# Build log of a 5.1 setup I'm doing for a friend...56k can blow me



## ItalynStylion

Some of you might remember that I was planning on building a home theater setup for a frend of mine that just got married as a wedding gift. He's basically paying for material costs and I'm building it all. We wanted to keep it somewhat frugal but still wanted an audiophile sound as well. I always like to make things look nice too when it doesn't get in the way of functionality. The system needs to be a capable 5.1 with the ability to pound when called upon and still sound great for listening purposes. Also, it would be run off a receiver so my loads all needed to be 8 ohm at the least. My choices on equipment were things I had never tried on my own and this was the perfect time to do so! 

I had bought a DIYMA R12 a few months ago and it was the PERFECT candidate for this project. For the main speakers, center, and surrounds I chose some Mark Audio CHR 70's found here. CHR 70 (Pair)
I don't know dick about crossover design so that was a big reason I went full range on this project. I had heard great things about these little drivers and they were on sale for $55.25 a pair! I could wire them in series for an 8 ohm final load too! Perfect!!!

The Mark Audio drivers are in the mail and I'm still drawing up designs for the speakers. I'll start them here in a couple days once I get my designs solidified. 

While I was deciding on drivers for the surround system I have been working hard on the sub. This was my first application for the DIYMA sub and I wanted it to be special. I think I got my wish because the final product really brings a smile to my face. 


Here is what we are starting with. The DIYMA sub, a pile of hardware, solid 4ga copper and not shown is an ED LT550 plate amp and a pile of wood.










Here is my quick mock up while clamping the front baffle. Let me take a moment to explain my deign. The sub mounts to the front double baffle and is countersunk to be flush with the front. The small chamber on the left side in the picture below is for the plate amp. I didn't want to have the amp in the subs' airspace because I don't want to compromise a side of the box by cutting out the wall for the amp. Also, I wanted to let this amp breathe and cool off which posed a problem since the heatsink is on the INSIDE of the amp...retarded I know. I'll show you how I accomplished this in a bit. Lastly, the DIYMA motor structure is too beautiful too hide so I'll be using a plexiglass window on the top to allow it to be seen.










I'm all about the threaded inserts now. These things are waaaay better than T-nuts!










I wanted to use solid copper instead of wires. Why? Because it looks five million times cooler that's why! I needed to find a way to straighten the copper since it came rolled up. I decided to roll it between two sheets of MDF with all 145lbs of me (cross country runner) on top of it. It worked very well to my surprise!










So now that my copper was straight I needed to find a way to make uniform bends so I could get around the subs' motor structure. I first zip tied the copper pieces together at a few intervals so I could bend both pieces at the same time and get both of them the exact same shape. I used a can of 3M 90 spray adhesive as a guide around the magnet. It was the perfect diameter and actually stuck to the bottom of the magnet which was great since I didn't have to hold it.


















Now that I had made my bends I had to test fit to see if it works....perfect fit!


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## ItalynStylion

Here is the box with the top being test fitted. You can see here how big the window will be. At this point in the build stage I had to build the rest of the box around the copper so I couldn't remove it. I decided to cover it with a bag so it wouldn't get junk on it. Note the threaded inserts used here. I freakin love these things.










Here is the rear compartment where the amp will mount. I drilled some holes in the bottom of the compartment so air could flow up through the bottom and out the top vent that I had made. Here is where I terminated the copper leads too so they could be connected to the amp.


















Here is the box after some round overs and some sanding.


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## ItalynStylion

After some primer and more sanding I did a coat of paint. Let me first admit that I suuuuuuuuuck at painting and I loath it. But, this time I was using some foam paint rollers that worked well. I wanted a smooth finish but yeah...that didn't happen. What did happen was actually even cooler. The rollers left a sort of texture that I ended up liking quite a bit. The second picture is with the paint dry after two coats.


















After the paint had dried I connected the amp wires to the copper leads and mounted the amp. More threaded inserts were used. Check out the vent at the top. I think it came well. 










I couldn't use plolyfill on this box since you could see into it. This meant that I was going to use some acoustic foam that Mir and I had ordered last summer. All walls except for the plexiglass (for obvious reasons) were lined with the foam. I used carpet tape which is my newest favorite toy. It's like duct tape that is double sided. It's strong as hell and keeps two things stuck together flush. Pretty cool stuff! It was perfect for what I wanted to do and I'm glad it was suggested to me.

















Now with everything finished all I had to do was pop the sub in and seal up the glass top. I used speaker gasketing tape on the plexiglass because I refuse to build a leaky box.










Here she is all finished up!


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## dany2k3m

Nice and clean :2thumbsup:


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## el_chupo_

Looks phenomenal. Cant wait for a review of the CHR's


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## drtool

56k crap I am running 4.5k BEST but worth it. Thumb up.


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## ItalynStylion

Thanks for the kind words guys. I'm really looking forward to the CHR's too. Nifty little buggers and they were cheap! I've read that even though they are small they have some balls so I'm excited to see what's what. 



