[sub_junkie]

Thanks to mdrake, soho54, Ricci, and many others for their help (couldn't have done it without you guys), I was able to build a folded horn. The external dimensions of the finished product are 55" tall, 44" wide, and 21" deep. If I remember correctly, the knee of the horn is around 19hz, and the cutoff is around 14hz.


I'm at my uncles house working on the box now. Got all the cuts done, going to piece together the box and see how it all lays out.

 

[sub_junkie]

A few updates with pics this time.

Went to Lowe's and purchased 8 paint cans, 4 sheets of 3/4" mdf, tee nuts, and some weatherstripping. Came out to cost quite a bit...

Here we laid out all (or most) of the cuts that we had.

Showing the angle that we had to put on this rip.

Drawing up the cut-out for the driver, showing it cut out, and installing the tee nuts.

I'll have more stuff to post tomorrow once we get a little more progress on it. I have the plexiglass, and just have to trim it down to size to fit where I want it to.

 

[gperkins_1973]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

Dylan,

Ah! pics at last. Really looking forward to this one and seeing some measurements.

Well done matey.

cheers

Graham

 

[soho54]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

Wow, that is a hardcore angle. :T

I guess it should have said you don't have to sweat the small stuff. You could have just cut one off square, and the other square at the point they first touched, but I am glad to see you are giving it 110% on accuracy.

On the plus side you now have a good adhesive surface. Just don't tell your uncle.

I am really impressed though. It seems like most people try to cut as many corners as possible with building. Glad to see that is not the case here.

The only thing I have to add is to remember not to skimp on the PL Premium on the interior panel joints. Internal leaks are very bad, as you can't get to them once finished.

 

[sub_junkie]

Dylan,

Ah! pics at last. Really looking forward to this one and seeing some measurements.

Well done matey.

cheers

Graham

More pics are coming up here shortly. :T
I can't wait to hear how this thing sounds.

Wow, that is a hardcore angle. :T

I guess it should have said you don't have to sweat the small stuff. You could have just cut one off square, and the other square at the point they first touched, but I am glad to see you are giving it 110% on accuracy.

On the plus side you now have a good adhesive surface. Just don't tell your uncle.

I am really impressed though. It seems like most people try to cut as many corners as possible with building. Glad to see that is not the case here.

The only thing I have to add is to remember not to skimp on the PL Premium on the interior panel joints. Internal leaks are very bad, as you can't get to them once finished.

We had to do some math equations once everything was done; the dimensions that I had figured were incorrect somehow, either typos, or I just completely messed up when I was "computing" some things. Oh well. At least we have everything figured out now. Luckily we cut the pieces about an 1" oversized until we got it all laid out for a final check on the fits of all the pieces. So, we did some final cutting on the pieces once we marked how it was supposed to by laid out.

And with me dropping about $200 in building materials, I am Definitely taking my time on this build. Were building it down to basically an 1/8"th of the drawing in Sketchup (as long as everything looks/fits right).

Were going to glue and nail the interior panels, and all the others also. Definitely don't want any air leaks, especially ones by the driver.

I'm uploading pics right now...should be posted in about 10 minutes. :T.

Thanks again for all the help guys. You don't know how much it's appreciated! .

 

[sub_junkie]

Here's all the pieces laid out on one side of the box:

Sketching out where the plexiglass will be going:

(forgot to get a picture of the final drawing of how the plexi is going to be placed) but here's the picture of it cut out:

Here's the plexiglass hole sunk in ~3/8"

Up-close view

Painting the mouth of the horn flat black

Close-up of the plexiglass hole painted with tee nuts installed.

Tomorrow we will be finishing laying the final layer of paint on everything (except for the outside of the box; we will do that once the light for the inside of the box arrives that way the paint around the plexiglass hole won't be disturbed at all), and then we will start assembly. We have two more cuts to make: just have to cut them down about an 1 1/2" to the final dimension for a perfect fit. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's all put together and painted (don't worry; the exterior of this box WILL be completely painted once the light arrives...)

