Pics of my latest sub - Dayton DVC12 (1 Viewer)

[Frank Carter]

This was built for my parents basement, they originally wanted to buy a $99 KLH sub for a 10,000ft^3 basement, I told them I'd build them a sub instead. Output was the priority, not extension.

It is a vented Dayton DVC12 with a 250W plate amp. Internal volume is 4.2ft^3 and it's tuned to 25Hz. External dimensions are 23"(H)x18"(W)x23"(D). It has two internal braces and the internal walls are lined with polyfill.

I'm going to take it into work(Tweeter), I was guessing it would be better than everything(output wise) at the store except for the Martin Logan Depth. I know it's not fair to compare subs unless side by side, but with my DVC12 having the disadvantage of being in a room that's ~3X the size of what's at work it seems to have more impact and booty shaking ability.

Here are some pics. One roll of the vinyl laminate wasn't enough so I left the back unfinished. Instead of buying a new roll just for the back I might just paint it black with the truck bed liner I have left over from my sonosubs. I put the sub on the back of the enclosure because the cork surround had come off and it looked ugly.

Being clamped

Unfinished

Looking at a port through amp hole

Unfinished backside

Side with amp

Front shot


I tried to keep price as low as possible, here are the cost details:

$89 - MCM 250W plate amp(no longer on sale)
$65 - used Dayton DVC12
$30 - MDF
$14 - cherry vinyl laminate
$8 - dual 3" flared ports(11.5" length)
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$206 = Total cost

 

[Cam McFarland]

Very Nice, Frank..........

 

[MichaelDDD]

Wow, that looks GREAT!! Nice job w/the vinyl; I'd have mucked that up completely. You've obviously done this before.

Does the driver fire out the back or the bottom? Does the cabinet have feet? You certainly cannot beat the price!!

It helps that you obviously have a small woodshop and lots of clamps at your disposal. I use the woodshop on base; they've got everything.

 

[Frank Carter]

The driver fires rearward and the ports fire forward. I got the driver from another forum member and he let it go real cheap because the cork surround had come off. It does nothing for the sound but it just looks ugly. That's the reason have the driver in a position it can't be seen.

It's actually my first box sub(well second if you consider the box I built for my car when I was 16 which ended up more like a trapezoid). All of the other DIY subs I built have been sonosubs. It was also my first time with the vinyl laminate but it was pretty easy to use, there are some small areas that don't look perfect but you can only see them when you're right up next to the sub.

As for the wood shop, I have a $35 circular saw, $100 plunge router, $30 jigsaw, $30 palm sander, and a bunch of cheap clamps I bought of ebay for $70.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

Repost from the Klipsch forum (I'm kenratboy)

 

[minhG]

mmm, wood filler to cover up any 'imperfections' not that you had any

looks good,

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Frank,

The sub looks awesome!

 

[marc_manny]

Frank,

I am building a similar sub. I have bought the PE beech laminate. Did you round your edges on the sides? It looks like you did. Does this make is easier to use one piece of laminate to cover all the sides? Do you not mind the grain of the wood going side to side instead of front to back?

Marc

 

[Frank Carter]

I did round over the edges on the side. I did it mainly because I'm tired of seeing square edges. I think it would be equally easy to apply the veneer if the sides were rounded or not. I used an exacto knife to trim the excess, just take your time when trimming. I couldn't decide whether I wanted the grain on the front to match the direction of the grain on the top or the side. I decided to have it match the grain on the top since when people look at it they're standing over it and the top is what they'll see.



I did the last of the little bit of work I had to do on it yesterday. Instead of ordering more vinyl laminate for the baffle, I just used the last of the truck bed liner I had from the last subs I used it on. This thing is also very heavy so I put 4 Magic Sliders as feet(from Home Depot). Here are a few more pics:

Installed feet make it easy to move

Baffle finished with truck bed liner
(This picture was deliberately taken without a flash so it is more indicative of the actual color.)

 

[minhG]

Marc,

I don't think you'd be able to cover ALL the sides with one piece (well if it was small sub). You can cover 3 sides with one piece and then 3 sides with another piece, but the grains would be perpendicular with each other.

If anyone else has any ideas, I'm all ears, as I'm in the same predicament right now!