I had a chance to finally listen to the sub tonight and I really like it. I put some music on it for about 20 minutes and then the girlfriend and I watched Hit Man. By the end of the movie I think the sub had broken in quite a bit and was starting to disappear. Room placement wasn't optimal by any means. I pretty much just set it down, plugged it in, and let her rip. I'll be running it till my friend takes delivery


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## azngotskills

Nice work Steven 

Just curious, how long did something like that take?


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## ItalynStylion

I started Wednesday of last week and finished this afternoon around lunch. I didn't get to work Saturday though so I think it took me about 6 days. Two of those days were pretty much just waiting for primer/paint to dry though.


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## Ga foo 88

So your going to run the mark audio drivers with 2 on the front baffle, or more of a bipole configuration?


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## |Tch0rT|

Freaking awsome man! You're seriously making me want to use my DIYMA 12 when I get it for home audio rather than car audio. One of the best looking (and I'm sure sounding) home subs I have ever seen. I love the copper tubes, the "pyramid" foam, and the plexi glass. My questions is what's the airspace on the box and the dimensions?

Thanks!

Ryan


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## ItalynStylion

Ga foo 88 said:


> So your going to run the mark audio drivers with 2 on the front baffle, or more of a bipole configuration?


Two drivers on the front baffle in a BR.


|Tch0rT| said:


> Freaking awsome man! You're seriously making me want to use my DIYMA 12 when I get it for home audio rather than car audio. One of the best looking (and I'm sure sounding) home subs I have ever seen. I love the copper tubes, the "pyramid" foam, and the plexi glass. My questions is what's the airspace on the box and the dimensions?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Ryan


The sub is in 1 cube after driver displacement. I had read that if you were putting it in a sealed box with a decent amount of power it needed to be about 1 cube to keep from folding the cone. The entire sub is 17.25x15x15


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## hoamic11

Wow, that looks sweet man. 

Wanna make me one, lol


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## RMAT

Great work man!. This is the motivation I needed to do something similar. 

What threaded inserts are you using and where did you get them?

And I use the hell out of carpet tape too. Great stuff! sometime a PITA to get the backing off but still works great. I also use it for wrapping fleecing or vinyl or grill cloth on things.


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## ItalynStylion

hoamic11 said:


> Wow, that looks sweet man.
> 
> Wanna make me one, lol


I could make another for the right price $$$$ 



RMAT said:


> Great work man!. This is the motivation I needed to do something similar.
> 
> What threaded inserts are you using and where did you get them?
> 
> And I use the hell out of carpet tape too. Great stuff! sometime a PITA to get the backing off but still works great. I also use it for wrapping fleecing or vinyl or grill cloth on things.


I'm using the ones that Lowes has in their hardware department. Nothing fancy. The biggest concern with them is that they go in straight. If not it's hard to thread a bolt into them if the tolerances are tight.

+1 on the backing being hard to get off! It's worth the trouble though.

PS: Dude, 311 just released their new single last night on the internet!


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## RMAT

Youtube is blocked at work  but yeah can't wait for new album.


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## ItalynStylion

The CHR-70's came in the mail yesterday. Great looking little drivers. I'm looking forward to hearing them but I have to decided on a design first.


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## metanium

Man your sub has given me a lot of inspiration for the new DIYMA 12 I got last week. Gonna be mating it w/full active bookshelves here: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diy-other-audio/56711-diy-fully-active-3-way-2-1-home-audio.html

Also working on the ultimate DIY 2.1 active portable ipod dock that I plan on bringing to the Foosman's BROWN-EQ. I better get crack-a-lackin on it!


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## ItalynStylion

Sounds cool man. Hopefully you get it done by the brown-eq so I can hear it!


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## donkeypunch22

Dude! That sub is nice. What amp are you using on the sub? Man, very clean. Well done.


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## ItalynStylion

The amp is an Elemental Designs LT550. It was the amp I had in my last sub that I'm no longer using so I put it to use in this application. Plenty of power and it's just savage as long as it's kept cool. That's why I knew I needed some type of vent system.

I'll have some more updates to this thread later today when I make some progress on some "other" things.


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## 05_sprcrw

Very good clean work, you have inspired me to pick up a second DIYMA this week and make a new home theater system.


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## ItalynStylion

05_sprcrw said:


> Very good clean work, you have inspired me to pick up a second DIYMA this week and make a new home theater system.


lol, awesome. I'm sure npdang will be happy to hear that!


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## smokinkane

I can't wait to see how the speakers turn out with those drivers, the sub looks fantastic. I want to know how the lcr's turn out, I'm thinking of copying that if you think they sound nice.


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## ss600r

Great work!


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## kappa546

WOW. just phenomenal. GREAT JOB!


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## Blazemore

ItalynStylion said:


> with all 145lbs of me (cross country runner) on top of it. It worked very well to my surprise!


Did the cross country, indoor and outdoor track back in HS. Won state a few times as well. Gets you skinny so when you get older you can eat alot of BK


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## guitarsail

I still hate you Italyn...