Thanks again for the help guys :T.

 

[gperkins_1973]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

Dylan,

Wicked mate. Cant wait to see the rest.

cheers

Graham

 

[Ricci]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

Very cool. I am glad that you are actually building this thing. I don't know how many times people ask for help with a horn, then people put a lot of effort into coming up with something build able and then it is never built and tested. Kudos for going through with it. Looks like you are going to be building it quite well too. Can't wait to see the results.

Do you have something like a Behringer DCX2496? You will probably want to eq tis thing a bit and put a hpf on it to get it to perform its best.

 

[soho54]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

I forgot to add that you will want to fill in those empty spaces. It doesn't really matter how, foam, fiberglass, batting, old sheets, scrap wood, sand/straight up dirt, or any combination of them. You don't want to leave them open, and able to resonate, and suck out power.

 

[mdrake]

Wow, great job!!!!! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Matt

 

[sub_junkie]

Wow, great job!!!!! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Matt

Matt, I have the pictures, but will have to upload them tomorrow sometime. I have to study for school stuff since it's starting back tomorrow.

Ricci, I am definitely glad I got this....monstrosity built. I would hate to see you guys sacrifice your time to plan it, and have it not get built.

Soho, too late now . I should have checked the forum one last time before we sealed the box up. Luckily there are only about three "open" spaces that could absorb sound. . Oh well.



I just listened to it...I'm very pleased with how it sounds. And it's not even eq'd yet. I only have one major problem...the panel that the sub mounts to is moving around on the back side of the box, and it creating some nasty noises while playing content. We glued and nailed the snot out of it, so I'm not entirely sure how it's moving like it is. Looks like I'll be taking it easy on the volume levels until I get triangles installed in there, and until it's siliconed in for good. Oh well. I should have that done by Tuesday. Until then, I'll be doing some low level listening for sure.

Thanks again guys for all of the help. This thing looks really sick, and I can't wait until the external gets painted (more than likely on Tuesday also). I'll try to remember to upload the pics tomorrow also.

 

[gperkins_1973]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

Dylan,

How does it compare to the last build you did in terms off depth etc....

Be good to get a comparison and some graphs off each too.

cheers

Graham

 

[sub_junkie]

Dylan,

How does it compare to the last build you did in terms off depth etc....

Be good to get a comparison and some graphs off each too.

cheers

Graham

The horn definitely has a more full sound. It goes wayy lower than my old box, and seems to have a tighter overall sound to it. Comparing my old box to this one, I would have to say that it sounds like I just went from a 12" sub to an 18" sub. Just to describe how much deeper and more full it sounds. I'm not entirely sure how much louder the horn is over my old box, but it definitely seems to be louder with less power.

I need to get some measuring equipment. All I would need is a mic and a power supply (or something) for it, right? Could I just use my Antimode's mic instead of buying a new one?

I'm uploading pics...

 

[sub_junkie]

Alright, here's the finishing pics of the box!

Starting to nail and glue part of the inner workings of the horn

A few more pieces held in place now

Different perspective

It's really starting to take shape now.

Getting the last few pieces glued and nailed down

Looks like a missed a picture from the last one until this one...my bad .

Mounting the sub after the hole for the input cup was made

Still got that Monster logo on the sub...

Placement of the input cup. I could have placed it differently, but wanted to have the least amount of wire as possible.

Here's the box before we put it in the bed of my Uncle's truck to take it to my house...man this thing is heavy...

Got a nasty reflection off of the plexi, but you can still see it at least.

Here's the horn in my room (messy room...at least I have an excuse for it now that I was in the construction stages of building an awesome box haha)

(all of these pics were taken on my iPhone 4...let me know how they look on a computer :T )

I'll get some more pics of it's placement in my room later on today. On Tuesday, my Uncle and I are going to round over all or most of the exposed edges, fill all the nail holes and sides of mdf in with putty, and start/finish painting it. I'm not sure how much paint this thing will take, but I think six cans of trick bed liner black should do it. .

