DIY Budget Cab! How Bad Could It Be?

[CoffeeLove]

***What you are seeing is the final product minus grill and exterior handles. Decided to post pics at beginning of the thread, but feel free to read through the process***

I have two Eden 10" speakers rated at 4ohms that came out of a D410XLT. Both of them are fully functional. Thought it would be fun to make a 110 cab, or very small 210 cab (vertical) in a "briefcase" style just to see what happens (always annoyed with the large footprint of 210 cabs).

Also have a couple extra horns sitting around as well as a 1/4" input plate with crossover from a monitor in which the driver went bad.

I know, it sounds like a hassle, and maybe a bad idea, but have some curiosity about DIY cabs. I can figure out how to wire the cab. Any thoughts would be good. Thanks

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Before those two guys name Theile and Small came along to prove it couldn't be done, I built a couple of cabs.
I had a pair of 12" Jensen Guitar speakers. I found an old piece of 3/4 plywood. Had to scape some concrete off of it.
Did the math. Which basically was I have two 12" speakers and a random chunk of wood. Divide wood into two equal pieces, what size can the front be for a 12" hole? Back = Front. How much is left? Divide by 4 = sides and tops.
Port? Sure, speaker cabs have ports, right? I cut a port in the front under the speaker. Rinse and repeat. Cover them with green and purple Paisly cloth and slime green burlap for grills. Hooked them to my stereo and rocked on.

I was in high school, it was the sixties. What did I know?
They did sound better then when I had the raw drivers suspended in mid air over my waterbed.

 

[CoffeeLove]

Hahaha! Perfect, and that is how I feel, never hurts to try, and do not care what happens to the drivers.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Sounds like a good idea. The only downside is make sure you wire the speakers in series so you won't go lower than a 4 ohm load. I could see a small vertical 210 cab, maybe made out of 1/2 inch or 5/8 inch lightweight ply. Keep the design minimum and you'll have a nice lightweight cab.

 

[Downunderwonder]

All you have to do is copy the cab the 10'' drivers belonged to but halve the volume and port area while keeping port length the same.

 

[CoffeeLove]

Thanks guys, it's going to happen.

 

[basscapes]

What do you know about speaker cab design? That will play a BIG part in what you end up with, as well as whether you end up blowing the drivers or not!

It's easy to just stick a set of drivers into a box and get sound. BUT, unless you design the box to the right parameters (size, venting, crossover freq/slope) you could end up with a very expensive side-table or footstool by the time you are done (or worse, kindling).

I followed a similar route that was taken by "Old Garage-Bander"- took a pair of Radio Shack 15" drivers and stuck them into a 215 Traynor cab (along with my then Ampeg V2) and used it for bass. It was nasty and in your face (due to the 60 watts and guitar voicing of the V2), but had no bottom end to speak of. But what did I know? those RS speakers had chrome centers JUST LIKE JBLSs, so they must be good right? Uh, sure...

I would suggest at the very least, start reading up on basic speaker design (ANY of the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook editions is a great way to start). Programs like WinsISD are a godsend these days, and can have you VERY CLOSE to a proper cabinet size in no time (provided you have some/most of the driver parameters)...

 

[micguy]

I actually design acoustical stuff for a living, and I can tell you that I've never seen a commercially made bass guitar cabinet that was designed to work down to a low E (41 Hz) - most of them are designed to fit people'
s expectations of size, not what really works. The speakers you have from the Eden cabinet were, most likely, in a cabinet that was somewhat too small for optimum perfromance. You can put them in a smaller cabinet, and they will make sound, but if you're expecting decent performance, you're likely to be dissapointed.

I second the idea of working with Win ISD - spend some time with it, and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

 

[CoffeeLove]

Awesome stuff, thanks. Will definitely do some research before the build. I am not worried about the drivers being damaged since they were free to me. However, it would be nice if the cab sounded decent. I am leaning towards a 110 instead of a 210, just so the speaker will have enough room to breathe and to avoid the large footprint.

 

[BassmanPaul]

@CoffeeLove where are the photos of the finished 2x10. Come on, you’ve had all day!

 

[BadExample]

I can tell you that I've never seen a commercially made bass guitar cabinet that was designed to work down to a low E (41 Hz)

Bag End has made bass cabs rated to go down to 8 Hz. Not that I need to go that ridiculously deep.

 

[CoffeeLove]

@CoffeeLove where are the photos of the finished 2x10. Come on, you’ve had all day!

Hahaha, I know, total slacker! I am a junior highschool teacher, and the 175 students would miss me deeply (or not), so the cab build will start this weekend. Might stick with a 110 to keep it simple.

 

[BadExample]

I am a junior highschool teacher, and the 175 students

Cheap labor, make them build it for you!

 

[agedhorse]

Bag End has made bass cabs rated to go down to 8 Hz. Not that I need to go that ridiculously deep.

With almost no acoustic output that low. Level and power handling fall greatly as the extension drops below 30Hz in all of these products. IIRC, the integrating electronics have to add like 24dB of gain at 8Hz to remain flat while the power handling falls like a rock, probably to a maximum of about 98dB at 1 meter before driver failure.

 

[Downunderwonder]

A highschool teacher should have the nouse to decrease the footprint of 210, add height to compensate volume and incorporate top and bottom shelf ports to come to area required.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Bag End has made bass cabs rated to go down to 8 Hz

Why?

People talk about this cab won't go down to 41 Hz, or that cab will go down to 8 Hz.
Those statements alone do not say anything useful without including the roll-off numbers.

If you only consider frequencies within 6db of, say the output at 1KHz, then a speaker may not go down to 41 Hz.
But it will exhibit some output at that frequency, it might be down 10db from 1KHz, but it does go there, just not very loudly.

One should not blindly buy into the stated range of frequencies without knowing the levels at those frequencies.

 

[SactoBass]

Before those two guys name Theile and Small came along to prove it couldn't be done, I built a couple of cabs.
I had a pair of 12" Jensen Guitar speakers. I found an old piece of 3/4 plywood. Had to scape some concrete off of it.
Did the math. Which basically was I have two 12" speakers and a random chunk of wood. Divide wood into two equal pieces, what size can the front be for a 12" hole? Back = Front. How much is left? Divide by 4 = sides and tops.
Port? Sure, speaker cabs have ports, right I cut a port in the front under the speaker. Rinse and repeat. Cover them with green and purple Paisly cloth and slime green burlap for grills. Hooked them to my stereo and rocked on.

I was in high school, it was the sixties. What did I know?
They did sound better than when I had the raw drivers suspended in mid air over my waterbed.

OGB: that was a *GREAT* post!

(as it reminded me of me in the early 70's)

 

[agedhorse]

Why?

People talk about this cab won't go down to 41 Hz, or that cab will go down to 8 Hz.
Those statements alone do not say anything useful without including the roll-off numbers.

If you only consider frequencies within 6db of, say the output at 1KHz, then a speaker may not go down to 41 Hz.
But it will exhibit some output at that frequency, it might be down 10db from 1KHz, but it does go there, just not very loudly.

One should not blindly buy into the stated range of frequencies without knowing the levels at those frequencies.

I attempted to place some numbers to the performance, the problem is that the 8Hz response (and much below about 50Hz) is obtained by using the ELF integrating processor which trades off flat response for VERY low power handling. This leads to inaccurate conclusions because while the speaker (with the processor) is capable of 8Hz at -3dB, it can only do so at about 98dB SPL at 1 meter which is not at all useful for anything that any bass player might need IME.

I am very familiar with this process, it works ok for home theatre because the max SPL is typically lower and at 25Hz, it can in fact be capable of maybe 110dB SPL at 1M.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

OGB: that was a *GREAT* post!

(as it reminded me of me in the early 70's)

Thanks.

Gawd, by the time the early 70' rolled in, I was becoming a responsible citizen. Ugh. What a waste.

 

[CoffeeLove]

While beyond my scope of knowledge, this is all good stuff. I will likely find the dimensions/design of a few popular 110 cabs and build to similar specs. I will be using an Eden driver from a D410XLT.

I already have a pair of small baffles, rubber feet, a horn/tweeter, speaker wire, and input plate, most of which came from an old/blown PA speaker.

I am not certain what to do about the crossover. I found one designed for general use for $15.

1 Passive 2 Way Crossover Network 800 Watts Car Home DJ Audio EMB CX-5 | eBay

Thoughts?