HT Sub

[snoogins]

Ok, so y'all asked for them, and I'm gonna post 'em. This is a home theater sub that I've been working on for a couple months now. Originally I wa splanning on using an Orion HCCA proto (TC9) that I had laying around, but the specs were really off for ht duty, so if I can sell it I'm going to switch to a TC OEM 12. The box was designed by Chris at Elemental Designs and it weighs a friggin ton! Amp is a Buttkicker, and with the recent output debacle, I may switch it out with something more suitable down the road. Onto the pics I suppose. Oh yeah, it's about 4 cubes @<hidden> 22 hz, and will be finished in PartsExpress melamine facing (was worried about cracking veneer) and black countertop laminate.

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[solacedagony]

Looks good. For HT, I probably would have gone with a bigger box and possibly lower tune, though. Free low end response.

What does the fullrange side of your HT setup look like?

[CaptainPioneer]

Nice job on that box! Looks great.

[Bwcad1]

all that bracing is causing serious turbulence in the box. a better alternative would be to use threaded rod or dowles.

[swimmerdude]

holy crap those are some long clamps!!

i really like seeing home theatre setups, i think they are really cool.

[CaptainPioneer]

bill it looks like he rounded out all the bracing wouldnt that help out just a bit?

BTW I need some clamps like those but i refuse to pay the money for the newer ones when really the oldschool ones like he has there are the real deal and none of that crap plastic stuff that Home Depot Sells

[Bwcad1]

yea but just because the sides around rounded doesn't mean its going to stop the turbulence. run down the street with a piece of mdf in your arms across your stomach then go home and round the corners see if it helps lol. don't get me wrong the box looks great! just a few things i could see get you a noticeable improvement.

[CaptainPioneer]

oh yea I understand what ur saying i was somehow in my simple little mind equating Turbulance with Port noise and whistling... again thanks for putting it into "kindergarten terms" for me

[cargodz]

I need some clamps like those but i refuse to pay the money for the newer ones when really the oldschool ones like he has there are the real deal and none of that crap plastic stuff that Home Depot Sells
You can still get metal slide clamps and also tube clamps that you just have to buy the pipe for... also check out some garage sales advertising tools/ woodworking equipment, cause you can usually get them dirt cheap there :thumbsup

[snoogins]

I got eD to do the design since their line of home theater subs had received very good reviews. All of their enclosures use similar bracing, and none of them seemed to ave suffered due to the bracing. My understanding of it is that the air inside changes pressure as the cone moves in and out, with the port area acting somewhat like a passive radiator, rather than the air simply evacuating out of the port with each stroke. Plus the wavelength of any frequency within a subwoofer's range is far too long to even fit within an enclosure. But then again I may just be talking out of my ass. :)

[Bwcad1]

ur correct but smoothing out the airflow changes the pressure as well and keep the airflow smooth with little turbulence creates a better condition. it doesnt hurt that much at all. but in our testing we gained around 1.5 db just rounding edges in the boxes keep everything smooth.

[solacedagony]

I got eD to do the design since their line of home theater subs had received very good reviews. All of their enclosures use similar bracing, and none of them seemed to ave suffered due to the bracing. My understanding of it is that the air inside changes pressure as the cone moves in and out, with the port area acting somewhat like a passive radiator, rather than the air simply evacuating out of the port with each stroke. Plus the wavelength of any frequency within a subwoofer's range is far too long to even fit within an enclosure. But then again I may just be talking out of my ass. :)
A vented box is an example of a Helmholtz resonator. You know how you blow across the top of a bottle and it make that "woooo" sound? Same principle.

[Bwcad1]

im surpised anyone else knew that!!!

[scotts1000rr]

I thought everyone knew that?lol

[solacedagony]

Some(?) mufflers use that principle as well.

[snoogins]

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/0018-1.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/0019.jpg

:Drool:

[solacedagony]

Nice grab before the price increases :)

[Bwcad1]

y is that coil so far out of the gap? can you get a picture from the side? with a magnet structure like that i would think the coil would have plenty of room inside the gap for movment. but the spiders are deffinatly bad ass and the former they use are strong as hell.

[snoogins]

y is that coil so far out of the gap? can you get a picture from the side? with a magnet structure like that i would think the coil would have plenty of room inside the gap for movment. but the spiders are deffinatly bad ass and the former they use are strong as hell.

Dunno really... but I love the exposed coil.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/0023.jpg

[Bwcad1]

whats the powerhandling on it? exposed coil is bad news make sure you get everything out of that box. no dust no nothing.

[snoogins]

whats the powerhandling on it? exposed coil is bad news make sure you get everything out of that box. no dust no nothing.

1200. I figured that about the dust. Luckily even with the bracing I have agood bit of room to move around in th e4 cubes. Would adding something as a filter like grille cloth on the inside of the port have much affect?

[Bwcad1]

it would work like an aperiodic membrane. you should be ok as long as you get most of the crap out of the box. 1200 aint bad but from looking at the coil i wouldn't go much more than that.

[snoogins]

it would work like an aperiodic membrane. you should be ok as long as you get most of the crap out of the box. 1200 aint bad but from looking at the coil i wouldn't go much more than that.

cool. I can;t wait get it installed, but I think I'm underestimating the amount of work that I have left to do.

