So, a few months ago I got the bug to do my first full DIY subwoofer. I had built one of the parts-express Dayton Titanic kits before, but I really wanted to make something special this time. After a lot of searching and reading and learning, I decided on what I was going to do and just want to take some time to share my experience in the hope that it can help others. I drew heavily on forums and posts like this to help me with my project. You’ll find a list of links at the bottom to the most prominent such articles.
This subwoofer was to go in a system comprising of all Klipsch Reference speakers (cherry finish). At this point I wish I had manned up and bought the RF-7s, but at the time I couldn’t justify the price. Here’s my component list:
Klipsch Reference:
RC-64
RF-82
RS-52
RB-61 (for 7.1)
Dayton Titanic 12’’ DIY Kit
Pioneer SC-65
The main reason that I wanted to build a second sub was for lower bass response and also to fill out the bass in the room. The enclosure for that Dayton 12’’ driver that they have in the kit is far smaller than it should be and makes it a little punchy. For those who own a titanic driver know that they have no problem with SPL, but are not good at very dynamic bass. They are boomy and not very tight. Due to that I decided to go with the Dayton Reference series since reviews seemed to place them more in the field of tight bass response. I couldn’t choose between a 15’’ driver and the new 18’’ and went back and forth several times. In the end I decided to go with the 18’’ driver, if for nothing else but the coolness factor of a woofer that big.
Since I wanted tight bass response I decided to go with a sealed enclosure, it was also recommended for that driver due to the venting they did on the motor. My next project will be a ported Dayton reference 15’’ HF, however that will be another post when I get around to it. My biggest regret in this project was not knowing about the Thiele small parameters and how they can help guide box size. I went about asking everyone I knew that had built before and kind of hacked together a rough estimate of how large the box should be. I ended up going with a ~3.7 ft^3 box, although I wish I added an extra cubic foot there.
Since the box was going with a cherry set I decided to veneer it and built the base out of 3/4’’ MDF. The final dimensions of the box came out to 21’’x21’’x19’’. I wish I had taken pictures of my plan sketches to put up here, though coming up with a box design is pretty easy.
I have plenty of pictures, however I started a little late in the game. My dad was very helpful in this project; I can’t help drawing on his 20+ years of woodworking experience. We built the enclosure using rabbited joints. We also used a circle-cutting jig for the router that you can find on Amazon or parts-express [link] to cut the hole for the woofer. We glued all of the joints together and since we were impatient we also countersunk some screws into it. The cross bracing we did in a tic-tac-toe style with some 1’’x2’’ hardwood from Home Depot.
The tricky part for us was doing the veneer. It was the first time that either of us had done a veneer project. After doing a lot of reading I decided to go with the 3M NF30 contact adhesive. It was pretty pricey, but according to numerous reviews it is worth the extra money. We used about 1/2 quart for this project. I was completely unaware that it came in two colors and accidentally bought the green version. I highly recommend that you don’t do that as it can show a little on the corners when closely examined.
My mother is an avid quilter, and surprisingly that turned out to be an advantage for us. Cutting veneer with a rotary cutter like they use in quilting was super easy and gave us nice clean edges. It also went much quicker than using scissors or a veneer knife.
The only other somewhat tricky part was building the grill. We used a scrap of MDF that we had left over and cut it down to size. We then cut 2’’ holes in each of the corners and used the table saw to cut out the middle. We ran the router around the edge with a 1/4’’ round-off and in the middle. For the grill cloth we cut 5/16’’ slits down each side and then used the same stuff that they use to put screen into screen doors to hold the grill cloth in place.
I also used magnets to mount the speaker grill to the face and they have been awesome! It makes showing off my speaker so easy, yet I never have a problem with it falling off.
Anyway, the rest was pretty straightforward. Enjoy the pics.
Sorry the pictures of it finished are a little washed out. My theater lighting is not conducive to photos and I had to use a flash. Here’s my full list of speaker parts that I used:
Dayton Reference 18’’ HO Driver
Dayton SPA1000 plate amp
Dayton spike set
AcouStuff fill (2 lbs)
Mounting magnets
My initial impressions were great. It pushes down into the upper 20’s pretty good, but definitely has a sweet spot right around 32-35hz. That aligns with the box since the tuning frequency is 35hz. It works great for movies and most all music. I have a very broad taste in music and occasionally listen to dubstep or electronic music and that is the only time that I wish it could reach a little deeper. However for all rock, folk and indie music it performs like a champion. It definitely rounds out the sound a lot compared to my titanic. Right now I’m running both of them in the front of my system. I need to experiment with placement a bit, but I’m so happy with it now. I watched a blu ray of Skyfall the other night (the DTS-HD MA track) and was just blown away by the output of the sub. It brought a big grin to my face several times during that movie. It is much tighter than the titanic and handles better. It moves so much more air when it engages and therefore is much more impactful on the body than the titanic. It isn’t so punchy, more like a moving wall of air that sweeps you along with it. I’m equally as happy-if not happier-with the finished look. It turned out beautiful and fits right in with my other cherry speakers.
Anyway, I just wanted to share this experience with others and maybe help someone avoid some of the pitfalls that I fell into. It was definitely a fun project and I look forward to more projects this summer.