Very classy looking cabinet and I hate you for it


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## ItalynStylion

guitarsail said:


> I still hate you Italyn...
> 
> 
> Very classy looking cabinet and I hate you for it


ROFL....you're going to hate what's next then


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## Ga foo 88

Ha the BVRs? I remember some guy on diyaudio said adding spikes to his BVR made a drastic improvement, he was using one the fostex fr units though. I want some pics on how they are placed in your room....:surprised:


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## ItalynStylion

Ga foo 88 said:


> Ha the BVRs? I remember some guy on diyaudio said adding spikes to his BVR made a drastic improvement, he was using one the fostex fr units though. I want some pics on how they are placed in your room....:surprised:


Ohhhhh you creeper, lol, how'd you know they were in my room already! 

I think I'm not going to use spikes for my friend's application. He and his wife just bought their first house, where all of this will go, and I think the room with the TV is a hardwood floor so I don't really want to mess with spikes. Besides, he isn't as audio crazy as I am so I doubt he'd notice the difference.

I was going to wait till I had finished them but since you somehow knew they were in my room I can fulfill your request for some pictures

Domo showing off his clamping skills again...

















Here is the front baffle/interior section done.










This is what they look like all put together. One driver in the front a half basket width higher than center and one on the side a half basket lower. They aren't finished yet since i still have lots of sanding and painting to do. I just couldn't help myself though; I had to throw the drivers in and hear them. Now I'm reluctant to take them out because I love them so much!


















I'm getting started on the surrounds and the center channel tomorrow. My friend wanted small surrounds that could be placed either on the wall or on a small table by the couch. This lead my to a ported design so we could still get some low end but retain an enclosure around 0.45cu ft. I ordered the ports and the binding posts today so I'll be finishing these up soon.


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## Ga foo 88

Whats the giant next to the si t-amp?


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## ItalynStylion

An oldschool Kenwood KA-7100 that's older than me. That's what I had on them before the t-amp.


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## blamus

t-amp FTW! I wish I can put one in the car.....but I'd have to build my own from the chip up if I want the 100W versions...


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## guitarsail

Ug...damnit...haha...they look great....

*goes and sulks at the failure of coolifying his own cabinets*


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## ErinH

that sub is sweet! great job!


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## ItalynStylion

I've made substantial progress since last my last post. The lotus speakers pictured in post #32 traveled to Dave's (foosman) house for the big DFW Brownieque sound quality meet. Most people seemed to enjoy them so I think my friend will be more than happy with them considering he's not an audiofreak like us.

The last parts package arrived yesterday with the ports and terminal cups. This is my first time using these particular terminal cups and they are just plain fantastic! I've used the spring loaded ones with great success but these are even better. Very solid attachment points and the plastic is very sturdy. They even have their own gasket attached. 









They do, however, require a 2" mounting hole which turned out to be a brief hiccup in my build. My jasper jig for my router only cuts holes as small as 2.25" so I needed something to cut a 2" hole. I went to Lowes and found some hole saws and an interesting bit for a drill that would let me make 2" holes. It was $25. I looked directly to the left of it and there was a whole kit of these things for $50 and the sizes ranged from .25" all the way up to 2.25" and came with a box to hold them all. I decided immediately that I would be a chump to buy just the single one when I could get basically every size available for merely twice the cost. I bit the bullet and bought the kit. I think it was a good decision.










Now that I had cut the holes for the terminal cups it was time to do some sanding. I'd taken the time earlier to apply wood filler to any gaps and such and allowed it to dry overnight. I used 50grit with my random orbit to take off any overhangs. Then I applied more wood filler to make sure every seam was completely filled. I don't want any seams showing in this build. After letting it dry I went over all of them with 220grit for a nice smooth surface. They're ready for primer.

One big happy family!


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## NOFATTYS

all the good fabricators are in tx...wtf!!! why cant someone be on long island? nice job on that speakers and subwoofer. where did you get that foam for the subwoofer install?


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## 05_sprcrw

Looking very good, now I have an itch to start a home build.


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## ItalynStylion

NOFATTYS said:


> all the good fabricators are in tx...wtf!!! why cant someone be on long island? nice job on that speakers and subwoofer. where did you get that foam for the subwoofer install?


Foam by Mail, foam products, cushions, mattresses, pillows, seats, sound proofing, memory foams, mattress, pillow,

Mir and I actually bought a bunch of foam together since they have a deal on free shipping if you buy a certain amount. They vacuum pack the foam in a plastic bag so it will fit in a MUCH smaller box. When I opened the box and broke the seal on the bag it all started to expand to almost twice the size. I'll likely buy something from them again; great place.


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## ItalynStylion

Sweet....page two. Now we don't have to wait for all those pics to load. At least...until I post NEW ones!


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## Ga foo 88

They need a new CHRonken, now. I could see several of those as surrounds, and cheap too.


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## guitarsail

props to ya man! I spent a TON of time sanding my TWO cabinets so there wouldn't be any seems... along with like 6 coats of primer.


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## Austin

so how did you end up venting the amp? i think i can see a slot in the middle of the inside piece but on the first few pics but its hard to tell.


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## ItalynStylion

Austin said:


> so how did you end up venting the amp? i think i can see a slot in the middle of the inside piece but on the first few pics but its hard to tell.


You can see there are 8 holes on the bottom of the amp's cubby hole in the back of the box. Those holes allow cool air to get pulled up when the hot air escapes up and out of the slot vent above the amp.


