RL-P 15 Project (PICS)

[Jerm357]

I just thought I'd post some pic of the work Ive got done so far. Its a 8.5 CF enclosure with a 6" port. Its going to be a down firing subwoofer kind of like the sonotube type design. The port is 26.6" long for a 17hz tune. I will be putting an RL-P 15 D2 in the enclosure and powering it with an EP 1500. The measurements are going to be 20.25" X 20.25" X 48" then Im going to add a piece of 3/4" MDF to the top and two more to the bottom with 1.25" X 5" legs and a 1.5" bass plate. Its realy starting to come together, sure is going to be heavy though . What do you guys think.

[Inu_Yasha]

Nice! You'll love it! I just finished my sub a week ago on wed and I've been bitten by the DIY bug since!

[Jerm357]

Did you figure out your low signal problem yet? I sure hope I love it, Im comming from a 4CF sealed box And did not realy like the HT preformance I was getting from it. I hope this will be better. PS sorry about the low rez pics I was not sure how high of a resolution I could get the forum to take. Oh yea It sucks not having any long clamps!!!!!

[Inu_Yasha]

I have a temp fix for the low signal problem, but I'm looking to buy something that will amplify the signal. I have my box as a 4.5CF ported box tuned to 17 hz. For HT it does really well for my small apt (this is the only place I have tried it so far). The only problem for me is that I'm picking up a hump around 30hz due to my small area.

I got a chance to try out War of the Worlds today when everyone was at class and the lighting strike scene was immense! My main problem is that I haven't glued down the bottom piece of my cabinet yet so it rattles when there is a lot of bass (my speaker is downfiring and I haven't finished the baseplate). I'm assuming that yours is going to be a lot more powerful as you have about twice the area that mine has!

[peterS]

not good to have the port where it is

[ThomasW]

not good to have the port where it is

The port placement is fine.

[chasw98]

Nice work, especially on the braces. Are you going to use a roundover bit and flare the end of the port?

Chuck

[EDS]

not good to have the port where it is

Why do you say it's in a bad place?

The port placement is fine.

Why do you say it's fine?

Just trying to expand my very little knowledge.

[ThomasW]

Why do you say it's fine?

35 yrs experience building subs.

[Jerm357]

Nice work, especially on the braces. Are you going to use a roundover bit and flare the end of the port?

Chuck

The sad thing is I have no router :E But I did a lot of sanding with a power sander to the braces and the all the circles to make give them rounded edges. Today Im going to hit the top port piece agan to make it even more round. Ill have more pic to show you what I mean.

And about the port, SVS does this all the time with there tube subs and so do all the people with sonotube type designs. I have heard no problems with doing it this way.

Oh yea I have a question Do you guys think I should add some vertical braces say 1"-2" pieces on all four sides between the horizontal ones?

[chasw98]

35 yrs experience building subs.

Hmmmm.............. Lets see 35 years building subs plus puberty makes you almost as old as me :rofl:

[ThomasW]

Hmmmm.............. Lets see 35 years building subs plus puberty makes you almost as old as me :rofl:

I think we've done this before. I started building speakers (not subs) 43 yrs ago. So add in puberity and I win the 'geezer' award......:wink:

[SteveCallas]

The sad thing is I have no router

A file and some sandpaper will get you to the same finish line, just take you a lot longer :T It may not seem like it, but a simple 3/4" flare does help a lot.

[chasw98]

I think we've done this before. I started building speakers (not subs) 43 yrs ago. So add in puberity and I win the 'geezer' award......:wink:

I concede, but I want to stand in the #2 spot on the platform :T

[ThomasW]

I concede, but I want to stand in the #2 spot on the platform :T

Okay, but if you start acting up I'll pummel you with my cane...... :rofl:

[chasw98]

Pummel away, my walker will protect me.

