DIY subwoofer advice

[wuzzzer]

Anyone have any good advice as far as a DIY sub? Don't get me wrong, I really love my SVS but I was wondering about the possibilities of what kind of performance I could get by selling my SVS (I've seen them going around $700 on eBay) and using the money towards building my own sub.

I love the fact that my SVS plays deep, deep bass but I would like a setup that had better slam factor in the 50-80Hz range.

[TheEAR]

For $700 you can get agood deal more sub.

Take the Match 5 Audio IXL18 driver.put it in a 13.5cu ft box(or sonotube),tuned to 15Hz with a 13-14Hz lowpass filter. Cut at 80hz to get the slam.

Use a BASH 500 plate amp. You are golden to embarass commercial subs,way above this project's price.

I am building exactly this setup...well I will use Crown's XTi 2000 amp to power the driver(one channel,not bridged).As I will build a second one within a month.

The cost $250 for the driver,under $100 for the cabinet materials and terminals...a few feet of GA10 cable. The BASH 500 goes for what $250... Around $600 you are kicking.No EQ boost needed,at all. Even in free space this sub is quite flat down to the tuning point,in a room with rom gain you have abyss deep bass and slam(when present ...of course )

[TheEAR]

As a semi DIY Rythmik sells 15" drivers with amps(matched and filters set) ,you build the box(decorate sonotube ..endcaps...LOL). Here again fo under $700 all included you have great results,always go ported,as sealed with high output = more expensive as you need more driver and amp to get as much deep bass output.

[masterxela]

i think soundsplinter was making some cool drivers when i was designing mine - could look at them.

i'd stay away from plate amps in general too, pro amps are just more versatile, should you ever dismantle this project.

have fun

[TheEAR]

Plate amps are great to keep the cost down,way down. For the price of the BASH 500 you do not get much in the way of stand alone power amp. Plus you need a subsonic filter ,as phase is taken care of the simple way(reversing polarity at the sub terminal).

A bit OT...

The Europower EP2500 is a good sarter stand alone amp,good in the sense of cheap thrills for low dollar. When ready to step up the Crown XTi series is clearly superior(and the built in simple DSP...ha ).And the king of sub amps Crown's iTech ...when I get the Audio Pulse monsters,the iTech will reign supreme.

.

[Jay481985]

michael hurd will chime in with qsc

[wuzzzer]

Thanks for all the advice. Keep it coming!

[TheEAR]

As a new reborn DIY fanatic (I passed the anti DIY phase with flying colors LOL) I have now a good few subs under my belt. All built to my standards. All besting the highly regarded commercial subs. And lets not talk $ for $ ratio here.

I will post a few pics ...stand by...

[TheEAR]

Sunday morning the build starts(all parts pre cut and ready for routing...).I will upload some images...of some of the tools I have purchased(and found a new series of purchases!).

[Jay481985]

I guess theear is not interested as he has not pmed me

[TheEAR]

PM sent.

[Jay481985]

PM sent.

did not receive?

[DrWho]

You're probably pushing it at $700...is that all you're willing to spend on the project?

Also, do you have any size and aesthetic contraints? One thing you might look into is a tapped horn sub....there are some real cheap drivers that would work extremely well in one, and then you don't need to spend as much on the amp either because the horn makes it more efficient. The tradeoff is that they can get a bit large....especially if you wanna dig into the teens.

[TheEAR]

Jay,

Did you get my latest PM ?

[TheEAR]

I still loath sonotube subs,they are so easy to "build" there is no excuse not to "build" one. Buy a solid concrete pour sonotube,cut double or triple stacked 3/4" thick round ends(router with simple jig works wonders). Driver coutout...bingo.Even a kid can have a sonotube...[]

The only negative,people make them stand,so the driver's cone will SAG. Robbing the users from precious excursion(Xmax)...and Xmech being lesser.

You can lay then,they look like torpedo launch tubes .

DrWho,

Horn subs are for the few,the driver may be smaller and inexpensive.The build has to be accurate or the result poor,not too many do like Danley.The vast majority should stay with EBS subs,output aplenty,inexpensive and dig below pipe organ limits.

[Guest srobak]

Even a kid can have a sonotube...

I think that was kinda the premise of "Bazooka Subs" back in some time ago... "Even a kid can have a bazooka tube!" and most kids in fact had them...

The only negative,people make them stand,so the driver's cone will SAG.

Is this true? So my downward firing Klipsch has a shelf life of.... ? Why would it sag that way, but not shift if placed on it's side over time? Gravity still applies - no? Genuinely curious.

[michael hurd]

It is a fact that all drivers sag due to gravity, but those with heavy moving mass suffer most. There is a formula to figure out the percentage of sag, and the generally accepted rule of thumb is that if the driver sag is less than 5%, than it can be used in downfire with no appreciable loss of travel from sag.

http://www.partsexpress.com/resources/woofer-mount-up-down.cfm

[Jay481985]

most subwoofers are fine.... its just some cones are way to heavy to the spider/s they put it on.

[TheEAR]

Sag in most drivers is not alarming at all,as they use light cones with proper recall(spider(s)),sourround.Cone sourround plays a role in cone recall also,you can find a few PR's(Paradigm among others) that use NO spiders ! Just a well designed stiff sourround with proper recall.Lets say the pressure inside the cabinet,created by the working woofer is also responsible of the "recall".

I once saw a loaded PR sag(mounted downfiring!),the owner thinking it was cool to see the cone below ! Now that was bright. I think PolkAudio has some upcoming subs with downfiring PR's ! These are designed to be downfiring.

[TheSoundBroker]

And the king of sub amps Crown's iTech ...when I get the Audio Pulse monsters,the iTech will reign supreme.

(Ahem...cough) Face Audio F-2000TX. Sell them both, did the direct comparisons. Equivalent rated power to the IT-4000, but an old school Class AB design with a massive power supply. Needs a 30 amp line for the best performance (then again, so do the ITechs), definitely more potent down below as it is optimized for LFE use. Also, Crown is reissuing the MacroTech anniversary editions which look SWEET but will probably be snatched up quickly. Lot of guys in the touring industry (except the roadies) miss their Macrotechs which are...ahem...old school class A/B designs with massive power supplies. Concensus is they sound better. Also need to play around with the newest potential cheap uber amp king, the new XLS 5000 which is (TADA!) 2 ohm stable! That means they may have actually put a halfway decent power supply in there (kinda have to with 1100/ch into 8). Lot of horsepower for $1395.