The Dave's Quad 18" Fi IB Build Thread - Page 3

Thanks! I appreciate it.


Your telling me. I almost bought 6!! Everyone thought I was nuts though . I guess I will have to make it work with only 4 . While having 29 liters (4) of displacement is no joke, for some reason I had a twinkle in my eye for 43.5 liters (6). That number just sounds insane!!!


Thanks! Some people say DiY is not for them because they don't have the proper tools (and people use this as an excuse why DiY is not cheaper - cost of tools) so hopefully this will go to show that with some cheap tools available you can make it work pretty good. The project just takes longer and it will be less forgiving to mistakes .

We really only used a skill saw for the main rips, an old jig saw for the circles (which could be used for rips as well if needed), and a borrowed router (not needed though) for the roundover's on the mdf circles. Oh and don't forget the compass.

I will have to show that to my wife!


Wait until there is 4 of em' !! Are you converting over to IB or turning the towers into sealed boxes?


Hehe...not quite as good as a corroded alternators but it does the job. I actually found the Optima in front of my work a few days ago. Someone for some reason left it by my sales trailer. It looked solid so I figured what the hell and took it home. I put it on a trickle charger and it had about 1/3 of a charge so I charged it fully up and tested it. It has 870 CCA's!! Good to go.

I think I am going to convert into a real nice UPS. It's a sealed deep cycle gel cell...doesn't get any better for a UPS! Now I just need to find the guts for a nice UPS that has a proper sine wave inverter.

--Minor Update

Seeing how I started with 2 RL's I originally ordered (2) 10/32" mounting kits from Parts Express:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=260-776

I also ordered these hurricane nuts to go with them:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...umber=081-1082

I need another 2 kits but since these are only good for 1" thick baffles I figured I might as well buy longer socket head cap screws altogether. Unfortunately, Home Depot or Ace didn't have these available. Largest carried was usually 1.5". After a search on the interwebs I came across these 10/32 X 2" babies that will do quite nicely. This is the cheapest site I found after a quick search $7.80 shipped for 2 boxes (40):

http://www.microfasteners.com/catalo...cts/SSCSCA.cfm

Other than that I went to Home Depot and bought some more glue for the added sides I am doing (mounting baffle of third layer). I also bought some blank face plates for the wall to install my beefy binding post terminals into. I will epoxy the backside and make it look cherry. Time to use some of that Cat5 I ordered (free) from Parts Express to make some interconnects and speaker cable

BTW any recommendations on what should be my first demo material??

I heard transformers has some very nice LFE. WoTW is a classic as well and will definitely get some demo time - didn't like the movie much though. I will try to see if there is an online sample so I could try out the "Pomps & Pipes" .

Well, after getting pretty loopy in the garage last night while working on my wife's car from the fuel and cleaners, I took a little bit of time to prime the box. I couldn't cut the 2 remaining panels for the sides (second baffle layer) because of the dust and my wife's car being under the knife opened up so that is still left to do.

I had some Killz'It sealer/primer from some time ago when I did my cabinets so I figured I would use that for the base sealant/primer. I also bought some Glidden grey primer/sealer yesterday that is made for use under dark coats. I cleaned the MDF of dust and taped off the OSB where the sub sits.

I mixed the Killz'It and poured some out. I started in the corners with a small brush and everything was fine or so I thought. Then I pulled out the small foam roller to hit the rest. I started rolling it out and noticed "chunks" in the paint. It seems that the latex congealed in the paint :grrrr .

Maybe it was the lighting or maybe because I was pretty high from the car stuff and now paint as well, but I didn't notice the chunks when I poured the paint. I thought they were air bubbles from shaking. I can actually pick the chunks out and they feel like soft gummy rubber between my fingers.

At this point in the night I said screw it and continued to roll out the primer for a few quick coats. I will sand it pretty good before I lay the Glidden primer on top to ensure an even surface. After the MDF is sealed and primed pretty good I will do some serious sanding before the black coats are applied.

Anyone see any issues with the primer I applies that can bite me in the ass later? Pics to follow shortly.

Here's the pics as promissed:

My niece "playing" in the manifold - kids hehe



Masking the OSB (woofer mounting ring)



Ready to prime/seal

Primer problems (chunks)



After another coat



After a few coats

Not really an update but I recieved the mounting hardware yesterday. I couldn't work on the box because I was at my brother-in-laws birthday party last night. This box is taking a lot longer than I thought but it's also because I am doing more than originally planned - which is good. I just want this to be my do it all ultimate sub setup .

Here's a pic of the cap screws:

Well, got the box lightly sanded and primed with the new primer last night. This is my Friday so a lot will get done tonight and tomorrow .

Setup a heating fan to speed up the dry time inside the manifold.

My custom paint booth





Heat Rack





Opened Up

Close To The Finish Line!!

I sanded the primer flat (sucks around the brace) and I put on 3 coats of black paint on. The box has been sitting in the garage with a heater in it for a few hours now to help it cure.

I also completed the custom wall plates with heavy duty bindings. I used the heavy duty binding post from PE. I drilled some blank wall plates for the barrel to slide into. Then I used washers to tighten the binding post in the plate. I honestly didn't even need them the holes were so tight though! Then I bent back the spade terminals a little to give space to the wire. These things are STOUT! No chincy connectors here! I was not happy with the crap at home depot.
I stripped 5 lengths of cat 5e to make my custom cables. I found a great DiY here: http://www.venhaus1.com/diycatfivecables.html

I enrolled the help of my wife to assist the braiding. I am using 27 twisted pairs which is equivilant to 9.79 awg wire. The wire bundles aren't quite finished but will be shortly. I used this cat 5 Wire calculator from TnT Audio to help me figure the amount of pairs to use: http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/wirecalculator.xls

Here's a few pics of the box being painted:

First Coat







Last Coat



The specks are dirt on the lens.

