I was the RHODES player who had to lug that monster around.... before that it was a cordovox .. the model with amp, electronics, speaker all in one box, and the 'accordion' unit... when I started out in this biz, our house was on the side of a hill with 30 steps to the front door ... accordion in one hand, amp in the other!!.. Like DonM. Dnj, and others, I too have the umbilical hernia to show for it ... (it wasn't until some of these discussions that made me realize where it came from)...

Pro ... lifting weights usually makes you stronger ... did your friend have other problems that led to his heart attack? ..
t.

Remember guys,

What doesn't kill us...Only makes us stronger. I will never lift my speakers onto their stands without help again.

Dennis



[This message has been edited by TwoNuts (edited 02-18-2003).]

Oh by the way...



Speakers, Amplifier and Transformers.
Notice the overall size of the wooden speaker cabinets. Lot's of excess room???
I told you that a fellow could lose approx. 20 pounds if he really wanted to.



I have a better picture of the open board...just can't remember the URL file name.

Dennis


[This message has been edited by TwoNuts (edited 02-18-2003).]

Pro ... lifting weights usually makes you stronger ... did your friend have other problems that led to his heart attack? ..
t.

He had many of the afflictions that other musicians have: he was obese, smoked a lot and drank quiet a bit. That thing about lifting weights making you stronger usually applies to controlled repetitive exercise, not just slinging heavy speakers to shoulder height several times a week and carting keyboards to the car (that's likely all the exercise my freind ever got). I've seen people do far worse to themselves and live a lot longer so he may have been an exception, but I know for certain that he collapsed and died right after putting a pair of heavy speakers on their tripods.

I'm afraid the physics is against you when it comes to speakers. Having designed them for many years I know the pain of trying to get a quart out of a pint pot. If you want those bass notes you have to move a lot of air. This means either very large drivers or small ones that move in and out a great deal. The latter are difficult to design and make which is why we still have to use the large ones if we want to make a lot of noise. In any case, the loading on the rear of the driver has to match the amount of air being shifted if you want a clean and extended response. Yamaha did the right thing in using those wooden cabinets for the 9000. Wood (or its equivalent such as MDF) is a lot deader than plastic and doesn't contribute nearly as many resonances to the sound. And they're also the right size and shape. If you want quality you have to pay for it, physically as well as from a monetary viewpoint. This is why my 740 doesn't sound nearly as good as the 9000. Just wish I had the wherewithal to buy one.

Bryan

Ya Bryan, the old school method of moving a great deal of air within large cabinets seems to be what most companies are following. I was thinking I might try to incorporate some "WaveGuide" technology into either the existing cabinets or build some new ones. I certainly believe that a different design would give the benefit of greater bass tones. I have never designed a speaker, ie. coil, magnet, cone, driver sleeve and the like. I think it would be something very interesting to try. As I have virtualy no fear of electronics or how they work, it sounds like a project I may have to experiment with. On a side note, I put my 9000 back together last night with the upgrade I had planned on doing. I utilized some of the space inside the left speaker cabinet for some additional electronics that I wanted in my 9000. Opposed to this current project, installation of the USB interface last year was a walk in the park. Anyway it's back together and working great! I still believe that yamaha could have taken advantage of some of that German Technology in their speaker system, like Bose wave guide ideas.

Well that's it for now. Until I think of something else I want to build into my 9000.

Regards to all,

Dennis Almond

[This message has been edited by TwoNuts (edited 02-19-2003).]

One point to make about equipment weight is, I'm just not as young as I used to be. It's not that I CAN'T lift as much as I used to, I think that wisdom thing is taking over and my brain is controlling things a bit more.

It's now telling the body to; "chill out, you don't have to lift that crap if you don't want to so don't".

The older I get, the smarter I get!!

Al

very kool pictures!!!!

I think Don Mason wanted to do this speaker operation long ago also :>)

Pro... It's tragic story for sure, but it sounds like he had all the ingredients of an attack just waiting to happen ....
The key to watching what we lift is first in watching what we lift into our MOUTHS !!! ...
As BIG buy (6'2" 280ish), I can say this with some authority....
A few weeks ago I was meeting with a doctor at Sloan - Kettering Hospital in NYC regarding surgery for prostate cancer... He spent the first half hour talking to me about heart disease!!! .... His biggest concern is whether or not my HEART will make it through the operation ... Needless to say, there has been a change in my 'lifting' habits ...
t.
PS I'll get off my soapbox now as it appears it is going to collapse under the weight
t.



[This message has been edited by tony mads usa (edited 02-19-2003).]

I don't know what's in the water here. I was informed last night that my colesterol has exceed three hundred and I may be suicidal because at one point in my life I tried some anti-depressents to help combat the dreaded grey sky syndrome up here in the Northwest.
I guess I better be restocking my supply of "Lipitor" before I meet with a similar fate as Pro's friend.

Dennis