@poly
You can test the driver – get a battery (any will do – AA or whatever). Open the cab, and connect the negative pole of the battery to one of the driver poles (doesn’t matter which). Then connect the positive battery pole to the other connector on the driver. The battery should be just enough to activate the driver and you will get a small “pop” sound as you connect. If you don’t then the driver is fucked and your best bet is to replace it (re-coning is possible, but only recommended for people who really know what they’re at – lots of pit falls otherwise, and you will end up wasting cash)…
@no case
For outdoors you’re going to need at the very least 2K, and that’s only if you build the speakers yourself and make them really efficient. Outdoors will always require more power than in, as there are no reflections etc to reinforce the sound level. I wouldn’t even think of using smaller than 18″ bass drivers – the bass is what will need reinforcing the most – I would say power wise about 1/2 of the total power should be going to the frequency band under 120Hz. You can save a lot of power in the top end by using Constant Directivity horn flares – you sacrifice a little of the spread for a large increase in sound pressure. Use the 12’as for mid range, and get an active crossover matrix (don’t forget to bypass the passive crossover in the speaker boxes if you buy them pre-made).
If you want to build the boxes yourself, look on the web for designs, or get a good book (the Fane big audio cookbook is a useful one if you can find a copy)… I haven’t finished the section on speaker building for the guide yet (cos it’s bursting my head), but it will be done at some point soon…. speakerbuilding.com has some good info for this, and JPO’s speaker building link list is a good one for finding plans etc too…
