I am building a new home, and will have a dedicated media room approximately, 22' L x 18' W x 9' H.
I have a pair of Theil Smartsub 1.12 drivers I bought at their liquidation auction, and was considering building new enclosures, but was wondering if anyone has had any luck with IB's. I am going to build an interior wall 2 feet from the basement wall for my screen, and was thinking this might be a good area to put the subs.
The space would be approximately 2'dx18'wx9'h.
Any ideas, comments, or reference material would be appreciated.
I have a pair of Theil Smartsub 1.12 drivers I bought at their liquidation auction, and was considering building new enclosures, but was wondering if anyone has had any luck with IB's. I am going to build an interior wall 2 feet from the basement wall for my screen, and was thinking this might be a good area to put the subs.
The space would be approximately 2'dx18'wx9'h.
Any ideas, comments, or reference material would be appreciated.
There is a forum that does just this topic - the cult of the infinitely baffled.
Home | "Cult of the Infinitely Baffled" Hear The Bass, Not The Box The definitive online resource for Infinite Baffle subwoofer design Established 1999
I've made one IB, where I housed 4*15" woofers in a simple flat brick and MDF manifold that was squeezed into the corner of the listening room. I had the rear of the drivers firing into a large enclosure in another room (the large enclosure was a bed platform: brick walled and a metre high, to provide solidity and a lot of of volume for the sub).
4 cheap (high Qts) drivers + corner loading = lots of bonus SPL.
Compared to one (relatively expensive) driver in a normal box, this means you need 1/10 of the power.
IMO this was a nice, cheap, space efficient (space in the listening room, that is) and energy efficient way of building a sub.
One caveat: the roof of my large enclosure was (if I recall correctly) 16mm MDF framed with 5*10cm structural pine, and I was surprised by how much vibration I could feel, at moderate listening levels.
I put down lots of extra timber and mass (a layer of concrete) to reduce this.
TL;DR -
IBs are good. My tip, particulaly for a timber house, would be to build with opposed drivers to reduce structure vibration. You don't want a wall to buzz whenever there's a low note.
e.g. Infinite Baffle Subwoofer
Home | "Cult of the Infinitely Baffled" Hear The Bass, Not The Box The definitive online resource for Infinite Baffle subwoofer design Established 1999
I've made one IB, where I housed 4*15" woofers in a simple flat brick and MDF manifold that was squeezed into the corner of the listening room. I had the rear of the drivers firing into a large enclosure in another room (the large enclosure was a bed platform: brick walled and a metre high, to provide solidity and a lot of of volume for the sub).
4 cheap (high Qts) drivers + corner loading = lots of bonus SPL.
Compared to one (relatively expensive) driver in a normal box, this means you need 1/10 of the power.
IMO this was a nice, cheap, space efficient (space in the listening room, that is) and energy efficient way of building a sub.
One caveat: the roof of my large enclosure was (if I recall correctly) 16mm MDF framed with 5*10cm structural pine, and I was surprised by how much vibration I could feel, at moderate listening levels.
I put down lots of extra timber and mass (a layer of concrete) to reduce this.
TL;DR -
IBs are good. My tip, particulaly for a timber house, would be to build with opposed drivers to reduce structure vibration. You don't want a wall to buzz whenever there's a low note.
e.g. Infinite Baffle Subwoofer
Now there's a blast from the past. That IB was removed only last year after being in service almost 20 years. Structure borne vibration was low because of the force cancelling, but it's not like you could tell with eight 18" drivers in the room!🙄
A very judicious remark. Yes, important to distinguish between "feel" and "hear".
After using quarter-inch plywood for a labyrinth, I had to question my long-held belief in solid cabs with lotsa bracing.
For the OP's design, I think important to choose a driver with a suitable resonance to tailor the sound with a nice low boost for free. With IB, the spec is what you get.
B.
Why? A labyrinth is inherently quite rigid, massive due to its construction, which as a simple box requires the sum total of the labyrinth's bracing, mass.
GM
GM
How much do you think I could hear it?
It was in another room entirely, on the other side of a brick wall.
*shakes head in disbelief*
There have been a few long and entirely scholastic (AKA theoretical) arguments about making cabs rigid. Lots of precise measurement of wall motion but little evidence about audibility.
GM - my labyrinth walls vibrate plenty. Sounds and measures like a great sub but maybe better if I had made if from a concrete 17-foot sewer pipe.
B.
GM - my labyrinth walls vibrate plenty. Sounds and measures like a great sub but maybe better if I had made if from a concrete 17-foot sewer pipe.
B.
Within its BW? HF is a damping issue. In my main career I repeatedly proved that making structures 'ring' well above its working vibration BW was a far more efficient way Vs mass loading to push it below it. Be thankful they do/did as a lot of them are still in service at nuclear power plants, including sea going ones.
GM
GM