Peavey sp1 mods, yea I know shoot me

[wildchild]

So I came across a pair of sp1 mkIIIs for dirt cheap. Plan to use for the garage or shop but still want some quality sound.
Now before everyone gets huffy n saying they're junk,just remember the bass bins are better than my lascalas or any belle ,are lacking the 2 deadspots and resonace problems also.The cf-1 horn blows the 400 klipschhorn away in my opinion.
Moray James please speak your mind but I'm more interested in making a 3 way system of these as i find the 2 way in these having very poor mid range performance. I know i can EQ more mids in but i did have 4 sp1s and 2 cs800s back in the early 80s when I did some local DJ ing. Doing that had a tendecy to blow up the 22s when they over heated.
Any crossover and a mid horns suggestion is welcomed. Any help at all,cause if any one has modded a sp 1 I'm sure this would be the place to find them.
I plan to upgrade to the rx22 peavy driver, and I will probably crossover at 2400hz or 2200hz as the cf-1 and 22 combo is extremely sweet sounding at 2500 but they totally lack decent midrange down low.
Yes I know I'm being a complete idiot for sentimental reasons. But if I can't get them to sound great I know for fact that they play stupendiously loud. So at least I can drown out my drunken hickabilly neighbor across the street when they're drunk n have all 4 doors open on his truck blaring 80s pop and Hank jr. so loud that it's distorting. Mmmm maybe some swedish death metal or better yet some Rage against the machine and some Rammstein thrown in.
Thanks in advance for advice.

 

[bowtie427ss]

The ideal solution would be to find or build clones of the Peavey MB-2, or a similar mid-bass horn. You need something that will handle a 400hz crossover at no steeper than a 12db/octave slope, ideally, to meet the FH-1 bass section. It's gonna get expensive trying to cover that range with a compression driver.

You should also be able to run the 22's down to at least 1800hz or so without any trouble. With the newer RX versions i'd not hesitate to run them at 1200 where most mid-bass elements are gonna need to be rolled off.

 

[wildchild]

Thanks bowtie. The mb2 is a front load horn isnt it? I am looking more of a horn setup, that I can put on top of the sp1s, any other suggestions.
Also I am working with 2 au717 amps and not wanting to buy another one to do a tri amp setup like the project 1 and project 2s are.

 

[bowtie427ss]

Ideal upper roll-off range for the FH-1 is 250-400hz. A compression driver that will play well down to 400hz requires a horn that provides good acoustic loading down to that point, they are also fairly costly. This also means a LARGE horn with a LARGE mouth area.

JBL 2360 is a good example, with a 2445 driver(affordable) you can cross it as low as 500hz. with a 2485 driver(not cheap) you can run them as low as 350hz.

2360 is 31 inches square at the mouth and over 3 feet deep with driver attached.

The Klipsch k402 would be another possibility, it too is equally large but with a more horizontal aspect.

 

[elitopus]

You can get the 2360 horns pretty cheap as long as they are local. Shipping would be killer. I ran Renkus 3301 drivers on mine

 

[bowtie427ss]

He really needs the 2485 driver to get the XO point down where the FH-1 is still playing ~smoothly. They really start doing funky things in their response above 400hz.

There are a lot of compromises designed into the original SP-1 that result in a big midrange hole in their response. The folded horn configuration really messes with the driver's extended response, and it's impedance. But, if you observe their limited response range and only use them within it, they play smooth, loud, clean, dynamic with high sensitivity. A couple hundred clean watts will put a well mic'd kick drum right in your chest in a pretty good sized space, and do it in a good way that makes you want more.

 

[elitopus]

How about an Altec 290 driver? They claim response down to 300hz. Not sure how they would sound going that low.
A pair of those might be cheaper than the 2485, but finding the right horn to mate it with could be expensive

 

[Tom Brennan]

The FH1 basshorns I had (which were loaded with Eminence drivers by Tom Ronan, whom I bought the horns from) measured well up to around 600-700 hz, maybe the corner reflectors help compared to the LaScala basshorn. I used them with 1" Altec and JBL drivers to my satisfaction. Maybe I was easy to please.

 

[wildchild]

OK now we're cooking. Crossover wise I'm looking at 400 and 1200 if I go with the 22rx. So should I run a active beringer cx or just cheap out n use some lascala or khorn AA crossovers, even though they cross a little higher.?

