Glass tube sub?

[PoorboyMike]

I picked up a pair of glass tubes from work that were getting thrown out. These are from our old drum scanner. The tubes are about 6.75" id and 27" long.

My plan is to make some MDF end caps, put a small sub at each end (whatever will fit), some neon lights, and put one in each of my kids room. My son wants me to make his look like a missile. :twisted:

[Kevin P]

Interesting concept, but sounds dangerous to me. What if they shatter or crack when you crank them up?

Also, sonotube tends to dampen vibrations, glass would transmit them or resonate. I don't think it would sound the same as a sonotube.

[Hdale85]

Those look mighty thick. I don't think it would be such a problem really. Could be though?

[1Michael]

There wouldn't be enough pressure from the driver to break it but droppin sure will.

[Dennis H]

Cool! It looks like the 6.5" Tang Band might fit.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=264-832

[Hdale85]

Looks good to me. Make a very nice computer sub. And as long as you make a base thats got a pretty big footprint you should be fine. I doubt they would break if they fell over on carpet anyways. Most bedrooms have carpet

[PoorboyMike]

I agree Dennis, the 6.5" TB looks like the best bet. One on each end should be enough bass for a small bedroom.

My other thought was to make a cradle that it could lay in horizontally. If nothing else, it will be fun to play around with. And I'm pretty sure it's tempered glass plus it's over 1/8" thick, so I'm not worried about it breaking easy.

[JonP]

I agree Dennis, the 6.5" TB looks like the best bet. One on each end should be enough bass for a small bedroom.

My other thought was to make a cradle that it could lay in horizontally. If nothing else, it will be fun to play around with. And I'm pretty sure it's tempered glass plus it's over 1/8" thick, so I'm not worried about it breaking easy.

Oh, yeah, that would be pretty tough... shouldn't be a problem. Though I'd look at porting... run some WinISD on it to see what would be optimal.

Image in my mind of that tube, with maybe clear Plexiglas endcaps, and a clear PVC (yes you can get it at McMasters) or plexi tube port... "The Visible Sonotube Sub!!"

Now, that would be cool! 8)

[Kevin P]

Image in my mind of that tube, with maybe clear Plexiglas endcaps, and a clear PVC (yes you can get it at McMasters) or plexi tube port... "The Visible Sonotube Sub!!"

Now, that would be cool! 8)

Especially if you can find a transparent driver to stuff in there. Transparent cone and basket, so you can see the magnet, voice coil and spider do their stuff! :B

I wonder how it would sound though. The glass tube could "ring" or resonate in ways that a sonotube wouldn't.

[kingpin]

My other thought was to make a cradle that it could lay in horizontally.

Make sure nobody can step or fall on top of it. Glass is not very forgiving to our skin.

Mike

[JonP]

Especially if you can find a transparent driver to stuff in there. Transparent cone and basket, so you can see the magnet, voice coil and spider do their stuff! :B

I wonder how it would sound though. The glass tube could "ring" or resonate in ways that a sonotube wouldn't.

Forgot to comment on that. Couple things come to mind, one is that with both ends capped, the end plates would damp the natural ringing mode.. which would make it sound like a giant wind chime tube if it was open ended or one end open. I doubt that it could ring much when finished and both ends capped.

The other thing, since it's a sub, you won't be driving it directly with higher frequencies like you would with a full(er) range speaker. So it won't be forced to ring as much as it would otherwise.

[Gir]

Putting some sonic barrier in around the sides should help with the resonance a lot. Have you thought about a transmission line? That would be pretty cool, but it's not very long, so perhaps it wouldn't work well for a sub. If I remember correctly, you can use 1/4 the wavelength for t-lines, so a 125Hz tune would be in order with that length. Add a lot of heavy stuffing and that could go down considerably (I think). Just a thought...

Anyways, sounds like this will be an interesting project!

[Dennis H]

Yeah the sub will never play high enough to stimulate the resonance so it shouldn't be a problem. Tap it with a coin and that will tell you the frequency where it rings. Some stuffing might help the sonics a bit but it would ruin the 'cool' factor. 8)