About to order Quatro 15"/Amp (1 Viewer)

[Jack Keck]

Alright thanks for all that help especially with the port length.

Remember to read the instructions before you proceed.

Just ran into 2 more questions while drawing this thing up to scale on paper.

How do i secure the port? Should i brace it near the end on the inside of the box or should the 2 layers of 3/4" MDF on the front baffle + alot of glue seal it in pretty nicely?

If you bought the Precision Port, it has four holes in the flange to secure it to the outside of the box. that's all you need. It does not need to be secured inside the box.

Also does anyone reccomend using screws to hold it together a little firmer?

No.

Or should i just stick with using alot of glue and silicone?

Yep.

 

[Chuck Bogie]

Howdy, Campers...

I've got two 5.5 cube ported Q15s, and two 3 cube sealed ones...

12.5-13" piece of 4" PVC should work fine.

Glue is your friend.

Don't use silicone caulk unless you can't come up with a better idea - some of the stuff can be caustic to surrounds.

A little light stuffing won't hurt.

How to power up the first time:

Turn your AV receiver down. Turn the sub-out channel way down. Turn the gain on the sub amp all the way down. Turn the crossover on the sub amp all the way up.

Now, with all the stuff turned on...

Play a test tone, just for a few seconds for each channel. Is everything even? If it isn't, and it won't be, turn up the sub-out channel a twitch, and turn up the gain on the sub amps a little. Any better? It helps to have a sound meter... Keep doing this, a little at a time. When you think you've got the thing up "loud" enough, listen for vocals, etc., through the subs. That's not nice. Turn down the crossover now. You may want to increase the volume after you do this. I repeat - a sound meter is the best way to set things - most people set 'em too "boomy" - you don't notice a sub when it's right, until you turn it off.

 

[MikeGee]

Hey chuck thanks for the tips.
Do you have any pics of any of your Quatro's?

Any suggestions on what to do for bracing? I've had people say many things to me regarding the bracing. Just curious what you did for bracing on your ported boxes?

What would you reccomend instead of using caulking? Just the glue?
As for insulation i'm just going to use the bed mattress foam that looks like eggcrate. Thinking about insulating 5 of the 6 sides with it... too much? not enough?

Once again appreciate any help. I wanna do this right from the start and i figure asking you guys as many questions is a good start.

 

[ColinM]

I'd leave it unstuffed for a week - get used to it. Then stuff it ( I prefer fiberglass ) and note the changes. That's the fun with DIY - experiment, it's yours. And don't wait - build it!!!

 

[MikeGee]

I am thinking about it being somewhat of a hassle to remove one of the panels once the glue sets and dries. Which is why i was hoping to get it done in one shot without.

When i finish this box do you think it'll matter if i stand it up vertically so that the driver is on the top and the port is on the bottom (or vice versa). Just that it would be taking up alot more space than needed i think.

Also i'm probably going to seal up the driver so that it is air tight. I've checked up on this forum and found people reccomending rope caulking. Good suggestion for me to seal it with that?

 

[Jack Keck]

The kind people at PE supply the sealer you want for your Quatro. It's in the box with the driver. I don't remember whether or not I sealed teh port. but I did romove it to put in thestuffing from the wrecked throw pillow. I could pull the amp or driver if I ever wanted to remove it. there would be no need ot pull the box apart.

 

[Chuck Bogie]

Don't fire a Q15 vertically - You gotta use 'em out the sides.

For stuffing, I personally use the poofy stuff from the back of the Wally-World sewing section.

DO NOT get too hung up on one design. Nothing is engraved in stone until you start cutting MDF.

 

[MikeGee]

I dont mean i'm going to fire the speaker vertically. I meant that i am going to position my box so that its 20" wide and 29" tall instead of 29" wide and 20" tall.

I'm gonna prolly just put no stuffing right off the bat to see how it sounds. If no good then i'll just put stuffing on all the outside walls

 

[Steve Smitty]

Chuck are you saing by "vertically" down fired? If so the Quatro 15 is a perfect downfirring sub, the formula to determine if a sub will work is found on parts express.

 

[Chuck Bogie]

Nope.

http://www.partsexpress.com/resources/downfire.html

Percentage of sag is slightly more than 5%.

