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7.6 cu.ft Maelstrom- X 18" build

72K views 304 replies 22 participants last post by  japperrrr 
#1 · (Edited)
My Uncle and I have started working on my box. It will be around 7.6-7.8 cu.ft after bracing and everything is accounted for. There aren't many pictures becuase it is only about half way done. I will hopefully be getting more before it is done, and with the driver installed and in my room.

The box dimmensions are 48" tall and 20" deep and wide. We will have two window pane style braces. One near the top of the port about 2 inches away, and one about 5 inches above the driver. We will be runing a strip of thin wood between these two braces to help keep those braces "braced." lol.

The port is 18.50 inches wide, 2 inches tall, and 55 inches long. The length is divded into two parts, one 34 inches long, and another is 17 inches. There is a 45 degee piece of MDF that will go between these two pieces of wood which will keep the port at two inches from the back wall; I don't remember how long that one was though. There is also another 45 degree piece of MDF that is on the bottom of the port so that it will have better air flow. That also was cut the right length to keep the two inch spacing correct.

Drawing everything out first:



The cut outs ready for nailing and gluing:





The 45 degree angle for 17 inch part of the port:



Don't remember what this one was for, just looks like another cut out picture:

IMG]http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff323/airsoftsniperm4/UTGM324Gen3forSale034-1.jpg[/IMG]

Assemblig the slot port:





Roundover on the top of the port:



Port exit. The lighter piece of wood is for a better screwing place for the front pannel, as it will be just screwed on so it will be easier to maintain if needed. I will make sure that the holes will be pre-drilled so the wood won't split, although I am pretty sure my Uncle already knows this becuase he is a very experienced wood worker.

The port exit will have a roundover to help with chuffing and port noise.



A quick look at a Ford Ranger Pre-Runner by my house. They have around $150,000 tied up in that easily.







There is one neat thing that we might be doing for this box. Since the Mal-X wieghs in around 50 pounds we will be taking 1/2 inch steel and making a mounting ring that will go on the inside of the box, right where the mounting screws will be, so the screws have extra strength to support that weight. Hopefully, we will have it done, but my Uncle is really busy and might not be able to get that finished. We might be spraying on a bed liner to protect the box, but I will have to see how much it is first. Otherwise, I will just go with Flat Black. It will have a small roundover on all outside edges of the box to keep it from splintering if it hits a wall, of something, and it just looks better to boot.

Any questions or comments are welcome.

That's about it for now. More to come later. :bigsmile:
 
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#2 ·
Congratulations on finally getting underway, I'm sure you won't be disappointed as I'm still amazed at what the Shiva 12 can do in a big enclosure. Gotta love that Toccata & Fugue.
looking forward to more pics.
With the mounting ring are you going to tap it and use bolts to mount the driver?
 
#6 ·
I listened to Toccata and Fugue with my current sub, and needless to say, it was very overwhelmed.
The steel plate will be cut with a Plasma cutter as far as I can remember, and it will be tapped and I think we will use bolts. Not sure about that yet though.

Jugix, thanks for the graphs. When I modeled the slot port in WinISD, it said that the maximum port air speed was 26 or 29 m/s. I don't have WinISD on me right now, but will check again when I get back home. I am currently at Texas for my Grandpa as my dad, mom, and I drove his motorhome down for MD Anderson Cancer Treatment.

sub_crazy, I will be using a Reckhorn B-1 for the HPF, and a EP2500 in bridged mono as the amp. I will have a modest HPF set as not to stress the driver too much, and I will keep the levels down some :T
Didn't the EP2500 put out around 1900w in bridged mono operation?
Also, is the mounting cutout still 16.6 inches as the notes on Diycable says it is?


Thanks
 
#5 ·
Nice to see you got the build underway.

What are you going to use for a high pass filter?

I am most interested to see how it turns out as I still have another Mal-X sitting in the box waiting to be used and abused.

Have fun.
 
#7 ·
You ever thought about using the ED eQ.2 instead of the Reckhorn? It is about $25 more but adds 2 bands of EQ along with the subsonic filter. I used one for my brothers set-up and for the price works well.

There was a place were you could get a refurbished eQ.2 for about $75 but I don't recall the site. If anyone knows the site for the refurbs could you post it here as I would not mind picking one up myself.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Some more pictures. I have a feeling I am going to love how it will sound. :bigsmile:









That's my KLH 10" driver next to the Mal-X. Pretty big difference lol







I am going over to my uncle's tonight and will hopefully have the box finished, except for the truck bed liner. More pictures to come then also :T

Thanks again for all of the help everyone
 
#10 ·
Finally got the box finished. It will be painted soon, just didn't have time last night as my uncle and I fnished it at 2 am.

Posting pictures in a litle bit.

The sound quality is awesome. I can' believe how low it goes. But, my current amp clips horribly at high volumes, and sounds like the driver is bottming out, but, of course it's not :bigsmile:
On Down 4 Tha Krown, is hits harder and lower than my brother in law's truck that has two Kicker COMP C10's on the Kicker 200.2 amp. His can go louder than mine right now, but it's becuase my amp clips up loud.
Quick question; I have 2 inch thick Egg Crate foam grey colored, and was wondering if it is open cell or closed. When I pore water on it, it just absorbs it like a sponge, but if I take off about an inch of thickness, it goes right through it. Does this mean that it is open cell?

Thanks
 
#11 ·
Are you using the EP2500? Do you have the HPF in already?

I wouldn't run it too crazy without the HPF yet as you could do some damage:foottap:

It is a excellent sub which I use in a sealed enclosure and blows me away. I can't imagine how crazy it must sound in your ported box.

Head the warning of the HPF though as I have read of someone already toasting his Mal-X:duh:
 
#13 ·
No, I'm still just using the Yamaha 150w plate amp. It does appear to have a pretty high HPF sadly enough.
I wouldn't use an amp that could damage the sub without a HPF on it.


I will be installing the foam tonight. What will it change for the sound? Just make it go lower?

Thanks
 
#16 · (Edited)
Some more pictures:

I found out that pictures do this driver no justice at all...



Cutting the holes for the braces:




Me cutting those holes:



The finished brace. We rounded over all edges of the wood and used sand pape to make it more smooth to keep airflow good:



We put a little crossbrace to help keep the two braces from vibrating too much:









Siliconing around the port and in the inside back of the box:







The braces installed. We rounded over all edges of the wood and used sand paper to make it smooth to keep airflow good:














The top braces is about half an inch away from the top of the port, to keep the airflow smooth:



Test fitting the driver:









Temporary bolts until it gets painted. We used T-nuts to keep it secured:





The box in my room:





I wish that there would be a way that I could make the box around 13 cu.ft and keeping the same dimmensions. But, that's the way it goes. Hopefully it will REALLY shake the walls when I get a new amp? lol. It's already impressive with the current amp, but I can't imagine what it will be like with the EP2500 and the Reckhorn B-1.

Hopefully this is a good build thread :T haha.
I will post pictures of the foam when I get it in the box.

Thanks again to everyone for the help.
 
#23 ·
Alright, I'll fix the bolts. I'm pretty sure we just did that until we got it painted, then we are going to use other bolts that blend in better.

Thanks for the help.
The mounting holes on the Mal-X are bigger than normal so make sure you check the fit before mounting or the driver will work its way loose. I actually use small washers that are not visible from the front but secure it better.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Thanks for the link. That is basically what I had planned on using once I get it painted.

I really want to be able to disable the HPF on my Yamaha amp :T
But, then it will probably clip so bad on the low frequencies that it wouldn't make any difference. Would that be true?
Does anybody know how to get a 15hz HPF on the Reckhorn B-1? A few people told me that it wouldn't just work with it set at 15hz, so I was hoping that someone already had a link, or knew how.

Thanks again for the help everyone.
 
#27 ·
I found a pretty cool thing while playing Bass I Love You by BassTronics.
While in the " main listening position", the 11hz tone is pretty much inaudible.

The listening position is on the right side of my room when you enter it. It is 13x13. I have a closet on the left side of the room again when you are entering it, and it is the same distance in my room as the listening position. It is around 10 feet deep and wide. When I play that song and when I am at the back of the closet, the 11hz tone is ear piercing. When I go to the listening position, the 11hz toneis near inaudible. It's onlyin the closet when you can hear it. I'm assuming this is becuase if some kind of room gain? There is also a storage room right behing where the sub is currently sitting.

Thought this was kinda cool and wanted to see what you guys thought. :T
 
#28 ·
I had never realized how many frequencies my KLH 10" sub had been missing. Now, there aren't so many peaks in the frequency range as before, but there are still some.
One thing that was really impresive after listening to that 10", was how low the Mal-X goes which isn't suprising becuase it's an 18".
Will the bass be any "Tighter" once I get the EP2500 over my 150w amp that appears to have a HPF around 35hz?

Thanks again for all of the help guys
 
#29 ·
If you have a 35hz HPF on you Mal-X then the mid-bass energy probably has it sounding boomy. My Mal-X sealed is not exactly tight but it is not boomy either. I do use a Velodyne SMS-1 though to tame the nasty 55hz peak I get in my room and boost the low-end so it definitely sounds a lot better than no EQ. Instead of tight I would call my Mal-X smooth but nasty when it needs to be.

The Mal-X likes power so you should experience a definite increase in performance once you get your EP2500. Let us all know the difference once you get your EP2500.
 
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