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Hi All,
I'm a long time lurker, very much into quality music reproduction and HT, and was once a DIY speaker builder (in high school!). My reason for this post is the tremendous knowledge base (or is that bass
) found here and that no commercially available product appears to fit the bill. Here is the scoop:
We have just completed construction of a 700 sq ft rooftop deck. It is enclosed on two sides by the back walls of the next two stories of our building and the other two sides are a 6' tall fully enclosed cedar fence. The flooring is a nifty hardwood snap-together pallet system sitting only an inch off the roof membrane beneath it. freakin' huge french doors open onto the deck from our loft and outside becomes an extension of the inside living space.
Being the gearhead that I am, I'd like something better than just pleasant background noises when outside both for personal enjoyment and when we entertain (and a little ego truth be told :P ). In that vein, I've purchased some great used Meridian gear to use as an outdoor second zone with our existing Meridian indoor system along with 3 identical Niles OS7.5 outdoor speakers. I've got 4 channels of amplification available, 200 watts each. I'll be using Meridian's "Tri-field" music processing to generate a center channel so I can mount the speakers about 10 feet high, angled downwards, and spread them well apart and while still getting good coverage of the entire deck. The OS7.5 is a largish shoebox with a 7" sealed bass driver. They go comfortably loud but start to droop in the mid bass while low bass is non-existent. That is where the suject of this post comes in.
I'd like a pair of subs to fill out the bottom end. I've got that spare 200 watt amplification channel to drive 'em. The pre-pro has a built in crossover. My expectations are realistic I think. I'd be happy with solid 35 or 40hz extension. The problem is that the few decent outdoor woofer systems out their seem to all be using large plastic enclosures and are designed for in-ground installation. My rooftop deck requires a more traditional stand alone sub design.
I'm toying around with the idea of mounting some appropriately weatherproof 12" woofers sealed inside a pair of decorative cast concrete planters sonotube-style. I'd seal off the drain holes on the bottom and fit a multi layer marine-core plywood baffle for the driver and the terminal block facing up in the planter's mouth. Some 4" spacers would act as stand-offs for a stainless steel clad plywood table top. This would provide protection for the driver from the worst of mother nature and a tabletop to place potted plants and "boat drinks" on.
The pots I'm looking at are round, gradually tapered top to bottom, have 1" thick walls and offer about 2.25 cu feet of internal volume prior to installing the driver. Figure about 2 cu ft net. I'm a competent DIY woodworker with decent hand and power tools so I'm not expecting any fabrication difficulties but advice on some technical stuff would be hugely appreciated.
In light of the outdoor exposure to indirect moisture, heat, and cold I imagine the woofers should have anodized aluminum cones and butyl surrounds. Would treated foam surrounds stand up? Also what QTS would be ideal in light of the complete absense of room gain? I imagine a QTS closer to 1 than .5 to .7 would be best for outdoors but I'm just guessing. Any suggestions for suitable high sound quality sub drivers for that cabinet volume? Also, what sort of glues would be most appropriate to mount the bottom plug and baffle to the concrete urn walls? What sort of stuffing to use? Once again guys any learned advice you can provide would be tremendously appreciated.
If this goes well it will likely be the impetus to finally building the uber IB sub to replace the pair of Servo 15s residing in our dedicated music and theater room. I've been thinking about that one for ages.
Happy Trails!
Vince@freewheelcycle.com
I'm a long time lurker, very much into quality music reproduction and HT, and was once a DIY speaker builder (in high school!). My reason for this post is the tremendous knowledge base (or is that bass
) found here and that no commercially available product appears to fit the bill. Here is the scoop:We have just completed construction of a 700 sq ft rooftop deck. It is enclosed on two sides by the back walls of the next two stories of our building and the other two sides are a 6' tall fully enclosed cedar fence. The flooring is a nifty hardwood snap-together pallet system sitting only an inch off the roof membrane beneath it. freakin' huge french doors open onto the deck from our loft and outside becomes an extension of the inside living space.
Being the gearhead that I am, I'd like something better than just pleasant background noises when outside both for personal enjoyment and when we entertain (and a little ego truth be told :P ). In that vein, I've purchased some great used Meridian gear to use as an outdoor second zone with our existing Meridian indoor system along with 3 identical Niles OS7.5 outdoor speakers. I've got 4 channels of amplification available, 200 watts each. I'll be using Meridian's "Tri-field" music processing to generate a center channel so I can mount the speakers about 10 feet high, angled downwards, and spread them well apart and while still getting good coverage of the entire deck. The OS7.5 is a largish shoebox with a 7" sealed bass driver. They go comfortably loud but start to droop in the mid bass while low bass is non-existent. That is where the suject of this post comes in.
I'd like a pair of subs to fill out the bottom end. I've got that spare 200 watt amplification channel to drive 'em. The pre-pro has a built in crossover. My expectations are realistic I think. I'd be happy with solid 35 or 40hz extension. The problem is that the few decent outdoor woofer systems out their seem to all be using large plastic enclosures and are designed for in-ground installation. My rooftop deck requires a more traditional stand alone sub design.
I'm toying around with the idea of mounting some appropriately weatherproof 12" woofers sealed inside a pair of decorative cast concrete planters sonotube-style. I'd seal off the drain holes on the bottom and fit a multi layer marine-core plywood baffle for the driver and the terminal block facing up in the planter's mouth. Some 4" spacers would act as stand-offs for a stainless steel clad plywood table top. This would provide protection for the driver from the worst of mother nature and a tabletop to place potted plants and "boat drinks" on.
The pots I'm looking at are round, gradually tapered top to bottom, have 1" thick walls and offer about 2.25 cu feet of internal volume prior to installing the driver. Figure about 2 cu ft net. I'm a competent DIY woodworker with decent hand and power tools so I'm not expecting any fabrication difficulties but advice on some technical stuff would be hugely appreciated.
In light of the outdoor exposure to indirect moisture, heat, and cold I imagine the woofers should have anodized aluminum cones and butyl surrounds. Would treated foam surrounds stand up? Also what QTS would be ideal in light of the complete absense of room gain? I imagine a QTS closer to 1 than .5 to .7 would be best for outdoors but I'm just guessing. Any suggestions for suitable high sound quality sub drivers for that cabinet volume? Also, what sort of glues would be most appropriate to mount the bottom plug and baffle to the concrete urn walls? What sort of stuffing to use? Once again guys any learned advice you can provide would be tremendously appreciated.
If this goes well it will likely be the impetus to finally building the uber IB sub to replace the pair of Servo 15s residing in our dedicated music and theater room. I've been thinking about that one for ages.
Happy Trails!
Vince@freewheelcycle.com
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