Here's the wall plates fabbed up:

Last but not least the cat 5 speaker cable bundles:







Wifes Technique for Braiding

I hope so!




Well, I am pretty damn tired. After putting my wifes car back together yesterday (after doing the work in the above threads) I glued the top and bottom of the box. I also cut the third layer sides and glued those on.

I pushed the manifold up into the attic military press style and cleaned up the area to be installed. I drilled the mounting holes by taking off the gasket, laying the sub in through the outside, and drilling the first hole out. Then I put in a cap screw to hold it's position and did the same thing on the opposite side. Next, I proceeded to drill out all the holes and follow with a 1/4" for the hurricane nuts.

After pressing in all the hurricane nuts I loaded the first woofer in. I have to say that these things are a major B!TCH to line up. After loading the first woofer in I called it a night. After all, I do need a few hours of sleep.

If I am not too tired tonight I will finish it up and if not tomorrow. It's all on the downhill now!

Thanks for the understanding. Between school, work, my wifes car breaking down, and home projects I am tapped out. Oh yeah, I try to fit in a hour maybe two a week for CoD 4. Sub will be finished tommorow though! I was to tired to cut the hole and run the wire tonight.

Next time I am in Clovis I WILL hit you up for a demo a few days before I am there to line up a time!!! It will be a good time as now I can compare apples to oranges!


I backed the first one off and made the mistake of trying it from the backside just to make sure things were clear...DOH screwed up the hurricane nut.

I found a great trick is to use a nail from the backside and push it all the way through. Then, basically follow it through from the front with the cap screw. Makes things way easier. Good to know for future endevors.

As for installing the subs, I want to make sure everything is good because where I am installing it runs a diagonal 2 X 4. Besides, I had no problem getting it into the attic through the attic door which is a good height with a little help of a buddy. My 220 lbs beats the manifolds weight and I have 6' 3" of leverage

As for the hurricane nuts themselves...DAMN. I am confident I could kick the woofer magnet as hard as I can and the sub would still be mounted fine - it would move the manifold a few feet but it would be fine.

I went up in the attic to mount the other woofers before class and one spun free upon tightening. I applied a good amount of glue to each one and will finish after class. I do have a quick question though, I have a good amount of spare carpet. Should I throw a section under the box to insulate it from the floor to minimize rattles or even throw some up in the attic to absorb some energy? I also just remembered I don't have any straps to mount the box to the floor so I will pick those up tomorrow. It will be fired up though!

All speakers are mounted and are wired but I have a problem. The floor and wall are not squared. I think I will have to cut the hole and then mark what is not flush with the wall and cut of the excess?

Actually, I guess the carpet will come into play as a spacer. Time to cut a giant hole in the wall.

I did it. I fired it up...only everyone else was sleeping as it was damn LATE

I turned the receiver way down and the sub gain up to see if it's alive and all was well....just not too noticeable at the volume I had it at

I am bummed about that but that will be sorted out tonight.

I am also bummed out because I was pulled over this morning and received a nice little speeding ticket !!!!!! Way to start off a day.

Post Install Update

Sorry for the delay. At the job site I have been at the last 2 days the internet was intermittent and at home...well...I had better things to do .

Anyways, Friday night I about gave myself a hernia loading the manifold into the wall. It wasn't due to the weight of the box or subs in it but the tightness of the fit. Hell, the manifold isn't even secured in the wall right now by anything other than a snug fit. I thought I was going to have to shave a 1/16" off of the manifold but I pushed it all the way in finally!

I don't have the in wall cat 5 cable ran yet as it is not finished. My wife has been doing yard work instead . The cable will probably be finished tonight. For now, I have some crappy ?15? awg cable running up the wall. Also, I need to get a proper interconnect. I have some crappy phono cable that has no shielding because if it gets near a power cable it hums. It doesn't seat the best either.

I have some real nice rca cable (can't remember brand) and barrels that I could cut a few feet from the spool and either buy a xlr plug for the back of the amp or just directly run the + and - to the back of the amps screw ins. What do you think? I am still up in the air about the covering. Well, my wife is still up in the air about the covering I should say.

I really don't have that much good demo material laying around. I do have LOTR:ROTK though. My wife thought it was all 3 when she bought it as a gift, guess I will wait for the blu-ray version to buy all three!

I put it in and skipped around hitting select scenes I found in a "bass heavy scenes" thread. I will note that it was loud but sounded overly boomy The scene where the underground dead king vanishes and the whole place topples down was pretty intense. I felt a little back massage in the couch I don't feel the "in your face bass" like I did back in the car audio days but these go a LOT lower. I played a few songs and it was still pretty nice.

Last night after work I remembered I left the settings messed up from screwing around from before. My avr settings were all out of whack. I have a Pioneer Elite VSX-33tx. The x-over was set to 150hz and my mains were set to large. Also, the distance was set to 10ft on all channels. I set the x-over to 80 hz and distance to 15ft for the sub and 12.5 ft for the mains. It does sound loads better!

Just FYI I never really setup my avr since we have been here. My center and surrounds aren't even hooked up. I have been thinking I am going to sell them so I can try some DiY action for the other speakers .