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Zhi-don
11-20-2006, 08:12 AM
Question: Why is the sound much louder in the MR sabers than in other sabers even if the same sound board is used? Is it because there is an echo chamber in the battery pack?

Next question: Why does the Mace Windu saber use 6 batteries and the Obi-wan only uses 3?

This may be a dumb question, but I can never get the sound loud enough. Even if I use the same speakers.

xwingband
11-20-2006, 08:41 AM
There is a limited echo chamber of sorts. So that'll do it. I always add in at least an inch for resonance.

The Mace has 6AA because it's an EL hold-out. It only uses 4.5V.

Zhi-don
11-20-2006, 08:44 AM
What the heck is an EL holdout?

xwingband
11-20-2006, 08:52 AM
Well, EL took 9V and they didn't bother to redesign any of the black plastic. It was easier to just slap in an LED board instead of the EL inverter. Kind of lazy...

Zhi-don
11-20-2006, 08:53 AM
You mean the Mace Windu uses EL wire?????

xwingband
11-20-2006, 08:58 AM
No... I'm saying that MR never got of it's lazy butt and made it an 4.5V 3AA pack. It was easier to set the pack as 4.5V and 6AA instead of redesign a new pack.

The mace was one of the first LED sabers. If you look at those they all were 6AA because so was the earlier EL sabers.

Zhi-don
11-20-2006, 09:14 AM
Ok...I get it now. Very stupid and confusing to saber builders.

james3
11-20-2006, 10:06 AM
Before Master replicas decided to conserve space they did a series parallel configuration so that the voltage would be 4.5 volts but there would be double the life. This is actually a better setup for the coversions we do but it does take a lot of space.

Like xwing said if you give the space you need to get the sound waves moving you will get a loud hilt. My custom hilt has about an inch and a half to two inches and tuned so it is louder then any standard FX out there.

Zhi-don
11-20-2006, 10:10 AM
Can you send me some specs on how you did that?

I can mount the stock speaker inside my custom pommel, but when I had this done by someone else, they epoxied the bottom shut, so no sound could get out.

Thanks.

james3
11-20-2006, 11:11 AM
Wow! That sounds like a very durable setup but it just kills the sound travel.

I like to have a small hole or holes in the butt, I then mount the speaker with hot glue or similar to the base of the battery pack.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e370/Dadof3/MyLightsabers006.jpg

I use the electrical tape to hold the batteries in while I beat the heck out of the neighborhood cats.http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_evil2.gif

For my custom hilt I actually had a d-ring on it and Ambo just drilled a sound hole under the d-ring mount. I removed the original set screw, and turned the butt cap until the sound was at it's loudest.

I could go in to a long rant about that but looking up any diy speaker box will give the same great info.

Hope this helps. I for one only use the sound every once in a while as I find it annoying when my son and I are trying to talk and learn. But when I use the sound I like for it to be loud, clear, and as accurate as possible.

Zhi-don
11-20-2006, 11:34 AM
That's nice work!

Lightech used to have a sound module that had the speaker mounted on top of it like that. It didn't sound loud at all. Are you using Hasbro sound or MR FX sound?

james3
11-20-2006, 12:53 PM
Mine is a Anakin FX. My son's is an eight dollar deal Hasbro, either Sith or Jedi. The Hasbros seem to me that they are really inconsistent in loudness. I always like to give them a big resonance chamber, to just as much boost as to help the sound. FX boards don't seem to need as much play in that but the better the chamber the fuller the sound.
I admit that I am completely unable to comment on the Lightech piece. It looks very nice but I have only seen the website so I have know way to compare. I do know that damping the speaker to much in the hilt will surely hurt the sound. The cone needs to move, there needs to be a little air movment, etc. There was one hilt that I did that had an Anakin ATOC Hasbro board that I ended up doing some "slots" about where the battery pack sat which was behind the speaker and used the "pepper shaker pattern on the pommel.

Zhi-don
11-20-2006, 01:03 PM
That what I did for my custom pommel. Drilled holes on the outside edge, But when the bottom was sealed before it went into the hilt the sound was dampened completely. Do you think I could use an Anakin battery pack to power my lux LED and sound board? I had a saber once that did that. It seemed to work ok for both. That way i could mount the entire speaker into the bottom of my pommel.

james3
11-20-2006, 01:25 PM
It will not fit in an MHS if that's what you mean.

I admit I am still a little unsure on the pommel though. Is it open or sealed? Maybe a pic could help me out on this one because the way I am reading it the holes were drilled and then everything was sealed up with epoxy. If the holes even got the tiny little bit filled back in then they won't work.

Again, sorry if it seems round and round but I am missing something somewhere.

Zhi-don
11-20-2006, 02:01 PM
So what you are saying is the battery pack won't fit into a MHS hilt? Well crapola! My pommel is off a Disneyland toy saber. I liked the way it looked, but not the colors. I repainted it and then it looked like what I wanted, so I used it on my saber prototype. I will see if I can find the pics and post them here.



http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e302/zhi-don/saber4.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e302/zhi-don/saber3.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e302/zhi-don/saber2.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e302/zhi-don/saber1.jpg

I bought 2 others and drilled holes between the flanges on the black part for sound to come through. My thought was to use the sound module, but since it won't fit, I will have to find some other way to do it.

Lord Maul
11-20-2006, 03:32 PM
kinda off topic but man is that one sweet saber zhi don!!!!!!!

james3
11-20-2006, 04:13 PM
That is the old model that you based the MHS off of right?

I kinda remember this discussion but it as been a while back. I do remember that hilt though.

If you have that many holes through the pommel we need to look at everything cause you should be getting some noise out of that action.

What diameter are the holes that are drilled?
Are they angled or straight?
Is there any soft "sound absorbing" material in the pommel or between the speaker and pommel?
Is the pommel "dampining" the speaker by closing down on it when it is screwed on?

I know, silly questions. I just do not understand why your not getting sound. It may be worth a shot to shine a light through the pommel and make sure there are no clogs or something.

You can use a 2AA pack and load it with 3 volt rechargables or of course 4AA or 4AAA packs. I am actually looking to make my hilt a 6 volt rechargeable setup so that I can get a few more millis out of her. :wink:

Zhi-don
11-20-2006, 04:21 PM
That is my original prototype. Totally non-functional. Based on a combination or Obi-wan EP1 and Obi-wan EP4.

Thanks for the Compliments DM. I worked on that design for 6 months. It also incorporates parts from Darth Mauls saber. Check the emitter and the seperator in front.

The MHS saber that resulted from that involved 2 problems. Figuring a way to mount my pommel and then getting the sound to come out. I had a shop mount the pommel on a MHS plain pommel, but the the sound had nowhere to go but out. There was no hollow behind the speaker at all. I think this was the problem. But even when we put the speaker inside the hilt by itself, it didn't sound loud at all. That's why I think I need the echo chamber from the MR FX battery pack, but since that won't fit I'm back to square 1.