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Dayton 18" Ultimax / knock-down cab project.

29K views 85 replies 9 participants last post by  Anderslober 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello HTS Forum!

I am new to this forum. I have been reading up on many of the excellent subwoofer threads. Fantastic reading and great knowledge.
I have ordered a sub kit from PE. 18" Ultimax in sealed cabinet/spa1000amp. I will post pictures as I go along. This is my first build..........if you see anything going wrong....let me know.

My question here is, what would you fellas use as dampening for cabinet? Polyfill? Sonic Barrier? I would really like to try the 1" Sonic Barrier......would this do adequately in the knock-down cabinet?

Any info or ideas would be awesome....thanks.

Trying to upload a couple of photos............I cant upload more than 1 photo....am I doing something wtong?
 

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#35 ·
I am getting clamps. I just glued in the braces.....nothing else will get glued until I get the clamps.

I am putting Sonic Barrier and polyfil in the unit....and yes......I will protect the motor structure/cone with some mesh..........I saw an excellent procedure here on the forum.

I had the 18" completely out of the box today........ that thing is huge........my wife said 'WHAT.'??? I said 'YEAH,'. Cant wait to hookup this sucka'!
 
#36 ·
I am getting clamps. I just glued in the braces.....nothing else will get glued until I get the clamps.

I am putting Sonic Barrier and polyfil in the unit....and yes......I will protect the motor structure/cone with some mesh..........I saw an excellent procedure here on the forum.
Awesome! I think I saw the same. I will say getting all the right parts together to build this can be a pain if you dont do your research ahead of time. I had to make a trip or two myself to get some items I needed.

I had the 18" completely out of the box today........ that thing is huge........my wife said 'WHAT.'??? I said 'YEAH,'. Cant wait to hookup this sucka'!
Hehehe.... I never really told my wife how big the DIYSoundGroup Cube 15 box was, just that it was a "little" bit bigger than our other sub.

After getting it built at a buddys house and painted I brought it home. I hauled it in the front door while she was watching TV and was working on wiring up the sub and tightening it all down in the living room. I was taking a bit too long and she finally looked at me and said "Hurry up and bring it in here so I can be mad at you for how big it is already!?!?!"....

I did it gladly hehe.

Thankfully it is bigger than our old one but it doesnt take up as much floor space since its passive and I can push it right up to the corner of the wall and out of the way.

If I had really been able to do it my way I woulda done a Tuba sub and just built it to look like a bulkhead from ceiling to floor. Even would have put baseboard around it to match our existing stuff hehehe....

Cant wait to hear what you think once you hear it. I finally was watching a show with a helicopter in it last week for the first time and I will tell you, it was a awesome moment for sure!
 
#38 ·
Hello guys.....I was just testing my new nail gun. Is it normal that the 'hammer' makes a large dent in the wood? I tested it on a scrap piece of mdf. I tried different pressure settings too....4-5-6-7psi...same stuff.

This gun will be used for another project that I intend to start soon.......Martycube!

Check photo.
 

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#41 ·
Attached are pictures of my assembly of same components you have. The top, bottom, sides, and back of the cabinet were finished with matte black Formica ordered from Home Depot (this is quick and easy and can be used where ever there are sharp edges). The front of the cabinet (curved edges) were finished by sanding and applying black shellac with a rag (many thin coats). If I were doing this again (I am considering building the Dayton cbt speakers) I would modify my application of the shellac. If you are interested in this finish let me know and I will give you more details. One advantage of the Formica is that you can screw and glue the cabinet (use Confirmat screws made for mdf) since the Formica will cover the screw holes.
 

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#42 ·
Nice set of Amazings! Big fan!
 
#43 ·
Wow....great pictures. Your finish looks great. I ordered a quart of Duratex.........I hope it will look just as good as yours.
Please feel free to podt your 'process' here in the thread. That woul be great. If you have more pictures of your build.....I would really like to see them too.
 
#44 ·
Attached are pictures of assembly process. One can never have enough clamps. I recommend Titebond III wood glue applied to both surfaces and well clamped. I glued and then I screwed. Again, if you use Formica where you can (no curved edges) covering the screw heads is not a problem. Another advantage of Formica is that you don't have to worry about glue lines and seams where the mdf is joined. The Formica just covers them up. For safety use a low VOC water based contact cement. The original contact cement has nasty chemicals in it.

Note that because the cabinet is mdf do not use tee nuts with spikes to mount the subwoofer or you risk splitting the mdf (especially when the mounting holes are close to an edge of the mdf). Use what are called weld nuts (tee nuts without the spikes) and glue them in place (if you already have tee nuts break the spikes off them).
 

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#46 ·
I have to get rid of some 60 Hz hum. I had to have my amplifiers and rest of system on different circuits or breakers pop. I run the grounds for the amplifiers to the circuit ground that all my sources and signal processing is connected to. This solved the problem with the Emotiva amplifier (that one is running on a 220V circuit). Should work with the SPA1000 amplifier.
 
#51 ·
Alright alright alright! Let's get ready to DO THIS!

Can't wait to see more Pics hehehehe
 
#54 ·
Though it's surprisingly hard to figure out via Google, if we assume the switchable HPF in the SA-1000 is the same filter as the non-switchable in the SPA-1000, then the cutoff freq is at 18Hz. Sonny mentioned in an old thread that he thought it's 3rd order, but I can't verify that.

Even though this is a sealed sub, with enough EQ, you should be able to get some decent output down to 17 or 18Hz. Except that you won't because of your plate amp HPF. This is one of the reasons a lot of people use pro amps for these deep bass projects. No HPF.
 
#55 ·
Yes......I know...I was 'enlightened' in another thread about the 'shortcomings' of the spa1000 amp....no worries...I will proceed with the spa1000........17-18hz output seems plenty low to me.
I will report back with some listening info once I get the sucka' runnin'!
For now though...this project will move forward with the acquired items.

(I started another thread in 'vented subs' with my Marty Cube build.....amp recommendations welcome!)
 
#58 ·
Looks good! I'd do another coat or two but nothing super heavy. More lighter coats will likely give you the best result.
 
#60 · (Edited)
Cabinet painted twice....just the finish I wanted! Peavey feet installed.

It looks like there is a great big slot on the right...........there isn't. It must be some kinda' camera morph. I double-checked the whole bottom for any slots or holes or such......it is absolutely tight and smooth. The bottom has only been painted once with Duratex.
 

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