AOmagman78 Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I'm a total audio noob, but I've heard so much about DIY subs, can someone help me out or direct me to a previous post of this type? Anyone live near Cleveland/Akron Ohio or Columbia, SC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplummer Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 AOmagman, I like the way you think, IMHO, Dollar for Dollar, I believe you can get MUCH more performance from a DIY Sub than ANY other mass market sub out there. The major constraint on mass marketing is SIZE of Cabinet. If you don't mind a large piece of furniture, you can have everything. Keep asking here and I'm sure others will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 what do you need to know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOmagman78 Posted June 7, 2007 Author Share Posted June 7, 2007 I have the cash, I have a little bit of wood construction know how, I have friends w/ tools and I have time. I was hoping to get suggestions on materials and components, and then a basic idea of how to hook up all the audio stuff inside, which way to fire the thing, etc. Basically, I'm a huge movie buff, and my favorite part of movies is the sounds so I thought I should learn a little bout audio, and what better way than to take on a project like this. Any help would be appreciated guys. I'm assuming the project wouldn't cost more than 600?? But cash really isn't a big constraint, more like I just don't wanna spend that much on my first try. Thanks! - Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Check out the " LAB sub " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I've got a leftover kit from a workshop I taught a while back. $300 + shipping and it's yours. Peak output is around 120dB with extension down to 20Hz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I have the cash, I have a little bit of wood construction know how, I have friends w/ tools and I have time. I was hoping to get suggestions on materials and components, and then a basic idea of how to hook up all the audio stuff inside, which way to fire the thing, etc. Basically, I'm a huge movie buff, and my favorite part of movies is the sounds so I thought I should learn a little bout audio, and what better way than to take on a project like this. Any help would be appreciated guys. I'm assuming the project wouldn't cost more than 600?? But cash really isn't a big constraint, more like I just don't wanna spend that much on my first try. Thanks! - Shawn use mdf or baltic birch no void. MDF is alot cheaper what is your budget? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I've got a leftover kit from a workshop I taught a while back. $300 + shipping and it's yours. Peak output is around 120dB with extension down to 20Hz. Mike, I'm not really in the market, but am curious about the kit and the class you taught. Could you say more describing the sub? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I believe it was a horizontal sonotube using an ascendant audio subwoofer and a dayton subwoofer amp, ported. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 I've got a leftover kit from a workshop I taught a while back. $300 + shipping and it's yours. Peak output is around 120dB with extension down to 20Hz. Mike, I'm not really in the market, but am curious about the kit and the class you taught. Could you say more describing the sub? As the workshop director for the AES chapter on campus, it was my job to put together a few workshops to teach some of the fellow members a little bit about various aspects of audio. Usually we try to find experts in the field to come in and give a lecture about some latest cutting edge design stuff, but scheduling didn't work out as planned and in a last minute effort I was forced to put together a lecture to teach everything I knew about subwoofers. In the meantime, I threw together a design that was meant to be used first as a learning tool, but I also wanted it to be something of quality that we would want to actually keep and use. The goal was to sell the kit for under $250 and exceed the performance of the Klipsch Sub-12 (basically 120dB output with extension down to 20Hz in room). The actual cost of the kits came in at $300, but we managed to get the school to fund $50 for every student member, which was cool cuz that meant we achieved one of the goals. The sub consists of an Ascendant Audio 12" Assassin driver, powered with a 250W Rythmik Audio plate amp. The enclosure is made of 18" sonotube and comes in at about 3.5 cubic feet. The baffles are made out of 3/4" MDF and there is a 3" port, tuning the cabinet to 20Hz. I talked to the guys at Rythmik and we had them install a customized EQ into the amp to account for some nonlinearities (basically reducing distortion). It seems this kind of EQ is rarely used in the DIY world and it makes such a huge difference in the performance... Since I was on a tight budget and needed to purchase things in quantity, I had to design the subwoofer without doing any kind of measuring. That meant trying to predict nonlinear behavior by hand. I couldn't have been more pleased with how well the predictions correlated to real life. I was a bit worried because I've never used products from any of the companies, nor have I played with sonotube enclosures either. So it was a bit unnerving telling people how good they were going to sound (trying to get them to sign up) without actually having heard any of the stuff prior to the first day of building... [] As far as performance, 118dB is pushing it in a rather large living room, but it's easily hitting 20Hz. As far as sound quality - I was extremely surprised...especially at listening levels below 100dB. There is no doubt in my mind that we exceeded the performance of the Sub-12. I don't have the ability to measure distortion (yet), but I'm pretty sure it's not a placebo from building it myself. Anybody in the area is more than welcome to swing by and hear it for themselves. Anyways, it was a fun workshop and I think everyone learned a lot. Not to toot my own horn, but I am extremely pleased with how things turned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Mike. That is too cool. Congrats on pulling it off with a good product. Do you have any pics you'd be able to post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Duke, Is that little guy in your HT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Aaaahhh ... No, D.D. no HT here, just 2 ch got them Scoops, and 2360's, to .. ifn' ya want "over the top " ...[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Duke, Over the top, indeed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 here they are .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Whoa. They'd be fun to roll into a party then crank some tunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brennyE Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 if your interested in taking a look at a diy suboofer and the kind of numbers that a basic diy subwoofer can output it might be worth taking a peak at my old diy subwoofer here http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/thread/841692.aspx sure the big boy did blow up but only due to me being a tad bit to excitable with the volume knob! But all the money and effort put into making the sub was not wasted as i am now using the experience to make a much better subwoofer system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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