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## ItalynStylion

I just got done with the two coats of primer on all 5 cabinets. I pretty much wanted to shoot myself. I hate painting to begin with, but I usually get a brake between the first and second coat. That wasn't the case today. Since I had 5 different cabinets to paint, the first one was dry by the time I finished the 5th one so I just started all over again. 

I'll get a pic up here in a few minutes.


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## jaejw1

ItalynStylion said:


> I just got done with the two coats of primer on all 5 cabinets. I pretty much wanted to shoot myself. I hate painting to begin with, but I usually get a brake between the first and second coat. That wasn't the case today. Since I had 5 different cabinets to paint, the first one was dry by the time I finished the 5th one so I just started all over again.
> 
> I'll get a pic up here in a few minutes.





if you dont mind me asking... how much did it cost you to build the sub enclosure..


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## Austin

ItalynStylion said:


> You can see there are 8 holes on the bottom of the amp's cubby hole in the back of the box. Those holes allow cool air to get pulled up when the hot air escapes up and out of the slot vent above the amp.


oohhh i see lol thats pretty nifty. good job on the sub i might use this sort of design later on down the road. i like the plexi glass look too.


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## ItalynStylion

jaejw1 said:


> if you dont mind me asking... how much did it cost you to build the sub enclosure..


1 sheet of wood $25
Plexiglass cut to size $13
Hardware/Rubber stoppers for feet $50
Paint $10
Foam*
4ga. Copper $5

The hardware was the most expensive part. If you use regular screws it would only be about $6 but I used all threaded inserts and hex head bolts. I chose to use them because they would allow me to dismantle the sub if I needed to replace or adjust something without ruining the enclosure. The copper can be bought by the foot at Lowes in the electrical aisle. The foam I got online as I mentioned before but it's fairly inexpensive.




Austin said:


> oohhh i see lol thats pretty nifty. good job on the sub i might use this sort of design later on down the road. i like the plexi glass look too.


I think it will really help out with plate amps that have a heat sink on the inside face. I'll admit that the reason I put the amp in it's own chamber to begin with had nothing to do with heat. I knew that if I had a window to allow you to see into the enclosure I'd be able to see all of the electronic guts. That was the whole point as far as the driver was concerned but the amp isn't exactly pretty. :blush: So I wanted to put it in it's own little chamber but if the airspace was small it would heat up the internal air quickly and likely go into protect often. Then I remembered that if it was it's own chamber, separate from the sub, it didn't have to be sealed. That's when I got my idea to vent it. 




Oh, and the picture I promised....one big happy family. Soon to be united with the sub!


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## Fast1one

VERY cool! Such a great price for those speakers...


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## jaejw1

ItalynStylion said:


> 1 sheet of wood $25
> Plexiglass cut to size $13
> Hardware/Rubber stoppers for feet $50
> Paint $10
> Foam*
> 4ga. Copper $5
> 
> The hardware was the most expensive part. If you use regular screws it would only be about $6 but I used all threaded inserts and hex head bolts. I chose to use them because they would allow me to dismantle the sub if I needed to replace or adjust something without ruining the enclosure. The copper can be bought by the foot at Lowes in the electrical aisle. The foam I got online as I mentioned before but it's fairly inexpensive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think it will really help out with plate amps that have a heat sink on the inside face. I'll admit that the reason I put the amp in it's own chamber to begin with had nothing to do with heat. I knew that if I had a window to allow you to see into the enclosure I'd be able to see all of the electronic guts. That was the whole point as far as the driver was concerned but the amp isn't exactly pretty. :blush: So I wanted to put it in it's own little chamber but if the airspace was small it would heat up the internal air quickly and likely go into protect often. Then I remembered that if it was it's own chamber, separate from the sub, it didn't have to be sealed. That's when I got my idea to vent it.



have you watched anything else with the sub... how low (hz) does it play?
here is a list of movies to include waterfalls if you want to try out a few movies.. The Master List of DVD, HD-DVD & Blu-ray Movies with BASS Thread...With WaterFalls - AVS Forum

the waterfall links are in the second and third post


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## ItalynStylion

I'll check it out later tonight and see if I can get some waterfall action. I have yet to really flog the sub yet since it was breaking in but now she should be good to go.


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## ItalynStylion

Apparently we aren't actually talking about water falling off the side of a cliff....What are they referring to?


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## ~Magick_Man~

Damn steven looking pretty good.
Do you want to mess around with an rta this weekend?
I snagged a DBX rta mic and the mic mate.
I am kind of interested in seeing what your stereo looks like right now with no sub.


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## ItalynStylion

~Magick_Man~ said:


> Damn steven looking pretty good.
> Do you want to mess around with an rta this weekend?
> I snagged a DBX rta mic and the mic mate.
> I am kind of interested in seeing what your stereo looks like right now with no sub.


Hell yeah man, are you free Sunday? I have to deliver this set of speakers this Saturday but I'm free Sunday.


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## ~Magick_Man~

I should be.
I am getting in a pair of HAT L1V2's tomorrow.
And I should be picking up an Audiocontrol DQS + DDC to replace the ghetto eq's I have right now.
Hopefully I can pick up the EQ on saturday and get everything installed.


