Proposal: cardboard sub test enclosure

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Not an original idea, but I have a loose Peerless XXLS and Hornresp and the urge to experiment. As others have known, I am unconventional and explore Carpentry-Free(TM*) building methods. (My recent Ijit Mark I Tampered Horn notwithstanding).

* Not really, but it sounds cool.

I've found a few interesting (and mostly very old) threads here about using cardboard for speakers. There is the ongoing "foam core" thead. Most of them are for smaller speakers. I say, why not go for broke? I'm not proposing an intricate cardboard horn (yes there's one in here somewhere!). How about this for a test? I graciously volunteer to be the guinea pig.

Design the "simplest" enclosure (sealed?) for my sub Peerless 830845

http://www.tymphany.com/files/XXLS-P830845 Rev1_0.pdf

I'm assuming I can build a smallish one (all the better to test for enormous internal pressures). Why not out of a cardboard box? Suitably braced? (Ah, there is the devil in the details...how?) Whatever is available and cheap. Why not dowels and epoxy cross braces, or even just caulked? Due to the mass of the driver, I envision just leaving it face-up on the floor and caulk the box on top of it. Just like Pass's "El-pipe-o" except a box instead of a big tube 🙂

What's to lose? Should not take long, and worst case I make a extra large version of those paper balloons we made when we were kids.
 
Both of you are no doubt right. Never the less, I am obstinate! Can someone give me dimensions of a suitable sealed box? I only know how to design tapped horns 🙂

This should be a fun experiment. Costs almost nothing, I can probably get a ready-made box (have in stock, even), and can get all sticky with adhesives trying to brace the darn thing 🙂
 
Can someone give me dimensions of a suitable sealed box?

Hornresp does sealed boxes too, it's really easy. Just fill in driver specs, Vrc and Lrc and go.

If you want a recommendation, it depends what you want to do. Anywhere from tiny to infinite will work.

This guy has a bunch in 65 liter boxes - FoLLgoTT's build: 18 x Peerless XXLS12

And here's another thread similar to this one - View on the Peerless XXLS P830845 | AVForums

Doesn't really matter though, this driver is going to rip your little cardboard box apart (probably before you even get it mounted). Have fun.
 
Guy, thanks! You are probably right about impending self-destruct. In some matters I am empirical which I think means "let's try this and see." If it works, very likely I will end up with a structure that weighs the same a sturdy wooden box would have.
 
Peerless XXLS12 830845 Rev1_0 T-QWP

Hi,

FYI: Another use of the formidable Peerless Driver:

b🙂
 

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Guy, thanks! You are probably right about impending self-destruct. In some matters I am empirical which I think means "let's try this and see." If it works, very likely I will end up with a structure that weighs the same a sturdy wooden box would have.

Yes you can make it out of cardboard, and no more difficult than a car or boat, doing it correctly is of course a different matter 😉

I would suggest to read up on panel vibration as like in the old days utilizing the rear wave through a lossy panel can be beneficial if implemented properly.

If this utilizes multiple constrained layers could be better than a "sturdy wooden box"
 
Just swap out the library paste for a dampening compound in a layer or two. Very hard finish to medium (paper, cardboard etc), to soft (dampening) to medium (paper, cardboard etc), to hard finish would be a minimum. The soft dampening layer is thinner than you think. Need more dampening/stiffness, add additional layers.
 
That sounds like a good method for building huge horns. From much reading here at diyaudio and elsewhere, I'm aware that hobbyists have built (relatively) small horns out of foam board and I think in some cases, traditional huge horns out of papier-mache and even cardboard. I was hoping that I could simplify this to the case of the ordinary cardboard box and ordinary subwoofer. However it appears the laws of physics may be conspiring against me 🙂

I think the main problem with trying to make a subwoofer enclosure is that the material must be very (not sure of the correct term--) stiff and unyielding at the low frequency and high pressures that occur. Of real-world materials, although probably only with difficult methods of assembly, probably one could make an excellent sub enclosure out of even thin ceramic tile. Hmmm...they sell it in small squares, why not 4'x8' sheets...? I have read, seen photos of concrete horns. In the realm of the impractical, somewhere there is a bricklayer who took the time to make a built-in subwoofer 🙂 Hope his design was correct!
 
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