Winter sub box build
Thread Starter
50 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 410
Winter sub box build
Well, winter is here and along with the change in tires comes for me at least a change in subs. I'm not a fan of running my good subs in the cold so out with the good and in with the crap!
Now, you have to realize with me just recently moving out here to Calgary I have access to a very very limited stock of tools since my dads workshop with every bloody tool avaliable is back home in Sask. All that I had was
1) A jigsaw
2) Drill with only a couple dull crappy bits.
Besides that just some misc crap around my office and what I had in my car. So all in all very little to work with. By the time all this was said and done... I really miss having a table saw. When you have to rip 4' at 12" wide 3/4" MDF with only a jigsaw... what a pain in the ***.
So on with the pics! First on the list is the sub... this POS sub is the local being borrowed/beat on/abused by quite a few of my friends/family. I've had it kicking around for years and the damn thing just won't die, so I keep punishing it. And for those who are wondering (I'm sure most of you are) Thats white silicone all around the edge. Almost all of the original souround rotted off soooo I had a siezed kicker sub that was going to the garbage so I gutted the souround off and siliconed it onto the JL.
Makes it look like complete *** BUT that fix has been on for well over a year now and it's still working fine. So I prolonged its life using what I had avaliable at the time.
This is after quite a few hours of work. It's a really interesting box, found the design on the web probably 5+ years ago. It's actually originally designed for 2 10" subs but I changed it a little for just one. I had (2) of the larger boxes in my Chev Sprint back when I was younger and it was wicked! Loved them.. so thought why not try building one again.
A little bit of Rockwool in the back of the sealed chamber. Apparently according to my boss (whom I would never argue with over anything audio related) Rockwool sounds better then simple polyfill, I honestly doubt anyone could hear the difference especially in a subwoofer aplication BUT upstairs we had some in the storage room so I threw it in! I could've used about 2x the amount I found.. but whatever when it's free you don't complain.
A funny fact... that 2' of wire connecting the sub to the terminals is probably worth more then the sub/box. That wire is some Musatex Oxyegen free, cryogenically frozen, multistrand speaker cable. Sells for quite a bit... but since my boss owned Musatex we just happen to have a pile of the stuff kicking around and he said I could grab whatever I needed.
Finished! Got it done last night and put it into my car for the first time. The box doesn't sound too bad. In all fairness it sounds pretty nice... but it really isn't my style. Not terribly much output... no ball shaking low bass... I don't know I'm probably just spoiled since I went from a large competition 12" sub with about 4x the power to a beat up old 10 thats seen better days. Plus with that patch job I think I lost some of the subs Xmax since between the silicon/kicker souround it's alot stiffer. So that definatly will hurt it's output.
We'll see. For now it's good enough but maybe if I'm lucky the sub will blow, I can throw it in a ditch, and put in a better sub with a little more Omph and then I'll be set! I think once summer hits and I put my big subs back in... I think i'm going to put this sub in my office. There is a spare Musatex amp kicking around here I could hook it up to.
But yeah thats her! I'm still impressed how well it turned out considering bascially every piece was cut freehand with the jigsaw including all the angle cuts for where the pieces meet. Now I just have to decide if it's good enough to bother sanding/painting it.
Now, you have to realize with me just recently moving out here to Calgary I have access to a very very limited stock of tools since my dads workshop with every bloody tool avaliable is back home in Sask. All that I had was
1) A jigsaw
2) Drill with only a couple dull crappy bits.
Besides that just some misc crap around my office and what I had in my car. So all in all very little to work with. By the time all this was said and done... I really miss having a table saw. When you have to rip 4' at 12" wide 3/4" MDF with only a jigsaw... what a pain in the ***.
So on with the pics! First on the list is the sub... this POS sub is the local being borrowed/beat on/abused by quite a few of my friends/family. I've had it kicking around for years and the damn thing just won't die, so I keep punishing it. And for those who are wondering (I'm sure most of you are) Thats white silicone all around the edge. Almost all of the original souround rotted off soooo I had a siezed kicker sub that was going to the garbage so I gutted the souround off and siliconed it onto the JL.
Makes it look like complete *** BUT that fix has been on for well over a year now and it's still working fine. So I prolonged its life using what I had avaliable at the time.
This is after quite a few hours of work. It's a really interesting box, found the design on the web probably 5+ years ago. It's actually originally designed for 2 10" subs but I changed it a little for just one. I had (2) of the larger boxes in my Chev Sprint back when I was younger and it was wicked! Loved them.. so thought why not try building one again.
A little bit of Rockwool in the back of the sealed chamber. Apparently according to my boss (whom I would never argue with over anything audio related) Rockwool sounds better then simple polyfill, I honestly doubt anyone could hear the difference especially in a subwoofer aplication BUT upstairs we had some in the storage room so I threw it in! I could've used about 2x the amount I found.. but whatever when it's free you don't complain.
A funny fact... that 2' of wire connecting the sub to the terminals is probably worth more then the sub/box. That wire is some Musatex Oxyegen free, cryogenically frozen, multistrand speaker cable. Sells for quite a bit... but since my boss owned Musatex we just happen to have a pile of the stuff kicking around and he said I could grab whatever I needed.
Finished! Got it done last night and put it into my car for the first time. The box doesn't sound too bad. In all fairness it sounds pretty nice... but it really isn't my style. Not terribly much output... no ball shaking low bass... I don't know I'm probably just spoiled since I went from a large competition 12" sub with about 4x the power to a beat up old 10 thats seen better days. Plus with that patch job I think I lost some of the subs Xmax since between the silicon/kicker souround it's alot stiffer. So that definatly will hurt it's output.
We'll see. For now it's good enough but maybe if I'm lucky the sub will blow, I can throw it in a ditch, and put in a better sub with a little more Omph and then I'll be set! I think once summer hits and I put my big subs back in... I think i'm going to put this sub in my office. There is a spare Musatex amp kicking around here I could hook it up to.
But yeah thats her! I'm still impressed how well it turned out considering bascially every piece was cut freehand with the jigsaw including all the angle cuts for where the pieces meet. Now I just have to decide if it's good enough to bother sanding/painting it.
Thread Starter
50 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 410
Originally posted by Dave_MacKinnon:
If you turn the rear cavity into a vented one, that will improve things...
Series tuning is cool...
If you turn the rear cavity into a vented one, that will improve things...
Series tuning is cool...
Any info would be appriciated. Cause like I said it does sound nice, but I would like to have a little more jam out of the thing.
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