Has anyone used SVS driver in a DIY sub? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin P]

With people taking advantage of SVS's driver upgrade offer for the CS/PC series subs, has anyone considered building a DIY Sonotube using the old driver? Especially a dual-driver configuration?

A co-worker friend of mine and I both have 20-39CS subs and are purchasing the driver upgrades. He has a large room and wants to build a dual-driver sonotube and then sell his upgraded SVS. Does anyone have T/S parameters for the SVS driver, or does Tom & Ron keep it secret like the KFC recipe?

Just wondering...

KJP

 

[jeff lam]

Look back a week of so, several guys have come in here with original SVS driver questions lately. My suggestion would be to build an exact replica of the 25-31/20-39/16-46. If you want to go dual, just double the volume and put a port and a driver on each endcap.

I don't know if anyone came up with the T/S parameters yet.

 

[Kevin P]

Thanks, I did a search and found T/S parameters in this post.
Does a dual driver tube have to have double the volume of a single driver tube? That would be a big tube.
KJP

 

[Patrick Sun]

I have a 2.75 ft^3 MDF box that I'll be using with an old SVS driver, and tune it to around 22-25Hz. I just need to get some longer screws and fix one of the screw hole t-nuts.

 

[DanWiggins]

Kevin P posted:

Quote:

Yes, for a given alignment you need to double the volume of the tube if you double the number of drivers.
Dan Wiggins
Adire Audio

 

[Jack Gilvey]

The parameters are close enough to Shiva that you could comfortably use any of the Shiva alignments.

That's the sincerest form of flattery, or so they say.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I just finished plopping the SVS driver into that old 2.5-2.75ft^3 MDF box, and I would have to say you can get away with a slightly smaller box with the SVS driver over a Shiva. Plus, the performance/price ratio is awfully high with the inexpensive SVS drivers being offered all over the place as upgrade mania has swept through HT-dom.

 

[Eric M Jones]

I recently built these 2 identical subs. I've only been running one (with a Shiva) while saving to get another Shiva for the other...
That was until I saw guys offering the old SVS drivers for $40 on the forum. I figured for $40 it would be fun to see how the SVS sounds in a 54liter sealed enclosure. Plus the guy selling it was local so I didn't have to pay shipping either. Too good of a deal to pass up in my book...
So I bought it and played around with the two a couple days ago. I only have 1 amp (apex jr.) so I can't run them together yet...so I did some very unscientific A-B testing.
They sound very similar in fact about the only difference I've noticed between the two is when I pulled out the sound meter to calibrate. The SVS runs about +7 db over the Shiva. The SVS also sounds as though it may have a little more oomph with HT application although that may also be because of the SVS sub being closer to a corner than the Shiva which fires into an open hall. Which also could explain the higher loudness too, I suppose.
Anway, I'd recommend picking one or 2 up if you can.. for the price it's kind of a no brainer.
-EJ

 

[Patrick Sun]

Currently I've been listening to Rush's Moving Pictures with my DIY 2-ways and the resurrected SVS in the medium MDF box. It's not too shabby sounding at all. I plan on mating it with the $105 250W plate amp (same as the Parts Express 300-794 model but with bass boost - will be disabled by moi) I ordered from MCM a couple of days ago, so for around $200-$225, I'm going to have a pretty decent back-up sub (or early Christmas gift for someone).

These SVS drivers are a very nice bargain.

 

[Eric M Jones]

Pat,

How difficult is it to disable the bass boost on that amp? That sounds like a great price and I need an amp too.

-EJ

 

[Patrick Sun]

Eric, I think it's just one resistor needs to be swapped out.
Read through these threads for the pertinent details:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...&highlight=mcm
http://www.geocities.com/kreskovs/PE300-794.html

 

[Robert Derouen]

Patrick, I am very interested as to how your project will turn out. BTW, I like your taste in music!

I'm going to have a pretty decent back-up sub (or early Christmas gift for someone).

Shall I send you my Santa list now or wait until you finish it?
Robert Derouen

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'll try to post some pix tomorrow.

YYZ, baby, YYZ!

 

[Dan W.]

