As the title says, this is a little different than your normal subwoofer build. It's not your ideal design/build for massive amounts of low-end bass, however, it does/did pretty well with the mid-bass region. This sub has a lot of sentimental value to me 
To start, my dad and I built this back in 1995 (I was 13). Back then, I thought Bose was a decent speaker builder and saw an acrylic Acoustimass module sitting out on display. At 13, I knew I would never be able to buy a complete system from Bose due to the high prices and my $7 a week allowance (when I wasn't in trouble), so I asked my dad if we could build one.
We used 3/4" plywood and 6 1/2" woofers (vs 5 1/4 that Bose used). At the time I couldn't just get on the 1nt3rw3bz and order parts, so we were stuck with what we could find local at a reasonable price. We ended up using some Radio Shack "Subwoofers" and had to improvise on the front port... For that we used some plastic martini glasses and the top/lid to some hair spray (and lots of glue). We picked up some crossovers from Radio Shack as well. Here are some pictures from when we first built it.
I was 13 in this pic (thank God my parents got me braces!)
Finished in 1995
Although the port looked decent, it was HORRIBLE for sound and would lead to LOTS of port turbulance. This helped make the sub extreme sweet spots.... You'd have to be VERY careful on placement, or all you would get is port noise. I also found the crossovers we used vibrated as we mounted them straight to the wood. With some of the higher bass tones, I could hear these things just vibrating against the wood like crazy.
The port we made: Not ideal, but I didn't know better then.
Now, it's 2009 and I was listening to some music on my computer and though, "man, I would really like some bass to go along with these tunes" and asked my dad to send me my subwoofer from home. I thought, that I could cut out the back, add a plate amp (BASH 300S) and replace the port with a Precision Port flared port tube and it would sound a whole lot better and I wouldn't need to find a way to power the sub. Well, as lovely as Fed Ex is, they manage to drop the box from high enough to do some damage, so now I'll be sanding the entire thing down, filling and refinishing.
Damage
How the rest of it looked. When my dad refinished his Klipsch LaScala's, he didn't put the emblems back on so I took one. I'll leave it off this time around.
When I cut the back out, I knew I would have to go through a crossover, but didn't think I would get hung up as bad as I did. It did cause me to remove more material than I wanted to in that area, but not enough that the amp could not seal.... Because I am picky, I am going to build that area up and sand it so it is straight and smooth. I did end up damaging the speakers during the process, but I sort of expected to replace them anyway as I'm sure there is a much better speaker available than the Radio Shack ones we used.
So here is where I am now. My plate amp fits nicely and I'm looking to replace the busted speakers with these Vifa woofers. I am also looking to replace the port with a Precision Port 3" flared (both ends) port tube. Lastly, this time around, I'm going to use some Liquid Nails on all the corners in the inside of the box to ensure there is no air leakage anywhere.
Now here come the questions...
- Does anyone see any reason not to go with the Vifa speakers I picked out?
- Is there a better suit for this application?
- Anyone have any ideas to throw in?!
To start, my dad and I built this back in 1995 (I was 13). Back then, I thought Bose was a decent speaker builder and saw an acrylic Acoustimass module sitting out on display. At 13, I knew I would never be able to buy a complete system from Bose due to the high prices and my $7 a week allowance (when I wasn't in trouble), so I asked my dad if we could build one.
We used 3/4" plywood and 6 1/2" woofers (vs 5 1/4 that Bose used). At the time I couldn't just get on the 1nt3rw3bz and order parts, so we were stuck with what we could find local at a reasonable price. We ended up using some Radio Shack "Subwoofers" and had to improvise on the front port... For that we used some plastic martini glasses and the top/lid to some hair spray (and lots of glue). We picked up some crossovers from Radio Shack as well. Here are some pictures from when we first built it.
I was 13 in this pic (thank God my parents got me braces!)
Finished in 1995
Although the port looked decent, it was HORRIBLE for sound and would lead to LOTS of port turbulance. This helped make the sub extreme sweet spots.... You'd have to be VERY careful on placement, or all you would get is port noise. I also found the crossovers we used vibrated as we mounted them straight to the wood. With some of the higher bass tones, I could hear these things just vibrating against the wood like crazy.
The port we made: Not ideal, but I didn't know better then.
Now, it's 2009 and I was listening to some music on my computer and though, "man, I would really like some bass to go along with these tunes" and asked my dad to send me my subwoofer from home. I thought, that I could cut out the back, add a plate amp (BASH 300S) and replace the port with a Precision Port flared port tube and it would sound a whole lot better and I wouldn't need to find a way to power the sub. Well, as lovely as Fed Ex is, they manage to drop the box from high enough to do some damage, so now I'll be sanding the entire thing down, filling and refinishing.
Damage
How the rest of it looked. When my dad refinished his Klipsch LaScala's, he didn't put the emblems back on so I took one. I'll leave it off this time around.
When I cut the back out, I knew I would have to go through a crossover, but didn't think I would get hung up as bad as I did. It did cause me to remove more material than I wanted to in that area, but not enough that the amp could not seal.... Because I am picky, I am going to build that area up and sand it so it is straight and smooth. I did end up damaging the speakers during the process, but I sort of expected to replace them anyway as I'm sure there is a much better speaker available than the Radio Shack ones we used.
So here is where I am now. My plate amp fits nicely and I'm looking to replace the busted speakers with these Vifa woofers. I am also looking to replace the port with a Precision Port 3" flared (both ends) port tube. Lastly, this time around, I'm going to use some Liquid Nails on all the corners in the inside of the box to ensure there is no air leakage anywhere.
Now here come the questions...
- Does anyone see any reason not to go with the Vifa speakers I picked out?
- Is there a better suit for this application?
- Anyone have any ideas to throw in?!
