Official Rythmik Audio DIY Subwoofer Kit thread - Page 9

Great, can't wait to see them. I just unloaded my fp's from the trunk, and man is it a lot of MDF (4.5 sheets of true 3/4" highly refined)---the back end of the Toyota was sitting pretty low! I can start the inner boxes, but have to find a silica sand (#60, the fine stuff) retailer out here in this God-forsaken desert.

This is actually not a stand alone sub, but it is a Rythmik A370PEQ driving GR Research Paper cones in
a open baffle. I know you guys are looking at HT applications, but thought I'd show you how I built my
Super Vs, with the servos on the bottom half. Sand filled and very inert, these are the best low end I
have ever heard. Of course this is 2ch application not HT, but thought you might enjoy the build pics.

EXTREMELY nice Perry R,
I won't claim to know anything about that design of speaker/sub yet your build, workmanship, and attention to detail look superb! I can truly appreciate your finished product. When it comes to woodworking I am near armature status yet have been fortunate to have a few friends give me pointers over the years. This first sub project of mine was kind of a "get my feet wet again" due to not working with wood for many years. Pretty basic square boxes that will be covered like my main speakers thus finish work was minimal etc.

Again, very nice - thanks for sharing. I myself like seeing others work to give me ideas for projects later on.

Cheers

Perry---I was keeping up with your Super-V build on the GR site, and I am using ideas gleaned from your Jukebox design and Danny's Sandbox one for my two sub builds. My sealed F15HP clones will have a half inch of sand between the inner and outer boxes (50 lbs. of sand per box!), and my open baffle H-Frames will have a half inch of sand in the middle of the side walls, with the baffles and tops & bottoms just two layers of 3/4" MDF glued together. I had already conceived the idea of the sand-filled side panels when you posted your build (honest!), but you really expanded the concept and ran with it. I don't have the skill or ambition to pull off a build like yours, but filling the side walls with sand will give me the quiet cabs I want. Thanks to both you and Danny for the inspiration!
Edited by BDP24 - 4/4/13 at 4:46am

OK its been quite a while since I posted picks so lets see what happens...

A few of my Sub build:
I just sealed them with flat black - still need to sew the fabric "socks" and make the grills..















Just your basic near square boxes yet very solid, sealed and true. $1800 total for the pair.
Room treatments next - yet I am amazed how great it sounds without. I watched TRON Sunday afternoon.. Would of loved to have some REW readings etc...

Cheers

Smitty---I don't know if you found this to be true, but my DS1510 driver's needed a different sized cutout-hole than that specified by Rythmik. 15 5/16" was good for the recess and outer dimension of the drivers, but 14 1/16" was far too large for the cutout-hole. I wondered how it could be right if the mounting flange were 3/4", so I subtracted 1 1/2" (3/4" + 3/4") from the outer dimension, and used that figure (13 13/16") for the cutout. Bingo!

Yes, good point BDP24,

I guess I wouldn't say that its "far to large" but yes I measured the driver prior and just ensured I had close to 3/4 of an inch of mounting surface. But even with 3/4, once I started test fitting the driver it was evident a guy could have gone to a 7/8 mounting surface and still have clearance with the spider etc. So yes, 13 13/16" was probably a perfect fit for the mounting hole. Mine was a 14 inch diameter and I cut to the inside thinking I could sand it if needed. No sanding was required obviously.. . The main thing is to ensure the entire driver flange/gasket area has contact. If cut "exactly" at 14 1/16" it would work yet your bite on either mounting screws or bolts would be very questionable etc.

For those following and using the 1510s, I too would recommend an outer hole at 15 1/4" and the inner/mounting hole at 13 3/4" if not 13 13/16". Definitely provides a better bit of wood for your screws or bolts. Highly recommend the Hurricane style nuts as well.

