so i built a subwoofer

ohskigod

while i have never been very good with wood, the fact that i am a cheap **** motivated me to build my own sub. took me about a month on and off, but it is mostly done (still in raw MDF form, but the wifey will help me finish the outside of it) i built the plans from adire audio for the 142.5L box and FP4 port kit. The shiva has been mounted and i just field tested it today. currently being powered by an Onkyo M501 (150W to each VC). I plan to take a plate amp and build a small box for it and use that eventually (so i can use the onkyo for my center channels, like i had it before)

I'm now using my rotel rb976 to power the mains, surrounds and 2 centers (60W to all). Before i had the Onkyo powering my centers, with 150 watts x 2 bridged from the rotel to the mains, and 60Wx2 from the rotel to the surrounds.

this is my first DIY i built from the ground up, my only other foray into DIY was a Polk PSW 505 box that i mounted a plate amp and Dayton DVC driver to stuffed with Polyfill, but since i didnt build the box, i felt like it was cheating. in my defence, it sounded pretty good.


but the new sub sounds fantastic, although i'm sure not as good as Tour2ma's new PB2 Ultra (christ that thing is huge)

i will hopefully have pics up soon. the box i built is solid as hell with no problems, but the outside does currently look like a glued and screwed horror show


sorry about the long post, just very happy with the results after alot of work (lifting it from the basement work area to the livingroom upstairs was pretty hard too, did it solo)

gatemplin

Congrats,
I think you made a good choice witht the Shiva. I bet it sounds awesome. I built the 340L Tempest on the website. Adding a plate amp later will also allow you to adjust the phase. What kind of finish did you have planned?

ohskigod

would love to do a laminate/wood laminate finish, but i did not countersink the screws well enough and i cant get some of them flat. i was a little dissapinted in that, but for my first effort, i knew i had to screw something up. i'm leaning toward a speaker carpet type of thing, something that will cover up the quasi trainwreck that is the outside of the sub. the wife plans to do a kind of padded ottoman type of action for the top (hey, if it makes her tolerate the sub's existence, she has my blessing). as long as she doesnt use colors like pink or fuscia, i dont care

ohskigod

p.s., 340 litres?!?!?! my god, what is it with you guys and enormous subs. the sub i built weighs a ton, i can only imagine the back wrenching weight of yours!! must sound friggin sweet though

gatemplin

I used some textured paint called Krylon Make it Stone. It is a pretty forgiving finish and it looks sorta like the SVS textured finish (never seen one in real life though). If you spray on the Make it Last paint over top it is a very durable and attractive finish.

gatemplin

Originally posted by ohskigod
p.s., 340 litres?!?!?! my god, what is it with you guys and enormous subs. the sub i built weighs a ton, i can only imagine the back wrenching weight of yours!! must sound friggin sweet though

Yeah, it's pretty big. If I were to do it over I would have done the 214L Tempest but I already spent a lot of money on the two FP4 port kits. It is damn heavy, two full sheets of 3/4" MDF. Sounds pretty good too IMO, never heard better. I have Eq'd mine with a Behringer EQ too.

VR3

2 SHEETS OF MDF? Jeez dude, I bet that is beastly...

After 'trying' to manage 1 sheet of MDF to cut up, I couldnt imagine 2 sheets, eff dude...

Oh yeah...

I DEMAND** Pictures... PICTURES ARE A MUST!

I bet it sounds awesomes!

ohskigod

just got the plate amp hooked up the the 142.5L shiva. is definitly an improvement.