Hopefully I can start the cabinets today, need to go to Home Depot. Btw, I've never built a cabinet before so this will be interesting... How hard can building a box be?
Recently purchased equipment:
Behringer EP4000
Denon 2312CI
*I tested the sub out voltage with my multimeter and things look good! 1.4v with the subwoofer level at 0db and Volume at 0db. 4.8v with subwoofer level at +12db and Volume at 0db*
Sketchup model:
External Dimensions: 19.5"W x 20"H x 19.75"D
Internal Dimensions: 18"W x 18.5"H x 17.5"D (~85l after bracing and driver)
Winisd Model:
All Drivers will be co-located. 2 on one side of the Tv Stand and the other 2 on the other side.
1400w
Cutlist:
Almost 4 sheets of Arauco, having Home Depot cut them in half. I don't want to deal with MDF or expensive Birch.
I will post as many pictures as possible and post any problems I come across.
The saw guide came out alright and looks fairly straight according to my drywall t-sqaure. You can follow this video to make your own saw guide:
I used the factory edge on a 2x4 sheet of 1/2" MDF. Home Depot doesn't carry 1/4" hardboard.
I HIGHLY suggest you make a saw guide longer than the piece you are cutting. If your ripping a 48x48 sheet then make a saw guide at least 60" in length. Once you reach the end of the saw guide, the circular saw doesn't have much to ride on when you finish the cut.
06\09\12
Its the weekend so its time to cut some panels.
Here is my back breaking "cutting table" which consists of a couple 2x4's.
A bigger panel being cut, the saw guide is amazingly accurate!
A smaller panel ready to be cut. Make sure the work piece is SECURE! I learned the hard way when the work piece bowed in and slowed down the blade. Live and learn.
5 hours later and I got a stack! I stopped at 20 panels, my back started to hurt. 8 more to go which I'll finish tomorrow.
A few panels do have some voids but most look good.
06\10\12
Phew, finished cutting all 28 panels... that was killer.
Started on my grills, fairly simple and they look decent!
That is where I finished for the day. I'm only putting one screw in each corner for now. Once I like how everything is setup I'll countersink more screws, glue, return screws, and then wait for the glue to dry.
06/14/12
I guess my cuts are not 1000000% accurate or my box is not square. Should have added an extra 1/2" all around to the top and bottom because I have a gap. Luckily its the rear and bottom so with a little bondo and paint, everything should look ok. This is my first time building anything so I think its coming out great, I'm not a master woodworker. Learning as I go along...
Edit: Maybe I can cut a thin piece of wood, glue it on then flush trim.
Getting my bracing done. Still need to add the sides to complete the cross brace.
Dropped the brace in to see how it looks. Good!
I'm thinking I should have at least two boxes completed by the weekend, not painted of course.
06/15/12
Alright, time to fix the little problem I had...
Cut a thin piece of wood.
Fits ok.
Screwed and glued! Once the glue dries I'll remove the screws, flush trim the edges, and bondo any holes and seams. Gap FIXED!
Finished the cross brace. Not the prettiest but it will work fine.
06/16/12
Another day... I thought this was going to go quick but I spent half the day finishing my first box. GOING TO TAKE ME FOREVER TO FINISH!!!!!!!!!
Flush trimmed the front inner baffle... Forgot about the screw hole and the bit sunk in. Bondo to the rescue!
Didn't take any pictures of the actual routing but the driver fits! I did not flush mount the woofer because I'm going to use an 18" speaker grill that sits on top of the baffle.
Bracing looks good. Didn't measure the actual distance between the pole vent and bracing but its good 3 inches IIRC.
Alright, removed all the screws and time to start with the PL Premium. This stuff is messy and doesn't get off your hands. I used exactly one 10oz tube for this enclosure. Perfect, I bought 5 tubes!
All glued up and ready to dry. I'm guessing I used around 75-100 screws.
Worst part of this? Clean up...
I might be too busy listening to this one sub tomorrow to start on anything else
06/21/12
Ah yeah, done with my 2nd cabinet. Just waiting for glue to dry! I would estimate about 10hours to complete one box.
Some random pictures...
Don't smear PL Premium, let it dry and with a putty knife, chisel it away. Comes off easy enough! You can see a problematic gap where the panels will line up, bondo will take care of that.
Here's how I lined up the two baffles so the driver holes line up. Mark the center of the inner baffle and drill your pilot hole for the jasper jig.
Screw the outer baffle onto the inner baffle. Inside the cabinet you'll see where you drilled the pilot hole on the inner baffle. With the same drill bit you use earlier, drill straight through the outer baffle. Now your two pilot holes line up!
Before you route out the circle, make sure to screw a scrap piece of wood underneath from edge to edge. Wider than the hole you are routing of course...This is so the router doesn't fall through.
Completed 2nd cabinet. Hoping to run REW tomorrow morning...
06/24/12
Saturday I completed one and today completed the other.
Whats left is the roundover, bondo, primer, and paint. For my first build it came out better than I expected. There are some gaps and one does not sit level but its nothing a little bondo and adjustable spikes can't fix
I think I'll connect all four to my computer to have a listen for a few hours tomorrow.