Great pics of your build Perry and Smitty! As I said on the regular Rythmik site Smitty, I really like the grill cloth-covered cabs (they're posted on the Rythmik site), and the round-overs on the driver and amp recesses. My Hurricane Nuts are on their way, and also some barbed and threaded inserts---I can choose between them all when they get here. I found the sand only a few blocks from my house Perry, at a building supply yard. Silica #60, real fine grain. Now I just have to order the Vintage-style grill cloth I found on the Acoustone site, and then I'm out of excuses to not start spreading glue!
Edited by BDP24 - 4/10/13 at 7:18pm

Thanks!

looking forward to some pics.......I really enjoy looking at what you guys
come up with, its always cool to see the build pics, its what inspired me
to start DIY.

And it was your Super-V build (and Danny's sub sandbox) Perry that gave me some ideas for the design of my in progress sealed sub and upcoming OB subs. The detailed build pics really helped!

OK,
Been over a week BDP24. Any movement on your build?

Mine have only been complete for a matter of a couple weeks and I already find myself thinking of different cab designs.... DIY is addicting...

We have my sister-in-law's three kids (2, 4, &10) for a coupla weeks. No glue 'til they leave!

I'm interested in building a DIY version of the f12, but I can't seem to find any plans for a front firing sealed DS1200 driver. Would it be ok to take the plans for the sealed front firing DS1501 linked off the official site and just scale them down to achieve a 1.8-2.0 ft^3 volume?

You bet,
Even though smaller boxes/cab can have less internal bracing, scaling the 1501 box would work perfectly. Just remember the internal bracing must be subtracted along with amp and driver displacement to calculate net internal volume.
Just double and triple check all of your measurements/dimensions to ensure its what you want prior to plugging in the saw..

Have fun

Where can one find decent approximations of the volume decrement for mounted drivers and amps?

BDP24 helped me out yet the figures came from Brian at Rythmik. Those were for the 15 inch drivers (1510 kit).
- I actually had my kits in hand prior to cutting wood thus had also came up with my own numbers just by performing a little math. And yes, my brain started smoking worse than my warn-out saw blade... Actually, I like math and just looking at driver/amp, taking a few measurements and estimations I was darn close in the end.
- Just remember to take into account the opening/cutout for each as well - as in the ~ 15" or 12" diameter x 3/4" thickness driver cutout and ~ 8" x 10" x 3/4" amp cutout etc. Those should be "added" to your internal box/cab volume total - then subtract bracing and driver/amp displacement figures to get your final "net" volume etc.

That’s how I came up with/double checked all of my figures.

If looking at the 1510 kit read back numerous posts for displacement numbers from BDP24. If for a 12 inch kit someone here may have them or I would contact Rythmik via phone or email.

Cheers.

Let the fun begin

Thanks for the info and advice.

I threw together a spreadsheet to make sure I scale all the dimensions properly, now I just need to figure out the displacement of the ds1200 driver and amp.

You might want to email rythmik and see if they will send you the plans...I asked about some plans not listed on their site and they were nice enough to send measurements. If you buy one of their CI kits...I'm sure it won't be any problem at all.

I'm interested in building a DIY version of the f12, but I can't seem to find any plans for a front firing sealed DS1200 driver. Would it be ok to take the plans for the sealed front firing DS1501 linked off the official site and just scale them down to achieve a 1.8-2.0 ft^3 volume?

