[clint357]

This is my first sub build, so first I would like to thank everyone for the help and for posting your builds for good ideas and inspiration. I have a fairly small area to fill (13' x 17' x 8'), so I started with a Dayton Audio 15" classic powered by an i-Nuke 1000 with DSP, but I made the port in the box large enough for a 15" ultimax if I ever feel the need to upgrade. The box is tuned to 18Hz and is around 11 cubic feet. I modeled everything in Unigraphics (I am a tool and die designer), and I used my Brother's shop to build everything. Everything is screwed together with deck screws (tempered, so they will bend and not break) and Tighbond III wood glue. The box is internally braced with 1 1/4" dowels which are glued and screwed through the ends. You can see in the diagram below how I combated the issue of speaker wire rattling around in the box by hanging the wire from the inside with a long rubberband. The top is made of glued 2x4's which were planed, sanded, and then hit with a steel wire brush to scrape out the soft sections. This gives it texture and allows the stain to soak into the soft areas much better than the hard areas not effected by the wire brush. This makes the soft areas much darker than the hard grains of the wood and gives it a unique, high-contrast look. It is stained with grey/barnwood stain and clear coated with satin poly. The table top is roughly 62" x 23" so I wanted it to be able to be used to actually set decorations on. This is a bit of a problem when playing at high levels, so I used window gel cling decorations as a vibration dampener with pretty impressive results. The top essentially just floats on the gel pads and soaks up almost all of the vibration. Overall, I kept thinking that I should have just spent the extra $100 and got the Ultimax, but I have never watched a movie and thought that I needed more bass. In fact, I usually find myself turning the amp down part way into a movie. The bass is much lower and accurate than I have ever experienced. I knew it would sound good from everything I have read, but I was really blown away. Overall, I am very happy that i went the route of building my own sub...thanks again. Please let me know what you think

 

[clint357]

The only thing that did not go well was getting my amp set up. I had never used a rack-style amp like this to power a sub and it seemed to be very difficult. I contacted Behringer and told them that I was getting about 10 watts of power and could not figure out what the problem was. The oddest thing was that when I was in bridged mode and using the "A" output, the gain on the "B" knob was also controlling the output level. The tech at Behringer told me that should never happen and that the unit was defective and to take it back to PE. I called PE to trouble shoot it multiple times as well and they eventually said that I could just return it...but by this time it was 2 days over their return limit of 30 days and I had to contact Behringer to fix it. I contacted Behringer and they said it would take a while to get fixed and to try to talk to PE again. I called PE and they said that it was actually a 45 day return policy for defective products and to just send it back. I sent it back and they said they tested it and there was no issue. I finally talked them into just shipping me a new one. I plugged it into the computer and loaded the same profile as I did on the other one, plugged it in, and it worked great. Never heard from PE again, but they assured me that they would do more tests and get back to me on what the issue was with the other amp. Between emails, phone calls, shipping, researching online, and physically playing with the amp to get it to work, I probably spent about 10 -12 hours of frustration. Not cool.

 

[theJman]

The end result is amazing! Very nicely done.

So how does it sound?

 

[fusseli]

Sorry you had issues with PE tech support and the inuke amp. Otherwise I would think that to be a good sub/amp combo, especially with the DSP version, and the box design should sound monstrous.

The style on the table and the finish you got out of 2x4s is outstanding! :surprise:

 

[clint357]

I should have added more as to how the sub actually sounds, but it is truly amazing. I LOVE watching movies just to be able to feel them and be so much more immersed.