[Jerm357]

Heres some more pics..........I got the last wall up and is gluing now all that is left is to glue the leg frame/ driver mount on, screw on the bass plate, sand the out side corners, Install the speaker terminals and wire it up. (Oh and finish it some day) Man this speaker building thing is tiring.

Cant fit the pic here so heres a link to Home Theater Shack have a look.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/soundsplinter/1676-rl-p-15-project-pics.html

[Amphiprion]

So why was the port placement a bad idea? It looks fine to me too.

[ThomasW]

So why was the port placement a bad idea? It looks fine to me too.

It's fine, there's plenty of room between it and the back of the driver.

[dyazdani]

It's fine, there's plenty of room between it and the back of the driver.

Right, I think that was the point of contention on the original comment (though not stated explicitly), the orientation to the back of the driver...

BTW, great work - the braces show quite a lot of attention to detail.

[Jerm357]

Here are the finished pics (well almost finished Im still giong to paint it with something nice). It realy turned out very good for only my second enclosure. It ended up not being as heavy as I thought it was going to be. Its probly around 150 to 200lb (not weighed) but moves easy with the bass plate on carpet. I also rounded all the corners with the power sander and it took about 2 1/2 hours to get it where I liked it. The whole build took 4 days strait and I can realy feel every single day right in my lower back. It looks 10X better then the pictures turned out. Im still going to add a 12" grill from my old Polk Audio subwoofer to the top of the port. Standing back and looking at it I still cant belive I built it. Im very happy how it turned out :B :B

[Jerm357]

A few more..............

[Jerm357]

These pics are realy bugging me but just to let let you know the whole thing is strait as can be and as smooth as a babys butt even though the pic dont show it.

[yousuredo2]

Looks good, so how do you like the sound ?

[Jerm357]

I started to paint over the last few days but ran out. I got about three coats on and it looks good where it stands but I will probly wait untill spring when I can get it out side to sand it down and spray the final coats on. The edges of the MDF are a real pain to get smooth they soak up the paint like crazy and leave a very bumpy surface but I can live with it for now. Where it is in the room you cant realy see it anyways so I am the only one who knows (or probly cares) but it will make me nuts till I can finish it. Also where it is and being black in a black room it is very hard to get good pictures but this is the best I can do for now. Next job is to get the room painted hopfuly before spring. The good thing is you cant see any imperfections when your watching a movie in the dark :T

[Mazeroth]

Ummm...you sure your lizard friend is going to enjoy your new toy? 8O

[Jerm357]

That lizard has been deaf for years :righton: (not realy lol). Anyways I just installed an ART Clean Box in my system which consist of an Onkyo 600, an EP1500 and a RL-P15 D2 in an 8.5cf enclosure with a tune of 17hz. I have to say this has made such a large improvement to my bass its crazy. It sounds way better than it ever did before just because of one little box. I cant belive the difference it made, I realy couldent be happier :B :B. My Onkyo receiver must not have been putting out a strong enuff signal even though the signal lights on the amp were lighting up. With out the clean box things just never realy sounded right, the bass was there but it just sounded kind of thin (hard to explain). First I was using a 4.5cf sealed box and thought the output was pretty low, so I figured it was because of the sealed enclosure. (since I never had a sealed box before I dident realy know how it should sound) So I decided to do a ported design which turned out better because I got more output but it still sounded thin. So I left it the way it was for about 1.5 months planing to try a clean box some time later. Well on Christmas the day came, I hooked it all up and I was floored I could not belive it. The bass sounds so thick now and even more output then before. If anyone has built a subwoofer and using a pro amp to power it but you think it sounds just a little off, try one of these quick. A good driver and a good amp should never sound off even a little. After its fixed youll finaly hear what you were missing just as I am.

[Dennis H]

On the subject of boxes to boost the signal to pro amps, this little Behringer looks interesting although I haven't tried one. It's a mixer/splitter and all the channels have passthrough gain controls so you could boost up to 6 channels up to 15dB for connecting a receiver to pro amps.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHMX882