15" Sub - experimental build - but with a different design

[Naveenbnc]

Hi Guys,

Im planning to build a 15" sub in a low budget.
But the interesting point here is its design idea.
Idea credit goes to our @yogibear ....Thanks a lot for so many inputs so far ..!!!
@diyaudio suggested the driver, and gave many inputs as well. Thanks a lot for that too ....

As you can see from the picture, the front of the enclosure is just left open, and the driver is mounted on the rear wall of the enclosure.
Literally, the driver is outside the box. It may feel odd in the beginning, but gradually I felt more and more interested to try it out.
It may be called something like "horn loaded dipole bass " as per yogibear
Only concern is that it is a fairly large box for my room.

One of the requirements is that the Driver having more than 0.5 Qts would be best suitable for this kind of design.
I searched as much as I can, but high Qts drivers are not found easily, and that too in a budget.
I saw Ahuja drivers, but didn't have the confidence since their Xmax is low (2 to 3mm)
Later I learned that along with Xmax, other parameters are also significant.

Any way, I ordered a 15" Ahuja driver with Qts 0.54 and Xmax 3.5mm
Today I got the MDF cut, but I have to wait for the driver to arrive.
Eager to build it as soon as possible .... I will keep updating the progress...

Regards,
Naveen

 

[Naveenbnc]

the starting point of this idea, and many other details can be seen from the below link

https://www.hifivision.com/threads/...-ahuja-12-and-compression-driver.71782/page-3

Page 3 onwards....

 

[elangoas]

Im planning to build a 15" sub in a low budget.

Vow.. Great.. 15 inch sub.. Good luck..

 

[Naveenbnc]

Vow.. Great.. 15 inch sub.. Good luck..

it is affordable Elango..... and im very eager to try it !!

 

[elangoas]

it is affordable Elango..... and im very eager to try it !!

Ok.. image looks nice.. So open baffle sub.. What would be the power requirement for this sub?..

 

[Naveenbnc]

Ok.. image looks nice.. So open baffle sub.. What would be the power requirement for this sub?..

Driver is rated at 200W.

But as yogibear said, it can be driven easily with less power since it has good sensitivity.

The good thing I did last year was.... Instead of buying an active sub, I got a 2 channel amp made by our FM Aniket. Now I have the flexibility to try different passive subs with it.

 

[jls001]

So is this some sort of OB? And will the Qts work?

 

[Dr.Lakshay]

Nice project. Looking forward to the outcome.

The good thing I did last year was.... Instead of buying an active sub, I got a 2 channel amp made by our FM Aniket. Now I have the flexibility to try different passive subs with it.

How power output does the said amp has?

 

[elangoas]

Driver is rated at 200W.

But as yogibear said, it can be driven easily with less power since it has good sensitivity.

The good thing I did last year was.... Instead of buying an active sub, I got a 2 channel amp made by our FM Aniket. Now I have the flexibility to try different passive subs with it.

Ok Great.. So dual subs then?..

 

[Naveenbnc]

Ok Great.. So dual subs then?..

ya .... i have to find out if this sub is suitable for movies or music or both ...
may be the sound will be different from my existing iwai 12" sub. Any thing is fine for me. Il just try at least for the fun in building ....

But the box is huge for my room. Just for reference, i checked how it looks like if I add a full range on top.
The below pic shows their relative size with respect to 9feet wide screen

 

[Naveenbnc]

 

[elangoas]

ya .... i have to find out if this sub is suitable for movies or music or both ...
may be the sound will be different from my existing iwai 12" sub. Any thing is fine for me. Il just try at least for the fun in building ....

But the box is huge for my room. Just for reference, i checked how it looks like if I add a full range on top.
The below pic shows their relative size with respect to 9feet wide screen

Great.. What are the dimensions of the enclosure?..

 

[Naveenbnc]

Size is prescribed by yogibear.
2ft wide, 30" height, 16" deep.
Pretty Big.

I have to say that IL cover it in foam and rexin. So that my kid can sit on it and play.
Otherwise, such a big box won't find easy entry into that room

 

[elangoas]

Size is prescribed by yogibear.
2ft wide, 30" height, 16" deep.
Pretty Big.

