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Ultimate Subwoofer

52K views 89 replies 21 participants last post by  mwmkravchenko 
#1 ·
This will probably be the drop off point for most of the info for the revamped ultimate horn subwoofer.

This box has been built by quite a few gents and delivers boom like none other I have designed or listened to.

The original driver is no longer available, but there is a replacement. And it actually significantly outperforms the original driver in sensitivity and extension.

Yes there is still life for this beast.




http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=38999&stc=1&d=1354073882
 

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#55 ·
I have some other projects to get done... But as soon as they are done, I want one! I am hoping to be ready early 2014 to start on this. Where do I get the plans for this bad boy?

tia,
 
#58 ·
Any news from the gents who are half way through their builds?

Those that have built. Initial impressions? Are you still regulatly blown away?

Itching to build a better subwoofer?

(Like that's possible) LOL
 
#59 ·
Just catching up on any new builds and I see that its 12 months since my build. Still standing in the lounge room at the back unpainted. Still excited as I was when we first fired it up. Movies are incredible, the Reckhorn A400 sub amp cuts off at 16hz and using between 60 to 80 watts shakes everything like an earthquake. It has punch, slam and makes some movies downright scary with explosions and deep bass. Movies that come to mind, Star Trek, Gravity, Elysium, Terminator, Saving Private Ryan, and many more. Any music that has bass can be heard clearly and undistorted and organ music, if that is your taste, will excite you right down to 16hz. Its hard to describe very low organ notes, except to say that it is an astounding experience feeling the sound rather than hearing it. The air seems to turn to jelly and your couch and body seem to pulsate along with the house. There are several tracks in Elysium that do the same for several seconds. Orchestral music becomes more dynamic and powerful bringing the feeling of a live experience to the room. Rock, heavy metal, disco, blues , and music dvd's all sound cleaner, if that's the right word. Undistorted bass notes seem to allow my main speakers to sound better. I have 6 other small subs, 4 12's and 2 10's from the retail world, in comparison they are muddy and distorted. I find it difficult to find the right words to describe accurately what this Sub can do for your system and of course we all hear and interpret music in different ways. However for me personally its beyond fantastic and will start another build for a second room shortly. If you are still unsure just do it you won't be sorry. Thanks again Mark for designing a brilliant subwoofer. Regards Rob
 
#60 ·
Just catching up on any new builds and I see that its 12 months since my build. Still standing in the lounge room at the back unpainted. Still excited as I was when we first fired it up. Movies are incredible, the Reckhorn A400 sub amp cuts off at 16hz and using between 60 to 80 watts shakes everything like an earthquake. It has punch, slam and makes some movies downright scary with explosions and deep bass. Movies that come to mind, Star Trek, Gravity, Elysium, Terminator, Saving Private Ryan, and many more. Any music that has bass can be heard clearly and undistorted and organ music, if that is your taste, will excite you right down to 16hz. Its hard to describe very low organ notes, except to say that it is an astounding experience feeling the sound rather than hearing it. The air seems to turn to jelly and your couch and body seem to pulsate along with the house. There are several tracks in Elysium that do the same for several seconds. Orchestral music becomes more dynamic and powerful bringing the feeling of a live experience to the room. Rock, heavy metal, disco, blues , and music dvd's all sound cleaner, if that's the right word. Undistorted bass notes seem to allow my main speakers to sound better. I have 6 other small subs, 4 12's and 2 10's from the retail world, in comparison they are muddy and distorted. I find it difficult to find the right words to describe accurately what this Sub can do for your system and of course we all hear and interpret music in different ways. However for me personally its beyond fantastic and will start another build for a second room shortly. If you are still unsure just do it you won't be sorry. Thanks again Mark for designing a brilliant subwoofer. Regards Rob
I think you have a verified case of permagrin ( permanent smile ) !

So happy you have had success.

It was a real feat to design and make up the manual. And it was absolutely a shared effort with Bill Harms and Dan Finley.

And I am still plugging away at it from time to time. The driver choice has been updated. And some different arrangements have been created for different uses.

This is a design that will last the test of time.

Once you have built one of these you will stop looking for more.
 
#61 ·
This sub definitely deserves more attention, performance is amazing, its a fun build and can be had at a fairly low cost. I suspect its size is a deal breaker for most.


Want to send Mark a big thank you for this design and give an example of how to 'hide' a sub this big in plain sight.


 

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#62 ·
Nice work!

I have done this type of design in the past. It really looks like a credenza.

Even makes an old cabinetmaker proud!

As for performance.

It is a fun ride.

And it never stops. The performance level is truly unobtainable with just about anything else.

So you get a trade. You do have a big box.

With seriously big sound.

And you can drive it with amazingly little power.

You make me very happy.

A few guys have done this , and created a very professional looking cabinet.

What did you use to construct it?
 
#63 ·
Awesome build! How can you keep anything on the walls? I built a few subs, and as you say, size and where to put them can be an issue. My (2) are the Decware "House-Wrecker", and Bill Fitzmaurice Tuba HT Horn Sub. They both will split atoms if you push them. I use the House-Wrecker in my HT set up, and the wife insisted that the BF Horn get regulated to the Garage (its Big @ 30x36x36). Hard to beat a horn loaded sub, as they are efficient and pound out the bass.
 

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#64 ·
Nice build ChoEnd!

