock the kids in the root cellar and leave the speakers as they are."

mlistens03 · May 2018

tonyb wrote: »

If a tweeter was too harsh and someone wanted to "turn it around", so that it faces in ward

I did that once, it didn’t work.

Not even kidding though, I wanted more bass response from my speakers and I said to myself “less treble = more bass, right?” Wrong.
Edit for fixing quote mistake

tonyb · May 2018

mlistens03 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

If a tweeter was too harsh and someone wanted to "turn it around", so that it faces in ward

I did that once, it didn’t work.
Not even kidding though, I wanted more bass response from my speakers and I said to myself “less treble = more bass, right?” Wrong.
Edit for fixing quote mistake

Dude, you should keep some things under your hat.

pitdogg2 · May 2018

tonyb wrote: »

mlistens03 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

If a tweeter was too harsh and someone wanted to "turn it around", so that it faces in ward

I did that once, it didn’t work.
Not even kidding though, I wanted more bass response from my speakers and I said to myself “less treble = more bass, right?” Wrong.
Edit for fixing quote mistake

Dude, you should keep some things under your hat.

like ??? hair? maybe....

mijotu · May 2018

Hey Folks,

First allow me to apologize for disappearing. My notifications were turned off, apparently. Not cool.

As far as some of the responses go: Yeah, I totally get it. Sometimes there’s little else to say to someone asking a seemingly absurd question. However, I feel it is a fair one, which I hope to explain below. I also feel that getting the appropriate speakers for the job is entirely fair, and this is generally my preferred approach.

The reason I asked is because a) the two cabinets are physically sealed from one another. I am attaching a photo taken from when I recently opened it up to clean out a piece of debris. (Shot taken from the upper woofer hole toward the MT cabinet.) This is likely something I should have included in my original question. And,
b) I have sunk a fair bit of coin into this theater to date, and I tend toward being resourceful; wiring issues, aesthetics, and resale are not a pressing issue presently.

With regard to selling the speakers: I am perfectly aware of how to effect such transactions, should they be necessary. Also, to anyone who is not familiar with the model, and are simply assuming it would be a dumb idea, or otherwise feel this may be indicative of a federal or spiritual holiday, I would only ask that you support your assertions with hypotheticals, data, or empirical evidence (except for you, tweeter boy

— in lieu of that, I would ask, with all due respect, that you kindly STFU.

To those of you remaining that might have something of additional substance to proffer, I welcome your insights with open armatures. (I’m not insinuating that that hasn’t yet happened, but I feel even the valid responses invite a more robust basis of reasoning.) Should the idea prove unfeasible, unreasonable, or unbelievable as a result of our discourse, I will by all means conclude the rational thing to do is rule it out and proceed thusly.

—Michael

mijotu · May 2018

Hey Folks,

First allow me to apologize for disappearing. My notifications were turned off, apparently. Not cool.

As far as some of the responses go: Yeah, I totally get it. Sometimes there’s little else to say to someone asking a seemingly absurd question. However, I feel it is a fair one, which I hope to explain below. I also feel that getting the appropriate speakers for the job is entirely fair, and this is generally my preferred approach.

The reason I asked is because a) the two cabinets are physically sealed from one another. I am attaching a photo taken from when I recently opened it up to clean out a piece of debris. (Shot taken from the upper woofer hole toward the MT cabinet.) This is likely something I should have included in my original question. And,
b) I have sunk a fair bit of coin into this theater to date, and I tend toward being resourceful; wiring issues, aesthetics, and resale are not a pressing issue presently.

With regard to selling the speakers: I am perfectly aware of how to effect such transactions, should they be necessary. Also, to anyone who is not familiar with the model, and are simply assuming it would be a dumb idea, or otherwise feel this may be indicative of a federal or spiritual holiday, I would only ask that you support your assertions with hypotheticals, data, or empirical evidence (except for you, tweeter boy

) — in lieu of that, I would ask, with all due respect, that you kindly STFU.

To those of you remaining that might have something of additional substance to proffer, I welcome your insights with open arms. (I’m not insinuating that that hasn’t yet happened, but I feel even the valid responses invite a more robust basis of reasoning.) Should the idea prove unfeasible, unreasonable, or unbelievable as a result of our discourse, I will by all means conclude the rational thing to do is rule it out and proceed thusly.

