# Super Budget Sound for Retail Store



## 2500hd (Aug 22, 2009)

(or how I learned to fiberglass a sphere)

My girlfriend is moving her retail clothing store to a new location and she was interested in getting some new sounds. She told me to find her a good deal on "craigslist or something." ha.
"For a hundred bucks, I can build you something that will sound way better," I says. 
So using some stuff I had lying around: 

Pioneer VSX-D409  
Parts-Express.com:MA Audio MA151XQ  (I know)

I went on the search for cheap complementing pieces:  Marcato Crossover 
to cross the sub and 4 of these Tang Band W3-1053SC  

all hooked up with: 16 AWG OFC Digital Flat Speaker Wire 50 ft.


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## 2500hd (Aug 22, 2009)

I went to the local dollar stores to find some candidates for budget enclosures. I got some 4'' whiffle balls, assorted cups, double sided tape, plastic bowls, duct tape, just really anything that looked like you could put a speaker in it.
When I got home I tried the TBs in various dollar-cabinets and They all sounded like sh*t. It looks like some actual effort will have to go into gettin these going. 
Modeling up the TBs, I decided that I would like to use them in a 1-1.5 liter enclosure. Reading up on some Patrick Bateman posts: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diy-mobile-audio-sq-forum/65061-improve-your-soundstage-2-a.html , I knew I wanted to make this a spherical enclosure.

So the question is; How do I get a 1-1.5 liter spherical enclosure built?

Walmart


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## 2500hd (Aug 22, 2009)

The equation to determine the volume inside of a sphere looks like this:

V=4/3(r^3)3.14 but I had to convert my numbers to centimeters to find liters.

After some trial and error I settled on a 6'' sphere

because

3(2.54)^3(3.14)(4/3) or
1000
1.85 liters

Now my local craft store sells some 6' styrofoam ball for 5.99. Walmart has these: Poof-Slinky.com - Online Store for 4 dollars. They're 7'' dia. but look just like the same material as egg crate foam, so by leaving about a .75'' on the walls after fiberglassing it should help control the back wave acoustics. Perfect

I picked up 4 of those balls and some resin and mat while I was there.


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## j_blackman (Jun 14, 2009)

Pics or gtfo?


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## 2500hd (Aug 22, 2009)

j_blackman said:


> Pics or gtfo?


Yea I accidentally sold my dslr with my card in it. Got a point n shoot though, so I'll have some pics up this weekend.

But, I can say that I found it pretty damn hard to fiberglass the spheres without lots of sanding/bondo...


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## JonDeath (Dec 4, 2009)

You can buy a couple big sheets of 1/4 inch Masonite/MDF for about 6 bucks each at Lowes or Home Depot. Easy to work with and strong enough for some good sounding enclosures without putting in a lot of work. Drywall screws are dirt cheap at Walmart, far cheaper than any hardware store. 
If you bother with the masonite, you will absolutely need to drill all your screw holes out first and you should dip them in some elmers school glue if not wood glue before driving them in. $1 Walmart spray paint will put a glass finish on it and, it's the least toxic of all spray paint brands. 

The enclosures will be really cheap, pretty darn strong and actually look great if you put a few days work into the project. 

If you use it for a sub, which is probably a bad idea but then again I've seen worse materials perform well, buy a couple of $2 pillows from Walmart, rip them open and stuff the hell out of the enclosure. This would be a good idea for the full range cabinets as well since you want them to really perform and not rattle like a plate in a china shop during an earthquake. I never buy the polly fill from speaker supply stores, they're F'n thieves! 
$20 for a basketball sized wad of poly-cotton you can get from cheap pillows. It amazes me I've had guys argue with me about the "audio grade" poly being better or different. 
It's the EXACT same stuff!

For a sub I would just use a 5 gallon bucket or better yet, a $10-15 trash can. You can get the stainless steel ones with a removable, dense plastic liner for around that price. It will actually pass as an expensive, designer enclosure with the sub sticking out of the top. 
Bottom line is anything thin you use for a sub enclosure will need a LOT of batting in it and will be prone to rattling and just all kinds of enclosure noise. I say go with the garbage can and while you're at Lowes/Home Depot, grab a bag of sandbox sand for around 5-6 dollars, tie it up in a couple of safety garbage bags then drop it in the bottom of your stainless steel trash can sub so it doesn't move and rattle around. 

In terms of budget though, Parts Express was the LAST place you should have bought drivers from!
...unless it's from their clearance flier! They have INSANE deals in those suckers at times. Next time Ebay it I say or, go with off brand like Pyramid, Pyle car audio drives and just double them up in series to get your 8 ohms. I've had great success doing this and running wide open without a crossover. Just need a limiter on a piezo tweeter. You can get away with 1/2 watt potentiometers as limiters because they're piezos so the wattage across the resistance strips is pretty nill.
Yes I've cooked pots doing this a few times but, have also had them work great in high wattage systems without failure or burning up. 

People trash Pyramid, Pyle, Legacy-the Sound Around brands but I've had some of their drivers for 15 years and they perform great and just last. My high grade Pyramid 12's were completely submerged in water in our basement after our house burnt down for 3-4 days. They still perform flawlessly and sound great!

$100 bucks sounds like a really great budget IMO if you go the route I've mapped out. Doubt you'll fit in a reciever on that budget though. Step that budget up to $150 though and you're completely covered.


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## 2500hd (Aug 22, 2009)

Man it's been awhile since I first started this project! Normally I don't like to wait around when trying to build, but I had alot of more important things to get done first. 

Here's some pics of the progress: 

This is where I started, with a foam ball that my dog (bad girl!) ate up. The trick is to keep the 'glass on the foam, it's always lifting. I modeled a beach ball and cut the pieces in strips that were wide in the middle and tapered to point on the ends, that was the easiest way I tried. 










Here you can see how I plan to mount the speaker on to the sphere with a plastic bowl from a dollar store 










Inside the fiberglass I left about an inch or so of the foam to try and control backwave acoustics 










I will sand a little more and maybe a glazing putty coat before it goes to paint and then installation 











They come in a little over 7 inches in diameter which means they should control the reflections down to 1600hz, which is a pretty good level. I came up with a cheap mounting system that consists of used electrical conduit and junction boxes that will attach to the ceiling. The Subwoofer's installed in the ceiling as well with enough airspace/insulation for Infinite Baffle use. I'll post more later when these are installed....


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## ccdoggy (Jul 2, 2006)

For a friend's project i used outside abs light spheres. it was almost the perfect size and holds up pretty darn well. just a little tricky mounting the speakers, but doable.


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## Dryseals (Sep 7, 2008)

Lots of work going on there. Here's something to think about, you learn some neat things in art class as a kid that can be useful some day. We made some globes, world type in 5th grade. Blew up some balloons and covered them with paper mache. When the mache dried, we popped the balloon.

A round rubber ball wood do the same. Instead of using the fiberglass mat, use the cloth. It will stretch around a round object with ease. The extra cloth cab be trimmed of very easy. A couple layers of the cloth and glue and you have a round object and far less sanding and filling. 

Put the round object in the center of the cloth and pull it up like an onion skin.


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## ocZZZ (Apr 10, 2010)

I did the same



ccdoggy said:


> For a friend's project i used outside abs light spheres. it was almost the perfect size and holds up pretty darn well. just a little tricky mounting the speakers, but doable.


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## jasondplacetobe (Jun 15, 2009)

whew thats alot of work!


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