Tuba HT Build
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intangible
Posts: 262
Y'all may have seen this folded horn sub before; it was the popular thing to build a year or two ago. I saw one on Craigslist, and it looked like too much fun, so I am building one myself and plan on documenting it here.
I have sourced most of the parts and got started this evening. Moved the wood and equipment into the "workshop", made some sawdust, and diagrammed the panel projections onto one of the sidewalls.
Tomorrow, I plan on cutting out the driver access and putting in the first of the panels.
I have sourced most of the parts and got started this evening. Moved the wood and equipment into the "workshop", made some sawdust, and diagrammed the panel projections onto one of the sidewalls.
Tomorrow, I plan on cutting out the driver access and putting in the first of the panels.
Post edited by intangible on
Comments
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Wow you cut that in your kitchen? That is hardcore.
That dust is -so- bad for you man... can't stress this enough!- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit. -
I've been wanting to do this build (or the super spud)! cant wait to see your progress.design is where science and art break even.
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Cool, Tuba HT as in a copy of Bill Fitzmaurice's folded horn design?
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In the sense that you don't want to breath any fine particulate, yes. I wear a surgical mask style filter, like you would want to regardless of where you are cutting and leave a window open to prevent formaldehyde buildup. Other than that, there's not much in the MSDS. I am more concerned about igniting the dust, so I turn my gas off until I have things cleaned up.Cool, Tuba HT as in a copy of Bill Fitzmaurice's folded horn design?
Yes, one of his designs exactly, to be more correct. -
Awesome! I would love to build one of these some day as well. Good luck with the build!I love animals, they're delicious!
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Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote: »Wow you cut that in your kitchen? That is hardcore.
That dust is -so- bad for you man... can't stress this enough!
Only a buckeye would do that...
Now a Hawkeye would know better!
:biggrin::biggrin: -
I've been wanting to do this build (or the super spud)! cant wait to see your progress.
There is a built Danley in Louisville for 800 thats fully working and just needs an amp lol"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
I had to go back in to work yesterday evening and didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I got the access panel cut out and a couple of panels up today.
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With a little effort, I got the driver hole cut and hurricane nuts in place. Then I put in the next two panels to complete the sealed box portion. I also cut the remainder of the panels.
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Did more good work today. The panels need braces between them now, so going is a little slower, as there are two drying periods per. This polyurethane is great; my crappy Home Depot wood is rather warped in places and it gobbles up the little gaps no problem.
It's starting to look like a horn now! -
I heard the low profile version of this beast last year and I'm now a believer in folded horn subs. The amount of output and sound quality is untouchable for the $$ investment. I wish I had the space for one of these!!
Good luck with the build. -
I too have read and learned a bit about the horn subs. Aren't they really good for HT more so than music due to their freq that they shine in?
I liked the Danley DTS-10 but heard poor reviews of it for certain freq ranges.
I'll be following this to see the outcome. I have a perfect area behind my couch where the wall dips back maybe 12-14" and is 5 ft wide which could house a nice unit in there. But the problem is will it give me that chest thump when a drummer is kicking his drum!? -
I have a friend that had some Tuba's built and ran them in his horn based system for several years. Got to listen to them a number of times!
At least in his case, they don't dig to the lowest of low freq's and I thought they might have had some need for a little eq to flatten them a little. But high gain, and super chest thumpin' hit a little higher in the normal bass kick range. So I'd go the other way...better for music than movie efx.
I would suggest that the cross point and slope, and amplifier chosen to power them, would greatly impact the sound quality and satisfaction. So keep your options open and plan to experiment a little.
He recently has gotten into open baffle bass and is at last report willing to sell his pair of Tuba's. Anyone within driving range of western NC/SC area that is interested should look that pair up!
CJA so called science type proudly says... "I do realize that I would fool myself all the time, about listening conclusions and many other observations, if I did listen before buying. That’s why I don’t, I bought all of my current gear based on technical parameters alone, such as specs and measurements."
More amazing Internet Science Pink Panther wisdom..."My DAC has since been upgraded from Mark Levinson to Topping." -
From what I have read, horn subs have two main tradeoffs: they are very large and they drop off like a rock at the bottom where the horn stops working. They are supposed to deliver very low distortion within their operating range, as well as high response levels with minimal power, as Iskandam said, so it seems like they would be a good fit for music.
Anyway, I am building this mainly because I wanted to build something and it is relatively cheap. I expect it to outperform my current subs by a wide margin, but if it doesn't then its no big deal. I already have to EQ heavily to deal with room mode, so even if it was perfectly flat, I wouldn't know. I hope to get it functional by Labor Day, and then I can give some real impressions of my own. -
The project looks great so far! What plans are you using for the build?2.1: PC>Schiit Gungnir MB>Schiit Freya Noval>NAD C-270>Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1, HSU STF-2 5.1: HDMI Bitstream>Denon AVR-1910>polkaudio RTE55, CS350-LS, RT3, HSU STF-2, Visio M55-F0
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Only a buckeye would do that...