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## ItalynStylion

Sweet action. Looks like we have our work cut out for us this weekend!


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## ItalynStylion

Three coats of paint happened today...


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## ~Magick_Man~

man those are some sexy looking speakers.
when are you delivering them saturday?
i would love to hear the whole 5.0 setup if possible.


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## ItalynStylion

~Magick_Man~ said:


> man those are some sexy looking speakers.
> when are you delivering them saturday?
> i would love to hear the whole 5.0 setup if possible.


He's coming over at 2 Saturday to pick them up. We are both going to drive over to his place since it wont all fit in either one of our cars. I have a lot of soldering and speaker mounting to do later today!


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## 05_sprcrw

Looking very good I can't wait to see the finished product, I really need to quit looking at your thread.


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## ItalynStylion

jaejw1 said:


> have you watched anything else with the sub... how low (hz) does it play?
> here is a list of movies to include waterfalls if you want to try out a few movies.. The Master List of DVD, HD-DVD & Blu-ray Movies with BASS Thread...With WaterFalls - AVS Forum
> 
> the waterfall links are in the second and third post


Getting back to this. I finished everything and my friend took delivery on everything on Saturday. We installed everything at his house and it all sounds wonderful. VERY pleasing even to me. 
I'm sorry I don't have pictures of it all done just yet though. I forgot to take pictures before I left that night/morning at 3am. 

In response to the above question....We watched Iron Man on the new setup and it was fantastic. The realism was just outstanding and the imaging was top notch. The crumpling of paper in the movie sounded just like it did in real life when his wife was throwing away some packaging paper about 20 min before we watched the movie. 

Now, for the truth about the sub. VERY accurate and sweet. But, as others have said, it just doesn't have the impact that some other subs have. Make not mistake, this would make the PERFECT (and I mean that) home audio sub; but it wont quite cut it as a home theater sub. It gets down and dirty, no lie, but we actually bottomed it out quite hard in one scene and I was forced to turn it down. There was a fight scene that had some extreme low end content and all of a sudden there was * POP POP POP * and I was scrambling for the volume on the remote. His room is a decent size and we need to experiment with placement first. We were limited on placement because he didn't have an LFE cable and we were using a short RCA as a temporary set up. Once we get a longer LFE we can corner load the sub and see how it does there. 

My initial plan, if corner loading doesn't give us enough low end, is to swap out the driver for a different 12. I didn't come to this conclusion easily though. I like the sound of the DIYMA R12 and it's basket looks like a million bucks in that enclosure. But, my friend is careful but not quite as careful as I am when it comes to cranking the system. So I think that needs a solution. My idea, if corner loading doesn't work, is to switch out the driver with a....wait for it......Shiva X that I have in my room. The Shiva X is close to the same size. The Shiva needs 1/8" larger cutout than the DIYMA but I always make cutouts a touch larger than needed in case manufacturers lie about cutout measurements. And before anyone asks, it's because it's happened to me before in the past. So, I think it might fit in the box. The only thing that might be a gamble is if the bolt holes will line up properly to mount the sub. The Shiva X has an enclosure recommendation on their site that says it will work in a 1.25 cubic foot enclosure. The enclosure that I've built is 1 cube. It's close but I think it models fine in Unibox. It actually models better (response wise) than the DIYMA. The big thing though, is that (according to Unibox) the Shiva wont even touch it's Xmax with the 550RMS I have to throw at it in that size of a box. But, the kicker is, Unibox says that the DIYMA shouldn't either...wtf? 

What do you guys think?


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## blamus

add an extra DIYMA R12, put one in each corner, stereo sub bass ftw! If thats not enough, make 4 and have them at the 4 corners!! surround sub bass!!! A shame this solution isn't as practice in the car......

In all seriousness though, this is very upsetting to hear, after all that effort, and it looks so sexy, I was hoping this to be as perfect a top performance/low cost home theater system as it gets. And I have not even installed my single DIYMA in my car yet....if I really am not happy with its output, I'll just have to use it as my home AUDIO sub....and that day will make me very sad...

oh and its a sealed box right? so make a ported one and give me the sealed 

and what of the fullrange drivers? They look great. I was just thinking, if they sound great in HT, filling a huge room with sound, surely they'd be as great in a car? 1-way front stage with sub anyone!!??!


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## kemist

Italyn, 

Can you run a low teens sine wave through it, slowly turn up the gain and measure with a ruler about how much excursion it gets before it starts complaining?

Are you running a linkwitz transform, shelving filter, or highpass that incorporates boost down low? 

IIRC those plate amps dont have a highpass at all correct?


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## ItalynStylion

kemist said:


> Italyn,
> 
> Can you run a low teens sine wave through it, slowly turn up the gain and measure with a ruler about how much excursion it gets before it starts complaining?
> 
> Are you running a linkwitz transform, shelving filter, or highpass that incorporates boost down low?
> 
> IIRC those plate amps dont have a highpass at all correct?


You are right, the plate amp doesn't have a sub sonic filter on it at all which is a problem for this sub. I could try to measure the excursion but I don't know how accurate I'll be. What would be your definition of complaining? I'll get to it this weekend when he and I go over to his place to test some stuff. If he likes the shiva x in the pipe enclosure I have I'm just going to paint it, give it to him, and take back the DIYMA sub.


