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My Genz Faital 212 DIY Build

Jim Ingraham

Jim Ingraham

Nov 14, 2002
451
311
Reading Pa
#1
I bought a couple of the GB Faital 12" drivers from Dave at Avatar. Since the specs for this speaker are a trade secret, I decided to base my cabinet dimensions on the nx2 212t in which these were used. However, I wanted as much height and little width as possible so I put the ports on top and bottom instead of on the sides. I'm also adding inset casters and a tilt back handle to make this as easy to move around as possible. It will be a 4 ohm cabinet, no tweeter.

I couldn't really find any details on the X porting system used in the nx2, so this whole project is pretty much a crap shoot. Here's the design I came up with:

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Finally got out to the shop today and got everything cut out and dry fit together and this is where it is now:

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More to come...
 

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#3
Passinwind said:
Dave just posted the specs for those drivers earlier today. Looks like a nice build though. Link Removed
Click to expand...
Yea, I saw that tonight...too late now though. After I read Dave's post I went searching thru the amp forum and found the posts by Aged Horse in the 4x12 thread, and according to him I shouldn't be too far off, at least on size. As far as the ports go, I figure with 6 holes, I'll have a lot of plugging combinations:)
 
#5
Jim Ingraham said:
Yea, I saw that tonight...too late now though. After I read Dave's post I went searching thru the amp forum and found the posts by Aged Horse in the 4x12 thread, and according to him I shouldn't be too far off, at least on size. As far as the ports go, I figure with 6 holes, I'll have a lot of plugging combinations:)
Click to expand...

If you're only at dry fit stage, you could consider making each of the shelf ports 2-piece, with provision for fine tuning the lengths via the back pieces. I've done lots of builds that way.
 
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#6
The "X-porting" thing would give symetrical airload/"back pressure" on the drivers under higher power conditions, though your port scheme there would do a similar thing.

Nice build. You could fashion covers for the center port sections and calculate an alternative, lower tuning for having them installed.
 
#7
Ok,I'm ready to glue up the first section. This will be the 2 sides, back, baffle, center bulkhead and 2 port shelves. Here are all the pieces laid out:

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As you can see I've dadoed all the critical joints to insure a good square alignment. I'm working with Aruca plwood and it's not very flat. The dadoes are only 1/8" deep so they won't weaken the ply much, but they make it so easy to fit the pieces together accurately. Passinwind mentioned fabricating the port shelves in pieces, but with my dadoes I can't figure out how to do that. Also, I've radiused the back edge of the shelves so it would be difficult to add another piece on. Would it be worth it to cut the radius off? Here's a detail of the back of the shelf:

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#9
Agreed.

Leaving the option of lengthening the port shelves leaves you the option of lowering thetuning should you deem it necessary upon listening.

Blocking your center ports does a similar thing though it's an "either/or" tuning deal rather than (sort of) incremental like extending the shelf is, though installing covers doesn't require disassembly.

I'd go with what you've got, leaving the option of port covers for particularly boomy rooms, etc.
 
#12
Perhaps someone can chime in with a second opinion, but I modeled the drivers with the specs that Dave provided from Faital, and also the specs from the 12PR300. They are pretty similar, assuming I typed the values correctly. The GB version seems to prefer a slightly bigger box and a few Hz lower tuning, but for a DIY cabinet, the difference is probably mostly within the tolerance of taste preferences.
 
#16
little update...the glue has set up and I got it temporarily assembled for a test this morning and I'm extremely pleased!!!:
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Tested it with my pbass and Q5 and this thing takes anything I can throw at it. Had the master up to 90% on the ShuttleMax and it wasn't complaining. The lows are very focused yet still can sound huge with some eq. Not much on the top end but I wasn't looking for anything there. Mids sound real good, not honky at all and there seems to be a lot latitude to play around with.

Came out a little heavier than I'd hoped, it's about 45-6 lbs right now but I haven't installed the casters or tilt back hardware or grill yet. I don't have my foam yet so I tacked an old blanket inside, that could weigh some. It's very easy to pick up move and get thru doors and whatnot because it so narrow. And I love the height! Puts my amp controls right at a very convenient place where you can see them easily. Also you get nice little puffs of air out the top ports, should be great on a hot day!

I guess when I'm all done, I'll probably have about 325.00 into it. Not bad for as loud as this thing can get. Highly recommend picking up some these speakers while they're still around.
 

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#18
Natural would look great but it's gonna be black, everything I have is black. The volume is the same as nx2 but I have no idea what the tuning is. I just picked a number for the port shelf length and prayed. I don't really know how to test it for tuning....
 
#20
OK, time to finish up this thread... I've been using my cab for about 2 months and a dozen gigs now it's far exceeded my expectations. It came in at 53 lbs but I ended up adding a tweeter so a couple of pounds to that. It sounded good without the tweeter but I had it lying around from an old Avatar cabinet and I like having it now.

I really like how easy it is to move around. You can pick it up one handed with a side handle, with two hands it's a breeze and the tilt back handle is great for big parking lots. I do wish I'd of put bigger casters on though, 2" is fine for indoors but 3" would have been better for outdoors and carpet transitions. I also appreciate the skinny width for getting up narrow stairways or doors. I also like the height of the top port. Helps me to hear well and it's easy to turn around and see my controls.

As far as sound goes, it's a bit mid forward, very loud and very punchy. Not as deep as my Fearfuls but doesn't fart out like they do on the low B string notes. I'm using this speaker in a blues band where I double on an 5 string Eminence EUB and a P-bass. It handles both equally well.I'm not really sure what the tuning of the cabinet ended up being as I have no way to measure it, sorry.

All in all this cab was a lot of fun to build and even more fun to play and if Dave has any of these drivers left it''s a great way to get yourself a lightweight punch monster for under 300 bucks. Here's the final pics:
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