My build of ZaphAudio 2 cu.ft Dayton RSS 12" HF Sealed Sub

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Update: Box Assembly and testing

I've completed the assembly and initial tests of the sub, and I'm impressed. I have a strong pro audio/music background, and I've certainly got my expectations around LF audio, so I was hoping I wouldn't be too disappointed when I first heard it. But so far I've been very pleasantly surprised.

Here's a few more pics.


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Checking the internal seals.
The sub and it's maker. Gives new meaning to the term, "blockhead"...


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The amp installed.
Assembly is pretty easy; there's the amp, the box, and the driver. A couple of screws later, you're done. I wonder if it would benefit from some stuffing?


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The driver installed.
Yep, it's ready to rock. When testing his sub, the true Canadian always starts with Rush.
It's a rule.


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Driver excursion.
This picture doesn't show it, but the excursion on this thing is incredible the first time you see it. I plugged it in and ran some live Rush from R30, tested out the THX Intro/Demo, and then played the opening five minutes of LOTR - Fellowship of the Ring. All I can say is that was a new experience, taking me back to the first time I saw the movie. It scared the hell out of me! :bigeyes:
I wasn't prepared for how loud and clean this could play...and I was surprised how much it shook my house, which I didn't really expect from this design!


I also watched the opening of SW:ROTS last night and then watched V for Vendetta, where there's some pretty good low end sequences, especially at the end. I was pleased with the initial settings I had for the sub; it seemed to blend quite well with my other speakers, although I was probably running it too hot. Hopefully with break-in and some adjustment, I can smooth it out more. I'm sure there's some ugly room mode issues looming requiring alot of tweaking the freq. response in room, but I'm ready for it. As I've probably mentioned, I'll be using some RTA software to analyze the output and the Behringer FBQ2496 as a parametric EQ to adjust the response.

At this point I'm quite pleased with this design and the outcome so far. My next posting will track the choice of veneer and finish. I'll also update my progress on the frequency response tweaking.

Please leave me your impressions or feedback.
Also, will stuffing the sub with about a half-pound of Acousta-Stuf would have a positive effect, or be a waste of material?

Thanks,
Peter
 
Heh nice job there Peter.
I bet it sounds good and I agree RUSH is a must for the first tune.
As far as using the acousta stuff regular dacron poly fill will give you the same results.Stuffing will lower the system Q a bit but it probably would not be audibly significant.

For a veneering idea here is a link for a sub quite similar to yours. I really like the look of this one.http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/drake/index.html
 
Well, that's funny. Great minds must think alike. :)

The Drake is the subwoofer I was originally going to build... That's exactly what I had intended from a design perspective. I plan to chamfer the edges and finish with veneer in the same basic way...

Also, I do have the Acousta-Stuf material, so I guess I'll try it out once I figure out my room colors, and have a chance to apply the veneer.

Thanks for your comments; it does sound good!

Cheers!
Peter
 
Are you worried about the veneering of the chamfered edges? Or the cutting of the chamfers on the box?

I once saw a post where Darren Kazuma discussed his specific veneering technique on the Drake; the order of operations he took for it to look best. I'll see if I can find that info.

It doesn't sound that hard, but I've had lots of experience with related things... The best thing might be to try a little test first and see what issues you run into.

Peter
 
Yes Peter it is the veneering of chamfered edges that scare me.I have done a fair amount of veneering but this looks a bit tricky and I don't want to mess it up.

If you did happen to find the post you mention that would be great.

I was originally going to try a gloss piano black finish but it would be way too much work :eek: and would not match any of my furniture.

Here is a few pics of my partially completed project. http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/diy-subwoofers/1461-mini-diy-elf-eas-sub.html
 
I really love this subwoofer driver, and your execution is quite nice! One thing about my build which caused large amounts of woe waas that I too mitered every edge. The woodworker who was helping me decided we would use woodworking epoxy because of its high strength and low creep. We did, but of course some parts of the joints were dry, allowing them to spread in my hot car... I shot some polyurethane glue into them as best I could, and god willing they will hold. We also put a 3/4 inch roundover on the edges. This compounded with a mitered joint put the joint right on the outside of a radius, making nearly impossible to fill, and every one needed filling due to the dry joints... The moral of the story is; polyurethane glue is the best and what i should have used in the first place, and that mitering your joints is mostly unnecessary and should be avoided expecially when you plan on doing any edge treatment! That said, they did mostly fill and and they do look great. I have two of these in my system, one per side playing 500hz and down. They perform remarkably.

