Bipole type braces in Dipole Sub

[johninCR]

I'm finally getting around to building my dipole sub using 16 12"s. For flexibility I'm going to build 4 4driver units with W baffle setups. In each unit all 4 drivers will face the same direction (cone facing the next driver's magnet) to save space and get push/pull operation. Based on the success of the small pathways used in the Ripole N baffle discussed a while back, I plan to use the same concept with W baffles, so each 4 driver unit will be only 22"x14"x14" .

After reading about Planet10's benefits of a dowel as a brace between the magnets in a bipole, I'm thinking of using a similar concept except I would need to cut a hole in the dustcap and epoxy a dowel between the pole piece and the back of the magnet of the next driver thus physically connecting all 4 drivers together.

Any thoughts about whether doing this would be worth the effort?

[planet10]

Originally posted by johninCR
After reading about Planet10's benefits of a dowel as a brace between the magnets in a bipole, I'm thinking of using a similar concept except I would need to cut a hole in the dustcap and epoxy a dowel between the pole piece and the back of the magnet of the next driver thus physically connecting all 4 drivers together.

Coupling the drivers is a good thing, but coupling them they way you suggest may over time dislodge the magnet on the driver with the dustcap removed.

You could just use damped ready-rod instead of bolts to couple the drivers at the basket rim.

I'm thinking of a different technique ... i don't have a drawing yet, but if you took every 2nd pair of drivers in the picture and baffled them so that they load the other way (ie fronts on alternate sets radiate to the front, the others have the backs radiating towards the front) This gives effective push-push push-pull... i just haven't figured out any elegant way of doing it yet.



dave

[johninCR]

I like the idea of using a single threaded rod for each bolt hole to physically couple the 4 drivers together. I do want to stick with the cone to magnet alignment because I can fit the drivers 4 across with an exterior cab width of less than 21" and retain an equal air mass on both sides of each cone.

I'm tempted to go 2 drivers deep and build 2 very compact 8 driver cabs (22"Wx14"Hx25"D or 12"Wx25"Hx25"D), but I'm concerned that having different pathway lengths for the front and rear rows of drivers would be detrimental to SQ.