Anyone built a subwoofer before?

[Enderman]

Just curious if anyone (on LTT) has done a project like this.

 

I've been thinking of maybe putting this on my project to-do list because it seems relatively inexpensive (compared to buying one) and not too complicated.

 

These are the parts I was thinking of using, in case anyone is interested in knowing:

 18" dayton subwoofer (yeah, I know its huge, I actually considered a 24" StereoIntegrity subwoofer, but that costs 5x as much at $1250)

 

 

This is a 1200W RMS dayton panel amplifier, which is a bit expensive at $600, but has a really useful auto-EQ feature to flatten the response wherever you use the sub.

 

1" thick MDF, which I would double-layer for a total of 2" thick walls.

 

6" port, which I've calculated will need to be at least 24" long

 

Acoustic foam to line the inside of the box!

 

Some nice spikes for the bottom (these might be a bit too small for a subwoofer box that weighs near 100lbs)

 

Total price is about $1000

Far less than the $4000 adam audio sub-15

 

 

 

SO yeah, just plans for a project, who knows if I will ever build it

Let me know if you've ever built audio equipment yourself, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts!

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

Build it for $1000, sell it for $2000, build two more, cycle continues. Infinite moneys.

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

On an actual note this project looks awesome and I'm super excited to see you really pull it off.

[vong]

20 minutes ago, Enderman said:

- snip -

I haven't built a speaker box with an inbuilt amp but it wasn't so hard. Only hard part would be measuring the right size box and port. I had to get a pro to sketch up a design for me because I didn't know how to use a sub box calculator. It'd be easier to do a slotted port vs a round port imo and I don't really think there's a need for accustic foam inside the box.

 

Seems quite cheap compared to my prebuilt sub (SVS PB12 plus).

 

Check out Exocontralto on youtube, guy builds some spl boxes for cars and has a few how to vids.

[Bajantechnician]

20 minutes ago, Enderman said:

~SNIP~

man, enderman,

youre just full of surprises

 

suggestion, use high bass car speakers, more bass=6000x better

[Enderman]

13 minutes ago, vong said:

I haven't built a speaker box with an inbuilt amp but it wasn't so hard. Only hard part would be measuring the right size box and port. I had to get a pro to sketch up a design for me because I didn't know how to use a sub box calculator. It'd be easier to do a slotted port vs a round port imo and I don't really think there's a need for accustic foam inside the box.

 

Seems quite cheap compared to my prebuilt sub (SVS PB12 plus).

 

Check out Exocontralto on youtube, guy builds some spl boxes for cars and has a few how to vids.

I'm kinda basing my design off of studio subwoofers, which cost several thousand dollars, rather than home theater subwoofers (which is what I currently have)

That SVS sub is definitely good (I actually considered buying one at some point), but I was looking for a driver that was larger than 15" but still had that clean look to it

This is what I'm trying to copy, except with a 18" driver:

 

and yeah a slotted port would be easier but this sub has a rounded port, and so does mine, so I'm going to try to copy that

 

11 minutes ago, Bajantechnician said:

man, enderman,

youre just full of surprises

 

suggestion, use high bass car speakers, more bass=6000x better

Yeah I'm kinda moving away from that kinda stuff, you do get more SPL but the power requirements to drive those things is insane. This 1200W amp is already one of the highest output panel amps I could find on the internet

 

Also car subwoofers have much lower audio quality than more accurate and lighter drivers like the one I chose. I had a 15" car sub for a while, it was loud, but Not very clear and tight. This may be due to the fact I was using a cheap car sub box with a shitty port, but I think this time I'm going to stick to a more subtle-looking driver which is also relatively cheap (only $250 for an 18" !!)

[Enderman]

14 minutes ago, Jacktastic-Mofo said:

On an actual note this project looks awesome and I'm super excited to see you really pull it off.

Thank you  hopefully I can get a decent job during the summer and get some funds to build this thing!

Worst case scenario I will have to wait a year or two, or possibly settle for a cheaper and lower power amp (which is by far the most expensive part of this project)

[Scheer]

I built a set of Overnight Sensation bookshelf speakers about a year ago, its dead simple and crossovers are kinda fun to layout.

 

All said and done I think I was $130 in materials and it was WELL worth it, building speakers seems to be the definite way to go.

[Enderman]

2 hours ago, Scheer said:

I built a set of Overnight Sensation bookshelf speakers about a year ago, its dead simple and crossovers are kinda fun to layout.

 

All said and done I think I was $130 in materials and it was WELL worth it, building speakers seems to be the definite way to go.

That looks great  Is that baltic birch you used?

[Scheer]

13 minutes ago, Enderman said:

That looks great  Is that baltic birch you used?

Yep, it was a kit from Parts Express.

