Anyone using the visaton FRS7 speaker?

[Meter Rat]

Did you do anything about the canon mechanism and BB shooting unit pretruding from the turret?

Sorry for the late response. As I do not use the BB shooting, it is simply cut off below the elevation tracks.

[keilau]

No the speaker is not from DKLM. Cheaper to buy direct from Visaton, and build a speaker box. The simple solution to gaining space, is to remove the battery box.

I have also see where the battery box has been made smaller, and used to contain the speaker.

Did you do anything about the canon mechanism and BB shooting unit pretruding from the turret?

[Meter Rat]

Do you use the DKLM loudspeaker? A picture of your RC tank chassis will be much appreciated.

No the speaker is not from DKLM. Cheaper to buy direct from Visaton, and build a speaker box. The simple solution to gaining space, is to remove the battery box.


I have also see where the battery box has been made smaller, and used to contain the speaker.

[Woohoo\o/]

Ahh I understand. Well, not that it’s going to make a huge difference after I place the upper hull over the speaker but I have a TPA3110 15w amp I’m going to try on the dayton speaker with a 1000 uF capacitor on the power input lines of the amp. I will share my results with a before and after video. Just experimenting.

[keilau]

That’s actually brilliant. You’re using the 7.1 on the Abrams? Will that same unit work with the 7.0?

The TK-7.1 MFU has 4 servo inputs and the Abrams needs 2 for the barrel recoil and canon elevation. The TK-7.1 MFU is more expensive than the TK-7.0 MFU, but otherwise functions the same. The servo metal elevation/recoil unit is not cheap either. It may be a while before I get to this 7.1 upgrade for Abrams.

[Woohoo\o/]

That’s actually brilliant. You’re using the 7.1 on the Abrams? Will that same unit work with the 7.0?

[keilau]

Yea the abrams is out of the question for me too. The tanks I have where I’m planning to upgrade the audio are

t72 (impossible to do)
merkava
panzer 4 (?)
panther g (?)

I may get back to the Abrams for the 2.5" speaker upgrade. The HL 1" speaker has a peak at the lower midrange, making the gas turbine sound exaggerated and somewhat unrealistic. I will have to replace the HL elevation/recoil unit with a servo one like this:

The servo barrel recoil unit is much more compact than the HL trigger motor unit.

[Woohoo\o/]

Yea the abrams is out of the question for me too. The tanks I have where I’m planning to upgrade the audio are

t72 (impossible to do)
merkava
panzer 4 (?)
panther g (?)

[keilau]

The Leopard is an easy case. I have a Torro metal chassis for the Leo. Both the original HL and the Torro (picture2) have lots of open space in the chassis because the canon mechanism and BB shooting are all confided in the turret above the chassis.

The HL Abrams turret is a totally different story. The canon mechanism and BB shooting are pretruding 3/4" below the turret. Any speaker box thicker than the original HL speaker will interfere with the turret rotation.

I spent 2 days rearranged the Abrams chassis, including removing the battery box upfront. I finally gave up and reinstalled the HL speaker.

[Woohoo\o/]

Well I completed the installation of the dayton speaker along with the project box you linked to me keilau and I am impressed. The results were amazing. A significant improvement. It’s so much louder that I had to turn down the volume. It really has a more presence in its appearance just due to the sound. I couldn’t thank you enough. I may experiment with an amp just out of curiosity. I wish I could show it on video but videos do not do it justice. Something that must be heard in person. Again THANK YOU. (The tank I installed it in was my leopard. I moved the MFU to the front and placed the box where the MFU used to be)

Chris

[Woohoo\o/]

Yea I have a feeling the Abrams will be more challenging. But like you said the turbine sound is good enough for the stock speakers. Hey have a look at my t72 with VFX sound effects.

https://youtu.be/RKWEG-VN0_E?si=y48tc9J_kaiRpoqe

[keilau]

After trying for 2 days, I can't figure out a chassis floor arrangement to accommodate the 1.57" thick loudspeaker for the Abrams.

The location in the Leopard Torro chassis does not work because HL put the battery compartment there.

[keilau]

I have not used an amplifier in either the Leopard 1, or the Challenger, that also has the same speaker arrangement. They are both considerably louder than the the Heng Long upgrade speaker, in either the Abrams, or T72.

Do you use the DKLM loudspeaker? A picture of your RC tank chassis will be much appreciated.

[Woohoo\o/]

I will slow my pace a bit and just try it without the amp. But eventually I will try with an amp to get some performance out of it. Of course I will share my results. I got my abrams running on 3s. Absolutely no heat to the motors (390) or the MFU. I’m also in 95+ degree weather in south Florida. I will send a link to my video if anyone wants to see out of curiosity. It’s just for fun. 2s with 390 motors is plenty.

https://youtu.be/GAn2RgQPlkE?si=DnyRJ1rRSgpp02Mq

[Meter Rat]

Floor plate. Great idea. Would it be difficult and worthwhile to add a 15 watt amplifier between the speaker and MFU? Would it be a bad idea to tap into the power leads to power the amplifier? Or should I use a BEC or something?

I have not used an amplifier in either the Leopard 1, or the Challenger, that also has the same speaker arrangement. They are both considerably louder than the the Heng Long upgrade speaker, in either the Abrams, or T72.

[Woohoo\o/]

Im wondering, for how small and inexpensive a 15 watt amplifier is would it be worth trying? I saw that rc tank legion had on his website a 15 watt amp and a dc/dc converter. If I can squeeze a little more performance I think it would be e worth the effort.

[keilau]

Thank you so so much. The stock speakers aren’t too shabby at all but I want to make my tank sound better.

For the Abrams which has a gas turbine engine, the HL 1" speaker is working fine. For other MBT with diesel engine, I like the low frequency rumbling that the 2.5" speaker in a good enclosure provides.

I preferred the Dayton Audio PC68-4 2-1/2" Full-Range Poly Cone Driver because it has a 77Hz vented F3. By comparison, the Visaton FRS7-4 2.5" Full-Range Speaker has 175Hz vented F3. Don't get me wrong, I am not building HiFi speaker system, but try to capture as low a bass as possible using small driver for diesel engine sound.

An outboard higher power amplifier will have no impact on how the speaker sounds in the RC tank.

[Woohoo\o/]

Thank you so so much. The stock speakers aren’t too shabby at all but I want to make my tank sound better.

[keilau]

Since DKLM currently do not ship to the US, I made the loudspeaker enclosure out of plastic project box from Amazon. I was able to find the smallest project box (100 x 68 x 40 mm) that can fit inside the Abrams V2 chassis and still house the 2.5" speaker. The box is much sturdier than the DKLM enclosure. I lined it with 3M vibration damper. It is important to use an vented loudspeaker enclosure to enhance the efficiency and the low bass.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL92X9WM?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

[Woohoo\o/]

Floor plate. Great idea. Would it be difficult and worthwhile to add a 15 watt amplifier between the speaker and MFU? Would it be a bad idea to tap into the power leads to power the amplifier? Or should I use a BEC or something?