PS.
For all you Rush lovers, replace miter with mitre.
Of salesmen!
 
Hi tade,

I understand what you're saying... I was worried about this too.

But with the 1" thick walls, I've got a little more than 1.4 inches of glue joint width on each edge to work with. I was quite liberal with the glue, and am confident that I've got no significant dry joint problem.

I should be able to put at least a 3/8" chamfer on the edge, and only lose about a 1/4" of the joint width, leaving me with 1.15" of glue joint width. Considering that cabinet with 3/4" walls built with butt joint construction will have only 3/4" joint widths, I'm not worried. With how solid this cabinet is...and the bracing inside, it's built for the long haul.

Glad to hear you've got two and are liking it... I'm enjoying this one I have and have bought parts to make another, so I'm just trying to do some initial tweaking on the one, before I start on the second. However, I can't get to the tweaking because I want to listen to it so much!


Good to see another Rush fan around here... !

Peter
 
Hope I'm not out of line bumping this old thread, but I wanted to say thanks for this nice detailed construction diary (assuming OP is even still around these parts).

Also, I do have a question regarding the Zaph RSS315 build.

I could positively swear I saw a picture of in-room measurements of this sub, I do believe even by Zaph himself, about two days ago. now I just spent 40 minutes going through my browsing history, and trying to retrace my steps, but I can't find anything at all.

Does anybody have an idea what I'm talking about, or am I hallucinating here? Would love to see those measurements again....
 
Hi Klankymen,

I've only just spotted the email notifying me of an update to this thread, so sorry that I'm about two weeks late, but thanks for your kind comments. I really wanted to do a detailed log, since I spent alot of time planning and thinking about the build, and really hoped it would help another person eventually.

Also, by way of an update, I still haven't built the second sub yet. I did find enough nice maple veneer to cover both subs though, so I still intend on building the second and finishing both. Life has kind of intervened though... it's hard to believe it's been almost 3 1/2 years since building this! Maybe that speaks to my level of satisfaction with it though - I haven't felt the need to change it out, or even build the second one!

Regarding the in-room measurements, sorry, I won't be of much help there. If you can't find it on Zaph's page with this design, I wouldn't know where to start.

I do plan to update this page once I've completed the second sub and applied the veneer and finish, though gentle reader is probably thinking - "Yeah, right!"

Cheers,
Choots
 
it's hard to believe it's been almost 3 1/2 years since building this!

Indeed! I was half expecting you'd never read my comment (I have some forums I used to frequent that I haven't seen for years now), but I'm happy you did.

Regarding the in-room measurements, sorry, I won't be of much help there. If you can't find it on Zaph's page with this design, I wouldn't know where to start.

I'm starting to think I hallucinated them, but no matter, it's not of huge importance, rooms vary.

I do plan to update this page once I've completed the second sub and applied the veneer and finish, though gentle reader is probably thinking - "Yeah, right!"

Well, I hope you do get around to it, I've subscribed this thread so I'll see if anything happens. Good luck with that!
 
How to build Bass cabinet?

Hello,

I'm a real newbie at this site. I've been surfing around on forums to learn as much as I can to build a (Guitar) bass cabinet. The more I read the more I get confused.

Any way, I am planing to build it. And I would like to ask the people with experiences to give me guidance. Here are my thougth:

1) I would use 3/4" thick Plywood
2) I will use (speaker) LEGEND CB15 - 8 Ohms, 300 Watts
this LEGEND CB15 requires only 2 cubic foots closed box.

Questions:

1) Could you provide me (closest) measurement of the cut-wood to build 2 cubic foots.
2) Do I have to make cross over within this box? (I don't even know that the cross over is).
3) what I need to included the cross-over in the box?
 
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