I have recently upgraded the woofs in my two 20-39CS's and am planning on using one of the original drivers in a DIY sub for my bedroom. I'm currently thinking of building it as an Aerial SW12 look-alike. I figure $40 for the driver makes it a very inexpensive way to get into DIY. This will be my first foray into cabinet building...

I was going to start into DIY by building the Audax HT left, right and center speakers, but impatience overcame me and I bought the pre-assembled cabinets from Madisound when I ordered the Audax kits. ;-)

And, since Patrick has already brought up RUSH in this thread, I just want to say they are my all-time favorite music group. And, if you aren't already aware, they will be releasing their 17th studio album, Vapor Trails, on May 14th after a 5 year hiatus following the release of Test For Echo.

Regards,

Dan W.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Dan, all I got to say is that you win for the least amount of posts between sign-up and now. (5 posts in 3 years!)

 

[Jack Gilvey]

By-tor and the Snow Dog!

 

[Dan W.]

Ya just had to point that out, didn't ya?
Well, aside from being a habitual lurker, I originally registered with HTF back when it was more of a threaded format, like the Parts Express board and I don't particularly care for that style of forum. Also, about that time I was spending more time over at the Digital Theater Forum. I've only been back to HTF for a little over a year.
Still, I guess that ranks as a pretty low posting rate, eh?
I find the discussions fascinating reading and I've learned a ton from this forum. That's why I have upgraded dual 20-39CS's in my system and have recently gone to the Audax HT in place of B&W Matrix 804/HTM's. And, now will be venturing further into the land of DIY.
Oh, and it's also why I now have ETF installed on my laptop and spend way too many occasions re-checking the eq settings on my ART351 driving the subs.
I blame everyone here!
Dan W.
ps - Jack, actually I usually go by the moniker, Lerxst.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Dan, I'm always good at coaxing the lurkers from the shadows...
Here's 4 photos of the SVS "upgrade" process:
Photo 1: Here's the raw SVS driver (I took off the rubber surround ring in order for it to fit the cutoff from an old sub enclosure that was made for a Shiva 3 years back by another member here).
Photo 2: Here's the old box sans old driver. You can get a glimpse of the extensive plumbing job I did on the port.
Photo 3: Here's a closer shot of the innards of the box. The original port was about 8" long, but I went overboard and used some 45 degree PVC pipe bends to get the port length around 22"-24" long. It was not fun getting all that extra stuff in that box. What it's tuned to? I'm hoping down in the low-20Hz range. I'll play around with the calibration and measurements later and find out.
Is the porting ideal? No. I'm just trying to make lemonade with the lemons I've got on hand.
Photo 4: Here's the subwoofer put back together with the SVS driver in place.
I had to go buy banana plugs for the driver because I couldn't get the 5-way binding posts on the drivers to screw down on bare wire - no big deal. The driver is supposed to be recessed, but the outer recessed driver rim is just too tight, and I basically have the driver screwed in on half of its right side, and wedged in, hammered in, and screwed in on the left side. I the did the tissue test and couldn't find a leak on the driver "installation". I'll have to mess up the front baffle to get the driver out of there if/when I decide I need to fix this problem. I have a cover for the driver, so with the cover on, no one is the wiser.
I don't know how "ideal" this enclosure is for the driver, but I calculate internal volume to be around 2.5-2.75ft^3, which is pretty close to the old SVS 25-31 CS model.

 

[Alexis]

To Eric,

In comparing the Shiva to the SVS. Were you running the dual voice coils of the shiva in parallel?

It's interesting that you measure it to be much louder than the shiva, since the blueprint 1201's which were similar to the original svs, was not as efficient as the shiva, based upon the specs.

btw, since the shiva t/s is "close" to the svs, I have been using the adire version of their modeling software. How close would this be? Or which way would I need to compensate my values?

 

[Robert Derouen]

Patrick, how's that puppy actually sound compared to your sonotube with misc reference material? Sure we can assume the sonotube outperforms it but by how much? Just looking for a gut opinion comparison here. BTW, within this thread I have actually seen 2 other Rush enthusiust, myself included, that makes three, I LOVE THAT!

Robert Derouen