Yet another dual opposed mfw 15 build (my first ever)

First a disclamier, this is my first DIY project, and my first real time doing anything with wood, I am a machine builder by trade, but we make those things with metal. (mostly)

Lol it seems there are more dual opposed builds here as of late than Carter has pills (he is a former pres for you youngins )

Anyway, I though about upgrading from my old cerwin vega lw 15 for a LONG time, was going to buy the Epic Empire and on my quest for information, I found AVS. During my time here, I read about people who built there own subs, (you can do that?) I was shocked, and I got bit by the DIY bug HARD.

After consulting with the wife, and getting the nod, I had to figure out what I wanted from my sub. I definatly knew what I did not like out of my old cerwin, so that lead me to a sealed configuration. After reading, and talking to many of the people on here, and the wife, I settled on a pair of dual opposed mfw's.

The only thing my wife asked of me was "If they are going to be in the living room, can you make them look as good as the speakers we have?" I thought to myself, "I Hope" but the response that came out of my mouth was "Sure, no problem". But coming from a big black box in the corner, I don't think that's going to be much of an issue.

I have a drawing of my intentions, but I don't think that would help anyone with understanding, I tried skecthup, but, I dont have the time for that right now. So to sum up, according to my math, the boxes are going to be a little on the big side, about 7.2 cubic before the bracing and drivers.

Here is a pic of the pile of wood after all the cuts where made..



Then I got busy with the router and the ol' Jasper and cut my inner and out baffles, and the internal brace that is tying it all togther.





Once all that was done the next step for me was to glue the innner and outer baffels together. I had read that a hard thing here was to keep everything square while drying cause clamps would pull the pieces and make them not line up. So instead of clamps, I screwed the living snot out of them...





After I got them all screwed and glued I figured I would afford me a little look into the future (if you will)



Back to work, the next thing on the agenda was the t nuts for holding the drivers in place, I went with Machine screw #8 with a 32 thread pitch AKA as 8-32. I am going to use SHCS with a hardend teco washer for a more industrial look.



You can see in that shot my plan of using (pocket screws) to help with the build, since I dont have big clamps, and those things plus PL are going to be strong as hell.

So back to the build I go, I got my brother to come and give me a hand that way all my edges would hopefully end up straight. Here is a shot of both baffels, and the center brace screwed and glued to one side.



Then its just a matter of flipping this B&%# over and screwing it to the other side.



Once that was done it is just a matter of flipping it once again, more glue, and more screws. Then flipping it the final time screw and glue for the final time (on this box)



All this flipping is making me tierd, how much do these things wieght?



If you cannot read that, its at 74.5 without trim brace (coming soon) and no drivers...

Here is a shot of what I am calling trim brace. Just making it look all that more beefy..



Thats as far as I got over the forth holiday. I hope to get the trim brace on the other cab done in the next two days. Then its sanding and routering the edges.

If you look close you will see that the outer baffle was made out of MDF, thats cause I am going to paint that black, while the rest of the enclosure will be stained and then finished with the bar top finish that Eric H used on those Sweet subs of his.

More to come, (but it might take awhile)

Jared

PS all pics where takin with my cell so sorry for the quality. Did not want to borrow the wifes Cannon T1i....

Mostly due to the fact that the speakers will be in my living room, and that I figured 2 enclousures would be easier to integrate than four.

That and I (think) I am going to be using one of the subs as an end table, and I am counting on the inertness of the dual opposed set up to not vibrate the drinks into the floor. (I hope) lol. Thanks for your kind words all, and any questions feel free to ask!

thanks for the kind words.. really...

yup Pocket screw holes. They are a life saver. They hold the butt joint tight and ninety. It was recommended to me by someone who knows way more than I, and I am so glad that I was smart enough to listin.

So while I am waiting for pl to dry, I figured I would test out some stain options. I have heard that with Baltic you need to seal the wood with a pre stain before you stain. I have also heard that you don't. So I figured I would try both. So I did.



the lighter is pretreated, the darker is not. AVS poll time, which do ya'll like better.

My wife and I both initally liked the darker, but now that this has been sitting in my living room for awhile, the lighter is growing on both of us. Keep the opinions coming, and thanks for the kind words. It means alot coming from you mike...

Thanks for your honesty, Danielson. We picked out that color to try and match the wood in the house. But I can see where charcoal would look good. My original thoughts was veneer, but I figured the next one.... lol. look at me not even done with the first project, and thinking about the next.. lol..
Recommendations for eq? Was thinking mini dap, but am confused as to which version and which software packet. thinking version b is what I need.
Thinking that it goes onkyo 876 RCA out to dsp, dsp RCA out convert to xlr into ep4000. then It's just speaker wire from there to the subs right?
Thanks for the help guys.

I think I have found how to make this look the way I want. What do you guys think of this?



Again this is just a rough finish, a couple of quick coats of poly, with no sanding in between.
The final version will be done with the epoxy that eric h used on his set up..

Pocket screws for the win! If tonight goes according to plan, then I should have the second cab flush trimed and rough sanded. then both cabs will be ready for the roundover.

From what I heard yeah they are gone, but PM eric H to find out more. I thought I read something about a company making another run of these if they could get enough people interested. Unfortunatly, what made these such hot sellers in the DIY area, was the price/ performance ratio. So if a company makes more, the price will go up, and it wouldn't be such a great value. Not to say they would not make sales, but IMO not like the volume and speed at which we saw these 400+ drivers fly away...

Thanks a ton for the complements guys, I really do apprecaite it. But I still have not got a response on my question.

I am thinking that a mini dsp is the way to go, but I am confused as to which one I should get with the equipment that I have....

My AVR is a Onkyo 876
The sub amp will be a ep4000
So how does one place the mini in line? And which one do I buy?

Like I said earlier in the post, I am thinking I want the version b mini dsp, and I think that I just run a rca from my pre out on the onkyo, to the DSP, then a RCA to XLR converter cable from the DSP to the EP4000, then from the ep 4000 to the subs its just regular speaker wire right??

Ok, I have not been able to work on the cabinets as much as I would like, but I have got some work done on them.

I was able to grab my router, and with the help of a 3/8 roundover bit I was able to transform the sharp corner boxes into something more resembling there final shape..



Here is one with both of the enclosures stacked on top of one another.



And one a little closer showing the trim brace area, remember when this is done the MDF is going to be black and the baltic will be stained in the way that I posted in my last post.



Another shot looking down the radius.



I also have been thinking about what I am going to use for feet to elevate the subs off of the carpet. I am a machine builder, and as such have access to all sorts of metal working tools. I took a quick sec out of my day today and turned this out on the lathe.



How its going to look when its on the stain is another guess, but I think that the brushed alum, against the semi dark color of the wood will look really nice. Here is an appx location when I finally do mount them..



So thats all for now, I am going to be sanding and preping for stain in the coming days, but alas, I am also putting a new floor in the master bedroom, so that is going to take most of my time till that is done.. Will update as I can for sure...

So I really like my feet design, but I had only made one as a prototype. So today I made more. I decided on making five per sub one for each corner, and one in the middle.. I figured I would show the process for those not familiar with metal working.

First I took the raw bar stock and faced it off on one end to give me a flat surface for the bottom of the foot.



Then I marked the length roughly using the readout on the lathe.



After marking the length, I rough cut the five degree taper..



After the rough cut, the finish cut.. Duh.




Then it's a matter of polishing the raw stock and blending the taper by hand, I used 220 grit emery cloth, followed by scotch brite pad.



Hope you guys are enjoying reading this thread as much as I am making it.. Any questions comments please feel free..