Making a sub with 5" woofers

[fabpab]

Hi guys,

im new to here.. so just touching bass (bad joke i know)!... seems a nice forum!

Let me say a few things about me.. i am an enthusiast but by no means an expert... i live in the uk and quite handy with wood work.

So to my project.. i am have a few bits lying around and fancy making a 2.1 setup for playing games on the pc and listening to music on the fly.. as my current speakers are dying!

Id like to make a sub out of the 2 x 5" woofers that i have lying about and make the tops out of some IPL speakers and maybe a top mounting tweeter.

these are the drivers i have..
http://www.maplin.co.uk/51-4-60w-shielded-bass-mid-woofer-44698

for the tops am thinking of using the B3N and TN28 , im aware that the B3n is full range but surely the tweeter will replication hi end even better! ...
http://www.iplacoustics.co.uk/hi_vi_research_drivers.htm

I realise they only have a res freq of 98hz and are mid drivers so im not expecting ground shaking bass! but as I have them i may as well use them eh!
How would you go about making the cabinet? typical rectangle? upright style? what wood would be good? and to keep it simple i am thinking a non ported box would give me the most solid sound.

I realise i have probably left this massively open to criticism, so if you have any questions ill answer best i can..

Thanks everyone!

Pete

[wintermute]

Hi fabpab and welcome to diyAudio You are playing with fire a little posting in the subwoofers forum with 5" drivers me thinks but lets see how it goes

Tony.

[ODougbo]

I am also new and more wood worker then engineer. However, It’s going to be hard to design a cabinet without the VAS ( I checked the specs). Can you contact the manufacture and find out what box they recommend (away a good plan).

Originally Posted by fabpab

Hi guys,

im new to here.. so just touching bass (bad joke i know)!... seems a nice forum!

Let me say a few things about me.. i am an enthusiast but by no means an expert... i live in the uk and quite handy with wood work.

So to my project.. i am have a few bits lying around and fancy making a 2.1 setup for playing games on the pc and listening to music on the fly.. as my current speakers are dying!

Id like to make a sub out of the 2 x 5" woofers that i have lying about and make the tops out of some IPL speakers and maybe a top mounting tweeter.

these are the drivers i have..
http://www.maplin.co.uk/51-4-60w-shielded-bass-mid-woofer-44698

for the tops am thinking of using the B3N and TN28 , im aware that the B3n is full range but surely the tweeter will replication hi end even better! ...
http://www.iplacoustics.co.uk/hi_vi_research_drivers.htm

I realise they only have a res freq of 98hz and are mid drivers so im not expecting ground shaking bass! but as I have them i may as well use them eh!
How would you go about making the cabinet? typical rectangle? upright style? what wood would be good? and to keep it simple i am thinking a non ported box would give me the most solid sound.

I realise i have probably left this massively open to criticism, so if you have any questions ill answer best i can..

Thanks everyone!

Pete

[toprepairman]

Keeping it simple, the bigger the internal volume then the better the bass is likely to be.
For this I'd build something like a flat box, say 7" high, by 18" wide and 24" deep, and mount the drivers on the forward face.
That way you have a platform you can stand other things on.
Best filling is natural fibre carpet underlay (25 quid for a big roll from B&Q). You should be able to scrounge some offcuts from a local carpet shop.

[fabpab]

Originally Posted by toprepairman

Keeping it simple, the bigger the internal volume then the better the bass is likely to be.
For this I'd build something like a flat box, say 7" high, by 18" wide and 24" deep, and mount the drivers on the forward face.
That way you have a platform you can stand other things on.
Best filling is natural fibre carpet underlay (25 quid for a big roll from B&Q). You should be able to scrounge some offcuts from a local carpet shop.

Yes i thought i would be playing with fire a little!..

Hi Toprepairman!
thanks for your advice, 24" deep.. wow that is big... but i guess as they are small drivers i will need the space... is this a fully sealed cabinet then?

[tb46]

Hi ODougbo,

On the linked maplin page look under "Media", and you'll find a pdf with the T/S parameters.

Hi fabpab,

This may be as good a time as any to learn how to measure T/S parameters, and how to use Hornresp to model your sub.

Regards,

[fabpab]

Originally Posted by tb46

Hi ODougbo,

On the linked maplin page look under "Media", and you'll find a pdf with the T/S parameters.

Hi fabpab,

This may be as good a time as any to learn how to measure T/S parameters, and how to use Hornresp to model your sub.

Regards,

Hi tb,

Thanks for the reply... im ashamed to ask.. but im looking at the PDF and cant see what the T/S parameters are and what the Hornresp is?

If theres a relativly easy guide i can read id love to check it out..

sorry!

[TheBaronGroog]

Hornresp is a programme for modeling horns, T/S parameters are what you enter into the programme so it knows the speaker you are using-without them it is like asking a guy to make you a suit without measuring you up.

5" drivers can work as subs-Focal's 5WS were designed for it and a friend has 8 of them running in his Merc ML with great success.

The Fs of the driver is not a totally defining characteristic-it will change as soon as you put in a box-becoming Fb.

If you're local to birmingham I can measure the T/S parameters of your drivers and then you can model different enclosures using hornresp, bassboxpro, winsd etc

[fabpab]

Originally Posted by TheBaronGroog

Hornresp is a programme for modeling horns, T/S parameters are what you enter into the programme so it knows the speaker you are using-without them it is like asking a guy to make you a suit without measuring you up.

5" drivers can work as subs-Focal's 5WS were designed for it and a friend has 8 of them running in his Merc ML with great success.

The Fs of the driver is not a totally defining characteristic-it will change as soon as you put in a box-becoming Fb.

If you're local to birmingham I can measure the T/S parameters of your drivers and then you can model different enclosures using hornresp, bassboxpro, winsd etc

Ahh!.. that sounds realy interesting... thanks for the advice.. unfortunetly i couldnt be further away from you as i am based on the south coast! ha but thanks for the invite...

I shall look up some of those programs and see if i can make sense of them,

and its encoraging to know that there are some 5" subs that have had sucsess.

Thanks again!

[tb46]

Hi fabpab,

Looks like you found an offer for hands-on help already, that should get you there.

I'd suggest you google "Thiel Small wiki", as you'll be running into these driver parameters as long as you work on speakers. As to Hornresp, it is a free software developed by David McBean, and can be used to model much more than just horn loudspeakers. I very highly recommend it. It is available as a free download, and comes with a lengthy help file.

Hornresp

If you google for Hornresp tutorials you'll find a lot of different ones, here are few that come to mind:

Guide to WinISD Pro and Hornresp - Speakerplans.com Forums - Page 1

Simple Tapped Horn Tutorial using Hornresp - AVS Forum

lilmike's tapped horn tutorial would be helpful if would try to build a TH (tapped horn) around this little driver.

Lots to research, have fun.

Regards,