Useful articles:
Contact adhesive
Veneer
Edited by jeremymef - 3/10/13 at 1:35pm
This subwoofer was to go in a system comprising of all Klipsch Reference speakers (cherry finish). At this point I wish I had manned up and bought the RF-7s, but at the time I couldn’t justify the price. Here’s my component list:
Klipsch Reference:
RC-64
RF-82
RS-52
RB-61 (for 7.1)
Dayton Titanic 12’’ DIY Kit
Pioneer SC-65
The main reason that I wanted to build a second sub was for lower bass response and also to fill out the bass in the room. The enclosure for that Dayton 12’’ driver that they have in the kit is far smaller than it should be and makes it a little punchy. For those who own a titanic driver know that they have no problem with SPL, but are not good at very dynamic bass. They are boomy and not very tight. Due to that I decided to go with the Dayton Reference series since reviews seemed to place them more in the field of tight bass response. I couldn’t choose between a 15’’ driver and the new 18’’ and went back and forth several times. In the end I decided to go with the 18’’ driver, if for nothing else but the coolness factor of a woofer that big.
Since I wanted tight bass response I decided to go with a sealed enclosure, it was also recommended for that driver due to the venting they did on the motor. My next project will be a ported Dayton reference 15’’ HF, however that will be another post when I get around to it. My biggest regret in this project was not knowing about the Thiele small parameters and how they can help guide box size. I went about asking everyone I knew that had built before and kind of hacked together a rough estimate of how large the box should be. I ended up going with a ~3.7 ft^3 box, although I wish I added an extra cubic foot there.
Since the box was going with a cherry set I decided to veneer it and built the base out of 3/4’’ MDF. The final dimensions of the box came out to 21’’x21’’x19’’. I wish I had taken pictures of my plan sketches to put up here, though coming up with a box design is pretty easy.
I have plenty of pictures, however I started a little late in the game. My dad was very helpful in this project; I can’t help drawing on his 20+ years of woodworking experience. We built the enclosure using rabbited joints. We also used a circle-cutting jig for the router that you can find on Amazon or parts-express [link] to cut the hole for the woofer. We glued all of the joints together and since we were impatient we also countersunk some screws into it. The cross bracing we did in a tic-tac-toe style with some 1’’x2’’ hardwood from Home Depot.
The tricky part for us was doing the veneer. It was the first time that either of us had done a veneer project. After doing a lot of reading I decided to go with the 3M NF30 contact adhesive. It was pretty pricey, but according to numerous reviews it is worth the extra money. We used about 1/2 quart for this project. I was completely unaware that it came in two colors and accidentally bought the green version. I highly recommend that you don’t do that as it can show a little on the corners when closely examined.
My mother is an avid quilter, and surprisingly that turned out to be an advantage for us. Cutting veneer with a rotary cutter like they use in quilting was super easy and gave us nice clean edges. It also went much quicker than using scissors or a veneer knife.
The only other somewhat tricky part was building the grill. We used a scrap of MDF that we had left over and cut it down to size. We then cut 2’’ holes in each of the corners and used the table saw to cut out the middle. We ran the router around the edge with a 1/4’’ round-off and in the middle. For the grill cloth we cut 5/16’’ slits down each side and then used the same stuff that they use to put screen into screen doors to hold the grill cloth in place.
I also used magnets to mount the speaker grill to the face and they have been awesome! It makes showing off my speaker so easy, yet I never have a problem with it falling off.
Anyway, the rest was pretty straightforward. Enjoy the pics.
Sorry the pictures of it finished are a little washed out. My theater lighting is not conducive to photos and I had to use a flash. Here’s my full list of speaker parts that I used:
Dayton Reference 18’’ HO Driver
Dayton SPA1000 plate amp
Dayton spike set
AcouStuff fill (2 lbs)
Mounting magnets
My initial impressions were great. It pushes down into the upper 20’s pretty good, but definitely has a sweet spot right around 32-35hz. That aligns with the box since the tuning frequency is 35hz. It works great for movies and most all music. I have a very broad taste in music and occasionally listen to dubstep or electronic music and that is the only time that I wish it could reach a little deeper. However for all rock, folk and indie music it performs like a champion. It definitely rounds out the sound a lot compared to my titanic. Right now I’m running both of them in the front of my system. I need to experiment with placement a bit, but I’m so happy with it now. I watched a blu ray of Skyfall the other night (the DTS-HD MA track) and was just blown away by the output of the sub. It brought a big grin to my face several times during that movie. It is much tighter than the titanic and handles better. It moves so much more air when it engages and therefore is much more impactful on the body than the titanic. It isn’t so punchy, more like a moving wall of air that sweeps you along with it. I’m equally as happy-if not happier-with the finished look. It turned out beautiful and fits right in with my other cherry speakers.
Anyway, I just wanted to share this experience with others and maybe help someone avoid some of the pitfalls that I fell into. It was definitely a fun project and I look forward to more projects this summer.
Useful articles:
Contact adhesive
Veneer
Edited by jeremymef - 3/10/13 at 1:35pm