[Enderman]

Just now, Scheer said:

Yep, it was a kit from Parts Express.

cool

I actually found out my uni woodshop sells baltic birch so I might use that instead of MDF, i hear its a lot lighter and stronger

 

not sure if I will double-layer it in that case, I do want a really thick box but it may get expensive doubling up on all sides

[bob345]

I 've built quite a few speakers and subwoofers. Ever thought of going with a transmission line enclosure? They typically need to be much larger than the everyday bass reflex enclosure, but when it comes to getting the best response out of a subwoofer it's the best way to go.

[Enderman]

44 minutes ago, bob345 said:

I 've built quite a few speakers and subwoofers. Ever thought of going with a transmission line enclosure? They typically need to be much larger than the everyday bass reflex enclosure, but when it comes to getting the best response out of a subwoofer it's the best way to go.

I've looked at some but they seem pretty complex to build, and I would rather keep the box size dimensions to only a few inches larger than the subwoofer, not multiple times larger than the subwoofer

 

I've used winiso to do some experimenting and yeah having a larger box volume really brings down the tuning frequency, but I need something that is sorta portable, like under 28" cube

 

I'm going to work on some calculations to see how much polyfill I should use inside to up the volume a little and drop the tuning freq

[.spider.]

You need a lot of knowledge to built an excellent subwoofer.

It is probably the fest idea to follow built instructions for example one of these

https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=www.visaton.de%2Fde%2Fbauvorschlaege%2Fsubwoofer%2Fgrandorgue%2Findex.html

[Enderman]

41 minutes ago, .spider. said:

You need a lot of knowledge to built an excellent subwoofer.

It is probably the fest idea to follow built instructions for example one of these

https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=www.visaton.de%2Fde%2Fbauvorschlaege%2Fsubwoofer%2Fgrandorgue%2Findex.html

Yeah I've been doing a lot of research and a lot of calculations using online tools and simulation programs like winiso
I've modeled a design that looks very similar to the sub 15, but I still need to do some calculations to see what dimensions I need to use, length of port, and amount of polyfill

Here's why it looks like so far:

 

[iamdarkyoshi]

I have both built a subwoofer as in made it from a box of speaker parts (dad's old friend at electrovoice provided the parts), and I have built a box before. I just used the datasheet for the speaker to build my box out of my desk (needed a new one anyway) and it fit perfectly in the back of my truck. The sub called out for a box of 4 cubic feet and a port of a specific length and size or two ports of specific length and size (forgot these dimensions) for a specific frequency range. Sounds great.

[Enderman]

2 hours ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

I have both built a subwoofer as in made it from a box of speaker parts (dad's old friend at electrovoice provided the parts), and I have built a box before. I just used the datasheet for the speaker to build my box out of my desk (needed a new one anyway) and it fit perfectly in the back of my truck. The sub called out for a box of 4 cubic feet and a port of a specific length and size or two ports of specific length and size (forgot these dimensions) for a specific frequency range. Sounds great.

cool

I considered building the driver itself but I dont think I would get anything close to the quality of a factory made one, especially since dayton provides nearly all of the specs such as Vd, Qts, Qes, etc... all the stuff necessary to calculate the exact tuning frequency for a specific box

Building the sub myself I wouldnt have any good way of measuring those values

[RafaelSoaresP]

I think you should be better with a sealed box instead of a ported one, as it will produce a cleaner "tighter" sound on your room. 

Ported are for open (or obstructed) places, where power / range > quality.

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, RafaelSoaresP said:

I think you should be better with a sealed box instead of a ported one, as it will produce a cleaner "tighter" sound on your room. 

Ported are for open (or obstructed) places, where power / range > quality.

ive done a lot of spl simulations and sealed boxes really drop fast below 30 or 40hz
My current cheap HT sub is ported, and I can definitely tell the diference when I can hear stuff below 30hz

 

I see a lot of people on the internet saying you dont need that for music but whenever i play music there is a lot of stuff below 30hz, and even below 20hz which my sub has problems reproducing

 

My simulations with a ported box should give a flat frequency response down to about 20hz and then start dropping off
Since the adam Sub15 is also ported, i want to copy that design

Also my room is pretty big, so it does absorb a lot of low frequencies

[RafaelSoaresP]

15 minutes ago, Enderman said:

 

.

 

I agree with that, but the thing is, if you're gonna be physically close to the sub, you will be able to hear a lot of the air moving trough the port.

That's why i said the sealed box would give you a better overall quality than the ported box.

I'm not sure if it would apply to your speaker, but a sealed enclosure also "reset" the cone position faster than a ported one. This gives you a tighter and faster response to the sub, allowing it to reproduce sounds more accurately. 

In the end it comes to personal preference tough. I'd consider having a less effective response to sub-30hz (which could be "fixed" trough EQ) in trade of a cleaner faster response.