I have to say that IL cover it in foam and rexin. So that my kid can sit on it and play.
Otherwise, such a big box won't find easy entry into that room

Size is huge.. Looking forward to your build and pick some info from here..

 

[Naveenbnc]

So is this some sort of OB? And will the Qts work?

It is more close to horn loaded dipole, than ob. As far as the Qts is concerned, I searched for higher qts drivers in a said budget. Some are not available in stock. So this driver is the most promising within the "available options"

 

[Naveenbnc]

So is this some sort of OB? And will the Qts work?

Please see post #50 and post #71 in this thread.

https://www.hifivision.com/threads/...-ahuja-12-and-compression-driver.71782/page-3

 

[Naveenbnc]

Now I am getting nervous.....

Looking forward to your listening impressions. Do you have active crossover ? Experiment, around 150 Hz to 100 Hz with a full range at the top. However if it sounds good, the full range will have to be mounted with no physical contact with the bass box. Notice how the WE horn is mounted, in the earlier picture.

Lionx attempted this design with his 15" Bolton bass driver and he was impressed.

Here the picture:

View attachment 30847

Here is mine, when it thundered all the 8 floors of the apartment building, playing at 3rd floor:

View attachment 30848

im also pretty excited
But due to some reason, in a worst case, if it doesn't sound that good.... there will be absolutely no disappointment.
Speakers is a recent hobbie for me, but DIY is something im doing since childhood, and i take failures very very easy ....

But im curious to know, is there any better suited driver for this design (somewhat higher Qts and low Fs) ??
May be I can afford around 6 to 10k max.

 

[Naveenbnc]

Nice project. Looking forward to the outcome.

How power output does the said amp has?

It's a 250w amp.
Actually these drivers have good sensitivity. So even my entry level AVR is also able to drive them very loud !!!

 

[SIDEWINDER18X]

Ahuja speakers are mostly used for public address application. Built around local or sometimes Chinese soft parts with no innovative technology in their magnet structure for taking care of intermodulation distortion or flux stabilization eddy current rings ensuring low distortion, inductance stabilization and better transient response. Their zero effort in choosing hi-end soft parts for better tonal reproduction and scoring points in overall response setting international standards or earning reputation.
Even as a professional P.A driver it is far far away in comparison to the American or European drivers.
Can be a good choice as a budget & inexpensive
driver where hi quality reproduction is not a prime criteria.
You expectations out of your innovative approach
doesn't matches to the selection of the drive component. But the price tag you are looking for I guess Eminence speakers can be a better choice which can fit your budget.
Vivek.

 

[Naveenbnc]

Ahuja speakers are mostly used for public address application. Built around local or sometimes Chinese soft parts with no innovative technology in their magnet structure for taking care of intermodulation distortion or flux stabilization eddy current rings ensuring low distortion, inductance stabilization and better transient response. Their zero effort in choosing hi-end soft parts for better tonal reproduction and scoring points in overall response setting international standards or earning reputation.
Even as a professional P.A driver it is far far away in comparison to the American or European drivers.
Can be a good choice as a budget & inexpensive
driver where hi quality reproduction is not a prime criteria.
You expectations out of your innovative approach
doesn't matches to the selection of the drive component. But the price tag you are looking for I guess Eminence speakers can be a better choice which can fit your budget.
Vivek.

Dear Vivek, thank you for the inputs !!!!
Till recent times, I was under the same impression that Ahuja is only for public meetings and marriage functions. I never even got the wild idea of using Ahuja for hifi.
But recently some of our senior FMs like Ravindra Desai and Drkrack have build their hifi speakers with Ahuja SK12Frx and they were very satisfied.

So I taught, .....out of hundreds of drivers Ahuja is making, this particular model may be suitable for hifi. And I also dared to make two speakers with it. I am very happy with it "for the price" and surprised with its performance. But I clearly felt this driver can not do justice for all kinds of music, and in some specific areas, this driver doesn't have the refined sound delivery. I couldn't compare with premium 12" drivers since I haven't heard them.

However this Ahuja are very cheap and easily available. That's one of the reasons I picked it. But I'm sure I have to build some speakers with premium drivers.