Official Rythmik Audio DIY Subwoofer Kit thread - Page 3

Ok, I think that I have finally settled on building 2 down firing 12" Rythmiks. I currently have Def Tech BP7004's and a CLR1000b for the front and BPX's for the rear. My plan is to place the Rythmiks behind the BP7004's. One would be in corner up against 2 walls and a wall unit. The other would have a wall and the other side of the wall unit and then about 3 feet on the third side. This is really the only place that I can put these and I just barely have the room to place these two. I would have liked to have the 15" but it would be too big for the spots that I have. My thought is that with two units I should be able to smooth out any placement problems and still get decent bass. Any thoughts? Suggestions?

I also would appreciate any suggestions for feet. I have been trying to find some brushed nickel metal feet but so far no luck. I have found some chrome ones that are 3" that would work so I may just get those and try painting them with some metallic paint. Also, I want to finish the subs in a gloss black to match the Def Techs. Any tips/suggestions for getting a high gloss finish?

I have an air tight DS1200 box constructed with cap screws and custom gasketing for the sub and amp. It is ready for finishing and feet. (Much of the hard work is done).
If anyone is interested, I live in Iowa and am willing to make a great deal.
Let me know (q00ber @ yahoo . com)
-Derek

What size cap screw and t-nuts is everyone using? and how many for a 12" driver? What about screws for mounting the amp?

Standard wood screws included in the kit is 8-32 1-1/4" for both the amps and drivers.

For driver installation, I used Wood Insert Nuts 10-24 and 10-24 3/4" button head cap screw.

For amp installation, I used Wood Insert Nuts 8-32 and Alloy Socket Head Cap Screws 8-32 3/4"

Thanks. I'm hoping to start building the boxes next week. I ordered the drivers today so hopefully Brian will get them sent out next week. I bought the MDF yesterday. Looking forward to the build!

I have a couple enclosures for the 15" kit free for the taking if you come get them in the Chicagoland area. They are 3/4" baltic birch laminated with 1/2" MDF, with a crappy black paint job. Outside needs work--the build is perfect. Send me a PM if interested.

So, my 12" down-firing Rythmik's are complete! They are up and running! So far, I have just run Audyssey on my Onkyo 1007 which has dual sub outs. First impression is just like others, these subs have very nice, clean bass. I am sure I need to make some tweaks to compensate for my room, but right now, they are very impressive. We watched some concert videos last night and the bass is just a lot cleaner than my stand alone Def Tech BP7004's. Thanks Brian for a great product!

Nothing has been posted here in a while, but I have a question. I'm going to use the DIY kit for a 15" sub with the 600w amp on the rythmik site and I'm curious to find out if a single 15" sub would be better than 2 12" subs. I'm looking for spl, but also ease of reproducing low frequencies. My placement is very limited so I think the single 15 is the easiest option. What recommendations do you guys that have built them have for me? I'd like to be able to go below 20hz at a decent spl, which the 15 seems to be capable of, but I don't want it to have to work too hard. What do you guys think?

Two will always give a smoother response. I built two 12" subs because I didn't have room for the 15's. I've been very happy with my subs both for SPL's and low freq's. If you have the funds and the room, go for the 15's since the price difference isn't that great. If not, I really think you will be fine with the 12's or one 15. You can always build two 15" enclosures(it's just as easy to build two at the same time) and get one driver kit for now, and get a second driver kit later.

Thanks. I think I'll follow your advice and build once 15 for now and see if I need another. My room is only 17x11.5 so I think one will be "enough." My sub needs to go so that will be my first DIY speaker build. Thanks. I'm looking at the downfiring build on the rythmik site. Any other suggestions on enclosure type?

Well, I liked the down firing design. I also just used Rythmik's design. Very easy to build.

my standard recommendations...
MDF creates lots of dust and fumes, fair warning. Plywood much more pleasant to work with.

Do not trust the panel saw at the big box store.

I built a sub from Rythmik's plans. It went fine, the bracing was a bit tedious but once finished made a solid cabinet.

