Speakerplans.com Homepage
Forum Home Forum Home > Plans > Ported Enclosures
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Building a ported system
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Building a ported system

 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
Message
droge1102 View Drop Down
New Member
New Member


Joined: 07 April 2009
Status: Offline
Points: 1
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote droge1102 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Building a ported system
    Posted: 07 April 2009 at 10:47pm

Hi, I've been looking to build a subwoofer as I bought a pair of tapco thumps, the TH-15A ones. They are really good but the "overload" light comes on when I push the bass up. It’s really annoying because I don’t want to damage my speakers, but I do want them to just be that little bit more bassy; and just while I think of it, does anyone know if it’s possible to blow active speakers like that?

 

Anyways, for that reason, and also because I’m looking for a project to spend some time on, I would like to build a nice big sub :) As I would consider buying (or possibly building) new speakers in future I want to make sure this sub packs plenty of punch and can be kept in future if I upgrade my speakers. 

 

I've spent quite a while looking into this build but I’m still unsure about a lot of things. I got a copy of JBL speaker shop and I was going to use that to determine what size enclosure I need for a ported system. I decided on a ported system after looking over the info on diysubwoofers.org. I’ve built a box using JBL speaker shop based on an 8inch speaker which has worked really well, but now I’m looking to build something more expensive I decided to get some more expert advice.

 

So I was thinking about either an 15 or 18inch speaker, am I right in thinking that an 18 inch speaker is more capable of moving larger volumes of air so will be generally better for a sub, so long as I get a high quality one?

 

I was looking spend around £150 +/- £30 for the driver which I was probably going to buy from this website: http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?category=Speaker_Components&masthead=Loudspeaker_Drivers&subheadnew=18_Inch_Drivers

 

and another £150 or so on the amp for this sub, and am I right in thinking, if I get say an 800w driver, I can then bridge the connection of a two channel 400w amp at 4ohms to make a 800w connection at 4ohms? Unfortunately I couldn't find a lot of information on this elsewhere on the internet.

 

What I was looking at was the Fane Colossus 18XB 800w 4ohm driver and the Warrior DA-800 amp which doesn't say if it can or cannot be bridged but says it has two channels, 400w each at 4ohms. I was also considering getting the Tapco Juice-800 power amp which can be bridged for 800w at 4ohms.

 

I understand that to successfully bridge an amplifier I need to invert one of the signals, but I don't know which amps this is possible on and how exactly to do that. The amp I am going to get is just going to drive this sub and nothing else, so I’m not really sure what to do there.

 

I have also looked for specific sub amps but couldn't really find anything that wasn't really expensive or for a car, but if there was a sub amp I could buy that is made specifically for subs that would be awesome. Perhaps even one I can build into the sub itself, especially if that option were cheaper.

 

if my ideas on which driver and amp to buy are totally wrong, any advice on which ones to get for around £300 would be excellent.

 

After I have an idea of what driver to get I’m going to use JBL speaker shop to work out the size of the enclosure needed. unfortunately it does not have any calculations for bracing which i will probably need, and when i built my 8inch speaker i did it to the "optimum" size box that it gave me, where the length of each side follows a 0.62 : 1 : 1.62 ratio (Depth:Witdh:Height). If i include bracing, then I will need to make the box larger to make sure the optimum volume is kept, but the ratio will have to be recalculated...i was just wondering how important that ratio is.

Sorry about such a long post but I really wanna get this project done right :) any and all help will be awesome. also, if someone in the UK has already built their own sub and amp for about £300 and would be willing to share their designs, I would be happy to follow someone elses work that I know is going to do the job :) Thanks again!
 
Edit:
 
I've been looking around more on this site since I made this post and here: http://www.speakerstore.nl/constructions and there are loads of mad designs ive never seen before when i was researching this on the net. Is a ported design the best one to achieve good volume at low frequencies? are some of the other designs on here better and are any of the other designs good for a driver for around £150?


Edited by droge1102 - 07 April 2009 at 11:09pm
Back to Top
krazyneil View Drop Down
Young Croc
Young Croc
Avatar

Joined: 06 December 2007
Location: Bolton ,lancs
Status: Offline
Points: 1206
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote krazyneil Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 April 2009 at 4:20pm
hi
i would have alook on b&c website and have a look at the 18 sub design as i think that would work well for what you require you can retune it to match your choice of driver.
regarding amps you need a bit of headroom over the driver power rating so for your 800w driver you need an amp capable of delivering 1000w ,the best bet on your limited budget is to look a decent quality s/h amps as these are going to be much better for your needs somthing like a matrix str1200 or 1500 which can be picked up for under £125-200 would be a good choice.
hope this helps
GOD TOLD ME TO DO IT !!!!!
Back to Top
aperrado View Drop Down
Registered User
Registered User
Avatar

Joined: 10 January 2008
Location: california
Status: Offline
Points: 315
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote aperrado Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 April 2009 at 2:19am
right now im making a B&C 18 ported box  I tested
it with a eminence  speaker and sound good.
Im hard to learn but still asking
Back to Top
dlyxover View Drop Down
Old Croc
Old Croc


Joined: 14 June 2007
Location: Liverpool
Status: Offline
Points: 1508
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dlyxover Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 April 2009 at 1:21pm
I made the B&C sub15 and stuck a PD154 in it.

Perfect for a cheeky drum fill
In the Truth there is no news, and in the News there is no truth
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.06
Copyright ©2001-2023 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.109 seconds.