Building Our First Dub Sound System - DUB Focus
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Category: General
Forum Name: Newbie Discussion
Forum Description: Newbie Discussion/Questions. Look less stupid here...
URL: https://forum.speakerplans.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=109030
Printed Date: 26 March 2026 at 5:53pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.08 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Building Our First Dub Sound System - DUB Focus
Posted By: SystemSubverted
Subject: Building Our First Dub Sound System - DUB Focus
Date Posted: 13 April 2025 at 10:47pm
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Hey everyone, We want to take the leap to build our Dub Soundsystem We’ve done some initial research and budgeting, and we’d love to share our current plans and get your input. Our budget is around In terms of experience: one of us is starting from scratch, and the other has some hands-on experience with DIY furniture building and basic electronics. Our vision: So we now have a few questions:
We’re still learning and would love to get feedback from anyone who’s built their own rig. If you have tips, photos, or even mistakes to avoid – drop them here! And if there’s already a thread on this exact topic, feel free to drop the link here as well. Thanks for your help – every tip is appreciated Merci & thank you! |
Replies:
Posted By: Line Array
Date Posted: 13 April 2025 at 11:08pm
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why 5-way ? why not just 3-way + sub ? personally i would just buy ( ACTIVE DSP ) 3-way tops and build my own subwoofers. as a DIYer most of the money you save is by building large boxes yourself, in other words the subwoofers. find a good subwoofer design that sounds good to your ear and clone it. you can look at RCF NX 985-A tops for example. look at what subs RCF recommends they should be paired with, and then just build a copy of those subs yourself. RCF wants crazy money for the subs - i bet you can build ones that work just as well for 1/3 of the price. building good tops yourself is more difficult and the tops aren't as expensive so you won't save as much money by building them yourself.
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Posted By: SystemSubverted
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 9:33am
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We want to build a 5-way system because we're very interested in frequency separation — both as a tool for mixing music with a focus on individual frequency ranges, and for manipulating those frequencies to achieve a clean sound, or even cutting them entirely as part of the audio performance. At least a 4-way system is commonly used in Dub for propper frequency control. A 3-way system is out of the question, since sub-frequency separation is essential for us. |
Posted By: Line Array
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 10:23am
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can you post some links to systems that you consider good ? i am having trouble visualizing it. i mean i had a 5-way DIY system in my car and i have seen 6-way DIY synergy horns but i have never seen a prosound system that was more than 4-way. in fact never seen one that was more than 3.5 way so to speak. either 3-way + sub or 3-way with a coaxial compression driver. if you do a 3-way with a coaxial compression driver and add a sub you're technically at 5-way now and that still makes logical sense. but i get a feeling you are talking about something else. curious to understand.
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Posted By: turbo7
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 12:17pm
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It looks like the goal is not a good sound but playing around with the Pre-amp in the first place ( no offense ). It is very difficult to not have phase issues with Preamp built in Crossovers. I would go for 3-4 ways, check the Lavoce 2x18" plan which is quite a loud sub and cheap. You might find tops there, too.
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Posted By: SystemSubverted
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 12:54pm
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That is deffinitly not true - how you come with a guess like this. We definitly want a propper soundsystem with a good hi-fi sound, and that's why we wnat to invest a few thousand euro, but just do not want a 3-way system because of subbass/bass-seperattion. Thanks for the sub recommendation! |
Posted By: SystemSubverted
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 12:59pm
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Hey. For example check out this system on soundsystem.world  |
Posted By: Elliot Thompson
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 2:05pm
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Based on the above setup, A pair of Double Eighteens to pick up where those Scoops leave off would give you the High Fidelity Sound you are seeking. There was a guy that had a similar setup as above around 35 years ago that, used Double Eighteen Reflex to enhance the fundamentals in which, the Scoops could not offer. You will have more options using 18 inch woofers than 21 or larger, due to the wide variety of options to choose from. The link below should help you along the way... https://speakerboxlite.com/subwoofer-box-calculator/tab-graphs" rel="nofollow - https://speakerboxlite.com/subwoofer-box-calculator/tab-graphs
Best Regards, ------------- Elliot Thompson |
Posted By: madboffin
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 4:11pm
| For those who are not familiar with the concept / art form, the crossover and preamp is used as an effects device and the system is played like a musical instrument, extensively modifying the programme material. 5-way systems are good for this. |
Posted By: taurusty
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 5:29pm
| The fact that this is 2025 & u have to be explaining this is rather worrying..... |
Posted By: Line Array
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 9:57pm
every forum has their own niche. on AVS they build subs that go down to single digit hz. on DIY they build synergy horns, ribbons and tube amps. on ASR they fiddle with DSP and 3D Printing, Hypex and Spinoramas. on PE they make everything out of Dayton and GRS drivers on here it's all these scoops, bullets and dub. it doesn't matter what year it is - that stuff will always need to be explained to anybody who is new to the particular scene.
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taurusty wrote:Posted By: KDW32
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 10:09pm
Maybe wait and learn before trying to be knowledgeable about something you nothing about. What you are actually doing is derailing a thread which helps no one.
