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install1
05-03-2005, 10:39 AM
Does anyone know if there is a prefab hushbox for a SP7205? Just figure that if someone makes one that has an air volume that won't dramatically affect the bulb life would be great. We can make one but again without the trial and error of burn up of bulbs this could be a pain. If anyone out there has suffered through the process of developing one I would be indebted for any information you could share. Thanks guys.

Greg

Darren
06-02-2005, 12:00 AM
Try Dave Beatty at www.whisperflow.com He is building a unit for a Sanyo PLV-WF10 for me currently.

Darren
01-22-2006, 01:10 PM
As a follow up, I do not recommend WhisperFlow Hushboxes.

The above mentioned installation became a complete nightmare and I will no longer use any of WhisperFlow products. Here's a brief synopsis:

Customer has a dedicated HT with a SANYO PLV HT10 mounted directly above his first row of seating. The call comes in with customer complaining about the PJ noise... something about a comparision to an F-16 fighter jet fly-by. He notes original installer is no where to be found, and declares his S.O.S to us.

We survey the job. Recommend relocating PJ to the back of room, adding LongThrow lense, construct sound proof exhaust duct and enclose PJ with WhisperFlow custom enclosure.

We get the green flag. I call Dave Beatty at Whisperflow and place the order. Unit shipped will be $1400.00.

We confirm and Dave requests specific measurements on PJ, mounting angle, fan locations, lense location, BTU's.

I fax the Spec Sheet from Sanyo to him; as well as no less than 16 precise measurements on site... and digital photos of PJ mounted.

What followed was literally DOZENS of lengthy phone conversations with Dave concerning measurements, build materials and the units custom production. It was not uncommon for Dave to call me on site at least six times a day to confirm measurements... or request MORE measurements.

I was becoming increasingly concerned with each call, but he assured me all was well. He said he was a Design Engineer by trade and needed measurements to ensure a perfect fit.

Fast forward a week and a half later.

Relocation of PJ:complete.
Sound-Proof Exhaust duct:complete.
System rewired and configured:complete.
New RTI control integrated:complete
New PSB BiPole Surrounds installed:complete

All I need is the HushBox and a payment and I'm outta there!

As I am hauling waste from the job I get a call telling me that a HUGE box from WhisperFlow has arrived via UPS. I burn rubber to the office and pick up the box.

Here is where things begin to really go awry!

I inspect box and see a baby fist sized hole in the box with bubble wrap exposed. Fingers crossed I load the box and haul it to the job. Upon closer inspection my installer and I notice the huge box is actually several boxes cut and pieced together in some freaky Franskenstein fashion! With enuff shipping tape holding it together to make it waterproof!

With Razor Knives in hand we disect the box.. ohh so carefully. That process took about five minutes.

Once the box was opened we removed the contents. A large black Lucite Hush Box with the protective paper still in place. A Yellow Envelope containing mounting screws and AC transformers for the exhaust fans.

The hush box turns out to be no engineering marvel. A simple black box with two PC exhaust fans and a Edmunds glass portal. There was Acoustic Foam attached with spray adhesive that was already loose and peeling from inside the HushBox. There was no internal exhaust baffle design whatsoever! The exhaust fans were simply blowing the heat and NOISE directly outside the HushBox into an external baffle... that was not shipped with the unit!

My installer was the first to see the cracks. Yup, the integrity of the HushBox was unstable. Various hairline fractures and cracks in the Lucite were evident in two corners of the unit. The epoxy was weak and caused glued corners to separate as well.

I was TOTALLY freaked at this point as my client was chomping to get the job wrapped up before he jetted to Jamica for vacation. He due to arrive at any minute and I couldn't stand for him to see such a Mickey Mouse box that he was gonna spend $3000 on!

We quickly hoisted the unit to the PJ to see if it would even fit. It did fit. HOWEVER, the Edmund Glass was inverted and installed off center so the PJ could have never projected an image from within the HushBox!

All we could do was rewrap the HushBox and load it on the truck. As we did the client pulls up. I explain the damage to the box and tell him we will reorder.

I call Dave Beatty and describe the incident with the box, the poor shipping container and the overall piece of crap "engineered" Hush Box!
He says I can repair it my self with Expoxy and I can also remove the front side of the HushBox, invert it, then reassemble it so the Edmunds Glass with be in correct alignment. He also states the external noise baffle was shipped that day and would arrive next week!

I am ready to blow a sprocket and say NOOOO WAYYY! I'll ship the damn thing back in the same box, take photos of all the damage and crap and call UPS to arrange for Pick Up. I tell him to also call UPS and file a Damage Claim immediatily.

Two weeks later he confirms that UPS has released the returned box into his possesion. He states now the HushBox is busted up into several large pieces and the fans have broken off from the mounts. He says I should have shipped it in a better container with more bubble wrap.

WHAT THE F@#$!!!

Meanwhile, the customer has delayed his Jamica trip to his homeland and instead has bought a NEW home underconstruction and say "Forget the HushBox... I'll let the new buyers worry about it... cause my new house will have a HT with a Projection Room."

I call my good buddy Dave and cancel the order, and demand a refund.

He understands and says he is waiting on UPS to either deny or credit his claim. Fine.