—Michael

mlistens03 · May 2018

Sorry I didn’t mean to offend you with my post about the tweeter, I was saying in response to someone else that I did actually try that and it didn’t work.
Now, if you don’t mind, I believe I have some explanations for why it won’t work (not 100% sure they are all correct, but I know at least a few of them are, so bear with me).
1. Even though you aren’t changing the internal volume of the speaker, the front baffle does make a difference to the way that the speaker responds in its environment, as well as the sides. The bigger the speaker is, the more area for reflection. Because of this, they make adjustments to the crossover of the speaker from the bookshelf version the make up for it.Remove that area, and there will most likely be wholes and peaks in the frequency response, and it generally won’t sound good.
I apparently only had one explanation, or maybe I forgot the other ones whilst typing? If I think of them, I will come back.
Micah

mlistens03 · May 2018

tonyb wrote: »

mlistens03 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

If a tweeter was too harsh and someone wanted to "turn it around", so that it faces in ward

I did that once, it didn’t work.
Not even kidding though, I wanted more bass response from my speakers and I said to myself “less treble = more bass, right?” Wrong.
Edit for fixing quote mistake

Dude, you should keep some things under your hat.

I know I should but I always think of that after it’s been an hour so I can’t edit my post

txcoastal1 · May 2018

There's still the effects of time alignment of the design

You will get away with for HT but will never get the true stereo signal, and sound stage for music

mijotu · May 2018

mlistens03 wrote: »

Sorry I didn’t mean to offend you with my post about the tweeter *snip*

No offense taken, amigo — I was just giving you a hard time

mlistens03 wrote: »

1. Even though you aren’t changing the internal volume of the speaker, the front baffle does make a difference to the way that the speaker responds in its environment, as well as the sides. The bigger the speaker is, the more area for reflection. Because of this, they make adjustments to the crossover of the speaker from the bookshelf version the make up for it.Remove that area, and there will most likely be wholes and peaks in the frequency response *snip*
Micah

Now, that’s somwthing I can chew on. Thank you.

–Michael

mijotu · May 2018

txcoastal1 wrote: »

There's still the effects of time alignment of the design

You will get away with for HT but will never get the true stereo signal, and sound stage for music

I should go bury my head in the sand, in shame.

I think I have more than enough reasons to abort, but by all means feel free to continue to disclose the true scale of the horror of my reasoning.

–Michael

mlistens03 · May 2018

mijotu wrote: »

txcoastal1 wrote: »

There's still the effects of time alignment of the design

You will get away with for HT but will never get the true stereo signal, and sound stage for music

I should go bury my head in the sand, in shame.

I think I have more than enough reasons to abort, but by all means feel free to continue to disclose the true scale of the horror of my reasoning.

–Michael

Naw your good dude I’ll let you off here. Others may not be so forgiving...
I remember asking questions that didn’t make since long ago (not on the forum, like in the 2nd grade) and I would always get made fun of. And now I can totally confuse my friends by telling them anything about computers, electronics, speakers, cars etc.! It’s sooo much fun

Clipdat · May 2018

Do kids really climb on tower speakers? To the point where they fall over on top of them and they get crushed and seriously injured?

I'm honestly just curious, serious question as I don't have kids.

txcoastal1 · May 2018

I get your concept so I'm not chastising

But having hands on in design of speakers, coordinating drivers, crossovers and cabinets is quite the PITA

Once you start modifying, any part of someone's else's design, the chain must be tweaked from end to end

mlistens03 · May 2018

By the way, if you’re going to be joining the forum, you’re going to want to read this thread: http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/29186/where-to-buy-black-paint
It’ll save you a lot of confusion when people talk about where they got the black paint for their DIY projects.

mijotu · May 2018

Clipdat wrote: »

Do kids really climb on tower speakers? To the point where they fall over on top of them and they get crushed and seriously injured?

I'm honestly just curious, serious question as I don't have kids.

I didn’t have kids for a long time. They never made much sense to me, and the only way I was certain they weren’t some sort of practical joke was my recollection of being one myself.

And, yes, they will take any and every opportunity to die some kind of horrible death. You know that guy who is always next to the president, looking around like he’s hearing things? That’s been me, 2/3 of every day, for the last 3.58 years.

rooftop59 · May 2018

mijotu wrote: »

Clipdat wrote: »

Do kids really climb on tower speakers? To the point where they fall over on top of them and they get crushed and seriously injured?

I'm honestly just curious, serious question as I don't have kids.

I didn’t have kids for a long time. They never made much sense to me, and the only way I was certain they weren’t some sort of practical joke was my recollection of being one myself.

And, yes, they will take any and every opportunity to die some kind of horrible death. You know that guy who is always next to the president, looking around like he’s hearing things? That’s been me, 2/3 of every day, for the last 3.58 years.

Just think of them as really smart, obnoxious puppies. Treats and pops in the rear work really well for behavior modification.

I have four, and I have never had an incident with any of my equipment (other than toys in the subwoofer port lol but that’s just too tempting). And I’m not nearly as mean as @steveinaz or @tonyb!

Keep your speakers, beat your children, problem solved!!!

mdaudioguy · May 2018

First thought when I read the title and initial post - that's a dumb idea! Of course, I have no empirical evidence to support that thought; just my normally exceedingly good intuition. Plus, I didn't feel like thinking too hard about it either.
So, go ahead and cut them, if you think you can make it work. Then, pics or it didn't happen.

Cutting Down RTi150s

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