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Roboklipsch's DIYSG 4cft ported build using Legacy EF 15" Driver


RoboKlipsch

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Thanks again to eeg and CEC, great advice guys.  I know, the crimp connector is pretty simple, but like anything new it takes me like 20 tries to understand it.

I picked up 5 of them at the local hardware store, 10-12gauge ones.  I have 12gauge wire so ready to go!  

 

And I'm too tired to get it done right now :)

 

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18 minutes ago, oldred said:

Use an easy does it tool.....For you young guys....this is a man power drill.(brace)....yea maybe practice could be better.

 

Never mind......

 

G.E.M.

 

 

easy does it.jpg

I remember we had one of these growing up.  Also the early "power screwdriver" where a mechanical spring system revved it up!

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EEG is there any reason to test the driver outside the cabinet?   Have you ever encountered a bad driver out of the box?  



I've personally never tested any of my drivers before putting them into cabinets but I've heard guys breaking there subs in by putting test tones through them. When I bought mine my buddy Matt ran his DATS through them and they all measured fine and were identical. I'm sure there fine you will know Once you do a fq sweep on each one to see if anything looks off. I also never ran into a buying a bad driver but you never know these are buy outs from parts express. I have heard of guys having Quality control issues and subs for a while the Dayton Audio UM-18 22 had some issues but that seems to be under control now from the factory. I wouldn't be to worried about it being bad.
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Update:  I put the terminals in last night.  Drilling through the lacquered veneer was surprising - the lacquered veneer was very tough, hard to drill through, once through the MDF was easy.  The instructions say to place the terminal at the edge of the hole, then tap in with a hammer.  it really didn't look like it would fit, but I did it anyway, and they wedged in beautifully.  Terminals are in.  Tapping them with a hammer seemed crazy, but I followed directions and was pleasantly surprised :)

 

This afternoon, I parallel wired the coils, then installed the crimp connectors and then wired those to the terminals and the sub drivers.

 

Installation of the drivers has forever scared the heck out of me.  I want it done, I want to have the subs, but having spent a lot of time trying to get drivers to fit before, I was very weary of the process.

 

Using a few of the zip ties to lift the sub driver, I placed the wired sub into the cutout.  Lining up a hole or two was easy, getting all the bolts to thread in by hand seemed almost impossible.  It was only after a hour or so of fiddling, that I decided to bite the bullet, use the hex nut screwdriver and try and tighten one down.  That worked.  I was then able to tighten them all down on the first sub.  SIGH!  WOOOoooooo.  Thank goodness.

 

Sub 2.  As with everything related to building, it was easier and faster.   One hole may have been drilled slightly off, I could not tell.  But after tightening them all down, I heard that tiny small pop as I believe I popped a T-nut off - the last one, no less.  The design of the holes is such that a 1/4-20 bolt just barely threads through the driver holes.  The way it is wedged in now, I believe it is tight enough.  Any objections just let me know.  It does spin, but only with a wrench.  It seems almost as if it is threaded somewhat into the sub hole itself - I noticed that on a few that the appeared to almost have threads, perhaps a return where someone else used the driver or tried to.  I know it can and may leak.  But as of now, I guess I will give it a try and see if it causes problems.  I hope and expect it to function well and maybe even without any issues.  If there are issues, I'll pull the driver, cut that bolt if need be and redo that one hole/t-nut.    My sense is try it first as it may be fine, and unbolting the other 7 and redoing it brings with it other possible issues - namely the other 7 tnuts.  

 

So with all that said, I am very happy with them.  Very happy.  So many steps, so much work, so much fun, so much learning.  

 

The only thing left besides wiring them into the system is to give them a nice polish with the Meguiar's.  I decided to wait on that until all the hardware was complete, and am glad I did.  I will likely get them setup and running first before polishing, which can happen at any time and my guess being it will take at most a few hours.  

 

So what do they look like?  I'll post a bunch of pictures once they are placed into the theater, but for now here's a few.  Notice on the top surface shot, you can see the fine scratches from the wet sanding.  That's why polish is a good idea, it will take away any scratches.  The side shot is there just to show some of the reflection off the carpet.

 

I'm very happy with the driver appearance.  I didn't realize the sanded stainless metal edges would outline the driver so nicely, it distracts from looking at the edge of the cutout itself.   Anyway here's a few shots.  And before those, thank you again to everyone for their contributions, the build process was incredible and fun, and wouldn't have been done nearly as well without everyone's input.  Special thanks to #FuzzyDog for finding the driver and starting a thread.  Without that, I wouldn't have jumped into the deep end of the pool! :emotion-22:

Ported Sub Build Pic69.jpg

Ported Sub Build Pic72.jpg

Ported Sub Build Pic70.jpg

Ported Sub Build Pic71.jpg

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Wow...your attention to detail was unbelievable....Yes how do they sound??

I have done a lot of refinishing....but I got to tell you...just the wet sanding steps you described blew me away.

They look real nice....We will be ready to hear them at a moments notice:emotion-22:

 

 

G.E.M.

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Great looking boxes Rob.  It is a pain  to get the driver all screwd in and hear a t-nut drop on the last screw in.  You can leave it if there is no annoying leak or pull the driver and replace the t-nut and use some Gorilla glue.  Let is dry for at lease 6 hours.  Contact cement might dry quicker.  You can also loosen up the screw and put contact cement around and in the t-nut.  Hopefully Carl will comment.

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On 10/15/2016 at 9:05 PM, derrickdj1 said:

Great looking boxes Rob.  It is a pain  to get the driver all screwd in and hear a t-nut drop on the last screw in.  You can leave it if there is no annoying leak or pull the driver and replace the t-nut and use some Gorilla glue.  Let is dry for at lease 6 hours.  Contact cement might dry quicker.  You can also loosen up the screw and put contact cement around and in the t-nut.  Hopefully Carl will comment.

DDJ I appreciate the thoughts!  They all were installed with a q-tip of gorilla glue, set in, and left for what ended up being 2 days before inserting the bolts.  The alignment was off by just a hair on that one, and it was enough to pop it, I'm pretty sure.  The way it screwed in however, and still screws, leaves hope it will stay tightly in place and work the same as if it was securely in place.  If not, I'll get it out of there and redo it :emotion-21:

 

I still consider it a miracle they fit at all!  If I had it to do over again, I would very carefully drill directly through the driver holes themselves with a long bit.  It's dangerous re the driver, but would guarantee perfect position.  I think a couple of towels around the driver would protect it enough.  

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