The increase in internal volume from cutting holes for the driver and amp is something I hadn't heard of. Great, more room for bracing! Actually, more bracing is one thing I won't need; my bracing is around 0.5 cu.ft. per cab. Each brace (like a dowel, but square instead of round, so that at every intersection of braces the braces can be glued---and possibly screwed---together) is 1.5" X 1.5" X the interior span at each bracing location. My cabs are 24" H X 24" D X 18" W (exterior), with six braces front-to-back (22.5" each), six top-to-bottom (22.5" each), and eight left-to-right (16.5" each)---402 linear inches of 1.5" X 1.5" hardwood square stock, Birch I think (I was advised against Oak because of expansion/contraction issues). This puts the remaining internal volume---after attaching 1/8" floor tiles to the cab wall's interiors---right at 4.0 cu.ft. The figures for the 1501 driver (0.2 cu.ft.) and 370W plate amp (0.1) came from Brian. The 1510 is a little more because of the larger magnets, but not enough to worry about. Same with the 600W amp, I would think. Both Lowes and Home Depot sell hardwood (Birch, Poplar, Oak) in various sizes including 0.75" X 1.5". I'm glueing two together to make 1.5" X 1.5" braces---easy to do, and a much more efficient use of internal volume for bracing than the more common windowpane style (which puts more wood where it is least needed---close to cabinet wall intersections). Thank you Bill Fitzmaurice (and Ben on his Stereo Integrity build)! This bracing design locks all six walls, in all three planes, together. Elegant simplicity!
Edited by BDP24 - 4/30/13 at 6:34am

Given a four cubic foot cab (from what I have read), several hundred square inches isn't going to make a difference for the 1510s. I was just being picky and anal with my calculations - it was more of a challenge to obtain a perfect 6912 cubic inch volume box...

BDP24: 20 individual bracing beams/square wood dowels! WOW. Definitely will be sound/secure and elegant. I'm not sure about "simplicity" however.. Can't wait to see some pictures!

Two suggestions that I was going to mention from my build:

Cab Feet/Spikes: If you plan on installing inserts for "feet or spikes", I recommend securely gluing a second layer of wood on the inside of the cab to accommodate the spike/feet inserts/weight. I just doubled the MDF with an ~ 4"x4" piece over each insert location etc.

Bracing: When placing your bracing, consider where the driver and amp "nuts/retainers" (Hurricane nuts in my case) will be. Given my bracing design the driver wasn’t an issue yet two of the amp mounting holes ended up having the bracing in the way of installing the rear "nuts". I ended up just using screws on those two yet would of preferred hurricane nuts on all. Bottom line, if I had been thinking I could of just modified the corner of the bracing (prior to install) to accommodate installing the Hurricane nuts later on etc.

I plan to build a third Cab/sub for my patio next - a more weather "resistant" design...

Cheers

Great idea on the 4 X 4 pieces at the locations of the spike inserts. The guy who cut my MDF made me sixteen of that exact thing (great minds think alike), for two at each corner of both cabs. Not knowing that I will be installing a Dayton spike at each corner, he was thinking I could glue the blocks on the bottom of the cabs for feet, but I like your idea better, for aesthetics. I think what I'll do is put a 1/2" W X 1/2" D X 1" H block at each interior corner, in the space between the inner and outer cab, to install the threaded, flanged inserts for the spikes. The inserts are about a half an inch in diameter and depth, the spikes 1/2" diameter by 1 3/8" height. Thin and tall, to dig through the carpet to the cement foundation. The spikes are brass, not steel, and I'm hoping the 200 lb. (guesstimate) cabs don't flatten the sharp tips of the soft brass. These cabs won't be moving at all!
Edited by BDP24 - 4/30/13 at 6:00pm

KJ---Can I ask what the radius is of the roundovers for the drivers and amps in your sub cabs?

You bet,
I'm out of town on business yet will be home in about 7 hrs and will double check. However, I'm pretty sure I used my 3/8 inch radius on the driver and amp and a 1/2 inch on the cab edges.

Cheers

Damn this computer!
Edited by BDP24 - 5/10/13 at 5:04pm

Great, thanks. I bought a Bosch handheld router, and some Whiteside roundover bits are on their way. Fun!

For once my memory was correct... 3/8 on the amp/driver rounds - and then 1/2 on the rest.
:-)

Thanks a million. I'm going to start with the smallest radius bit, and work my way up till it looks like what I want. As I've been acquiring tools, I've been pleasantly surprised by how much you can get for not a whole lot of dough. As long as you don't want Festool's!