DIY Dayton Audio 18" build thread

[The Dude]

Looking good,

[derrickdj1]

The Berhinger amps look great. I also like the silver and orange power display. Those are sealed subs so, you won't need to set limiters. I don't use limiters on my subs. I also use the Neutrik connectors on the amp and TSR 1/4 adapters. The PEQ is intuitive once you do a frequency graph. I have had the amps for awhile and no problems with running out of power. The good thing about them are they are very efficient.

Edited March 27, 2014 by derrickdj1

[CECAA850]

That's the nice thing about the kits. They can be built indoors. No sawdust. Looks great, keep the pics coming!

[holtrp]

Hey Derrick,

These drivers are only rated to 1000 RMS and 1500 peak. From what I have read, the iNuke puts out about 1800 per channel in 4 ohm, so I am definately going to take it easy and was hoping to limit the output on the amp to 1000 watts.

[derrickdj1]

I have read the spec's on the Dayton drivers.they are similar to mines, 800 RMS/!1600 peak. At first I used limiters but watching the actual watts on the power console I was alway safe, even running the Real Trap test tone form 10-100 Hz at -5 on the avr with two sub. The max watts that I ever reached when I was running two subs was 1700. Now that I have four 18 in drivers I can run the test tones at 0 on the avr and max watts are 600-700 for one pair and the same for the other. That is around 350 watts per sub on a very demanding frequency sweep. The sub will measure around 110 db at the MLP at around 12 Hz. I also use a 5 db bass boost at 20 Hz with a PEQ bandwidth of about 0.7. This is fairly wide and the sub handle it with no problem. My room is around 5300 cu ft. which mean the subs work harder in that size room. It is also in the basement fully carpeted and suck up sound waves, lol. I wrote a Guide for using the I Nuke DSP on the Chane Cinema and Theater web site.http://www.chanemusiccinema.com/forum/showthread.php?47461-derrickdj1-guide-for-the-Inuke-series-of-amplifiers-with-CHT-subs

It will walk you through all the steps for setup and integration of the subs with the I Nuke. Chane ask me to do it since some people were having trouble setting up their amps.

I run my sub co-located, so I basically have two SS 18.2's. Sealed subs work best corner loaded to get boundry gain. Room gain will also help the low end. What calibration system are you using? Auddysse will boost the low end so you may not need a bass boost. Here is the formula to see where your room gain is coming in:

Room gain formula for subwoofer:

C is the speed of sound 1125 or 1130 ft/s

Length of room in ft. is L

C/2*L

1130/2* 20 ft.=28.5 Hz so you will start gain 12 db/octave starting at 28.5.. This mean at 14Hz you will be up 12 db. Room gain is not boundary gain which is usually 2-5 db.

Edited March 27, 2014 by derrickdj1

[Scrappydue]

So I am up and running.

UPS guy pointed out that the Dayton woofers were listed at 149 lbs a piece! Which could explain how I got rooked with insane shipping costs. I have a note in with PE, Amazon and UPS to figure it out. Hopefully they will make it right. Thanks UPS guy! I might not have caught that.

shouldnt have mattered what they list at. Ups has to weigh them accordingly. But hey I hope someone thinks something was messed up and you get some moolah back anyways.

Hit me up any time tomorrow buddy. I'm off. I can give you some key tips on the inuke. I didn't realize you bought two 6000's. I'm jealous. I think mine could handle a bit more oomph at times, but only when I'm being stupid with the volume.

[derrickdj1]

Scrappy, you have plenty of power, lol. Yeah, the only time we think of more power is for demo's. I can't get the subs to really use much power, even at reference level playback. I get I could go pass 0 to plus 3 but, that is getting crazy. 1500 watts per sub at 4 ohns is plenty. Something tells me from using the Berhinger amps that power output is cut below 20 Hz form the built-in protection. I think what you get less than 20 Hz. is mostly room dependent.

Scrappydue, you driver may be able to handel a little more power than the Chase or Dayton driver.

Edited March 28, 2014 by derrickdj1

[holtrp]

Thanks for the link Derrick. That is a good write up and I will be referring to it often over the next few days. You were running 4 ohm stereo through the iNuke 6000 and never had problems? Seems like an awful lot of power for these drivers.

Scrap, Will call you sometime today.

[holtrp]

Made some pretty decent progress, not nearly as far as I would have liked. The Wife ambushed me last night and we ended up watching The Great Gatsby. The LFE on that sound track was mocking me.

The 3/4 sides are put on, only need to glue on the last and motor board. Are 5 24" wood clamps a bit overkill? Maybe. That is what I would recommend if I was doing this over though. Panels have been coming right together but have used the mallet a couple times to get them in. Ready for caulk and binding posts this morning, then finish gluing, drilling pilots for driver mounts, finish caulking, Polyfill, mount drivers and go time!

Edited March 28, 2014 by holtrp

[holtrp]

Had plenty of 'help' yesterday.

[holtrp]

Old pigtail connectors put to good use. Looks like a 1/4" bit will do the trick here.

[holtrp]

Going with 4 lbs per box. Should have 2 oz to spare!

[holtrp]

Glad I changed and went with the #10 1" panheads. Much better fit for these drivers.

[holtrp]

Got two smaller tubes of silicone for after the box is put together. Getting the caulking gun in there would be a nightmare.

Not sure what to think of the Speakon connectors. They seem very robust. I bet they are great at 3 AM after the gig when you are rigging down completely buckled off house drinks. I still prefer a plain old bare wire binding post.

[derrickdj1]

Great job. I see you have a couple of great helpers. Even running the most demanding movies and bass sweeps, the highest power consumption may have gotten near the RMS numbers but, never near the peak value. Now that I have ordered the I Nuke 6000 DSP, I am dying to do a sub build. Right now I better just deal with getting my Epik Legend back up and into the HT as a nearfield sub to see if it will bring anything to the table. E. Geddes paper say it should work and be a benefit even though it is smaller than the big subs.

Edited March 28, 2014 by derrickdj1

[Scrappydue]

Got two smaller tubes of silicone for after the box is put together. Getting the caulking gun in there would be a nightmare.

Not sure what to think of the Speakon connectors. They seem very robust. I bet they are great at 3 AM after the gig when you are rigging down completely buckled off house drinks. I still prefer a plain old bare wire binding post.

you won't think that after you use them a couple times. Once built you never have to mess with them again and the connection is so fast and SO SOLID! That's what I like about them. If I build anymore gonna start putting a female end on subs prolly like my thx ultra subs had. They really are awesome.

[Rudy81]

Interesting build. What kind of performance do you expect below 20Hz?

[Scrappydue]

Interesting build. What kind of performance do you expect below 20Hz?

i would say reference levels easily down to 12-15hz. My very similar setup provides flat bass down to 8hz

[Rudy81]

Interesting build. What kind of performance do you expect below 20Hz?

i would say reference levels easily down to 12-15hz. My very similar setup provides flat bass down to 8hz

Interesting. I'm wondering how a pair would compare with my two SPUD builds. Hmmmmm.....

[Scrappydue]

Just a guess but I'm betting a little more output below tuning frequency but then unless you had 4+ 18's sealed, I would imagine two 15/18" Ported or horn loaded subs would have much more output above 20-25hz.