Now a month LATER!!! That's about eight weeks total for you counting days since the order was placed.

We call Dave and ask where is the check. He says he was denied the claim. WHAT THE F@#$!!!

I call UPS get a Claims Rep on the phone and get a check for $2000 sent to us in a week. Yeah, I get an extra $600 out of the deal... but I spent that much on cell phone calls with Dave (ACTUALLY HAD TO INCREASE MY AIRTIME WITH VERIZON SO AS NOT TO BE CHARGED THE EXCESSIVE OVER PALN MINUTES!!! NO KIDDING!) and self medication over the ordeal!

SO! If you need a hushbox steer clear of WhisperFlow and build the damn thing yourself... according to the enginner you only need some Lucite and a tube of Epoxy!

krasmuzik
01-22-2006, 01:20 PM
Wow - that is the first bad review I have heard of them - I had heard nothing but good - but then they were AVSers - so who knows if they were actually shilling. Are any other installers using him - would be nice to know if this was a UPS football isolated incident or not. My wife is an avid EBAYer and uses only FedEx.

I have recommended the box before thinking they were $$$ not $$$$. For that kind of money I guess it makes more sense to slap some MDF together and customize it to the room and venting.

avophile
01-22-2006, 05:04 PM
Darren,

Thanks for the heads-up. I've been considering ordering one of these but have been turned off by the flakiness of the phone communications with Dave. I believe the price he had quoted me for a similarly dis-, I mean con-figured box was a lot less than you were charged.

Has anybody found another source?

Doug

Darren
01-23-2006, 09:11 AM
Here is WhisperFlows gallery link to the EXACT type PJ and mount we were working with, in some other installers application.

http://whisperflow.smugmug.com/gallery/586664/1/24583595

Note how all the edges in the design are butted and glued, rather than beveled for a clean appearance. In a school auditorium maybe not a big deal. But it is a big deal in a $60,000 dedicated personal theater under close scrutiny... them edges better be smooth, seamfree and no visable epoxy. In my design, I specifically instructed him to relocate the fans to the back of the box so I could exhaust directly into a 6" custom thermal activated air duct.

In the his gallery photos above, I cannot see how the HushBox could possibly work! Yes, there is an External Baffle attached on the side. But that is for fresh air INTAKE! The EXHAUST air is simply sucked out of the HushBox into the room by the two PC fans!

Also, note the location of the HushBox in relation to the student seating! That fragile Lucite HushBox is within an arms length of any kid wanting to touch it! I guarantee that if some mischevious student was just goofing off and hit it, even if by accident, them seams of the HushBox would split wide open! I am sure the installer once he opened the container and saw the fraility of the HushBox was sweating up a storm when he installed it! Hopefully, he prepared a signed release of liability from the school district before signing off on that installation.


Well, I am really not one to slam anothers business, but in this case I wanted to vent (no pun intended) and wondered if any one else here had opinions on his product.

Funny thing is, after the many conversations we had, he kept mentioning another person/party that actually did the "construction" of the box. I got the feeling he was actually just passing the measurements and info I gave him along to someone else to build... by the looks of it maybe his grade school kid.

1.) If he is indeed a "Engineer", he should know something about structural integrity, applied forces and contruction applications. Thus he would know that shipping a "delicate" Lucite structure without internal shipping support would lead to disaster. I can't image that the unit had not been broken even BEFORE it left for UPS.

2.) He should have followed thru with UPS with his claim. Not his customer. That is just poor customer service. Granted, we got the run around with UPS Claims Dept. The unit was insured for $4000.00 Due to the poor packing of "fragile" item on WhisperFlows part... we setlled for 50% of the claim at $2000.00. Thank God Dave insured it for the Retail price and not my cost or we would have eaten about $700.00.
(OBTW, it was Dave's idea to over insure the HushBox due to his previous claims with UPS, he said they usually negotiate and settle at 50% of the proposed claim.)

3.) If he was as meticulous as he said he was with his designs and measurements, why then was the box constructed backwards to begin with? Afterall, he was VERY concerned about the lense position in relation to the Edmund Glass front. With all the photos I supplied any novice could see that the front of the box was installed backwards.

4.) The design was such that to attach the unit to the ceiling meant having to remove the bottom of the hushbox so you would get to the screws inside near the top lip and screw them into the ceiling surface. I called him with a much better design idea. Why not design the lip separate from the hushbox. Install the lip (much like a picture frame) to the ceiling first... then attach the hushbox once seated over the lip with screws coming in parallel with the ceiling surface? Humm. He had never thought of that. Now he states that's how he does all the "new and improved" designs.

5.) Early into the project he states he had built the EXACT hushbox before for the SAME Sanyo model built under another name (the brand escapes me). If that was true, you would've thought he would have had the dimensions and measurements already on file.

I am truly interested in just how effective the box really would have been if I had ever had the chance to install it. From the design I can only imagine that higher frequency would have been decreased... but the low end would have been substantial with "ported bass box design". Guess I'll never know. But damn I was sure proud of the exhaust duct we constructed and seamlessly built in the room with the thermal activated airflow fan moving heated air at 22 CFM. It would have been quiet as a whore in church.