Blueprint 1503 box done! Long - DUW (1 Viewer)

[Kincade]

Finished my blueprint 1503 based box last night! It's 5 cubic feet net, but overall is about 8 before taking the ports, bracing, etc. away. Tuned to 20 Hz w/ the slot vent.

Let me know what you think - I don't think it's too bad for a first timer! 3 sheets of MDF, 2 quarts of paint, 1 quart of floetrol, 2 bottles of titebond, 1 pack of nails for my nailgun, several packs of sandpaper, and I'm done!

Hopefully I did this right - I took a LOT of time finishing the box so that it would come out looking well for my HT, due to the SAF.

I've gotta thank Kyle Richardson - he helped me IMMENSELY in this project, and went so far as to have me up to his house to see the driver in person and listen to his BP 1804 in his own HT. Thanks again Kyle!

What I learned:

-Check your measurements 5 times. Not 2. Yes, that is another box sitting underneath the second, which was my first attempt. :frowning:

-If you think you're building a small box, and you want it vented, try doubling the size. That'll be much closer to the final size than Unibox tells you.

-I like working with metal infinitely more than wood. I sanded the box, filled with bondo, sanded again, filled with spackle, primed and sanded 4x, and topcoated and sanded 3x. And there are STILL 2 seams visible - barely, but they bother me. And let's not even talk about the dust from MDF. I'm gonna be coughing up dust for the next 6 months, even wearing a dustmask.

Here are the pics - some are compressed to lessen the download time, so they don't look that good - but you'll get the idea.

 

[Kyle Richardson]

Dayum! That is a big box isnt it? So, when is she going to let you come in from the doghouse and sleep inside?

 

[Mitch N]

whoa, impressive for a first box. It can only get better from here!

 

[Kincade]

Kyle - the look on her face when I finally brought it home last night wasn't what I had hoped. :b It said to me "honey, I like the look of the box... but I thought you told me that this box would be SMALLER THAN THE TEMPEST!!!!"

But yes, it is a big box. Much larger than I had originally sought for; It's actually about the size of your Maelstrom box. Remember the one that I said was so big, and that I wanted smaller? Yep, that's the one.

Oh well. Hopefully I'll get 2 of my 3 requirements; great for HT, accurate for music, and reasonable size.

Thanks for the compliment Mitch! I took a LOT of time on this. Anal retentive doesn't really describe my approach I'm afraid (as I'm sure Kyle can attest).

 

[Wayne Ernst]

I think you are looking at Kincade's new bedroom.

Very nice looking box. Let us know how that beast sounds. Very good use of the Blueprint driver.

 

[Kincade]

LOL - retrospectively, I should have built another sub, so that I could hang my hammock between the two subwoofers; this would have given me a nice place to wait out the storm.

It's funny, it looks a LOT larger in the living room than it did in in the back yard. Funny how that happens.

 

[Daniel Metcalf]

So how does it sound? I just got an 1804 from Kyle that I installed in an IB..........very nice driver for the money.

 

[Kincade]

I can't tell yet, didn't really have time to play with it last night. So far, it's nice, plays very low, and needs to be eq'd at about 80hz (sounds like there's a nice hump there, and I knew to expect this). I'm just gonna cross it over lower than that for now and see what I can get to fall off the walls.

I'll tell you one thing, it's a massively beefy driver. It made the tempest look like a childs toy in comparison.

I bought U571 and the last Matrix today at Best Buy. Tonight the cats will be unhappy.

 

[Daniel Metcalf]

Both of those movies are great for LFE (good flicks, too), I was watching some scenes from Titan AE yesterday until I heard vigorous stomping above me. My wife's web design home office is right above the theater/music/drum room and stuff was falling off her desk from the 1804! Doghouse time.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

If you're into motorcycles, rent a copy of Torque. Like "The Fast and the Furious" - Torque doesn't have much of a plot. However, it will give your subwoofer one great workout.

 

[Kincade]

Daniel and Wayne,

Thanks for the suggestions... I'm almost afraid to rent torque - after seeing fast and furious, and a motorcycle flick with lawrence fishburne that I cant remember. But what the hell, it's only $4!

Is there any place that lists good movies for LFE anywhere? I've never paid attention, because I've never had a good sub!

 

[Wayne Ernst]

SVS has graciously provided a list of music and movies to use when testing out a sub:

Click me

 

[Chris Brock]

WOW!! that looks great IMO. it actually looks exactly like a box that I would build ahaha.

I am actually just finishing up what I am calling "project man beast" it is an 1804 in 16 cubes net 20 cubes total tuned to 15hz. I should be able to add the to thread I stated this weekend.

 

[minhG]

uhm, how'd you get that into the house? i mean it looks insanely heavy--oh and I guess your wife was not home at the time

 

[Jason Dalton]

I can't see the pics...

I've been helping my friend build his box for a 15" Quatro/PE250W. We're doing it in a piano gloss black, HOLY SANDING, BATMAN!! Yeah, it still needs work, but we hooked it all up last night to see how it sounds. Wow. The thing goes LOOOOOOWWWWW! I love subwoofers.

P.S. Eight cubic feet does look a lot bigger indoors, doesn't it.

 

[Kincade]

Wayne - Thanks for the tip - hadn't seen that list before!

Chris - holy cow! I cannot fathom a box that is over 2X this size! How in the world will you move it? You'll need a built in hydraulic system to move the box. Hmmm, that's not a bad idea...

minG - not easily! it took two of us. It easily weighs 180 lbs, and I think closer to 200. and yes, she was home, with that look of dismay I spoke of earlier!

jason - after just trying to get this flat for an eggshell finish, i don't think i'd ever dare do a piano black! i think i'd pay someone else for it!

 

[Chris Brock]

actually i just decided to go get some nice casters for it. When I got it togather and put the sub in and tried to push it I just said to myself "This is RIDICULOUS!!" And I actually thought for a second that maby I had went to far this time. But then I turned it on I am hoping to get to borrow an spl meter frommy buddy this weekend so I can set up my BFD and get some mesurements of what it can do.

Actually a very good way to get a descent finish out of an MDF box is to use a layer of black paint and then get some spray on truck bed liner from autozone. it comes out looking very modern.

 

[Kincade]

I really like how this box turned out with the eggshell finish. Looks pretty good IMHO. I was going to have it line-x'd professionally, but ran out of dollars.

I was going to do casters also - but ended up getting some teflon sliders for the bottom at Home Depot. Slides very nicely now!

 

[Aaron Gilbert]

Kincade,

That box looks great! I can't imagine all the finish work that went into it. It does in my opinion certainly equal the appearance of any painted commercial subwoofer (and bests most by a good margin). I never liked the piano black gloss finishes, myself, shows fingerprints way too easily.

When are you people going to learn that using veneered plywood makes for a lot less work and weight than finishing MDF? And 2 x 4's are a lot lighter and quicker for braces than MDF sheets with a lot of holes cut in them. To each his own though, and my box still weighs about 130 pounds, granted it's 9.7 cubic feet net. Certainly, plywood does present it's own problems. I think my next subwoofer will be the sonotube variety, at least partially.


Aaron Gilbert

 

[Kincade]

Aaron,

Thanks for the compliments, that means a lot! I didn't want the glossy finish either - shows EVERYTHING too much.

Funny thing is, I painted it so that I wouldn't have to go to all the trouble to veneer it. It would have taken me MUCH less time to apply and trim the veneer than to finish it the way I did.

My other worry was applying the veneer on the rounded corners - but I think if I had use a larger roundover bit, that it would have been ok.