Now a Hawkeye would know better!
:biggrin::biggrin:
Easy there. I cut outdoors only, with a nice big 3M respirator.
I don't want any formaldehyde and such coarsing through my veins until I'm being pickled for burial :biggrin:
Interesting fact: there are more carpenters with black lung disease than coal miners with black lung disease.VTL ST50 w/mods / RCA6L6GC / TlfnknECC801S
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NAD SS rigs w/mods
GIK panels -
I was just giving you a hard time, because the the magnet on your fridge.
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This sub is incredibly musical and articulate. The response does fall off a cliff below 20 Hz. Corner loading it not only helps, but also recommended by Bill Fitzmaurice to increase its output by several dBs. That having been said, we demoed War of the Worlds and it had no problem lifting the couch off the floor while still sounding very clean.
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The project looks great so far! What plans are you using for the build?
Thanks! Bill Fitzmaurice sells them on his site.
http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/THT.htmlI was just giving you a hard time, because the the magnet on your fridge.
No worries. I realize the situation is less than ideal, but the hazards associated with plywood are very manageable with proper precautions. -
This sub is incredibly musical and articulate. The response does fall off a cliff below 20 Hz. Corner loading it not only helps, but also recommended by Bill Fitzmaurice to increase its output by several dBs. That having been said, we demoed War of the Worlds and it had no problem lifting the couch off the floor while still sounding very clean.
Sounds great. Thanks for the impressions; I look forward to hearing it for myself. -
intangible wrote: »Thanks! Bill Fitzmaurice sells them on his site.
http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/THT.html
Thanks for the link. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your build!2.1: PC>Schiit Gungnir MB>Schiit Freya Noval>NAD C-270>Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1, HSU STF-2 5.1: HDMI Bitstream>Denon AVR-1910>polkaudio RTE55, CS350-LS, RT3, HSU STF-2, Visio M55-F0 -
inspiredsports wrote: »Interesting fact: there are more carpenters with black lung disease than coal miners with black lung disease.
Quantitatively: yes, because there are more carpenters than there are coal miners; proportionately: no.2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
Put up two of the walls over the past two nights and got the last of the 45 degree cuts done. I kept getting my saw stuck half way or just winding up with really wavy cuts before figuring out that going freehand with the jigsaw worked much better. I'm now hoping to have it working before there is football to distract me this weekend.
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Broke in the driver while I was at work today, then put up the last panel tonight. I tried to take a motion-blurred picture of the driver in action, but apparently am not good enough with a camera to do so. The last panel is the most warped so far, making the joint between it and the previous ones quite ugly, but that side is going towards the floor, anyway. I think there is too much left to do to finish by Friday, but I am right on track for getting it working this weekend.
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Put the last bit of bracing in today and moved it off the table for the first time in a while. It is BIG and heavy, even missing the other side and 15lb driver.
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Driver and terminal cup are installed! Hopefully will get the other side and lips for the access panel put on tomorrow and be making noise by Sunday.
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Looks nice. Is that 1/2" plywood?--Gary--
Onkyo Integra M504, Bottlehead Foreplay III, Denon SACD, Thiel CS2.3, NHT VT-2, VT-3 and Evolution T6, Infinity RSIIIa, SDA1C and a few dozen other speakers around the house I change in and out. -
It is, which is the recommended building material. I thought about going with 1/2" MDF instead, because it was the same price, flat, and wouldn't resonate like plywood does, but am glad I didn't, as I wouldn't be able to move the thing if I had.
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Side panel on and curing. Had two of the sides left when the last tube of adhesive started getting harder to squeeze out but thankfully made it.
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Got it finished, moved into my living room, and camouflaged. I may veneer and stain it later, but this is fine for now. My cat doesn't seem to mind.
For music, it blends effortlessly with the mains. Going down to one sub placed behind the listening position hurts imaging slightly, but the distortion level is so low that you don't hear anything out of place so much as you feel the higher air pressure on that side of the room. Once you adjust to the feeling, you really can't localize the sub's output without actively trying. The high sensitivity lets me EQ it aggressively without fear of over driving it. At my normal listening volume, I am putting less voltage than my multimeter can measure accurately across the driver.
For home theater, I can't really let it go, because I don't want to disturb my downstairs neighbor, but even at modest volumes, it was capable of moving my chair around. It hits 20Hz no problem, which my previous subs couldn't do; I may measure lower tomorrow to see exactly where it falls off.
