Titanstic: my in-progress 10" Titanic mkiii sub build.

[viivo]

Starting build log tomorrow.

I decided it's time to do something about my sub-less existence. I looked around and figured I could build one for less and get more quality and performance.

For a total of around $300 ($155 for sub, amp was on sale for $114, ~$30 in materials, 4ftx4ft 3/4" mdf is $13, much cheaper than I thought) this will be a sub that blows away anything near its price, plus the pride of making it myself.

I currently have a 10" Dayton Titanic mkiii and 300w rms BASH (I know digital isn't preferable but can upgrade later) plate amp on the way. For the box, it will be 3/4 mdf, 20Hx14Wx22D, with a 17" long 4" port tube, which should tune it to around 25hz. Sub will be flush mounted in a 1" baffle. I will be having the mdf cut tomorrow since I can't make a straight cut to save my life, and look forward to getting started. Will post pictures as I progress.

If you have any suggestions about the build, size, etc. please let me know as this will be the first enclosure I have made.

Edit: Fixed dimensions, should be 20x14x22 which is about as large as I can live with.

 

[glen]

You might want to check out some of the free enclosure programs on the net.

 

[glen]

In general, the larger the enclosure, the deeper and flatter the response. In many ways, the largest sealed box you can live with will be the closest to ideal.

 

[viivo]

Thanks for the replies.

It was suggested I go ported since my mains have no problem down to 45hz, so I'd just need the sub to fill in below that which a sealed box could not do competently, especially a 10 and with only 300 watts. As far as I know, anyway. Also mistyped port length, should be 17", not 7.

 

[Howard]

You should probably head over to avsforum, PE techtalk, or diyaudio

 

[viivo]

I'm here because I'm looking for suggestions in an area with which I have little experience. Those places are full of audiophool snobbery, not people honestly interested in helping.

 

[Howard]

The objective truth is that there is much more knowledge at those places than there is at this place.

Anyway, simulate a box tune for yourself using a program like WinISD Pro. It's pretty easy.

 

[Kaido]

I built a 10" Titanic MKIII kit many moons ago. It was a very, very powerful sub - too much for even my medium-sized living room. I wish they made an 8" so it didn't feel like my house was going to fall apart

 

[Tiamat]

I built a 10" Titanic MKIII kit many moons ago. It was a very, very powerful sub - too much for even my medium-sized living room. I wish they made an 8" so it didn't feel like my house was going to fall apart

that's what the gain knob on the amplifier is for ;p

but seriously, it is impossible to have too much sub. There is always a use for extra headroom in the low frequencies

 

[kornphlake]

I'm here because I'm looking for suggestions in an area with which I have little experience. Those places are full of audiophool snobbery, not people honestly interested in helping.

I found the DIY Audio boards to be very helpful actually, if you've had problem getting help it may be in your attitude. Like any board they expect you to do a minimum amount of research before posting questions, but generally if you say I have this driver, I ran a simulation using this program and this is what I came up with you'll get some good suggestions.

I ran a simulation in winISD and the plot looks a little ragged (green), your port calculation is wrong unless I entered the box dimensions wrong, a 12" port tunes the enclosure to 25 hz with a peaky response around 26 hz, with room gain the sub stands a good chance of sounding boomy. The red plot shows the winISD default box of about 37 liters with the port tuned to about 27 hz smooths out the plot but you'd need a 30" port to tune that low and a 37L box is on the small side so you'll have to get creative on how you fit that port in the box. Are you dead set on the Titanic driver? A Dayton 10" reference driver (blue) looks nice in a 60L enclosure tuned to 24hz. The reference series driver cost a bit less than the titanic and has been well reviewed as a good sub for HT applications.

Edit: I see you have the titanic on the way already, ignore my plug for the reference sub. Still, I'd plug some numbers into winISD or another program and figure out the best box volume and tuning frequency for your driver. Saying "the biggest box you can afford is the best," isn't always true when discussing ported enclosures.

 

[Kaido]

that's what the gain knob on the amplifier is for ;p

but seriously, it is impossible to have too much sub. There is always a use for extra headroom in the low frequencies

That was the issue - turn down the gain and the bass didn't permeate the room. My neighbors were not as big of cinema aficionados as I was :awe:

 

[Tiamat]

That was the issue - turn down the gain and the bass didn't permeate the room. My neighbors were not as big of cinema aficionados as I was :awe:

My early woes were due to poor bass response at my listening position, but overly bassy in other locations (including the neighbors LOL). After a long while of experimentation (crawl method in addition to measuring the response), I found a place for the subwoofer which produced a reasonably non-peaky response at the listening position. Either the neighbors got deaf, or the new place decreased the perceived bass for them as they didn't complain anymore!

 

[Kaido]

My early woes were due to poor bass response at my listening position, but overly bassy in other locations (including the neighbors LOL). After a long while of experimentation (crawl method in addition to measuring the response), I found a place for the subwoofer which produced a reasonably non-peaky response at the listening position. Either the neighbors got deaf, or the new place decreased the perceived bass for them as they didn't complain anymore!

I just moved instead.

:biggrin: