What to do with four Tempests? (1 Viewer)

[Gregg Bishop]

I just received four new Tempests as a gift (a friend was moving, I got them for the cost of shipping), now I need to figure out what to do with them.

Ultimately I would like to have one in my car & two in my small home theater. I plan to start with the theater, & whenever I get around to doing audio in my car I'll have the experience to do that as well.

I have looked through past projects posted here, & haven't found anything really similar.

If someone could get me pointed in the right direction I can probably take it from there, right now I'm just a little lost as to what I should be looking at.

Any suggestions? Should I stick with one for a theater?

Gregg

 

[Joe Hsu]

damn you and your luck ViperGTS...with 4 Tempests, what is there that you couldn't do? Maybe you should tell us your experience with DIY/woodworking to see how extensive of a project you can tackle. I personally just finished up my Tempest project, and this thing's a beast...you won't regret it. As for your car, that thing's gonna hop off the ground every time the beat hits.

(Hi, says EvilYoda from AT...good to see the constant references to HTF are paying off )

 

[Gregg Bishop]

My experience with woodworking?

Well... I've chopped down a few trees. Hatchet, baby.

My brother, however, seems to be a natural & shows a lot of promise for his age (16). I will be enlisting him in the project, as well as my dad (who has the tools + some experience). Between the three of us I'm sure we can handle just about anything we would need.

I figure I'll decide exactly what I want, get the hardware, then get their help. I'll probably pay off my brother with one of the drivers, I'm sure he can find a use for it.

I have looked at designs on Adire's web site, the only dual design they have is well outside of my price range. They have kits as low as $25, but as high as $235.

And yes, I know I suck. It was actually posted on AT, I talked him into shipping them to me rather than giving them to a stranger locally.

Gregg

 

[Tab Nichols]

Well, if you only need one for your car, and two for your theater, I'll buy one!!

Email me! jell999 at shaw.ca

Where abouts do you live?


Anywho, onto the topic at hand.... Definately DIY. Kits are great and all, but the cost of hem plus shipping is usually twice what it would cost you to do it yourself. Besides, youll be much more satisfied when you can tell your frineds that you "custom built" your subwoofer.

 

[Joe Hsu]

ViperGTS...who did you get these from? I really should look at FS/FT more often.

I'm sure you've heard about them, but have you read up on sonosubs? Depending on where you're located (I can't seem to remember from AT...), sonotube might be easily found, thus giving you a rather simple design.

A few designs I've referenced are Dustin B's and PatSun's.

 

[BenSC]

Also, why not make two seperate subs? I'd much rather have two, one is say each front corner, than gargantuon sub in the middle of the floor. Gives you more placement options for better disbursement as well.

 

[David Giesbrecht]

Two subs is much better for your theater, I had a hard time getting a descent sound in the room (other than just one spot) with only one but with two it's quite easy depending on your room of course.

Why not have all four in the HT?

 

[Gregg Bishop]

I could certainly do two separates, I'm open for anything. At this point I could even just do one (to replace my current sub) to get the experience, then go from there.

I think all four in my theater would be extreme overkill, I have a very small room dedicated to it. By the standards here my theater is child's play. Then again, I guess that's why I'm here - We'll fix that.

Sonotube looks like a definite possibility, I will look into that further. Best part is it looks relatively easy. Easy is good.

Gregg

 

[BenSC]

Build one. If it's not enough, build another The decision for me would be to go sealed or ported since you have the option of two big subs in one room

 

[Brian Bunge]

IB!

 

[David Giesbrecht]

IB!

If you can thats best

 

[Gregg Bishop]

Hmm, not sure I understand this whole IB thing. I better do some more reading...

Gregg

 

[michael-e]

check out 'cult of the infinitely baffled' its a little forum located at parsimony.net >i think> it has a hard to remember URL..but easily found in google.

also-diyaudio.com a few people have threads there on these.



4 15x dipole/IB very nice sound

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Gregg Bishop]

My initial reading said that anything with a greater volume than Vas of the driver was considered infinite baffle, & I thought I could do it with a (large) sonosub. On further reading, however, it looks like 10x is the general rule. So that pretty well rules out that idea, I have no space for that. It's a rental house, so no carpentry work on the walls/ceiling.

I suppose the logical thing to do would be a sonosub, anybody know where I can get Sonotube in the Portland metro area (Oregon)? I've called probably 10 different places (mostly cement places), most of them have never heard of the stuff.

My other possibility would be one of Adire's reference designs, I figure they're relatively foolproof (as long as I can pull off the woodwork).

Gregg

 

[Neil Joseph]

I think the vas for 4 tempests is simply too large so I would go infinite baffle as well.

 

[Gregg Bishop]

That would require an even larger space, though... Right?

The way I understand IB is that you need anywhere from 1-10x the Vas of the driver. 1x the Vas of one is doable (at this point I'm only looking to do one), but four is not.

Doesn't IB inherently require a much larger volume (hence people using attics, etc.)? I think I need to go the opposite direction, since I would like to put one Tempest in a sonosub for now (or the Adire Aligned reference design if I can't find Sonotube locally).

I tried going to the cult of the infinitely baffled forum, but my work proxy blocks it. I'll have to check that out when I get home, I must be missing something here...

Gregg

 

[Gregg Bishop]

Well, I found a place where I can get Sonotube so it looks like I'll be going that way. For anybody in the Portland/Beaverton area, BMC West in Sherwood can order Sonotube.

Now that I have a better idea what I'm going with, I have more questions:

1) Amp-wise, would it be better to build an external PE amp or just buy one of the many Samson amps off of Ebay?

2) I see a seemingly endless array of dimensions of Sonotube subs... Should I just pick one of Adire's reference designs & go with it (for a volume, obviously the design would be totally different), or is there some way to calculate what I should do?

Gregg

 

[michael-e]

Gregg

yeap whats your bass-needs ?

i would go with the smallest volume you can go,while keeping low end,just choose one of the adire ones that fit what you want.

remember if u want music,it doesnt necessarily need to go super low.

but that low end rumble is always nice


_mike

 

[Frank Carter]

How big is the room you're putting it in? Does it open to other rooms?

If the room is large and opens to other rooms, that would help dictate how many subs would work.

 

[Gregg Bishop]

The room is quite small, maybe 110 ft² with a standard 8' ceiling. It was intended as a bedroom, & has a door that is closed during use.

I am definitely going Sonotube, I have ordered a 24" tube (had to get the whole 12', anybody in the Portland area need Sonotube?) + the MDF necessary for the end caps.

Currently I'm thinking I'll go with a 230L sealed design, which is one of Adire's reference designs. This would require less than 3' of Sonotube, keeping the size quite reasonable, & I think it will be more than sufficient for my room.

I ordered 1" MDF, I figure I'll have two layers inside the bottom endcap, probably one inside the top, & then a 1/2" cabinet grade plywood cap for each end. By my calculations this will result in a Sonotube length of 35" (Well, I tried to link to a spreadsheet of my calculations but apparently I haven't been deemed worthy of linking yet...).

This will primarily be used for home theater, my music listening is done with headphones (yet another hobby I can't truly afford).

Gregg