 

[wildchild]

BTW instead of 3 amps can I use either my denon 3801 110 watts or my denon 5600 140watt per channel 7.1 avr in place of multi amps.

 

[Davidmorton]

So I came across a pair of sp1 mkIIIs for dirt cheap. Plan to use for the garage or shop but still want some quality sound.
Now before everyone gets huffy n saying they're junk,just remember the bass bins are better than my lascalas or any belle ,are lacking the 2 deadspots and resonace problems also.The cf-1 horn blows the 400 klipschhorn away in my opinion.
Moray James please speak your mind but I'm more interested in making a 3 way system of these as i find the 2 way in these having very poor mid range performance. I know i can EQ more mids in but i did have 4 sp1s and 2 cs800s back in the early 80s when I did some local DJ ing. Doing that had a tendecy to blow up the 22s when they over heated.
Any crossover and a mid horns suggestion is welcomed. Any help at all,cause if any one has modded a sp 1 I'm sure this would be the place to find them.
I plan to upgrade to the rx22 peavy driver, and I will probably crossover at 2400hz or 2200hz as the cf-1 and 22 combo is extremely sweet sounding at 2500 but they totally lack decent midrange down low.
Yes I know I'm being a complete idiot for sentimental reasons. But if I can't get them to sound great I know for fact that they play stupendiously loud. So at least I can drown out my drunken hickabilly neighbor across the street when they're drunk n have all 4 doors open on his truck blaring 80s pop and Hank jr. so loud that it's distorting. Mmmm maybe some swedish death metal or better yet some Rage against the machine and some Rammstein thrown in.
Thanks in advance for advice.

 

[Davidmorton]

Hey... I have a pair of sp-1's also. .. And I just threw away the old crossovers. They're were just old and outdated. I replaced them with some "Amazon" Two way crossovers that are rated at 300w. I also switched the woofers with Sheffield ones. I plan to upgrade to black widow's later. These baby's pound...and they are loud! People have complained about them being huge, but I have them in my garage, and they shake the walls!

 

[Davidmorton]

I also have a pair of sp-2ti's
And they are loaded with black widows. Surprisingly the crossovers are still working. And they will make your ears ring n bleed!

 

[damacman]

Love the SP1s! BITD, we robbed some from the band’s PA and powered them with an Altec 9440. Set them up on the fireplace hearth in the living room when the folks were out of town and threw a BIG house party. They crushed it. Good times.

 

[GordonW]

The ideal solution would be to find or build clones of the Peavey MB-2, or a similar mid-bass horn. You need something that will handle a 400hz crossover at no steeper than a 12db/octave slope, ideally, to meet the FH-1 bass section. It's gonna get expensive trying to cover that range with a compression driver.

You should also be able to run the 22's down to at least 1800hz or so without any trouble. With the newer RX versions i'd not hesitate to run them at 1200 where most mid-bass elements are gonna need to be rolled off.

THIS was EXACTLY my first thought, when I read the first post in this thread.

I really think a cone driver in a waveguide/horn is the way to go. Either something like the MB-2... or maybe even better- the Pi midrange horn. See here for details:

http://www.pispeakers.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=104

https://audioroundtable.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=16581

It's exactly the right frequency range for this- 200Hz to 2KHz flat. That would be EASY to integrate with the FH-1 and MF1-X.

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[Max Lorenz]

I use them in my living room for the mid range part of the sound spectrum...

 

[Billy13]

I bought a pair of these about a year ago. They had been recapped/refurbished, but had bad Eminence drivers in them. I threw in some new Black Widow's, and power them with a Harman Kardon PM655 VXI. For a garage system, they kill it! As many other's have stated, they play ridiculously loud, with very little power. I have them EQ'd with a Yamaha EQ, and couldn't be happier with them.

 

[MisterDK]

I hope you all don’t mind me bumping this thread. For a couple years now, I’ve had a pair of Peavey SP-1 mk III’s that were given to me. When I brought ‘em home I pulled out the crossovers and tested each driver for sound - then covered the things up with a tarp. Now I’m thinking about actually using them in the house and wondering - has anyone “tamed” a set of these for inside use? My plan is to clean them up a bit, then open ‘em and clear out any bugs or rodents.

I just looked and they still have the model 1504, 4 ohm 15” “Black Widows” inside

Was thinking of making these a 3-way by getting new crossovers and adding a proper tweeter above the cabinets and limiting the upper horns to midrange use.
Thoughts or recommendations?