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## kemist

I guess till you are uncomfortable with turning up the gain any more, if you start hearing really bad noises, etc. 

Ruler will be inaccurate but close enough to get an estimate. 

I have 6 of these that I was planning on adding a linkwitz transform to and using for HT, so it would be a bit disappointing if these are completely unable to get close to their max excursion. They will be in a stuffed 1.5 cu.ft. enclosure so i was estimating around 1.75 net (each). I imagine i won't need much power to get them moving based on your description above, but also was wondering if they were actually getting as much excursion as advertised.

edit: Also I would check but these are at my parents until i get a chance to build the enclosures.

double edit: now that i think about it using ruler when its in the enclosure is a bit harder. I guess visually though you can still get an idea.


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## jaejw1

ItalynStylion said:


> Getting back to this. I finished everything and my friend took delivery on everything on Saturday. We installed everything at his house and it all sounds wonderful. VERY pleasing even to me.
> I'm sorry I don't have pictures of it all done just yet though. I forgot to take pictures before I left that night/morning at 3am.
> 
> In response to the above question....We watched Iron Man on the new setup and it was fantastic. The realism was just outstanding and the imaging was top notch. The crumpling of paper in the movie sounded just like it did in real life when his wife was throwing away some packaging paper about 20 min before we watched the movie.
> 
> Now, for the truth about the sub. VERY accurate and sweet. But, as others have said, it just doesn't have the impact that some other subs have. Make not mistake, this would make the PERFECT (and I mean that) home audio sub; but it wont quite cut it as a home theater sub. It gets down and dirty, no lie, but we actually bottomed it out quite hard in one scene and I was forced to turn it down. There was a fight scene that had some extreme low end content and all of a sudden there was * POP POP POP * and I was scrambling for the volume on the remote. His room is a decent size and we need to experiment with placement first. We were limited on placement because he didn't have an LFE cable and we were using a short RCA as a temporary set up. Once we get a longer LFE we can corner load the sub and see how it does there.
> 
> My initial plan, if corner loading doesn't give us enough low end, is to swap out the driver for a different 12. I didn't come to this conclusion easily though. I like the sound of the DIYMA R12 and it's basket looks like a million bucks in that enclosure. But, my friend is careful but not quite as careful as I am when it comes to cranking the system. So I think that needs a solution. My idea, if corner loading doesn't work, is to switch out the driver with a....wait for it......Shiva X that I have in my room. The Shiva X is close to the same size. The Shiva needs 1/8" larger cutout than the DIYMA but I always make cutouts a touch larger than needed in case manufacturers lie about cutout measurements. And before anyone asks, it's because it's happened to me before in the past. So, I think it might fit in the box. The only thing that might be a gamble is if the bolt holes will line up properly to mount the sub. The Shiva X has an enclosure recommendation on their site that says it will work in a 1.25 cubic foot enclosure. The enclosure that I've built is 1 cube. It's close but I think it models fine in Unibox. It actually models better (response wise) than the DIYMA. The big thing though, is that (according to Unibox) the Shiva wont even touch it's Xmax with the 550RMS I have to throw at it in that size of a box. But, the kicker is, Unibox says that the DIYMA shouldn't either...wtf?
> 
> What do you guys think?


its probably a good thing you didnt play "the dark knight".. 


i dont know your experience with home theater. but did you level match all the speakers prior to playing ,,,, it might just be that the sub was playing a bit too loud..


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## ItalynStylion

jaejw1 said:


> its probably a good thing you didnt play "the dark knight"..
> 
> 
> i dont know your experience with home theater. but did you level match all the speakers prior to playing ,,,, it might just be that the sub was playing a bit too loud..


His receiver came with an EZ EQ type thing with a mic. I used that as a starting point and I fiddled with it a little more too.


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## jaejw1

ItalynStylion said:


> His receiver came with an EZ EQ type thing with a mic. I used that as a starting point and I fiddled with it a little more too.


oh..ok.. in the home theater forums it is common to use the ez eq function of the rcvr... but it is best to use an spl meter..

play the 5.1 test tone until 75db is reached in each speaker (ofcourse adjust them all to match starting at zero) and then they should be matched and level... but there is another thing you can do from hsu.. it provides a lil speadsheet to help calculate the level the sub should be at for both music and theater

Subwoofer Level Setting Worksheet - HSU Research Forum (HRF)


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## ItalynStylion

Thanks man, I might try some of that when we test the two different subs.


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## jaejw1

ItalynStylion said:


> Thanks man, I might try some of that when we test the two different subs.


cool... keep us updated as you have been... i have found that if the sub is matched properly you wouldnt have any problems

you might just need a second sub.. to smooth out the bass response.. find the best location,, and add a second one.. 

Subwoofer Connection Guide For A Multi Subwoofer System — Reviews and News from Audioholics

A Guide to Subwoofers: Characteristics, Placement, & Adjustments - Blu-ray Forum

A Guide to Subwoofers (Part II): Standing Waves & Room Modes - Blu-ray Forum


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## ItalynStylion

I've got updates for you guys as I promised. During the week I decided to let my friend have the monster sub that I had started building last summer and finished this spring. It's a huge 4.3cf ported home theater sub made out of 12" diameter PVC pipe with a Shiva X in it. I'd never painted the actual pipe section so it's remained white, sanded, PVC until yesterday. The info and original build thread of this thing can be found here...http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diy-other-audio/51368-need-ht-sub-again.html

This was sort of an obvious choice since he has his own house and he can actually use it to it's potential; or close to it.  So we agreed that I'd give him the tower sub and a plate amp and I'd take back the DIYMA sub with the plate amp in it. It really needed to be ported for HT use and it was a fairly large room. People were telling me to port the sub but there was no way I was going to screw up that nice sub just so I could change things.....yeah, F-that. I

So he came over to my house at 7:30 and we loaded up the Shiva X tower sub. This was actually quite the ordeal since we were using a Toyota Rav4 to move this monster. I designed the sub to come apart in pieces though so that helped us out a ton. The base weighs about 45lbs, the pipe and sub probably weigh about 110lbs, and the top plug with the port weighs about 5. So, yeah, it's a big deal to move this thing. We decided to paint it at his house since the paint on the pipe might get damaged in transit. 

Moving on....we set this thing up in the corner and it really it a great piece. It's the first thing you notice when you walk into the room. Once he heard it he was hooked and immediately fell in love with the thing. He kept wanting me to play different stuff with crazy bass in them; which I was more than happy to do. I'll write my full review at the bottom of this post but for now lets move on to pictures of the whole system shall we?

The cones on the surround speakers look like they have stuff on them in the pics but they don't really. I'm not sure why the camera did that. These are on the floor till furniture arrives.










Center

















Front/Mains and the unpainted sub.









The whole enchilada!
(sub paint still wet in the pic)










Ok, the review. This system is just plain AWESOME! I can't even believe the sounds that come out of this package. Not only will it play audiophile grade recordings (Focal Discs, Tulsa, Sheffiled Jazz) with perfect clarity, but it will also hammer the crap out of the house! We almost broke his overhead light in the room! We actually had to get up there and make sure it was secured because it looked like it was going to come down at any second. I thought the mains needed a little top end boost (like we discovered at Foosman's house) and I was able to add it since his Yamaha receiver had a graphic EQ. They sound absolutely splendid. The song, Mr. Bones, is probably my favorite song that we listened to on the system all day. The detail is top notch and the midbass is really great. Since I have a sub to back up the mains they really arent lacking in any aspect anymore. Alone, they will play with decent authority down to about 45hz when set up right in the room but the sub fills out the bottom end nicely. 

We watched Wanted (curving bullets movie) on the system and it was the most impressive HT system I've heard to date. The imaging was very wide and made the room seem enormous. **** wasn't just happening all around you, it was all around you in the correct places which I've never really been able to get quite right till last night. The falling of broken glass was so accurate I about shat myself. Last weekend we had watched Iron Man with the system as it was with the exception of two things; the first being the DIYMA sub instead of the Shiva X and the other exception was that we accidentally had the dynamic range cut feature on. It was good that we had the dynamic range cut feature on though or it would have shredded that DIYMA R12. However, last night, we turned off that feature and it was nuts. The whole system CRANKS like crazy but it doesn't sound strained at all. Gunshots are both heard and felt and crazy bass notes shake the house to it's foundation. I'm very pleased with the outcome of this project.


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## JayinMI

That sub is F*in nuts! Rediculous. I love it!
I don't even have room (where I'm at now) for my Advent 10" home sub. 

Jay


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## blamus

He must be your best friend since age 1..........can i be your best friend too!?


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## ItalynStylion

JayinMI said:


> That sub is F*in nuts! Rediculous. I love it!
> I don't even have room (where I'm at now) for my Advent 10" home sub.
> 
> Jay


ROFL...I know, and that's half the fun of it. It's something in the room that can't really be ignored. He said it's going to be a great conversation piece for when people come over. He's going to keep a running tally of who has the best response for when he asks what they think it is. I told him there should be some sort of prize lol! :laugh:



blamus said:


> He must be your best friend since age 1..........can i be your best friend too!?


He's a good buddy of mine from college. He just got married so this is a wedding gift. He's paying for material costs (most of them) so that gave me an opportunity to have some fun with some new designs and some new toys!


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## Megalomaniac

~Magick_Man~ said:


> Damn steven looking pretty good.
> Do you want to mess around with an rta this weekend?
> I snagged a *DBX rta mic and the mic mate.*
> I am kind of interested in seeing what your stereo looks like right now with no sub.


Lol I have the exact same setup. Right now Fiercetimbo has my rta.


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## blamus

ItalynStylion said:


> He's a good buddy of mine from college. He just got married so this is a wedding gift. He's paying for material costs (most of them) so that gave me an opportunity to have some fun with some new designs and some new toys!


In that case if I ever end up in texas I'm going to pay for material costs and have you have some fun trying new designs and making me new toys! Can you pretend I'm a good buddy from college too? But I'll never get married!


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## Megalomaniac

blamus said:


> In that case if I ever end up in texas I'm going to pay for material costs and have you have some fun trying new designs and making me new toys! Can you pretend I'm a good buddy from college too? But I'll never get married!


