Noob building a sub

[gilbypoleadamson]

I have no idea where to start. I want to build a powered sub to go with my Polk Monitor 10's. Prferably a cheap one but i am open to anything. If anyone has any good ideas for a sub for mainly music(Metal) but also movies i would love some input. I also have a problem with one of my speakers, one of the speakers sounds like it is underwater and it is constanly muffled. Its not my amp so i was wondering if anyone has had similar problems and knows how to fix it.

[kano32]

First off, what's your budget for the driver, wood, amp and misc parts? How big is your room and how big of a sub are you willing to live with?

[gilbypoleadamson]

The room is pretty small and the acoustics arent great so probably on the small side and i could pay anywhere up to around 300-350

[kano32]

How about room dimmensions and does the room open up to a kitchen or another room?

$350 for everything may limit your choices but there are several options and many vendors that have 12" & 15" low budget sub drivers. Amps are going to run anywhere from $100 on up and then theres mdf or 13 ply - plywood. What are your goals for this sub, how low do you want it to go, what kind of output are you wanting to acheive and how big of a box can you live with?

[gilbypoleadamson]

It does not open into another room unfortunatly, and i am willing to live with a very large box if that means that it wil sound alot better.

[BoomieMCT]

$350 should do fine for a small room. For example:

TC-Sounds 12" db-500 (on sale for $75)
PE 300 watt BASH amp ($150)
Optional - Behringer D-1024P ($100)

Throw in $25 for a sheet of 3/4" MDF and you got a good sealed sub with PEQ for $350. The fact it is a small room will add to the (already decent) extension of the sealed sub. The PEQ will deal with any bad room spikes that come from the small room.

Taa Daa!

If you wanted to go for a bit more oomph, buy two of the dB-500's and use this Nady XA-900 amp (on sale) instead. You could wire each driver off one channel (in the parallel mono, not bridged mono configuration) and have them in a push-pull configuration. Price would be an extra $75.

[gilbypoleadamson]

Awesome. I have some 13 ply plywood lying around. Would that work as well as MDF. Also, what exactly does the EQ do. Just limit what frequencies the sub puts out?

[BoomieMCT]

gilbypoleadamson wrote:

Awesome. I have some 13 ply plywood lying around. Would that work as well as MDF.

Controversial topic. I personally tend to think 'no' as MDF is denser and more uniform. That being said, there are certainly enough people who do use it without complaint.

It should be good enough.

[WillyD]

Its not really controversial. Plywood is stronger, lighter, but more expensive.

MDF is less resonant, cheaper, but is very dusty when machined.

[BoomieMCT]

gilbypoleadamson wrote:

Also, what exactly does the EQ do. Just limit what frequencies the sub puts out?

The parametric equalizer (PEQ) can cut out peaks from room resonances and you can use it to give you a bass boost (within the capabilities of the amp and driver). For more info, look at all the stuff on this forum about "room EQ".

[gilbypoleadamson]

Thanks alot for all the help. I should be on my way to making a kick *** sub.

[BoomieMCT]

gilbypoleadamson wrote:

Thanks alot for all the help. I should be on my way to making a kick *** sub.

Keep us all posted on what you end up doing (with pics )