I've built a lot of subs but never built a driver from scratch. I've done a few recones and built a custom sub with a recone kit but never bought raw parts and started from a pile of parts. I finally did! The link below is Photobucket slideshow of my process with short descriptions of each picture.
I bought a used, blown sub that originally came from TC Sounds. The basket is an Eclipse/Ground Zero/Audiopulse style that is patented by Thilo Stompler at TC Sounds. The original motor is a variation of the TC7 motor. Not powerful enough for my needs. I ended up using a surplus TC9 motor and will re-use the TC7 for an IB sub. The soft parts came from an Ebay seller that has surplus car audio parts. He happened to get a crate of stuff from TC Sounds when they were switching to their Audiopulse name. I pieced together the parts for a complete custom sub. So all of my parts came from TC Sounds, I ended up buying from 3 different sources. This sub is similar in look to the Audiopulse Revo which retails for over $500.
How does it sound? I don't know. I have Woofer Tester 3 on order from Parts Express. I'll use that to determine the Theile/Small parameters and then install it in an enclosure and give some real world measurements.
This will not be my last custom sub either. As you can see, I have extra sub motors sitting around. I'm constantly looking for baskets and recently found some 15" TC-2000 top assemblies that had been pushed beyond their mechanical limits and deformed the aluminum cones. I'll be reconing them with the same type of parts below except in a 15" version. They will be mated with the 3HP neodynium motors. The resuling sub will be similar to a dual 2 ohm VC TC-3000/Lightning Audio Storm/Audiopulse Axis driver.
I'll answer as many questions as possible. Just let me know which picture you are talking about.
-Robert
slideshow link
