The Fairchild Ghost. Subwoofer project.

cavemanoc said:
That wrap looks amazing - wish I could get it to look that neat! Do you ever have issues with pealing? One of my projects had the base board wrapped, and it pealed after a few months :(
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I guess vinyl wrap is more prone to edge damage one of my subs has crack on the wrap edge, then you see the wood underneath

I guess some kind of L piece on the corners would solve this but looks kinda ugly but I suppose long term good to protect the edge,


Unless you do a curved corner to bend vinyl wrap around. Not sure how you'd do that with wood, steam it etc?
 
Mine was able to be wrapped over the edge and around the back, so the edges were fine - it was the glue that gave out and let it peal - probably not helped by how tighly I pulled the vinyl. In my case I could solve it with a staple gun on the back side of the board - was just wondering if there were better glue solutions that lasted longer.

For box builds like yours, could you "overwrap" each piece and them put them together so the edges trap the wrap, or does that leave a gap?
 
I think the difference will be the vinyl itself. Vinyls like 3M and what I used are expensive for a reason and it's the adhesive.
 
TBH nearly all of the money you spend on vinyl is for the adhesive. I have noticed this with die cut bike decals. The cheap ones never stick properly.
 
I had no idea you could get such a great looking finish using a vinyl wrap. Inspiring stuff. I did wonder how you were going to turn the ikea-like-mdf box into a thing of beauty.

Following this has been a great learning for me - thank you and congrats on a beautiful project.
 
OK. So on Friday it got real.

I unpacked it, which was a mission in itself. I then fitted all the foam panels using the diag I made.







I then fitted the rear terminal. This was sealed in with some silicon sealant.



Then fitted the rear plate.



Boshty.



Fit LED bars.



Test.





Front badges.



And finally the sub.





I then finished up the wiring for the DSP.



Then it all got real. Like manhandling it throughout all that was not enough I then had to move the old sub. This took pretty much the entire day on Saturday and bled into yesterday. It wasn't just moving it, I also had to move furniture in both rooms (the living room and bedroom) to get it where it went.

After that ordeal was over I started work on the area where the new sub will live. First I gave it a big clean, then started fitting the sockets etc.



That led me up to last night. By 10pm the sub was located and is now up and running. The DSP has been wall mounted, among all other sorts of small jobs etc. I will upload the final pics at some point over the next few days, as this big project also meant I now need a coffee table (my old sub used to be it lmao) and some home improvements etc.

BTW whoever said it's not a sub? Was quite clearly wrong. I will shoot a couple of videos when it is all sorted.


Note. The masking tape did indeed poop itself all over the top panel. That has all been cleaned and removed now.
 
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ALXAndy said:
Going back to the amp.

I watch a guy on the tube and he has an amp dyno. Well yesterday he uploaded a video of a 15 inch cinema sub. He took the amp out and its identical to the one I was going to use. It said it was 150w (same) and although the two boards on it were oriented differently it was identical.

It made 46w at 8 ohms.

So I feel completely redeemed tbh. I'd have been so disappointed with the sub thinking it was bad.
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I tell you what. That had to be one of the most prophetic things I have ever said.

I am not quite sure why (either confidence or stupidity) but I never tested the actual woofer at any point during all of this. I assumed A - it worked when it arrived B - my manhandling of it would all be OK and C - it would work as intended.

Well on Friday evening I finally did connect that amp to it. Not the Cyrus, that poop one. It sounded horrible. It was distorting something awful, and at higher volumes it sounded like there was something jammed in the voice coil. The funny thing is that when the sub it was in arrived I thought it sounded crap then, but figured it was port chuffing from the box. It wasn't. The amp can not even play at any volume without roars of distortion. It actually had me up until gone midnight setting up the Cyrus.

So yeah I dodged a bullet or five there.
 
Somehow got behind and just caught up. Looking good. Was going to say that I've not seen mention of actually testing the sub at any point!
One of the pics looks like the acrylic has cracked round a screw but I can't see it in any other shots. Just a artifact of the picture I hope.

ALXAndy said:
and at higher volumes it sounded like there was something jammed in the voice coil.
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A big lump of steel rod and discs perhaps? ;) :p
Yes I'm a heathen, no I'm not sorry :D
Hope it sounds good.... although not at midnight perhaps! :eek:
 
Doh you wally that is the light in the ceiling lmao.




All fine.

I have now worked out why I hated the old sub so much. When I ordered it I knew it was dual 2 ohm. This means if you wire it like you are supposed to it is 1 ohm. Well no plate amp on earth can cope with that, so I wired it to 4 ohm (the only other choice). And that is why it has the sound signature it does. Hard, horrible.

Any way, the work on this is now all finished.



I am still tuning etc. It's amazing though.



I will do a video when I can. Currently having some problems at home. IE my water heater blew up and took out half the flat.
 
ALXAndy said:
What a two day willy pain. So I got over yesterday about 1. The rails were here waiting. However, when I went to fit them I noticed a big ****** problem. The old rails were counter sunk into the front and rear panels. Meaning my new rails I just spent £25 on were too short. I then had the genius idea to flip? inverse? mirror? then front and end. This led to a 5 hour fight. In the end I assembled it with the rails loose, intending to get my mate to make some spacers.

Then it dawned on me that it was possible but because I had forgotten to flip inverse etc the limit switches it seemed like the bed was on wrong. So I then got back up and spent another two hours putting it back together. Just the bed. It took around 8 hours fgs.

Got up today and put on a F ton of sound deadening. You will also note there is a new spoilboard I made. I also had to extend (add in cable) the limit switches as one was getting tangled in the bed, and one was just not long enough. So after another 6 hours today......

idWwauK.jpg


You will note there is no plastic on this machine apart from the sides I made today.

P6IGLzo.jpg


KzXROtZ.jpg


So how is it? incredible. It now machines twice as fast without snapping bits, whilst making hardly any noise above the sound of the motor.

Oh also. You will note the bed is quite a fair bit wider. That's because it is. You don't lose 15mm each side out of your 300mm any more. You can machine the entire 300mm. You can also see where I put the old rails too, as the Pro Ultra comes with thicker side metal things.
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Some incredible work on this thread! Also, what is this beast? - I use a Datron cnc at work and have always dreamed of one at home
 
piggin said:
I want to know what the neighbours are going to think when this gets cranked up
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I believe they wouldnt have been happy. Thankfully the knob on the DSP is able to raise and drop the volume.

Cenedd is due soon so Ill give him a good blast.

But yeah its no joke. Easily able to beat the old larger one. Probably on the account of the amp and DSP.
 
ALXAndy said:
I believe they wouldnt have been happy. Thankfully the knob on the DSP is able to raise and drop the volume.

Cenedd is due soon so Ill give him a good blast.

But yeah its no joke. Easily able to beat the old larger one. Probably on the account of the amp and DSP.
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"First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?"

So when are you going duals? :D
 
hornetstinger said:
"First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?"

So when are you going duals? :D
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Never. I have a very small flat and besides the front speakers are JBL 4312s. Thankfully being new im 2018 the building is sound proofed quite well.

Placement of speakers is everything.
 
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