I'll let you guys know if I find something different sounding in it that wasn't in my old box. :T

Thanks yet again for the help. I can't believe I have this box sitting my room right now. I figured it would have never happened some how. Definitely a big thanks goes out to my Uncle for sacrificing much of his time to work on this build with me, and for him to let me use his workshop in his garage :T.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

I only have one major problem...the panel that the sub mounts to is moving around on the back side of the box, and it creating some nasty noises while playing content.

Got a nasty reflection off of the plexi, but you can still see it at least.

I think there's your problem... the driver baffle isn't braced either in the mouth or the throat and there's a window looking into both the mouth and throat segments, creating the distinct possibility for a leak between them where the window is and a corresponding loss of output. I'd at least get into the mouth and add some serious bracing, as well as permanently seal off using wood and PL premium the part of the window that looks into the throat (for extra strength). A smaller window that looks into the mouth area only should be ok.

It looks like a real beast... I'd hate to think that you're losing output to air leaks and panel resonances.

 

[sub_junkie]

I think there's your problem... the driver baffle isn't braced either in the mouth or the throat and there's a window looking into both the mouth and throat segments, creating the distinct possibility for a leak between them where the window is and a corresponding loss of output. I'd at least get into the mouth and add some serious bracing, as well as permanently seal off using wood and PL premium the part of the window that looks into the throat (for extra strength). A smaller window that looks into the mouth area only should be ok.

It looks like a real beast... I'd hate to think that you're losing output to air leaks and panel resonances.

My uncle and I didn't even think about the sub baffle rattling around with how it was glued and nailed, but I had second thoughts about the side of the baffle showing to the plexi would be moving once this thing got some power to it. We are going to make some triangle braces to put on the sub baffle, and will silicone the sides very well, hopefully to stop that rattle as it is very loud, even when the sub is a low volumes.

The plexi is "sealed" to the box with weather striping, and we doubled up the weather striping where the sub baffle met with the plexi. So it Should...be sealed up somewhat, but I'm not confirming this yet. Once I get the light in to install behind the plexiglass, I will more than likely seal up the plexi for good, if possible.

I'll make sure we silicon basically every joint that we can reach. :T.

 

[gperkins_1973]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

Dylan,

What is the size off that box?

Also what kind off tuning was you aiming for with that again?

Looks good mate.

cheers

Graham

 

[sub_junkie]

Dylan,

What is the size off that box?

Also what kind off tuning was you aiming for with that again?

Looks good mate.

cheers

Graham

The volume of it I do not know after all the internal wood pieces are subtracted. But the external dimensions are 55" tall, and 44" or so wide and 20" deep. I'll measure again later today to make sure.

As for the tuning...I really don't know that either . Soho, Matt, and Ricci pretty much designed and folded this horn. I simply did the building of it. I'll try to run some test tones later to see if I can get a rough estimate of the tuning of the horn.


On a side note, about where should I set my HPF? Just around 12hz or so?

 

[soho54]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

I think there's your problem... the driver baffle isn't braced either in the mouth or the throat and there's a window looking into both the mouth and throat segments, creating the distinct possibility for a leak between them where the window is and a corresponding loss of output. == I'd hate to think that you're losing output to air leaks and panel resonances.

The lack of extra bracing wouldn't allow that panel to move. That indicates the panels are not joined properly.

I see you used some small nails (brads?) but what adhesive did you use to bond the panels together? If it isn't holding there, you could have problems in the panels you do not see as well.

I also didn't realize you were going to place the p-glass across a baffle wall. You will need to add a few braces from wall to wall in the throat area where the p-glass is to hold the baffle in position there. I would then loose the weather striping across the baffle, and try plumbers putty. If the sub blows it out it will be easier to see. That gap seems to be ~1/4". If so, I would glue a spacer onto the baffle wall section there, to shrink the gap as well.

 

[soho54]

Re: Mal-X horn folded?

On a side note, about where should I set my HPF? Just around 12hz or so?

Anything between 10-15Hz will do.