06/28/12
I got lazy and finally decided to begin the Bondo work. I've never used Bondo before but after about 30mins I got the hang of it. Almost done with the seams on this box.
I plan to round over the front baffle with a 3/8" bit. As for the edge/corners I may just move my bit up high and just cut down the corners, then smooth them over with sand paper.
06/30/2012
6 hours of bondo......ugh, this stuff is smelly. I plan to finish sanding tomorrow and probably do the roundovers. During the week I hope to finish painting and by next weekend I will finally be able to set them up!
07/01/2012
6 hours of using the orbital sander... wow.
Finished 99.99% of the bondo work and sanding. Round over the edges. Tomorrow I'll do the final sanding and any touchups. Hopefully I can apply the first coat of primer.
So I got real lazy and didn't sand down the primer. At this point, I just want them in the living room. I don't care that I can see some screw holes, seams, and some dust. Eventually they will be scratched by toys so it doesn't really bother me. All I care about is performance!
The paint is a little too glossy for my liking. Should have went with a matte finish I think. The insulation splits easily in half so you really get about 50ft. I had somewhere around 5ft of insulation left so there was plenty left over.
This weekend I should have them up and running! All there is left to do is install the speaker gasket and grill, easy stuff!
Just a word of advice, if you can, try to plan on having one subwoofer in each corner of the room for the most even frequency response for all seating areas. This would be the WELTI AND DEVANTIER approach, you can search a bit on their idea. I have (4) IB 18's on my front wall and I have a huge null followed by a huge peak at my rear seating row. Adding a temporary smaller sub in the back of the room helped out quite a bit, much more than corner bass traps alone did. I don't have the room for larger subs in the back corners or the sides of my room so I'm trying what I can.
Seriously though, if you can, I strongly encourage you try placing each woofer in different locations around the room, preferrably one or two up front and the other two in the back corners or side walls
I did see your build Petew, very similar to mine except I'm not going crazy on the bracing lol. Didn't go to Home Depot today, will go tomorrow. Made some interconnects for the EP4000 and checked all the drivers to make sure they made no weird noises, good so far...
My living room is pretty small so there is not much room for placement which sucks. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes hoping I get a good response.
Is there absolutely no way to put any subs in the rear or sides of the room? How many rows/seats are you using anyway? I guess if it's just one section of seating, just place the subs in the best sounding spot by the front wall and go from there
I hear ya on minimal space, I'm sure you'll be fine either way
The living room is about 15x30 with a fireplace along one wall and there's the dining table in the rear. Add the huge sectional couches and there is no room to place it any where else, I'm lucky I can fit 4 subs in the front. Its very crammed as it is lol.
Haha, ok man, most likely better to be stuck up front then stuck in the rear... err, that came out wrong ... I was stuck in the rear corner with my table tuba and localization was a bitch, as soon as I temporarily relocated the sub to the front where it couldn't stay, unfortunately... it was much better
I did get a little out of hand. I had a big pile of wood left over from another project that I had already machined square and straight so I decided to use it up.
I'm going to wait and see what my freq response looks like first then go from there. I don't know if I would go with the Minidsp, doesn't have any knobs
I'm going to wait and see what my freq response looks like first then go from there. I don't know if I would go with the Minidsp, doesn't have any knobs
I had that feeling with my upgrade, i had a BASSIS and have used some vintage PEQ's from Ashly, it took some getting use to the feel of laptop tweaking.....
Went to Home Depot and they had no Arauco. When they checked, there was 26 in stock somewhere...they couldn't find it. I took a chance and bought Purebond Birch. I'm hoping I don't run into big problems with this wood. I have a 40T Diablo blade and will use lots of screws+glue.
I also got the Ryobi router but when the cashier opened it, it was used and full of saw dust. There was another but it was also open so no router for now.
Question about the pole vent on the RSS390HF-15... My bracing is setup to be on center but that leaves a 1.5" gap between the pole vent and the bracing. Is this ok?
I had that feeling with my upgrade, i had a BASSIS and have used some vintage PEQ's from Ashly, it took some getting use to the feel of laptop tweaking.....
I don't see any reason why you couldn't router bondo. I have used a router on the West System (epoxy+filler) with absolutely no issues. The West system appears to be very similar to bondo when you add the fairing filler.
Didn't take any pictures but this one sub sounds awesome! I setup the amp and sub on my computer and from about 4 feet away I was hitting 110db with music. I forgot to take some close mic measurements before I removed the driver. I didn't start on the second sub so I'll start it this week and finish it by the weekend. I'll probably get some measurements on the weekend if the second sub is done.
2nd cabinet is built, waiting for glue to dry. Hopefully I can run REW tomorrow morning, get some close mic measurements. Updated Post #2 with pictures.
My radioshack meter was about 3 inches from the driver and there is no stuffing in the enclosure. I also didn't calibrate the spl meter so the decibel scale is off.
I think I'm going to finish prepping and painting these two enclosures this weekend and have them setup in the living room. Can't stand looking at my equipment in boxes!
