15" cinema subs cost how much?!?!

Soldato
Joined
23 Apr 2010
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West Sussex
Blimey. So obviously this isn't a PC build or a mod. People have posted their carpentry projects though and we all like bass, so here goes.

For the past three years I have been very slowly building up my cinema rig. It has lots of Tag Mclaren. I was happy with the 8" sub I had for ages, but then I decided to add my first purchase speakers and amp to the system as well. I originally bought these Sonus Fabers as my front speakers, but then I had a result and ended up with some Revel M105s. Which cost three times as much (the ones on taller stands)

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Then I recently bought the 70" TV there and it came with a new sound mode for my Tag to chew on. Instead of it using just the centre for the most part it uses the two front speakers far more. Hence why I fancied adding the Fabers to the array. Well the problem is it sounded so good that I decided to keep them there. Just one problem, the sub is basically gone. It had large boots to fill and it's done its job well. I wanted something a bit bigger, though.

I looked around at cinema subs but they all seem to be sniffing something. I've had a lot of experience with speakers and especially subs (used to compete back in the 90s) and whilst I understand that nice subwoofers are nice, the prices in cinema audio seem to be a bit of a joke given that subs are just air pistons, and their capabilities are far more physically based than being posh. Bottom line? the drop and the bass is not something people should get all SQL and snake oily about. As I said, it's an air piston it doesn't need to do it in some audiophile form. The fact is car subwoofers have had more R&D and become more and more mean over the years. They are also pretty damn cheap now for a ton of noise too.

So my first idea was to make a cheeky offer on a car built sub, then make the box look nice. So I ended up paying £21 for this cabinet over the cost of just the woofer.

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My goal was to take out the vents, paint them black, and then cut off the horrid lip and veneer it. Only problem? router malfunction. Well actually not the router, the bit. The bearing came off and before I knew it it was game over.

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Whoops.

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Now a part of me was pretty angry given my experience that I tried to do a cheap hack like that in the first place. So once I had asked someone to take it to the tip I decided not to be so lazy and just do it properly. 32hz down to 24.

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I then went on a tool buying spree. I also sent the design to a local place with a CNC saw, for super precise cuts. I went with 18mm hidrafugal MDF. It is water proof, fire proof, and much harder and less fluffy than regular MDF.

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Build port duct.

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Port said port duct to reduce chuffing and turbulence.

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Paint said port duct.

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Paint inside of right, put right on bottom and port duct on front and left.

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Realise you wasted half a day painting the bottom too soon and that it would need a F ton of holes drilled and countersunk into it.

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Mark out sub hole and place top on.

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Put back on.

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Fill twice.

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Sand like buggery.

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Pre drill and sink top.

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Fit top and return to filling like buggery.

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Then sand like buggery again.

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Fit woofer and feel elated but quite terrified.

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Buy amp.

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And bars.

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Repaint bottom.

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Then sit and watch it dry for a bit..

Things to come. Ebony veneer starts tomorrow.

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Then.

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Before finally putting two layers of sound deadening in the top and bottom. I haven't done it now because it is heavy as balls already and the deadening adds another 5kg or so.

Ask friend to make posh legs with spikes.

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And wait for said friend to make them for you :)
 
Soldato
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Ohh I guess you mean the centre. Have you seen it?

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It's piggin massive :D I would like to know where you would put it. I used to have a normal centre on a stand.

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But I wanted to bi amp it so I didn't leave an amp channel with no load on it. I got the Linn, which is awesome as it has much more oomph. Just one problem, if you put it on the stand you cant move.
 
Soldato
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Jeez look at the size of that driver. I hope you've bought some extra paracetmol... !

Yeah see I told myself if I was to come out of retirement and do this again it would be the forever sub.

I gave it a test last night on the amp. I haven't giggled like that in many years. I used this as a test track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZG9hVlJo18

And when it hits 33hz the thing just leaps to life lmao. It shook the entire house.

Been very busy today. I had my mother nagging in my ear when measuring the amp, and so inevitably this ended up happening.

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One thing I can not do is listen to a nagging woman and multi task at the same time. After a firm telling off I got on with fixing it.

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It then got a skim (two lots) of filler.

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And then today.

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The bars I ordered came too.

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Soldato
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Easily the hardest part so far. It's not very well trimmed, but I risked seriously damaging it by going too far.

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I need to peel the mask off the bottom to trim it up, the rest is done with a file or sand paper.
 
Associate
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This is quiet cool and something I was tempted to dabble into in the future.

Brings me back to the old days when I used win trophy after trophy with my SPL car. Man I miss that car. In its prime it hit 167DB, shocked quite a lot of people.
 
Soldato
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I haven't ditched it. Weather has been conspiring against me. Last night I got so fed up of it I decided to open the back doors and do the top in here.

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I made but one error. I should have masked the veneer already on there to stop the glue getting into the grain. I have gotten 99% of that off, but fear going through the veneer if I continue. So, I am just going to have to accept it.

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The legs are done and here, with the inserts for the wood itself. I will get pics of those later. Might bash out a side tonight, we'll see.
 
Soldato
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Friend of my dad was an electronics engineer and designed his own valve amp which was something to behold but this is a very impressive project too.

When I was transitioning from a somewhat flabby 14" Yamaha sub to a much better 12" REL I thought I'd try running both from my then Yamaha DSP A1 amp as it had two sub outputs. Didn't take long for my neighbor to come knocking as they said stuff was falling off the wall!
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
23 Apr 2010
Posts
11,896
Location
West Sussex
Friend of my dad was an electronics engineer and designed his own valve amp which was something to behold but this is a very impressive project too.

When I was transitioning from a somewhat flabby 14" Yamaha sub to a much better 12" REL I thought I'd try running both from my then Yamaha DSP A1 amp as it had two sub outputs. Didn't take long for my neighbor to come knocking as they said stuff was falling off the wall!

Yeah I got a noise pollution notice in the 90s. I had an addiction to loud bass. At the time I had a 18" Cerwin Vega Stroker in their T36 Intense cabinet. I realised it was better to sell it before I ended up in prison lol.

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I had 10" Macrom compression drivers in the cupboard flaps up top (they had horns in the middle). I had a Rogers E40 valve amp running those and a Soundmaster amp running 2 ohms at about 2kw into the sub.

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There was a guy opposite about 5 doors up that still had those crittle (sic) council windows. I managed to crack one. That sub was barbaric, and even more so because it was in a trapezoidal folded horn. So the further you got from it the more it just made everything shake.
 
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