[jbthuis2]

Hi - I want to share a few pictures of my Rythmik sub.  I used the "sand-box" design idea from Danny's web site, and built it as a down-firing sub, like the design on the Rythmik web site.  The best of both worlds, in my opinion. I love it.  I hooked it up a last week and had a heck of a time getting all of the settings in my Denon 4308 receiver so that the sub was enabled correctly.  But once I got past that it worked fine.  I still have more tweaking to do on the settings, but the sound is amazing. Music sounds great and last night I watched my first movie with it.  The movie started out with a thunderstorm and I almost jumped out of my chair!  (I obviously have not owned a sub before).  And that is with the level set way down!

Danny (at Gr Research) and Brian (at Rythmik Audio) were great to work with .  I had a couple of questions and they were both very responsive.

In case you are interested, it is a sealed box, interior volume is about 1.6 cu ft, and it weighs about 170 lbs (with the sand).

Here are a few pictures:

Sub-1.jpg:  finished sub.  MDF box, finished with
Birdseye maple veneer and solid teak top and legs

Click for larger image: http://www.buesseler.com/subwoofer/sub-1.jpg

Sub-2.jpg:  here you can see the inner box before
it was glued.  The amp is also boxed in seperately

Click for larger image: http://www.buesseler.com/subwoofer/sub-2.jpg

Sub-3.jpg:  Finished Inner box - 1/2" MDF sides with
3/4" MDF top/bottom/supports

Click for larger image: http://www.buesseler.com/subwoofer/sub-3.jpg

Sub-4.jpg:  1/2" MDF spacers and outer 3/4" MFD box being buit

Click for larger image: http://www.buesseler.com/subwoofer/sub-4.jpg

Sub-5.jpg:  Air space betwen boxes full of sand, ready for
3/4" MDF top to be glued on

Click for larger image: http://www.buesseler.com/subwoofer/sub-5.jpg

Sub-6.jpg:  Finished sub, rear view

Click for larger image: http://www.buesseler.com/subwoofer/sub-6.jpg

Sub-7.jpg:  Another view of the finished sub

Click for larger image: http://www.buesseler.com/subwoofer/sub-7.jpg

John

[mcgsxr]

I have to say that is some lovely finish work, and leveraging a known great design, it is destined to be excellent!

I really like mix of teak and maple, that is a cool combo.

Nice build!

[alanl]

Nice sub.  I'll second the compliment on your choice of woods; cool combo. 

[rydenfan]

beautiful sub 

[mcgsxr]

Agreed, the end table is a nice look.

I have yet to finish off my HT sub (4 foot tuned to 23Hz, with a Nakamichi 12 inch driver) and am considering the end table approach.  I will likely take a more Vandersteen theme (the current enclosure is functional, but raw mdf - so wrap it with grill cloth around front and sides, and put a piece of granite on top), as I lack the complex woodworking skills evidenced here!

[strider]

Very well done. Agree that the combination of woods is very nice.

Is that a Polk SDA I see in the background of the first picture?

[jbthuis2]

Thanks for the compliments   

The other speaker in the first picture was built by a shop here in the Portland, Oregon area, "The Audio Alternative". Unfortunately, the owner passed away and the shop closed.  Dave (the owner) built quite a few different speakers, and did a lot of mods to equipment.  He (and his shop) were the best.

John

[jmc207]

I thought the other speaker (w/ black sock) was a Von Schweikert VR-3, though the base is appears a bit thicker than a VR-3's. Anyway, great work on the sub!

[markC]

Very nice work John. Your skill and patience definitely paid off on this project. One question, though, why mount the plate amp so high as to intersect the trim below the table top? Was it a conscious decision or did it just work out that way?

[jbthuis2]

markC - Good eyes!  You are right about the amp intersecting the upper trim on the back.  I did that to give sufficient clearance between the speaker and the plate amp. 

I had two choices to avoid intersecting the trim.  The most obvious was to make the speaker box taller, but I did not want to. The finished size was right for my living room and I liked the proportions.  Taller didn't look as good to me.   My other choice was to move the plate amp lower, but that would move it closer to the woofer.  I was not sure if I could realistically move the amp  far enough to get it under the trim piece. So I decided to not worry about the position the plate amp too much and cut the trim fit to around it.  I positioned the bottom of the chamber for the plate amp just above the arch in the interior support piece.  That worked well for me.  In the second and fourth images (Sub-2.jpg and Sub-4.jpg) you can see this.

If you want to build one like this, I think that there is enough room to move the amp lower.  But it will close! 

John