Subwoofer DIYers, share your experience!

I only used it as a guide..... but I don't know what im doing TBO... I thought my sub modeled well, and it sorta did come out like I had expected


A buddy of mine has a Velo sub.... about 3-4 years of now.... I thought that thing POUNDED the bass out.... this was before I built mine.... now he comes over to envy mine.


I am quite happy with my sub, I wish I went with a plate amp instead of pro, just because of the fan... It's too loud for my house/neighbors. The low ends 15-20Hz don't really come out like I wanted, but thats because my box is about 5 feet too small.... and once I get back from my vacation at the end of the month, im going to just build a sono.... I didn't want to just be a copycat and use someone elses design, but hey..... if it works, then it works.



Adapt to change..... design changes, driver changes, amp changes, measure measure measure... Plan ahead, relook at the design again, get your goals set up first; as well as budget, double check the room and layout... plan some more. And.... most importantly cut the holes SMALLER than what you think it's supposed to be... you can always cut more, not put it back Blaser[/quote]


I just started all of this too Blaser, so im not even close to knowing what im doing yet. I just know that sub A goes in to box B of size C and sounds great!

PS.... once you get bit by the bug, you wont stop!! I was just going to build my sub, now I have a center channel in the basement with 5 coats of primer on it, x-over's are done and wired up, enough wood to start on my L-R's, and I know once I finish those, I'll start on my surrounds and rears. But I need to get priorities first..... like redoing the sub!!

PSS.... walk away blaser!!!!..... it's speaker crack! the sub is just the taste.... everyone will help you with the sub, thats how dealers work!!! once you get hooked you'll never wanna quit

No, his is a 12" and mine is a 15" so yea, mines bigger

I haven't done GP measurements of my subs, so I have no idea how winisd did, factor room modes and it gets pretty sketchy. What I did do was perform some sine sweeps and test tones at subsonic frequencies, it performed better than the model because of room gain, but distortion was a bit high, 12% within the confines of xmax, I was a bit disappointed about that, but my expectations were off.


I have an Infinity IL120s, it was a star performer in the commercial realm a few years ago, my db-500's clearly outperform it for a tiny fraction of the cost, I have bought the parts for four and finished two, the total cost for everything including amps was $750, and I am about 15dB up from the infinity

Quite happy that it all worked in the first place, not that I was a skeptic or anything, but to hear the come to life was pretty special
Keep an open mind to what is being said here, there is a lot of good advice and it usually conflicts with what the new folks have heard in the past and experienced from commercial subs, they often times read whitepapers that are way over their heads and come back with a new theology and won't listen to what people here say that contradicts it. Thats fine, I have been that noob before, its all part of learning, even still the experts on here still don't agree on everything, its always interesting to see people like bossobass come in and stir things up.

DIY anything if executed proper will have great results whether building a subwoofer,
house or hotrod. The question to ask is... Do you have the skillset to DIY ?
If you don't know, then start small and develop the skills over time.

My experience so far (about 50% complete building two 2.5 cf sealed boxes):

1) It will take at least twice as long as you think it will to complete
2) Cutting MDF creates a lot of dust. I mean a LOT!! Moreover, it's a very fine dust that floats around in your garage, so wear a mask at the least.

agreed on both statements here. I finally got mine about 98% done with construction - one more piece to glue/screw, and then sanding.. and sanding.. then prime/paint. sheeeit!

I would definetly do the dust mask .. I of course didn't, and let me tell you, blowing your nose afterward might freak you out. hehe.

To many variables to really get a firm thought on the subject, but I will say farely close thus far minus THD. It's only to be used as a guide and how that plays out in your room is another story. The same could be said with other stated specs concerning bough-ten subs though.

What you need to remember is many of us work with high excursion 15" drivers, so we're able to tune lower and still retain the same/more headroom.. along with a little more SPL up high, but much more to give down low with a healthy amount of headroom. If I tuned a good quality 15" driver at 20/25 Hz and powered it accordingly , it's fairly easy to to out perform a 12" generally speaking. If I tried to match 12" for 12" with all the 12" subs I have bought, it would be more of a matter of saving $$ or the satisfaction I get from DIY. I wouldnt plan on it being a better performing sub though.. considering I have always leaned towards SVS in many prior purchases. I did pick up a Maestro, few Velodynes amongst others. Staying with the same size/like driver for more SPL isn't worth considering imo.

Very happy. I was sweating bullets when I sold my dual Ultra's to fund getting into the DIY scene. Some more favorable than others, but they're all good if done properly... it's not as hard as I used to think if that's any help?

Have your project mapped out step by step, so you know what order it will take, to bring you to the end result, you can really mess up by not doing so. Another would be like already mentioned by another member, be sure to not to under cut.

I used Winisd for the first time building my first sub and it was actually pretty accurate as far as I know. Now I'm using it all the time to figure out what sub I want to build next because as Satansfx said, once you start, you will never want to stop.


I can't really help you here because the sub I used to own and have in my fairly large living room was a sealed KLH 8" sub. I then went to a 15" Tempest and I really don't need to tell you how much I was really surprised at what I was missing in movies. From what I've heard from other much more expensive/larger subs, mine still competes fairly easily, but that's also at stores where the subs are in larger rooms and not accounting for room modes and such.


I was beyond happy with my trophee. My roommates were scared the first time they heard it. Again, I didn't know what I was missing in every movie I was watching. I honestly don't like going to movie theaters anymore because I can feel and hear the same effects at home now. And yes my sub ended up being a lot better than I expected. With this being said, I still think it's funny that I want to upgrade....but I guess that's what you get yourself into.


Like deneb said, it will most likely take you twice as long as you planned, so be ready for that. Make sure your measurements are completely precise or you will end up sanding and cutting for hours trying to fix overcuts/undercuts. Wear a mask if you are working with MDF, it's as bad as people say. Make sure you have everything drawn out (whether by hand, computer, or whatever, as long as you have a model other than what's in your head).

Give DIY a try, it's not as bad as it seems, and as far as I'm concerned, it is worth every penny and hour of your time (1 sub done, 1 center channel speaker done, 1 sub in progress, 6 more speakers in the future)

Hope this helps.

Jacob

A model is a model is a model. Guesstimates is what you get from a model. You really need to build and tune.

The IB I constructed used the same exact drivers I had in two boxed commercial subs. Absolultely no comparison when used in the IB. From decent lows to house shaking just by getting those drivers out of the boxes.

I am very pleased with the results I got from DIY.

Jump in and have fun. Worst you will have to do is sell the stuff you bought here on AVS.

No kidding! Spent some time dealing with that as well today. Luckily my Dad has pretty much every tool in the book (yes, I'm using his tools).

Also, make sure everything is SQUARE. Don't assume a given section of wood is square, always check it before measuring/cutting.

We've got the raw enclosures almost finished, and they are very solid. Using MDF bracing really helped solidify the birch plywood enclosures. A rap on any panel results in a dull thud. Probably another week of sanding/staining to go.