I finally started my Twin Tempest Project! (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey_S]

Hi all,

Well, after much planning, deliberation and many helpful comments from you all, I started cutting Baltic Birch plywood today. Some of you may remember that I had originally planned to make a dual Tempest sonosub. I planned it out in detail. Right before I went to get the sonotube, however, my wife informed me that she really didn't like the look. She had no problem with twin traditional Tempests, however, or even stacked subs for that matter.

So now I'm on a path to build two traditional Adire Alignment vented subwoofers. I still like the idea of a dual sub but I didn't want to deal with moving a heavy wooden enclosure of the size needed to house two Tempest drivers. So what I have come up with is a design whereby, after construction, I could use my subs as stereo subs or stack them, one on top of the other. In this configuration, I would have the lower Tempest firing downward and the upper one firing upward. So, you see, in the final analysis, it's alot like the dual Tempest sonosub I had initially contemplated building. By making two stackable subs, and by using Baltic Birch plywood in place of MDF, I also have made this stackable sub more manageable when moving it around the room.

Well, as of today, three braces and part of one lower baffle are complete. I will be documenting the building process with pictures, starting this weekend. By then I should be ready to start the assembly of one of the subs. It's my plan to build them one at a time so that I can start enjoying them as soon as possible. Eventually I'll create a website and put it all together, but in the mean time, I'll post pics in this thread.

I've modified the design of the Adire Alignment vented sub somewhat. I will be doubling up on the baffle. Also, I like to make my speakers using tongue and groove joinery so I've added dados and extended the wooden elements, in some places to allow for this.

Each sub will be driven by a 250W plate amp.

During the build process, if anyone has any questions, just let me know. Also, if any of you see anything which you would improve upon, please let me know this as well.

Jeff

 

[Kerry Hackney]

I hate to tell you but even with them seperate they are not easy to move around...
On the plus side, just wait till you here them for the first time... Hope your house is solid.

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Kerry,

I figure each sub will be about 100 lbs using Baltic Birch ply. Maybe a little less. That's still alot better than moving a 200 pounder.

Jeff

 

[Ryan T]

My sub weighs over 200 lbs, Its a BIG pain to move it. I did not think it would be worth the extra money for Baltic Birch when I made it. But after lugging it up my stairs and finding the right place for it in my room I think it would have been a worth while investment. If I build another sub I'm going to reconsider Baltic Birch.

Ryan

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Ryan,

Did you make the same one I'm building? I think you reduce the weight about 30% by using Baltic Birch ply. I'll post a final weight on mine when I complete the first sub.

I finished the sides today. Tomorrow I'll cut the opening in the back panel for the plate amp and do a trial assembly. I'll take some pics either tomorrow or on Sunday.

Jeff

 

[Ryan T]

My sub uses the Tempest driver. It is the Adire 230 Liter sealed design. Are you porting you subs? Anyhow the sealed Tempest has awsome bass. In my small room (10' by 14') I get pretty flat response -10 db at 12 Hz.

Ryan

 

[Mike Strassburg]

Glad to hear that things are finally underway. Haven't built a "box" sub yet, but I'm amazed at how easy my sonosub was to build.

Tomorrow I'm dropping in the drivers and covering the tube. Then it's just wait until Tuesday when the amp will arrive. I even took a personal day on Wednesday just to play with my new baby!

What are you going to do for a finish?? I just painted the front baffle of my new CC with "hammertone silver" and it looks awesome. Would love to see a sub in that color....

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Ryan,

I went with the Adire Alignment Vented 214L sub design since I'm going to be doing more HomeTheater than music. My current sub is a sealed design (ACI Titan) and it's great for music. In my basement HT, however, it strains a bit which is why I'm upgrading and going vented. I did consider doing sealed dual subs as well. I think with two subs, even in my large basement HT, I would have been very happy with a sealed design.

Mike,

Glad your nearing completion. Also glad that the HS500 is in stock and shipping. I know how long you waited for that amp. Have you wired up the drivers yet? What wire and what size terminators did you use to make the connections and where did you get them?

I don't blame you for taking a personal day to play. That's what they're for.

I've used that Hammertone silver for a tube preamp I built and it is great stuff. I still haven't decided on an exact finish. Because of SAF, however, it will be a wood finish. I will probably veneer sheets of 1/4" Baltic Birch ply or 1/4" MDF with wood veneer (probably maple). Then I'll glue these to the enclosure. All corner joints will be solid wood so I'll rabbit the edges and glue in solid wood fillers. Then I'll round over all corners. I'm leaning toward going with a hand-rubbed finish.

Jeff

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Well, I think I'm done woodworking for the day. I've managed to cut and complete all of the pieces for the sub with the exception of the cut-out in the back panel for the plate amp. Here's a pic of the unassembled pieces:
http://www.extremepages.com/sub parts.jpg
Here's a few of the trial assembly without any glue:
http://www.extremepages.com/trial assembly 1.jpg
http://www.extremepages.com/trial assembly 2.jpg
www.extremepages.com/trial assembly 5.jpg
I should be able to begin construction again in a few days.
Jeff

 

[Kerry Hackney]

Jeff> Your sub is coming along very nicely... I'll bet you have that Christmas-eve excitement feeling like when you were a kid. I am very interested to see if your impression of the Tempest/Adire matches mine. If so, you're gonna love it.

 

[Michael Do]

You've got some woodworking skills there. Those K Bessey you've got there are awesome too bad I can only afford a pair at this time.

