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It has been nearly 20 years since I last built any speakers, but I am about to build a pair of sealed subwoofers, and this will be my first time to build an enclosure using a double thickness of boards. Is it generally better to build the cabinet with a single thickness of boards, and then lay the outer layer of boards over it? Or is it better to glue the boards into double thicknesses first and then build the box from the double-thick boards?
I suppose it depends and either way could work, but since I am getting into what is for me uncharted territory, I'd like to know what sorts of experiences and approaches people have concerning their heavy subwoofers.
I have actually built heavier speaker enclosures in the past (bass reflex enclosures for Altec 515 woofers: those boxes weighed 100kg each), but those used a single layer of plywood.
This time, I managed to scrounge the plywood tops of 26 surplus school desks from a warehouse. They measure 45cm x 65cm x 20mm (a tad over 3/4 inch thick) and are impregnated with phenolic resin. Before I actually eyeballed the wood, I was planning to cover the enclosures with carpathian elm burl planks that I have gathering dust here, but the face of the plywood looks so pretty that I hate to hide it with the elm burl (although I'm sure the elm burl would look even nicer when finished). So I'll have to find another use for the burl. It's just as well, because even without the elm burl, the empty enclosures will weigh about 150 lbs. each, even without amplifier and driver, which will add another 30+ lbs.
My main tools will be circular saw and router (used with the Eurekazone EZ Smart Guide) -- all newly purchased tools with which I do not yet have a great deal of familiarity -- and a Kreg pocket hole set.
If anyone could point me to a good website for pointers, or give me some here, I'd be most grateful.
Thanks!
Christopher Witmer
Tokyo
I suppose it depends and either way could work, but since I am getting into what is for me uncharted territory, I'd like to know what sorts of experiences and approaches people have concerning their heavy subwoofers.
I have actually built heavier speaker enclosures in the past (bass reflex enclosures for Altec 515 woofers: those boxes weighed 100kg each), but those used a single layer of plywood.
This time, I managed to scrounge the plywood tops of 26 surplus school desks from a warehouse. They measure 45cm x 65cm x 20mm (a tad over 3/4 inch thick) and are impregnated with phenolic resin. Before I actually eyeballed the wood, I was planning to cover the enclosures with carpathian elm burl planks that I have gathering dust here, but the face of the plywood looks so pretty that I hate to hide it with the elm burl (although I'm sure the elm burl would look even nicer when finished). So I'll have to find another use for the burl. It's just as well, because even without the elm burl, the empty enclosures will weigh about 150 lbs. each, even without amplifier and driver, which will add another 30+ lbs.
My main tools will be circular saw and router (used with the Eurekazone EZ Smart Guide) -- all newly purchased tools with which I do not yet have a great deal of familiarity -- and a Kreg pocket hole set.
If anyone could point me to a good website for pointers, or give me some here, I'd be most grateful.
Thanks!
Christopher Witmer
Tokyo