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Posted By: valve head777
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 10:09pm
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I have to admit I'm a bit confused. Is the aim to hear the frequency separation as in bass (up to no more than 90-100 hz) then mid then chippers (tops)? Or is it to have frequency separation via control to achieve a completely full frequency response where you cannot hear the different elements on their own within the sound. To clarify. I started listening to systems in the mid 80s. The preamps used were mostly 3way. Barracuda had 4 way where the bass was split to have hi bass and then sub. The mid and tops were still very separate. As things evolved through the years, the 'holes' in the sound were filled in by adding different frequency bands and in my opinion the the unique sound of a reggae soundsystem was beginning to get lost and systems began to sound similar to eachother and much more like generic pa systems. Its the gaps in the frequency response that defined a reggae system. Much as pa guys would shake their heads. What is it you are trying to achieve? You definitely want sub. You seem to want separation. If you add hi bass, this overlaps with the bass part of vocals, organs, low piano etc. Played loud this, to me, becomes aggressive and fatiguing especially when standing next to the stack. Traditionally the mid would just about reproduce these frequencies and be stacked in a way that was above people's heads. So you could still hear this low part of the mid but never feel it. To get hi bass but leave out the low frequency part of the mid ( the low part of the voice, organ, piano etc) the cutoff slope needs to be really steep, high (100-200hz) and very narrow. Just to reiterate, I'm talking about reggae soundsystem alone which as mentioned is an artwork in its own right and does not obey the same rules public address systems run by. A good 3 way pre can still sound very good. If you want control of every frequency band to make the system play with no gaps in the frequency response, then you will achieve a pa sound. To me, the idea of a reggae sound is to be able to stand by the stack and be shaken by sub, but not punished by fatiguing frequencies and be able to stand there all night long. The elders might, I hope, understand what I'm getting at. The younguns haven't really had a chance to experience what a good original sound used to be like.
------------- Freedom of choice, choice of freedom. |
Posted By: Line Array
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 10:53pm
i understand now. thanks for explaining - i was wondering about it since i joined this forum. it's actually fascinating. so it's like "guitar cabs" in western music where the cab isn't supposed to be accurate or clean - but to work synergistically with the guitar as one musical instrument. you know i was worried about this forum until now, but not anymore. this forum will be fine because there is nowhere else on the internet for this type of stuff. i apologize to the OP and everybody else in the scene for my ignorance of the subject. i now also realize i have made a lot of stupid comments about scoops and bullets before, and i apologize for those as well. i guess it's similar ( but different ! ) to Car Audio culture, with which i am more familiar as i used to build DIY systems for my car when i was young, so i can understand it in principle, i just didn't know. in Car Audio it was more about getting sound that is "impressive" than anything else. in Hi-Fi it's about sound that is "pleasing / revealing" in studio monitors it's about "accurate / revealing " in PA / prosound i guess it's kind of like a combination of the above 3 ... i'm going to leave the dub stuff to people who understand it better than me. i will also never understand the guitar cabs either. but it is 100% valid. i again apologize for trying to attribute these types of sound systems to ignorance when i was the one ignorant. i just hope the day never comes when i also have to apologize to all the people i have insulted on every other forum for the kinds of strange speakers they build there like fullrange speakers or other miniature speakers with like 3" woofers. i mean it's easy to study the science and use it to achieve objective goals ... but the goals are not objective. |
Posted By: valve head777
Date Posted: 14 April 2025 at 11:00pm
The beauty of life and artforms are its diversity. Thankyou for recognising this. ------------- Freedom of choice, choice of freedom. |
Posted By: SystemSubverted
Date Posted: 15 April 2025 at 3:51pm
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Thank you all for your relpies, but can we get back to the usual topic again? :D I realy need help and I am very greatful for every little help.
Thanks. thats exactly the plan, but we don't know where to start: Which driver? How to choose the right driver? Which Sub-Bin is the best for Dub?
Looks interesting... don't get how to use it yet, because I dont know which driver I should choose, but looks very intersting!
Valve, both! We want a seperation for the frequencies and then we want to control the different speakers with the different frequencies to get the most out of the Soundsystem and operate how it's usual in Reggae/Dub/Soundsystem-culture. For example the seperation like this: Subbass 20 Hz - 80 Hz. Bass 80 Hz - 500 Hz, Midrange 500 Hz - 5k Hz, Tops/Highs/Tweeter 5k Hz - 20k Hz |
Posted By: valve head777
Date Posted: 15 April 2025 at 5:26pm
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Bass 100 up to 500 hz is the fatiguing frequency when loud and in my opinion muddies the sound. ------------- Freedom of choice, choice of freedom. |
Posted By: SystemSubverted
Date Posted: 16 April 2025 at 10:07am
So you mean Bass 100 - 300 hz is good enough? |
Posted By: valve head777
Date Posted: 16 April 2025 at 10:41am
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I'd start to seriously attenuate ie really drop the volume down for that frequency at 150hz. Id suggest playing with an equaliser and moving one band at a time to hear what the frequencies sound like. That way you get a feel of the more aggressive bands and how you might deal with them in a soundsystem setting. Our hearing response actually changes as sound pressure levels go up. The aggressive mid to top frequencies are around 8k ------------- Freedom of choice, choice of freedom. |
Posted By: valve head777
Date Posted: 16 April 2025 at 1:37pm
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As for sub bin, the quality and weight from decent powered double 18s is great. We have used 21" super scoops which i was very happy with except moving them around. I personally like the extra cone and voice coils in doubles, because if you get some growl (from either the pre or amp), they'll produce that better. ------------- Freedom of choice, choice of freedom. |