Cheap Subwoofer £<150

[Llyr Roberts 0]

Hello,

 

I want to add a subwoofer to my setup, 2x carlsbro gamma 15"

All Is needed Is a sub to give a good kick in the belly for a crowd of up to 150, I have seen subs from Thoman and Studio spares for good prices, but wonder If I could make my own! I have good woodworking skills, but don't know where to start. My budget less than £150, I have been looking here for designs http://www.speakerplans.com/

Tips / Suggestions and thoughts would be great!

 

 

Thanks Llyr

Edited January 21, 2009 by Llyr Roberts

[McCardle 1]

I remember many years ago trying to do that very same thing. Not a subwoofer, but a pair of 15" speakers using Fane Drivers and Horns. To be honest I was as proud as anything with the finished result, until i found that the speakers had a nasty habit of bouncing themselves along the floor like a demented spin dryer.

 

Between you and me, they sounded bloody awful too ;thumbdown: .

 

There is an art of both design and mathematics to creating a perfect sounding speaker, I just thought that it was a matter of throwing in a decent driver (Fane were all the rage at the time) a bit of speaker wadding and glue and nail the cab together. Nah, a complete waste of money, I may as well have just gone into the garden and burned £120. They eventually committed suicide by hurling themselves off the stage during a soundcheck at a gig - probably for the best.

 

but don't know where to start

 

Neither did I - so we have something in common and look at the end result of my labours

 

In the end, I skrimped and saved and bought a pair of fine looking Richard Allen speakers (anybody else remember them?) which I kept many years, paid me back several times what I spent on them and owed me nothing when I came to upgrade them years later.

 

Do yourself a favour, if there is no rush or panic buy for these (I guess that you've managed OK so far, so there should be no problem with waiting a bit longer?) save up a bit more, and get something decent right from the start.

Edited January 21, 2009 by McCardle

[daryll 0]

Llyr.

 

If you have woodworking skills.

 

http://www.billfitzmaurice.net/

 

Buy the plans you need.

 

build the cabs.

 

Adhere to the instructions.

 

sit back and wait for the WOW factor

 

Daryll

[djgorey 0]

I agree with daryll except I would go with the speakerplans plans.

 

If you have the skill to build a speaker (I don't!), then I would go for it. The plans on speakerplans.com are by Rog Mogale, founder of Void Acoustics. The speakers on there are far far better than Soundlab or Skytec or just about anything else mentioned on this site. You'll learn a huge amount about PA generally too by joining the forum.

 

Two things though: have a look through the plans and look at the freq. Response graphs to work out what speaker you want - if you go hornloaded, you'll probably need four at least to get the sort of sound you want, but there are some nice reflex bins on there.

 

The other thing is you probably won't build one for less than £150. A Precision Devices or B&C driver could cost you that and Scandinavian birch plywood isn't cheap either. Having said that, you'll end up with a speaker quite a bit cheaper than you would if you bought similar quality in the shop.

 

Other than the cost, if you have the skill go for it.

Edited January 21, 2009 by djgorey

[dh140770 0]

Aren't 'The Box' subs from Thomann meant to be decent enough ?

 

Just checked on there and they have a 1 x 18" ACTIVE sub for £334. I know that blows the budget, but in reality that's just a couple of gigs (at most) and you are there. This is 131db max SPL which should give a decent kick in the belly! The sub I use is rated at 130db and there is plenty of bass in a room that holds 120+. We use it about 3/4 up on the gain giving a bit of headroom for the bass notes on RnB / Dance etc.

 

ACTIVE = Plug and play, you just need a line feed from your mixer or existing amp/active speaker line out. If you go Passive you also need to think how you are going to power it. If off your existing amp, think abuut ohm ratings and whether your existing amp will cope / get too hot!

 

Hope this helps.

 

[djgorey 0]

ACTIVE = Plug and play, you just need a line feed from your mixer or existing amp/active speaker line out. If you go Passive you also need to think how you are going to power it. If off your existing amp, think abuut ohm ratings and whether your existing amp will cope / get too hot!

 

Very good points - once you go down the passive route, you do have to consider the ancillary costs - crossover, extra amp etc but, IMO, passive will beat active on sound quality any day of the week.

 

I think it's about what you want from your sound system. If you need to get some additional bottom end at cheap price, then I would look around at Thomann and places like that.

 

If you want to improve the overall sound quality of the system and really understand how your PA works, the self-build is the way to go.

 

With some exceptions, if you buy cheap, it sounds cheap. Building your own speakers will not save you very much money by the time you buy the wood and driver(s) and then factor in the time, but in finding out the info you need to do it sucessfully, you will learn so much about your PA and sound quality. The finished article, if built properly, will be of such fantastic sound that you will be blown away by the quality.

[Andy Dunn 0]

Steady on

[djgorey 0]

Steady on

tongue out icon

[bluejools 0]

if you have the Carlsbro gamma's why not one of their subs ???

 

I used to have that set up and loved it.

[djgorey 0]

if you have the Carlsbro gamma's why not one of their subs ???

 

I used to have that set up and loved it.

 

And I'm selling a set - have a look in the "For Sale" section.

[norty303 0]

To be honest if you only have

 

I'm the admin over at speakerplans and can say that the intention of the plans on the site is to get a as high performance as you can from a DIY design without having to resort to DSP. Most of the designs therefore rely on a very suitable driver for the enclosure, which tend to be the higher end of the performance bracket. In most cases the driver alone will set you back >£150 and thats before you factor in time, materials, tools, fixtures, fittings, paint, etc. A lot of them are horns which means you need to be looking at at least 2 if not 4 in order to get the required frequency response so not entirely suitable for single cabs.

[Kingy 0]

IMO, passive will beat active on sound quality any day of the week.

 

 

Each to their own!!

 

I don't agree at all.