 

[Frank Carter]

Wayne,

I'm finally starting to do some work from on the enclosures I got from you. I actually just cut out the port and I'm putting in a flared 3" port that I have extra. I'm also going to put in a 150W plate amp that I got from another forum member. I'm using it with an SVS CS driver and I modified the amp to have 3dB of boost around 22Hz. This will be right near the tuning so woofer excursion should be at a minimum there.

Frank

 

[Rob Formica]

looks good... sooooooo... did you ?

I'm curious to how far 206$ can take you...
Rob

 

[Aaron Gilbert]

Frank,

That sub looks great! I love the cherry, it's my stain of choice for all my latest projects, though of course yours is vinyl, not stain. As others have said, you cannot beat the price. I thought mine was cheap, but came in about twice as much, though primarily because my box is more than twice as big and I'm using an external amplifier.

That room is huge, by the way! That's more square footage (assuming 8' ceilings) than my entire house! Some day I'll have a home theater that large...

I'm also curious, did you ever take it in to work? I would take mine in to work (we sell Martin-Logan, M & K, REL, Definitive, etc.), but it would be a huge challenge getting mine into the car. It weighs about 130 pounds.


Aaron Gilbert

 

[Frank Carter]

I'm taking it into work tomorrow, the best we have in the store is the Martin Logan Depth which is 3 servo controlled 8's each w/16mm one-way xmax. I'll see how it does compared to that and I'll post my impressions along with the impressions of my coworkers.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Frank,

Just be careful that a customer doesn't want to snatch that beauty off you for some cold, hard cash.

 

[Frank Carter]

Hi Wayne,
I'm in the middle of finding the tuning freq for one of the enclosures I took off you(~23Hz). It's still unfinished but it sounds pretty good, I'm not sure how I want to do to finish it or even what I'm going to use it for that matter. Today I cut out the PVC port that was in there and put in an extra 3" flared port I had lying around, cut out a space for the 150W plate amp, and screwed in a SVS CS driver. I only tested it for a minute because it's late but it sounded pretty good with the JPIII.

 

[Geoff L]

Hey Frank

Nice to see yah post Frank, how you find time to work on your sub stuff seems amazing with how busy you are!

Looks like Mission Acomplished on the low dollar parents sub. Looks great and certainly will give that KLH a run for it's money!

Let me check, I might have the proper gasket for your DVC driver laying around. I've pulled a few, finding one is the job...

I see you picked up some of the 3" PE buy out flared ports. They give a cutout dimension on the web site, did you use that, or measure and cut from your received ports?

How do they fit, and can you pop them back out with the groves on them?

I ask, cause I am building a garage sub for my brother (just for work & occasinal party music) and it will be using 2 of those same 3" buy out ports. He's using 2-DVC 12's and tuning is going to be around 26-28HZ.
A single PE 250 to start will be pushing them, and if thats not enough volume for him, ~{he must be deaf if it's not }~, then we'll add another and put one PE-250 on each driver and add 2 more ports.

Just curious, as I want a good port fit and you have already used them in the parents sub, so looking for your take (on the cutout)...Don't want to glue them or have to seal them in some way, as if another amp is used more porting will be needed. Then tthese will have to come out, too short when using 2 per driver. Will change to dual PP-3"ports in each side due to the extra needed port length.

Parents sub looks good Frank!!!

I'll send a pic or 2 of the ~{Lil Bastard~10}~ I am just finishing as soon as I take some. Also let you know if I can find one of those gaskets....

Edit:
The 10" subs name came about for a reason, everything that could go wrong did. Got so frustrated at one point, I just pushed it into the corner for a week. My stress level= extremely pissed off, was off the chart with this fricken thing!!! I never had so many things go wrong with a build as this one, and I also spent more time planning this one out than any other sub prior.
Even got a bad plate amp, which Steve/ApexJr did his best to get another to me "pre tech tested" & quickly. Came yesterday!
Just a really pisser of a sub project, took all the fun out of it. And the saddest thing is, it's still is not quite finished..

Cheers
Geoff

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Now, that's a name for a subwoofer that should be patented.

 

[Geoff L]

Hi Wayne

Check the ~{Edit in my first post near the "very bottom"}~....:frowning:

It is the subs offical name, belive me!

Regards
Geoff

 

[Frank Carter]

I used the cutout dimension on the website and it was a very tight fit. I put a little silicone on the rings before I put it in but I had to bang it in with a mallet so I'm pretty sure it would be an air tight seal w/out the silicone.

Sorry to hear about all the troubles with your sub. My problem was finding time to work on this one.