[snoogins]

So this weekend allowed me some time to work... but setbacks basically killed any progress. Had to drum-sand about 1/4 off of the mounting hole just to get the new driver to fit. Then after numerous attempts, I determined there was no way to use the t-nuts that were already glued into the baffle... So I knocked them out and decided to add some 2"x2" plywood blocks so I can just use regular screws. I'm not about to go through this whole build just to have a t-nut get knocked down into the box at the last minute.... while it's finished sitting in my apartment.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/DSC00520.jpg

Buuut... while testing said t-nuts I determined that the oem would officially look badass inverted...

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/DSC00518.jpg

I got lucky with the mounting depth too. Any opinions on whether or not the pole vent is ok with the piece right behind it?

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/DSC00519.jpg

[Bwcad1]

Pole vent that close is fine. as long as its not covered it will be fine!

[solacedagony]

The usual answer that I see is to not get any closer to the pole vent than the diameter of the pole vent. But in reality, I would think this depends on how hard you're pushing the sub.

[CaptainPioneer]

That is a badass sub... i imagine that will put out some serious thuds... Is the magnet resting on that piece of wood? It looks awefully close...

[snoogins]

It seems I'm actaully getting somewhere now. I think it took getting the bondo out.

I cleaned up all the imperfections, which took about a dozen different batches. Once that was done and I had cleaned up all the dust I started on the laminate. It takes the corners well enough, but getting the material directly adjacent to the corners will be interesting... I can heat it up but once its hot enough to melt I take it off and it bulges back out... I may have to keep it on and turn the iron off so it cools while being pressed flat.

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[cargodz]

It does indeed look like you're making some headway on it... and I must say it is smoothing out nicely ;)

[snoogins]

Found a way to get the spots next to the roundovers... I just irons small spots then hold them down with a body dolly. Seems to just suck the heat out too, so it cools pretty quickly.

Now I just have to cut the seam. I have both layer overlapping, so I may have some semblance of a clean, straight seam.Cutting this stuff is tricky though. Even with a fresh razor blade. Hopefully I won't **** it up at this point.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/DSC00533.jpg

[snoogins]

I'm getting close... Got everything trimmed around the edges, then realized I had to come up with a way to trim the laminate around the routered port recess. I had to find something with an 1/8" bearing... So I finally found a flute-style trimmer bit and ground it down to 1/8". Grinding carbide is not fun... where are all the cheap bits when you need them?

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Finally got it cleaned up, then I masked it off and sprayed the inside so I wouldn't see any wood around the port.

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After that I got the lip leftover from the trimmer bit with the sander, so I can lay the black laminate flush over it.

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[snoogins]

Well I went to home depot today and the black laminate that I originally 2'x2' was actually 2'x4' [just what I needed], so that saved me about 14 bucks, and allowed me to get the contact cement with it for under 20 bucks.

I cut it in half (total *****) and routed out the hole for the driver for the bottom piece. I figure I'd do the bottom first in case I **** up. I was worried about getting it stuck in the wrong place, not having enough glue, having too much resulting in it gooshing out th sides, etc. Well I did it and it worked out perfectly. Perfectly lined up, no goosh. And it's really on there.... not going anywhere.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/124_5827.jpg

Also got the holes on the precision port countersunk so there wont be any ugly screws sticking out on the flush port mouth.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/124_5823.jpg



I think I may be done this weekend... yay. Actually....wait... no... I still have to get the binding posts in from Madisound.

I wonder if I should line the walls with sheet poly? Maybe egg crate? It's not going to be one of those test and retest situations... once the driver's in it's in. :p

[solacedagony]

Niiiiice. I am planning to do something very similar with the speakers that I build soon. I was also worried about how to cut the laminate/veneer out of the very shallow driver recess, so you just did the work for me! Thanks!

Looks great and I'm sure it'll sound equally as good. Those TC drivers are beasts.

[snoogins]

Trimmed...

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/124_5829.jpg



And painted...

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/124_5828.jpg



I still have:

Sanding edge of bottom laminate
Tape/glue/trim/sand top laminate
Pilot holes for port mouth
Glue/assemble/install port
Floor spikes
Binding posts
Transportation (Going to suck)
Wiring/Installation
Eviction

[William from NOLA]

Eviction haha

[joeyc]

yea but just because the sides around rounded doesn't mean its going to stop the turbulence. run down the street with a piece of mdf in your arms across your stomach then go home and round the corners see if it helps lol. don't get me wrong the box looks great! just a few things i could see get you a noticeable improvement.
WOOWWWWWWA!! Pwnage

Definitely some EXCELLENT quality construction you have done here, I do agree with bill on the bracing though. I am sure it will sound f'in great.

[snoogins]

With the work I did tonight, I'm pretty much done and ready to bring it to my apartment. I trimmed the top laminate, glued up the port and screwed it down (its actually much stiffer in place than I thought it would be), and drilled the holes for the binding posts.Then I cleaned out the box (which took forever) to keep the coil clean.


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[snoogins]

Beginning the install process:

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And she's in!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/0089.jpg

Another side view while moving into position:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/0090.jpg

And in place!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/0091.jpg


I still have yet to give it power... A little too late. But tomorrow I'll hopefully get some suitable wire for it, and I'll get her fired up.

The sheer density of it quite apparent... Bumping into it is not a pleasant experience.

[cargodz]

Maybe you shoulda done it in Neon Yellow so you don't run into it in the dark :p lol
Seriously though... looks awesome sitting there... Hope it lives up to your expectations when you give it power since I know you didn't want to have to retune it ;)

[snoogins]

Yay! New place.

Stereo feels much more at home here. Plus we don't have neighbors on either side. :)

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/hempness/0120.jpg

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[William from NOLA]

Flip that house!