 

[Wes]

Here is my two 15" Qutros with one 350w Rytmic amp:

http://prosteering.8k.com/custom4.html

 

[MikeGee]

Yeah wes i was the one who emailed you last week about the box design.
I just got all the wood yesterday and was starting to piece it together.. Its huge!
Hopefully parts express parts arrive today i'm a bit ancy now to start building this thing.

 

[MikeGee]

Alright its been a slow week for me so this weekend i'm going to hopefully get around to doing all the work on building my sub.
Quick question tho. With the Quatro screwing it in i have to do it with bringing the speaker in from behind but the logic of it doesnt make sense to me and i am wondering why..

The speaker comes with the foam padding surrounding the section where all the screws screw in for a nice tight seal.. but its on the front. Having the foam placed in the back would be much easier to install and remove the speaker if needed because it would screw though the 8 support holes then firmly into the baffle..
Thats how it is in my cerwin vega in my car and i dont understand why i'd want the padding on the front instead of the back... Help anyone?

 

[ColinM]

You just need some speaker mounting gasket - should have been supplied, in some way. I buy it from PE as a strip of black goo that compresses to make a tacky gasket.

If you don't have anything at home, you could temporarily use a couple of layers of electrical tape until you found a more ideal means. Silicone caulk is nearly permanent. Thin weatherstrip is another optin, Home Depot should have something.

 

[Jack Keck]

Once you have the box together, hopefully with the hole cut for the Quatro, you put the foam stuff around the hole, drop the speaker in, and install the screws. You'll get the tightest fit if you think about installing a tire on a car, i. e., tighten the screws that are opposite of each other rather than going in order from one screw to the next. (You get three guesses about what I would have done if someone wouldn't have taught me how to change a tire.) Oh, yeah, drilling pilot holes is a good idea. I forget what size bit to use. The one thing I had to ask about, in at least two forums, no less, is that you do have to remove the paper from the foam stuff before applying it.

I'm not sure what you mean by "bringing it in from behind".

 

[MikeGee]

I meant that i'd have to bring the speaker in from the back of the baffle because i cant finish the box and install the speaker it in because the gasket that is glued to my quatro is on the front of the speaker.

I added two pictures in my yahoo photos account they are in the Subwoofer section.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bad4me_99/my_photos

 

[DevinJC]

The speaker mounts from the front. Thus, once you have the box built, you screw the speaker down from the outside, with the some weather stripping, etc. behind it make a seal.

 

[MikeGee]

Ok my box is complete now.

I have a quick question and any answer i can get back ASAP.

I plugged an RCA plug into the sub jack on the back of my receiver then i plugged the other end into the input jack in the back of my plate amp and i'm only getting a hum... no voices.. no bass, no nothing. What am i doing wrong here?
====
UPDATE
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The humming was due to a crap wire which i replaced. However it hums when i have any kinda audio connection plugged into my receiver. (digital coax from the dvd to the receiver) Which i chalk up to a ground loop problem which i'll try and fix.

Now i got the sub hooked up except the volume is VERY VERY VERY low even if i turn the gain all the way up on the plate amp i couldnt hear it from the couch.
The sub is still set to ON and i even tried "PLUS" but it yeilded me the same result.
Whats wrong with this ...
Please help asap! thanks!
My receiver is set to have a 80hz crossover the subwoofer option is turned on (Pioneer 1014)I'm just not getting anything from it...
Loudness is on, i even put the sub to +5.5 on the receiver and the MIDNIGHT feature is also turned off.

What i did to test the plate amp is i connected a red/white RCA input from the dvd player to the output red/white on the plate amp and i am able to hear bass.. quite alot of it... enough to shake my house kinda bass... so i am sure this means the sub is fine and the plate amp is fine as well since my actual receiver wasnt even on for this test.
Just the dvd player to plate amp to woofer .. so i'm trying to figure out what it is with my receiver thats not letting me get my bass

 

[ColinM]

Receiver problem. Get the manual and try everything on setup and troubleshooting...

Glad to hear you got it working! (Kinda...)

 

[Wes]

Do you have your mains set to small on your 1014? I bet this is the problem! Hook your sub to the Front Left out on the 5.1 Preamp out and see what happens. Also Hook it back up to the Sub out and run the auto set up and let the 1014 do it's thing! I have a 1015!

Wes