Dayton SD315-88 Tapped Horn Build

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Back at it again!. Here is my first monster tapped horn subwoofer build!

Original plans were from this thread over here at diyAudio lab12 TH. Plans were meant for a Lab12 but a quick check with HornResp showed that my Dayton worked equally well.

97db/watt @ 25hz in 1.0pi space, and 94db/watt @20hz!!
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Didn't take too many pics but here are a couple..
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Test fit of the top.
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1.5 litre bottle...
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Kinda messed up a cut here but i fixed it. Works alright :)
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Beautiful :)
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To the left is my rathr intereting "Franken-Box", and the right is the monster of course!
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Tall beast!
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The Dayton inside
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My phone compared to the opening :rubeyes:
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Nicely hidden. Man, this thing is HEAVY!
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The TH is crossed over at 55hz @24db/octave to my 2 6.5" t-line midwoofer which is then crossed at 100hz @24db/octave to my sats.

Listening impressions: Sounds wayyy cleaner than the ole ported box. Some songs sound "different"? Can't really explain it but the TH lot will know what i mean. Only have about 50 clean watts going into it at the moment. Even then, its still plenty loud!

One question, how significant do little air leaks inside affect the response/performance of the TH? I stuck my head into the port (yes it hurt a little) and heard a slight wooshing sound. Skeptical that it might be the piece right in the middle...

Comments appreciated! Cheers!
 
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One question, how significant do little air leaks inside affect the response/performance of the TH? I stuck my head into the port (yes it hurt a little) and heard a slight wooshing sound. Skeptical that it might be the piece right in the middle...

Comments appreciated! Cheers!

Very nice.

I found when building my first tapped horns that they weren't great until I sealed the driver to the wood (used foam weather-proofing strip), and sealed the removable back panel.
The performance was such that, using a 25w tripath amp, at full power the leaky one struggled to give much output at all. What did come out was ~80Hz midbass.
Sealed everything up properly, and extension is down to 25Hz, and goes louder than I need.

If you're worried about internal leaks, plot the impedance curve of the TH, compare it to the sims.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that's just run cable into the mouth. I do have some speakOn connectors somewhere, though... :rolleyes:

Chris
 
@chris661, Yep, i decided to move the TH out to check for leaks and i was right! There was a lil gap on the middle piece. I siliconed the gaps as far as i could reach then with an old antenna to reach the ends :p. Should be sealed nicely now but im still waiting for it to dry.
How exactly do I plot the impedance curve?
Hey, we do get somewhat lazy at times. I've got some nice speaker terminals but no soldering iron at the moment...

@big ave, My sub is in the thread title! Its a Dayton SD315-88 12" that I bought from PE early this year.

@60ndown, Pretty good I would say, since I'm a 17 years old . Alright, will see how my sealing efforts work out tomorrow...
 
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Hey, another teenager!

There's a lot of ways to measure speaker impedance. You will need a decent multi-meter.

There's a lot of tutorials on Google that will go into details, but a known resistor of, say, 2 ohm will be needed. And download winISD for the signal generator function. Your computer will become the signal generator. You might need an amplifier to make the signal a bit louder, but a decent headphone socket will drive the set-up well enough.

Chris

PS - I did install the speakOn connectors, for my tiny little tapped horns...
 
@chris661, Yep, i decided to move the TH out to check for leaks and i was right! There was a lil gap on the middle piece. I siliconed the gaps as far as i could reach then with an old antenna to reach the ends :p. Should be sealed nicely now but im still waiting for it to dry.

@60ndown, Pretty good I would say, since I'm a 17 years old . Alright, will see how my sealing efforts work out tomorrow...
One tip for sealing is to use cheap latex paint (whoops, wrong color returns) poured in to the cabinet, by flipping and turning you can get all the corners covered.
 
Ok. So the enclosure is all sealed now and with foam tape around the drivers (i forgot that before). I did some quick before and after tests and wow this thing is a heck louder than before, even thought its sitting in the middle of my room! More testing soon.

@weltersys, Thanks for the tip, but i couldnt find any latex paint at my local hardware shop...

@chris 661, yeah i'll test that out sometime soon but im pretty happy with it right now
 
Whew been busy lately but here is a video of my TH for you all to have a listen
In the video, there's also a SPL reading using REW and a Behringer C-1U mic.

Running only with approximately 1watt!! ((1.7v*1.7v)/3.1ohm)

Youtube!!

@johnB23, Thanks for the tip but I don't think its possible reach into the middle folds since the whole thing is screwed and glued :p
 
More music on the TH. This time cranked! A SPL reading is in the video too

Clickity Click!
Voltage readings on music (or pink noise) using a VOM won't read the actual peaks.

A reading of 10 volts on an RMS meter using music as a source probably indicates peaks of around 20 volts, four times the power.

A hard clipped amp can deliver as much as twice the average power (what burns voice coils) as it would if just driven to clip. It is fairly easy to clip sub amps, as our ears are less sensitive to low frequency distortion.

If you are interested in the actual sensitivity of your sub, you will need to use sine wave tones, outdoors, well away (a couple wavelengths of the test frequency) from buildings and large objects.

Have fun!

Art
 
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