Money is more important than friends :laugh: you got the chedda you got the speakas!


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## jaejw1

ItalynStylion said:


> We watched Wanted (curving bullets movie) on the system and it was the most impressive HT system I've heard to date. The imaging was very wide and made the room seem enormous. **** wasn't just happening all around you, it was all around you in the correct places which I've never really been able to get quite right till last night. The falling of broken glass was so accurate I about shat myself. Last weekend we had watched Iron Man with the system as it was with the exception of two things; the first being the DIYMA sub instead of the Shiva X and the other exception was that we accidentally had the dynamic range cut feature on. It was good that we had the dynamic range cut feature on though or it would have shredded that DIYMA R12. However, last night, we turned off that feature and it was nuts. The whole system CRANKS like crazy but it doesn't sound strained at all. Gunshots are both heard and felt and crazy bass notes shake the house to it's foundation. I'm very pleased with the outcome of this project.


if you can,,, check out WAR OF THE WORLDS... start it at the storm.. and up to when the come out of the ground in the street.. its a subwoofer workout..


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## ItalynStylion

I'll tell him he needs to rent it. It was totally savage on the movie that we watched so I can't imagine it on something like that.


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## drocpsu

jaejw1 said:


> if you can,,, check out WAR OF THE WORLDS... start it at the storm.. and up to when the come out of the ground in the street.. its a subwoofer workout..


no kidding! The low frequencies in that movie are sick. 

Italyn, awesome looking setup! Great work on that stuff. Your friend is one lucky dude.


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## niceguy

Beautiful workmanship on the enclosures and great looking full range drivers...BTW, I'm just curious, how did you come to hear of that particular driver company?

Jeremy


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## ItalynStylion

Someone on the DIYaudio forum suggested I look at them. They fit the bill and the price was fitting too so I gave them a shot.


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## ItalynStylion

Random update for you guys. I was talking to my friend's wife at his house the other day. I asked her how they were liking the new system. She said, "Houston didn't tell you?" I was like, "oh crap, no...what happened?!!?"

She told me that they were watching a movie the other night and there was a scene with a really loud explosion and a bunch of breaking glass. And apparently, right when that happened the house alarm started going insane! So they pause the movie and run and go turn it off. Then Houston get's a call on his cell phone, from the alarm company, saying that they are reporting a broken window in his house and they were seeing if everything was alright!!! 

I **** you not....this happened....I couldn't even make this up


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## blamus

LOL. Thats so cool. Actually I have always wondered, wouldn't SPL that can shatter house windows should have already damaged human ears way before that? What kind of freq do most house windows resonate at?


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## Megalomaniac

Who names their child Houston when they live in dallas? :/

That story makes me laugh


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## el_chupo_

Did you get a chance to play with these in any way before your build?

I wont be able to do a box the size of yours, and probably only use one per for the rears, but I would like to know how they sound solo


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## ItalynStylion

el_chupo_ said:


> Did you get a chance to play with these in any way before your build?
> 
> I wont be able to do a box the size of yours, and probably only use one per for the rears, but I would like to know how they sound solo


What do you mean play with these? Which drivers are you referring to, the CHR-70's?


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## el_chupo_

Yeah, the CHRs. Did you try them in any smaller boxes? or with just a single speaker?

I just went through the thread, but I may have missed it: what are the dimensions of the surround boxes?


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## GSlider

Umm.... WOW! That powered sub is incredible! Where can I look at the DIYMA subwoofers? Those are some beautiful drivers.


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## blamus

hey, congrets on the sale of the sexy sub. I was just thinking about another thread you posted in about how the modeled excursion of your sub not matching its real life performance (a tutorial started by minivanman or chad cant remember), and I came across this:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...yma-sealed-vs-ported-anyone-2.html#post763718

I wonder if it makes any difference if you try to use real life measured parameters?


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## ninobrn99

You just inspired me to build my own! The wife isn't gonna like this  Very nice!


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## tspence73

I think that is some really nice wood and finish work. It looks like a pro speaker company did them. Beyond nice. That sub is absolutely SICK!


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## Morts

WOW impressive work. I just finished my car and now I am starting my house with a 7.1 set up. Like others have said both of those Subs are sick but I have to say I am impressed more with the Tower of Power than the DIYMA sub


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## the74rrhotline

WOW man, that is some beautiful work. I am almost finished building the box for my sub and I wish I read this a month ago - I would have REALLY stepped my design up a notch 

The solid wiring is indeed sexy looking. The Shiva is pretty neat looking, and a great conversation piece indeed. I think when I build my next sub box I may have to use some PVC/ABS like that.

WOW. Thanks for posting your current masterpiece.


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## Megalomaniac

This sub actually sounded great in a house. I wouldnt suggest it for an HT though, too fragile and delicate. But sounds great on music!


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## ItalynStylion

Thanks for all the compliments on my work guys! As Mir said, the DIYMA sub (sold under the name Bassoon on my site) is a great home audio sub but not reccommended for HT use. HT use is why I built the large sub with the Shiva X (sold under the name Zeus on my site). Both are great but serve different applications.


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