| rcavictim |
I have been intrigued by the Decware WO32 hi-fi subwoofer coffee table with the clear acrylic top surface for some time because I like the looks. Has anyone here bought or DIY`ed this subwoofer? Care to describe your experiences with it? How it blends with your system, woofer drivers you used, photos?
http://www.decware.com/WO32/wo32.htm |
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| elambert |
I have built the original WO (not the "audiophile" one) quite a while ago for use in a car. I was indeed really impressed with the output and about a year ago I had started construction on a coffee table version for my house.
Then I found DIYaudio, and some other bastions of DIY knowledge.
The thing to remember is it is a wicked looking, and really decent performing unit, however it is a little deceiving in theory. It is more of a bandbass than anything else. You will get excellent response in it's passband, but outside of that not much else.
My research led me away from completing the project, and I headed into a more conventional sub direction.
Oh, did I mention that this thing is a complete pain to build? And also to plexi the top, which I did on my car version, is really, really expensive. Price some thick pieces of plexi before you decide to build. I was going to do my coffee table version with a solid top just because I didn't want to spend $350 on a single piece of plexi.
Hope this helps. |
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| rcavictim |
The hi-fi version does not have the bandpass design of the original Wicked One which actually is pretty obvious IMO. I was only interested in the hi-fi version. You are right about the high cost of thick clear plastics suitable for the top. Fortunately I have some water clear 1-1/4 inch thick Lexguard (bullet proof) in 3x4 foot and larger sheets that I can use for my coffee table if I choose to build one of these. That stuff is really heavy as well so will be good to damp vibrations. I priced it out about seven years ago and it was about $150.00 US/sq.ft. at the time, so a 3x4 footer would be about $1,800.00 before taxes.
The horn path is not long enough to support the wavelengths and the mouth is really only a small fraction of the mouth of a real bass horn. It is for these reasons that I would like some qualitative feedback from an owner before I potentially waste my time and materials. |
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| CrazyTubax86 |
| i tried building their deathbox, but the response from a vented enclosure with the same driver totally blew it away. |
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| just a guy |
Those tiny little things are not horns in any traditional sense. They are much more similar to the large ports in BVR's (big vent reflex). Think about them like a cross between a waveguide and a big port, but not a horn. That's why you can get bass with tiny pathlengths and a tiny mouth.
I also built the original - not hifi - version. It certainly beats the performance of the same woofers regular box. It's a great box for a car, but I wouldn't expect any lower than 40 hz from it. And much higher for the WO32 - maybe 50 or 60 hz at the lowest. There are some graphs somewhere in the Decware forums based on in room measurements, but it's been years since I've seen them.
Basically, it's sealed on the backside of the driver and front loaded by a large expanding port. One of MJK's sheets will probably model this for any given driver, if not, akabak certainly will. If I was going to put any money into a box like this, I would have it modelled first.
Like the original, the hifi version should have great, detailed, tight, accurate bass, but it more of a woofer than a subwoofer. |
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