 

[Mike Strassburg]

Jeff,
I used the standard HD 12 gauge wire and 12 crimp on connectors. Installed drivers/wired last Saturday. Also used Velcro to mount the speaker grills. Just need to wrap the sub in the black naughehyde. Amp will arrive tomorrow.
Just hoping this thing lives up to expectations. I'm also building a dual 10" center channel. Picked up a scratch & dent Klipsch KLF-10 tower and made a new front baffle so I could set it on the TV. Just waiting on shileding magnets for that.
Hard to believe that by this weekend my dream HT system will be up and running. Only thing left is a WS HDTV.....
Construction looks nice. What did you use to cut all those small holes?? Looks like a lot more work than a sonosub, but the "traditional" look will be nice, especially if it keeps you out of divorce court

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Kerry,
You're right about that excitement thing! Now I just have to pace myself and try not to rush it.
Michael,
Thanks for the complement. Those Bessey K clamps are great. I only have 4 myself. They are expensive.
Mike,
Thanks for the wiring info. Sounds like its going to be a great center channel. A few months ago, I built a NorthcreekMusic Rhythm center channel that I designed from one of their mains speaker kits. It sounds great but weighs a ton. I gave up hopes of ceiling mounting it above my TV and built a stand for it so it could sit in front of the set. Here's a pic of it before I built the stand:
http://www.extremepages.com/Pic3.jpg
Those holes were cut with a 4" hole saw that I had from another project. They were a piece of cake to cut once I figured out how to stop the saw from clogging and making burn marks on the wood. (All I had to do was blow air from my compressor on the saw as it cut.) Each hole then took about 1-2 minutes to cut. I was going to use my circle cutting jig and router, which would have taken longer, until I remembered I had the hole saw.
Jeff

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Well, I've made some progress over the past few days, and I thought I'd fill you all in.
I finished the glue-up of the cabinet. I had to borrow some clamps from a friend to clamp it all together since I prefer not to use screws. This went well but is time consuming as I like to let the glue dry overnight before removing clamps and sanding. I did the glue up in two stages. First I glued the main cabinet together:
http://www.extremepages.com/clamped sub.jpg
(Sorry about the poor quality of the pic.) Then I glued the second layer to the baffle:
http://www.extremepages.com/lower baffle.jpg
http://www.extremepages.com/lower baffle 2.jpg
This morning I sanded everything smooth and now I'm ready to start the finishing process. Tomorrow I'll cut the parts for my base and the legs. I'll post more pics as things progress. At this pace, I hope to be listening to this first sub by next weekend.
Jeff

 

[Dustin B]

Looking good Jeff. Bet you're getting very anxious
PS - you don't have much sympathy for modem users do you :p) Thank god I have 3 Mbps DSL. Would be nice if you would resize them to 1024*768 or 800*600 and save them as normal/medium quality.

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Hi Dustin,

Sorry to everyone for the size of the pics. Actually I did reduce them from 9 Mb tiff format to about 100-200 Kb jpg's. But your point is well taken about the image size which would reduce things still further. I'll do that from now on. I also have a DSL connection.

Jeff

 

[Dustin B]

LOL, even my 3Mbps DSL line would be in pain on a 9meg tiff :p)
I guess you have some sympathy after all

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

I am about to build one as well. Probably a single adire alignment vented tempest with an AVA250.

Do you have any problems you encountered or tips?

I'll be using 2 sheets of 3/4" MDF factory laminated with maple. Probably one side with a high grade maple and the inner side with a C grade.

I usually build stuff with my friend at his shop (he's a professional contractor). Should we make slots in the pieces so they slide in place? I see that you made grooves in the boards to help seal it.

He said to use laminated wood because veneers don't always turn out as nice and take time. (Laminates are factory vacuum pressed and sanded smooth sheets of MDF) We'll probably miter the edges and hopefully it will look like some of the $5000 furniture their business produces.

I was thinking of using glue, nail gun, and then screws right next to the nail shot. He has a machine that pumps out maple plugs and a lathe for maple legs.

Will the sub be heavy enough? I'll use steel spikes on carpet... Should I install a barbell weight disc in the top of the sub box that's hidden?

I was also thinking of an enclosure design with adjustable volume. Maybe use clamps and sliding boards to change the inner volume of the sub for different applications. I think that would be quite the challenge for my contractor friend and I. Think it can be done?

 

[Jeffrey_S]

Hi Chris,

I think you will enjoy your project. You are essentially building the same sub I am only I hope to eventually build two.

I have never used pre-laminated MDF before. The only problem I can see with this is if your glue-up isn't exact and you have to sand certain panels excessively. You might go through the veneer in this kind of a situation.

I placed grooves in all my panels to be sure that everything lined up properly during glue-up. Also, it adds strength to the joints by adding surface area to the glued panels. But in addition to this, it does contribute to a better seal as well.

I don't think nails do too well with MDF. Screws are fine, however, if you pre-drill pilot holes. If you do use screws in prelaminated MDF, you will need to use those maple plugs you mentioned.

I am making my sub out of Baltic Birch ply which is lighter than MDF and already it's about 80-100 lbs. I don't think you need to worry about adding any weight to yours.

Making an adjustable cabinet is pretty difficult. I wouldn't attempt it, personally. Your friend sounds pretty experienced, however, so he might be able to pull it off.

Keep us all posted on your progress.

If I can be of any further help, let me know.

Jeff

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

I was just wondering how the tempest in a vented enclosure will compare to SVS subs. I hear nothing but good raves about SVS products and I want to have good bass too.

If I make the tempest perfect according to their recommended enclosure, what type of sub will it compare to? Like which SVS model... Materials and driver/amp add up to about $500 so hopefully it can compete with their $550 PCI model.

The best sub I've heard so far was a $300 Klipsch KSW-12 which probably isn't saying much. Hopefully I will be overwhelmed with joyful bass. I want it to be a good future investment.. for now it will be in my HTPC room. (12'x11')

If a tempest is overkill for a small room or will be detrimental to my health please let me know.