I FINALLY have some real bass! edit

corndog71 · « **on:** 21 Jun 2009, 05:12 pm »

So a while back I bought the 370PEQ and the SW-12-04 in order to make my own sealed servo sub.

As many of you have probably already read I haven't really done anything like this before. I've been building little tube preamps and rebuilding tube amps for several years now but never an actual speaker.

I also didn't have any of the tools needed for such an endeavor. But after lots of questions and doing my homework I got it done.

I veered away from the posted box plans in order to create something unique. Also with my extremely novice woodworking skills I felt I could make things easier on myself by doing things differently.

So I decided to make the enclosure a cylinder. ...the hard way. By cutting mdf rings and stacking them. You might be thinking wow, that's a crazy idea. I agree. But since there's no right angles to worry about it was relatively simple.

I was not completely prepared as you might imagine for the amount of labor involved but I was determined to get the job done.

Over the last month it slowly came about. Here's a slideshow of my progress.

http://s576.photobucket.com/albums/ss207/corndog642/Subwoofer%20Build/?albumview=slideshow

Thanks to Danny and Brian for offering a truly mind-bogglingly great subwoofer at an amazing price! All told I spent around $600 for parts and materials. I also spent another $300 in tools but it was so worth it. I can't imagine getting this kind of bass quantity and quality for less than $2000! That Brian sells finished subs for only a bit more than what I paid is incredible.

As you can see it's not completely finished. I still have to build a box for the amp and sand down the cabinet. I was originally going to paint the cabinet but the consensus from others is I should leave it bare as it looks pretty unique. One of my friends even called it a work of art!

Even my girlfriend thinks I should just sand it down and then leave it. Surprisingly she loves it! I thought it might be a bit too much but when she felt the floor shake she got this big grin on her face.

wackii · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Jun 2009, 05:33 pm »

Wow, that's a lot of routing

Good job though... How heavy is it?

Al,

corndog71 · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Jun 2009, 05:36 pm »

Quote from: wackii on 21 Jun 2009, 05:33 pm

Wow, that's a lot of routing Good job though... How heavy is it?

Al,

The finished cabinet weighs around 52 pounds. The baffle is three layers thick. It's 14" wide by 29.5" tall. The body walls are 1" thick. The bottom 2 layers are solid.

satfrat · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Jun 2009, 06:09 pm »

Nice photo shoot.

What else does your system consist of? Thanks.

Cheers,
Robin

corndog71 · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Jun 2009, 06:20 pm »

Quote from: satfrat on 21 Jun 2009, 06:09 pm

Nice photo shoot. What else does your system consist of? Thanks.

Cheers,
Robin

Sony 5-disc dvd changer
xbox 360
sony minidisc recorder
sylvania dvd recorder
outlaw 1070 receiver
av123 x-sls and x-voce
philips 47" lcd

keenween · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Jun 2009, 09:14 pm »

Congrats and great job. It looks really un-obtrusive.

Golden · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Jun 2009, 11:27 pm »

Excellent choice of source material for the demo! That looks really great, a very unique method of putting together a cabinet. How long did the project take you?

corndog71 · « **Reply #7 on:** 22 Jun 2009, 01:59 am »

Quote from: Golden on 21 Jun 2009, 11:27 pm

Excellent choice of source material for the demo! That looks really great, a very unique method of putting together a cabinet. How long did the project take you?

I bought the woofer and amp a little over a month ago. It took a couple more weeks before I was able to pick up the wood. I started cutting my first ring with my little rotozip but as you can see from the slideshow it busted a couple of bits and really just wasn't the proper tool for the job. So then I had to buy a router and some bits for it. Then I needed a circle jig. Then the weather prevented me from working as I have to do all of this outdoors in the back courtyard of my apartment building. Then I dropped my router a couple of times and busted off the circle jig. Then I bought a small circular saw in in order to cut down the sheets of wood to more manageable sizes. Then I made a copy of my circle jig using some .25" mdf I had handy.

With the help of my friend Cedric, we were able to cut most of the rings in a day. You wouldn't believe the amount of sawdust this created! The bag in the picture weighed around 40 pounds! I spent the last week sanding and gluing the rings with the sanding again being delayed by the weather.

I figure if I had a nice workshop with all of the proper tools from the beginning I probably could've done all of this in a week or possibly less. But for me it seemed to take much longer.

corndog71 · « **Reply #8 on:** 23 Jun 2009, 07:15 pm »

I just wanted to report my continuing experiences here.

So last night I heard the driver bottom out during the t-rex scene of jurassic park. So I dialed down the sub. I will now admit that i don't have an spl meter or any technical means of calibrating the sub except by ear.

The best I could do was to just relax and try some different kinds of music. One of my favorite demo discs is the score for Mission Impossible 2. There's some latin music as well as some nice orchestral music. This helped a lot as I quickly realized I was not only too high with the level but the phase was off as well.

After some adjusting my soundstage became more focused and I could now easily hear during one of the orchestral pieces 3 different sets of drums way in the back of the soundstage. They sounded less like vague sounds and more like instruments being played.

Very cool!

I seemed to have lost a lot of the wall shaking I was experiencing before but I know lots of music doesn't really go that low. Another quick and dirty test was to play the "Amazing Life" THX trailer. I didn't change anything on the sub and it was perfect! There's a great boom in that trailer that shakes the walls for just a second or two and that worked perfectly.

Obviously this is not the ideal way to set up this sub but it's best I can do until I can get my hands on a spl meter. Anyway, I'm still extremely satisfied with its performance.

PDR · « **Reply #9 on:** 23 Jun 2009, 10:53 pm »

Congrats Rob......just a ton of fun, aren't they........ aa

By the way......I love the cylinder.....way cool!!

Perry

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 02:39 am »

Rob,

Thanks for documenting the process. Certainly is unique and labor intensive! Now all you need is a set of spikes for the sub and guess what....another pair!

Good work

Anand.

ichillpill · « **Reply #11 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 09:17 am »

Nice Sub! I like your Tv stand as well! Where did you purchase it and how much? It beats mounting a tv on the wall...

corndog71 · « **Reply #12 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 02:00 pm »

Quote from: ichillpill on 24 Jun 2009, 09:17 am

Nice Sub! I like your Tv stand as well! Where did you purchase it and how much? It beats mounting a tv on the wall...

Thanks and here you go!
http://www.target.com/Madrid-TV-Stand-Integrated-Mount/dp/B0013J2HY4/qid=1234886487/ref=br_1_11/191-8661109-6577443?ie=UTF8&node=172870011&frombrowse=1&pricerange=&index=target&field-browse=172870011&rank=pmrank&rh=&page=7

flyer18151 · « **Reply #13 on:** 6 Jul 2009, 10:46 pm »

I'm about to build some of my own GR research speakers- what kind of veneer did you use on your other speakers- they look great!

corndog71 · « **Reply #14 on:** 6 Jul 2009, 11:43 pm »

Didn't build them.

Those are the X-SLS and X-Voce by AV123. The finish is Cherry Rosa Satin and it looks even better up close and personal. They blend perfectly with the sub and man do they sound good!