I am planning to build from the DS1200 kit with the enclosure drawing provided by Rythmik.

Now confused with the driver cutout diameter. One page shows 11-3/8 and another shows 11-3/16. Which is correct?

Got the 15 inch kit. What would be the difference if I copy the smaller enclosure (F15Se, 118 litre box) vs the one plans on the site which has 176 litre box.

Is lower SPL the only disadvantage ?

I am also interested in building a DIY 1510HP kit, and was wondering if there are any resonance problems with using standard plywood, as opposed to MDF. Also, if anyone knows, I want to build the sealed kit but if I decide to change my design to ported is there a difference in the electronics on the amp or can I simply redesign the box? Thanks
Adam

Buy hard plywood like Birch. Lowes sells 3/4 " thick sheets (decent enough for DIY) for $49 per 4' x 8' sheet. Of you can buy precut sheets (2'x2') or (2' x 4') ~$17 per sheet.

Hi

Has anyone tried adding more stuffing to the one supplied by Rythmik ?

qguy,

I have the 15" down firing kit and I added more stuffing and the sound got really "dry". I filled up the woofer up pretty well so I may have put too much into it but I ended up taking it out. BTW I was using the larger kit plans so i'm using the smaller amp. Don't have the sizes on me right now.

I ended with about 2 inches short of covering the interior walls, had to nab some more from a family member.

As far as I understand only the outer walls need to be covered, additional fill will reduce sound quality. Similar to sound treatment for a room, far too much is detrimental to performance.

Best Regards
KvE

PS Any recommendations on improving the edges/seams of vinyl veneer. Mine is a bit uneven and sticks up a smidge. All things considered I think I did fairly well being my first build.

Hi, all... I've been thinking about building a pair of full range large speakers with 2 of the 8ohm GR research drivers in each cabinet( in their own air space) and a tweeter /mid in their own air space but same enclosure. Would there be any downside to this?

Thanks

Forgot to post into this thread when they were done. Here ya go....

A few more.

Sooooo, how do they sound? Where did you put the amp? Curious also as to what the tube is made out of? They look pretty cool! Nice job!

Thank you! The tube is schedule 80 pvc sewer pipe. Much better than the typical old cardboard sonotube. The amp fits in the rear baffle with only about an inch to spare. I still need to make some small cradles for the front to rest in. The pair of these sits directly behind my open baffles. Sound quality is superb. Very clean with excellent pitch definition.

Pretty awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Sorry for the cell phone shots, but here they are in place. Look closely behind the open baffles and you can just see the back end of each Rythmik tube.

Greg

I've owned a F15 for about a year and a'half now, and I'm pretty satisfied with the sound it produces, but of course I want more Ideally I would purchase one more F15 but at the time this is not included in the family budget. Enrico confirmed by mail that the amp and driver in the F15 can be used in a ported box, so I'm now in the process of building an FV15 copy. Of course I will keep the F15 cab for the future if the FV15 doesn't respond as expected in my HT. If you are familiar with norwegian, you're welcome to follow my thread over at http://avforum.no/forum/diy-do-yours...fv15-kopi.html. And please excuse my english as it's not my native language

Our local lumberyard could not supply MDF thicker than 6 mm or plywood thicker than 15 mm, so I'm going to laminate x boards of 12 mm plywood. The side, top and bottom will be 2x12 mm = 24 mm, the front and back will be 3x12mm = 36 mm. Yesterday I cut out 1 of 2 plywood sheets, ergo about half the boards are cut, one of the side panels are laminated. Here's som pictures.

Board layot on the plywood sheet. Do not pay too much attention to the text on the boards as they are intended for my own use.








My saw blade is not as sharp as it should, but I was'n able to get a replacement. The accuracy is okay-ish...


About 3 hours later:


Lamination i progress. I'm using plain white Casco wood glue

Looks good. In the future, if you put masking tape along your cut line, you won't get that chip out. Let us know how it turns out!