I got the plan myself and I can't wait to build mine. I want to turn mine in a sort of cabinet too so it look nice. Doing this will allow me to be within the WAF while using a crazy large subwoofer. I'm not sure what I will build but I plan to use Red Oak. Since I don't have the best wood worker skill in the world I will not all out like you but I wan't to make something nice!

I just finished to built a Tuba HT for my brother in law and even the Tuba with 25 watt can pound quite hard. I can't imagine this subwoofer!
 
#65 ·
Mark,
The speaker was built using OSB, it just seemed wrong using OSB for a speaker but for the $ I figured if was unhappy I'd redo it..no regrets.
The top is cherry and front cherry frames w/veneered curly maple panels. Each attached with a few blobs of silicone. This came in handy when I burnt up the original driver. I used a forstner bit to cut reliefs for all the driver cover screw heads.

hesster,
An oddity is nothing on top of the speaker seems to be impacted but the rest of the house is in full motion, pictures, mirrors kick knacks all rattle and complain.

steeve-0,
Its a really fun build just keep critical horn path dimensions to plan and square, PL adhesive will forgive the rest. If you don't have much wood working equipment a track saw or hardboard jig circular saw will break down 4'x8' sheets cut laying on pink board insulation(google) will get you through. Use screws instead of expensive clamps. As for WAF, who know what your missus will accept but old shutters/cabinet doors or even windows are possibilities to skin cabinet.
 
#66 ·
OSB rules man!

When you actually work wit it a lot, (as I do in making prototypes) you find that it is really a great almost ideal material.

You made a beautiful cabinet.

And you have the same experience that I do. Very little shake rattle and roll on the box.

Not so for the rest of the place!

I have one TRIO12 kicking around if anyone wants one.
 
#67 ·
Mark, could I please get the information on this.
I was fascinated by this a few years ago and actually contacted Creative about shipping, but delayed and it taken off their list.
I discovered this thread and figure if I'm going to build a front loaded horn it might as well be a whopper.
thanks
Paul
 
#68 ·
No problem.

You can get a hold of me here:

mark at kravchenko dash audio dot com

Loose the spaces, and change the at (@),dash(-) and dot(.) to the appropriate punctuation and you have my email address.I have all of this set up in a nice format.
 
#72 ·
I wanted to build mine this summer but with the moving in the new house I've got no time for that (got to clean my grand parent mess, they left half of their stuff here). Next summer I've a lot of renovation to do. In these renovation I will build my futur HT room which will have a 2nd purpose living room.

The Ultimate Subwoofer is planned as a subwoofer for at least the beginning and if I find myself wanting more bass I might go for more of these or something else depending on how I'm pleased by the build. One thing is sure is that I can't wait to build it.

I also want to build some SEOS speaker, possibly the Tempest or Sentinel with Volt-10.

The best part is that my girlfriend gave me the go ahead on anything. She don't ming a big subwoofer of speaker. All she asked is some nice wood veneer finish on most of the stuff. I clearly told her how big this thing will be and how I plan to sort of hide it. I also told her how big sentinel are. She doesn't mine, she actually start to love more and more the good sound we already have with the current setup and she wan't to see what can sound better. Maybe I should marry her?
 
#73 ·
There are a couple of things necessary for wife.

Strong like horse.

Pretty like tractor.

Love good sound!

After that, it's all good.
 
#76 ·
Haven't been on the forum in a while and just stumbled across this thread. Had to post as I built one of these:
MY BUILD
It's still going strong 5 years later and is used DAILY for TV, movies, music, etc. This includes a LOT of abuse when the kids play dubstep and trap music!

Just this weekend the wife had some friends over drinking a little wine and she turned up some music. Eyes got big and mouths literally dropped open. One person didn't say anything or close her mouth for about 30 seconds. I've never had anyone hear it that wasn't amazed. (Once a year I circle the house and pound the siding nails back in.)

It was so fun to build, I'm almost disappointed that it has performed so well for so many years. (Although it's nice to know there's a replacement driver.)

Mark, please dream up something that trivializes this horn. If a 12" driver and 300W can do this, what can an 18" driver and 2000W do? If you can design a 'Transcendent Subwoofer', I will build it.

...mose
 
#77 ·
Oh do you make me smile.

Like a proud Pappa!

Nice!

I have in fact done a design that betters your existing sub. And it uses 4pcs of 8 inch drivers.

Here is a teaser.
Text Line Pattern Design Plot




There will be some news fairly soon.

I have done boat loads of design work on different sized enclosures and driver combinations over the years. It turns out that this already large size produces the biggest bang for the buck. A larger driver will require a much larger enclosure to maximize on the greater volume of air you can shift.



That is until I release the newer version.

Text Line Font Screenshot Software


This is a simulation using 140 watts of power.

Yes it is indeed time to think this over! That is also pushing these drivers close to their 14mm Xmax. They are that efficient.


I'll see what I can do with it over the next few months.

And I'll keep you guys posted.
 
#78 ·
I've not been much active on the forum lately but I still read a lot of thread here.

I got my trio 12, I got your plan Mark and I've not forgotten you! I will make a build thread when I'm ready and I will give you your due credit when the time come if this Ultimate sub is any good. I heard it has the side effect of giving perma grind ? :)

Anyway I've been really busy since a years. I bought my house and I need to work on it a little. Then I got a nice garage that I will slowly but surely convert into a wood working shop.

I also might get some Fusion Tempest or Sentinel build going on to replace my SVS speaker.

Really love your plan Mark keep up the work and I hope to say soon enough that I also like your creation!
 
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