[Nebby]

I know this is head-fi and all, but I've been noticing a few posts here showing woodworking projects so I thought maybe you folks might be interested in my feeble attempt at making a HT sub

I've been working on this during my free time, so it's been a work in progress for a while, but I'm nearly there now. The reason I went with the 8" subs is because I tried out a few large diameter subwoofer drivers. They put out plenty of bass to shake the house down but they all were far too sloppy when it came to stiff precision bass, or when I tried to play music. I found these speakers on sale on the Apex Jr site and I couldn't resist for the price!

Stats:
Two 8" subs on the sides with a 12" passive radiator. Internal box is MDF, left and right sides are cherry, and top/front is going to be MDF painted black with a satin finish (most pictures will show the primer). For power I am using a 350watt Rythmik Audio amp.

Pictures are taken either with a camera phone or a canon point and shoot...so sorry for the average pic quality

I also did a quick passthru photoshop to get rid of the bad green tinge the cameraphone tended to put on the pictures, so not all of them have proper color balance.

EDIT: latest pics:
Right side:

Left side:

Cherry Figure:

Actual MDF box done with the the two subs and the passive radiator installed


Rythmik amp


Apex Jr 8" Subwoofer magnet view


Side View


Test fitting of the side panel prototype; this one was done before the Jasper circle cutting jig arrived, so it was rather time consuming

You can also see the primered top in this picture


Finished cutting out groove and punched out the remaining circle on the inside


All ready for the roundover!


Rounded over and lightly sanded


Dry fit of all panels, left side panel


Dry fit of all panels, right side panel


Hope you enjoyed my deluge of pictures, and maybe if people are interested I guess I might update this post with final product pics when I finish?

Disclaimer: This is indeed my first woodworking project, I've never stepped into a wood shop prior to this project, so please....don't flame me for my poor woodworking skills

(or poor grammar and spelling for that matter, it's nearly 2am right now, eek!)

Update:
I've been using the sub in semi-finished state (3-4 coats of black on the middle section with no clear) but I've decided to finally get around to complete the finishing, so I've been painting, sanding, painting, sanding.....about 9-10 coats now. No pictures till it's done, but here are two of the side panels that have aged quite gracefully imho:

 

[ezkcdude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nebby /img/forum/go_quote.gif Disclaimer: This is indeed my first woodworking project, I've never stepped into a wood shop prior to this project, so please....don't flame me for my poor woodworking skills (or poor grammar and spelling for that matter, it's nearly 2am right now, eek!)

Are you kidding me

? This is beautiful work! Gorgeous. Sometimes, the first time you do something can yield the best results because you take your time, have done your homework, and are super motivated. That's what I found when I built speakers. Anyway, you should be very, very proud!

BTW: You should definitely start a thread over at diyaudio, if you haven't already. I'd like to see some schematics. Also, did you design the xover yourself? I had mine done by Madisound.

 

[Listen2this1]

Thanks for this post, I bought a pair of these woofer off of ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/BassX-SubWoofer-...QQcmdZViewItem

And I did my own calculations using bass box pro's steps, It is nice to have the actual specs. I will have to look up what i got and see how close they actually were.

Great work!

 

[mrarroyo]

It came out great! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Vaughn]

Ah, the Universe works in mysterious ways. I just finished a Rythmik Audio
DS12 sub today! I just played some LCD Soundsystem and almost broke
into wild dance, luckily I restrained myself and made a drink.

Your work is very resolved, congratulations! I imagine the 8" drivers
will give you a very tight, tuneful bass.

 

[Vaughn]

BTW,

I am a big fan of combining hardwoods(i.e. maple) with composite
materials as you have done.

I recently made a large table with a dyed hardboard top (masonite) with
maple trim made from old gym flooring. The base was a "minimal" affair
of 2"x3" steel welded and painted. My wife like it so much it is now in her
care.

I really like your color combo with the stain on the mdf and the maple.
Please post pictures of the finished product.

 

[jewman]

@Nebby: Did you think about using Bolsa wood? Did you choose Cherry because of its acoustic properties?

 

[Nebby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you kidding me ? This is beautiful work! Gorgeous. Sometimes, the first time you do something can yield the best results because you take your time, have done your homework, and are super motivated. That's what I found when I built speakers. Anyway, you should be very, very proud! BTW: You should definitely start a thread over at diyaudio, if you haven't already. I'd like to see some schematics. Also, did you design the xover yourself? I had mine done by Madisound.

Oh yes, I'm quite proud already, when I finished the actual MDF box I hooked up the amp and gave it a quick trial and a few tests. It's one extremely musical sub, and is capable of outputting down to 12-13Hz. Now, I said outputting, but it's really more of a whisper down there

It's actually pretty decently strong down to 20Hz though! After playing around with it I decided to build another one to have a matched pair to make up for the decrease in actual bass impact. I found that although this box puts out bass nearly exactly the way I want, it doesn't have the nearly as much visceral impact with the bass as the 10" or 12" subs that I played with. With two, I hope to remedy that

The amp itself has a crossover, so for this project I didn't need to learn how to make one....phew

My next project is going to be a pair of three-way bookshelves and I will be needing a crossover for those. I haven't even started the research on how they work so I still have a decently long road ahead of me. I'm also building the DAC and amp for the bookshelves, so it's actually a project that's even more involved than this sub

I'll post this up to DiyAudio later, I mostly lurk there

Quote:

Originally Posted by Listen2this1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for this post, I bought a pair of these woofer off of ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/BassX-SubWoofer-...QQcmdZViewItem And I did my own calculations using bass box pro's steps, It is nice to have the actual specs. I will have to look up what i got and see how close they actually were. Great work!

this link might help you out, it's got a few specs on it:
http://www.apexjr.com/Super8.htm

Quote:

Originally Posted by jewman /img/forum/go_quote.gif @Nebby: Did you think about using Bolsa wood? Did you choose Cherry because of its acoustic properties?

Nope, didn't even think of Bolsa wood, they had a somewhat limited selection of wood at the wood shop to purchase from, and I liked the grain in the cherry the most. The MDF that I picked up is so heavy and dense that I think it's more like HDF than MDF, so I think I should be fine in terms of acoustic damping. In fact, I think the box is already bordering on 100 pounds wihout the amp, with all the sides attached and all!

After I complete it, I will be stuffing the box with some fill, probably around 30% full.

 

[johnsonad]

Ben, great work! I still think your neigbors are going to hate you, especially with twins

Stay busy with the second sub, it will take your mind off of the Apache countdown!

 

[fordgtlover]

This is great. You should be very proud of your efforts. If this sounds as good as it looks it will rock.

Please post pics of the finished job.

 

[1nf1n1ty]

That looks really nice...make sure you do a nice job with a finish on it....and I really want to see what it looks like after.

 

[BradJudy]

Looks really good so far. How did you attach the cherry panels to the sub box?

 

[Nebby]

The cherry panels are attached to the sub box with screws with no glue. I want to be able to take them off in the unlikely case that an issue comes up with a speaker.

 

[Nebby]

Newer pics that actually show the black paint