Want to build music sub

[Tracy_L]

Hi

I would like to build a sub for/with my stepdad for Xmas for his music room. He is a semi-retired musician and he still likes to bang away at his keyboard at home. His room is probably no larger than 10x10, and space is somewhat at a premium.

I was thinking of probably a sealed 12" since we could build a sealed smaller than a ported (although ported is not out of the question, a small sonosub would be cooler than cool!!) I would like to have the driver and amp bought for as close to around $200 as I could. I was thinking a 12" would be plenty for the small room. Since it would be for his music only, it wouldn't need the thunderous lows of my dual Mach5 18" IB with 1200 watts (thanks Thomas and the Cult), although he says that if he had my IB, he would never leave his music room.

I would like to get started with the driver and amp. How would the DAYTON RSS315HO-4 12" HIGH OUTPUT SUBWOOFER and the BASH DIGITAL SUB AMPLIFIER 300W at around $235 work together? (From PE, of course) I am sure that I will have to learn how to use some of the modeling sw, as much as I have a large learning curve, lol. I haven't built any traditional subs so I am starting from scratch.

Any suggestions/comments are welcome.

Thanks
Tracy

[BoomieMCT]

I think the Dayton 12" HF would be a bit more appropriate then the HO. With the 300 watt amp you wouldn't use the extra power handling of the HO anyway. That in a sealed 1.5 cubic foot box would be lovely.

Or, if you want to save yourself some work AV123 has a sealed 10" with single band parametric EQ for $310 in B-stock.

[warnerwh]

According to Winisd your f3 will be 38hz which should be fine for music. This is for the Dayton RS Hi Fi 12". I already wrote I thought the box would be too small without doing the math and I had been wrong. I'm new to this. I did the numbers for you because people have taken their time to help me.

One more thing to consider is the Bash amp. I believe it has equalization such as a boost of a few db at 30hz or something like that. That may or may not help in your setup. Personally I'd avoid it but the built in equalzation may help in your situation especially if you measured your room and know what will help and not.

[BoomieMCT]

warnerwh wrote:

According to Winisd your f3 will be 38hz which should be fine for music. This is for the Dayton RS Hi Fi 12". I already wrote I thought the box would be too small without doing the math and I had been wrong. I'm new to this. I did the numbers for you because people have taken their time to help me.

One more thing to consider is the Bash amp. I believe it has equalization such as a boost of a few db at 30hz or something like that. That may or may not help in your setup. Personally I'd avoid it but the built in equalzation may help in your situation especially if you measured your room and know what will help and not.

According to the spec sheet the stock setting for the 300 watt BASH amp has 1 dB of boost at 17.7 Hz. It shouldn't be an issue.

[warnerwh]

You're right, 1db isn't worth worrying about. I could have sworn it was 3db but am obviously wrong. Thank You

[Tracy_L]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll take a good look at the HF instead of the HO. He won't need any extreme spl's, just want to get him some good lows for his music. The 1.5 cubic ft box, I assume the interior dimensions are 1.5 x 1.5 by 1.5, correct? I hate to ask such basic questions, just want to make sure.

Thanks again
Tracy

[Tracy_L]

Also, will I need any kind of fill for the box? I figure I'll order it at the same time as I order the amp and driver.

Thanks again
Tracy

[warnerwh]

You're correct, the interior dimensions of the box must equal 1.5 cu ft, not the exterior.

Yes you do need fill. For bass either fiberglass like you use for insulation or Acousta fill that Parts Express has is best flr low frequencies. Don't overstuff but don't understuff either. You can actually try varying amounts and see what you like best to tune the sub to your liking.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

When you say “music sub,” is that for playback of pre-recorded music, or reproducing his keyboard? You probably don’t want a sub designed for the former being used for the latter.

Regards,
Wayne

[Tracy_L]

It's for live playing of his keyboard, and probably some playback stuff of his own..

He is currently using a computer speaker setup with it's own tiny sub. Just thought I'd give him something a bit better than what he currently has. He does have some other full range speakers to use with this sub.

[BoomieMCT]

warnerwh wrote:

You're correct, the interior dimensions of the box must equal 1.5 cu ft, not the exterior.

1.5 cubic feet = a roughly 14 inch cube (internal). 14in x 14in x 14in = 1.5 cubic feet. The box will actually be a little bigger because you have to take the volume of the bracing, amp and driver into account. When all is said and done it will probably be a cube with 16 inch sides.

[Tracy_L]

Wayne A. Pflughaupt wrote:

When you say “music sub,” is that for playback of pre-recorded music, or reproducing his keyboard? You probably don’t want a sub designed for the former being used for the latter.

Regards,
Wayne

Hi Wayne

Do think you could elaborate a bit on why you say this? I know that his keyboard might not hit the lows that some of today's mixed music and soundtracks would hit, but I would think that it wouldn't matter what the material being reproduced is...

Thanks
Tracy

[davepete]

BoomieMCT wrote:

1.5 cubic feet = a roughly 14 inch cube (internal). 14in x 14in x 14in = 1.5 cubic feet. The box will actually be a little bigger because you have to take the volume of the bracing, amp and driver into account. When all is said and done it will probably be a cube with 16 inch sides.

Yep. Just to be clear, the inner dimensions of the box should *NOT* be 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5. That would give almost 3.4 cu ft.

1 x 1 x 1.5 would be 1.5 cu ft.

[Exocer]

If I understand correctly Wayne suggests against building a sub designed for pre-recorded music for use with his keyboard. Is this right?

I have absolutely no idea how low the keyboard is capable of going, but being in such a small room is definitely an advantage. I would stay with the suggested 12" hi-fi driver and bash amp for the most bang for the buck.

[mrogowski]

Hi Tracy,

The Dayton driver looks to be of decent quality, and the BASH amp is, well, a BASH amp. You should be able to get some decent output from it. Does your father like it loud?

Yup, go sealed - about 1 cube (add additional volume for driver and amp). You can get further gain from room placement if needed. Should pump pretty good!

Best,
Mark

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Hmm, for some reason I’m not getting e-mail notification for this thread…

If I understand correctly Wayne suggests against building a sub designed for pre-recorded music for use with his keyboard. Is this right?

Exactly. Electronic musical instruments are demanding on speakers, so typically they use a different type of driver than home applications, since they're often called upon to deliver high volume levels for extended periods of time. In addition, keyboards are capable of generating frequencies well below 20 Hz.

But if he hasn’t blown up those computer speakers, then he’s probably okay, or at least he knows how not to overdrive them.

Regards,
Wayne

[mrogowski]

Precisely. He's obviously not cranking it to the point where computer speakers are blowing up. I'm sure he would find the limit(s) of the home-built sub as well.

Best,
Mark

[Tracy_L]

Thanks guys for the input, it is most helpful.

I think I'll make up a coupon for Xmas for the Sub to make sure he really wants it before buying and shipping the parts. I think he would really like one and would also like building it with me. I'll definately be coming back for help. I've actually just found this forum, have been members at various others over the years. HTF has really slowed down recently. I guess things change just as in life.

Wayne, I've been reading your posts for several years and have enjoyed the info that you pass on. Thanks for your input.

Again, thanks for all the input. I'll have to start figuring out how to use Winisd if we build the sub, he is really into the technical stuff, likes building speakers (from many years back, 15-20 +). I will have to search for a primer on it.

Thanks
Tracy