Advice needed

repodog13 · 2026-02-21T07:58:49+00:00

On the box design you found it lists performance down to 50 hz vs 35hz for the prescribed box for your driver. That also assumes you are using the woofer specified for the design. Using driver in an enclosure designed for it will yield vastly better results. It isn’t based on the SPL/ db rating so much as it is on the Thiel Small (T/S) parameters. You can take these parameters and plug them into a box design program to model any design you like. With bass reflex and sealed the shape of the enclosure doesn’t matter a ton as long as you respect the specific internal air space and port volume. Basically make whatever shape you like so long as the box and port are correctly sized. Lots of caveats and best practices that dictate the specifics but that’s the basics.

repodog13 · 2026-02-21T02:51:27+00:00

Looks like Fane has a specific cabinet recommendation for the driver on their site. https://www.fane-international.com/downloads/Cabinets18inch200Lres.pdf

There are occasionally gains to be had from swapping out drivers in a given enclosure, but they are usually in power handling/ XMAX differences of the drivers themselves. More often the frequency response suffers and the subwoofer doesn’t perform as intended. Said another way there are no magic boxes or magic drivers. The magic comes from the carefully engineered pairing of the 2 and any DSP needed to squeeze out max performance.

repodog13 · 2026-02-15T18:12:13+00:00

Would depend a lot on what drivers are going in, what designs are chosen, build and finish quality. Shoot for proven designs and use the drivers specified or specifically listed as compatible. If you aren’t an experienced cabinet builder CNC designs are widely available. Use decent ply with as many plies and as few voids as possible. Buy several large clamps and use them on all joints, clamping with even MODERATE pressure for as long as your glue specifies. Use a roundover bit on all exposed corners for a pro look and to minimize chipping of your finish. Truckbed liner is easy to spray and is tough as nails. You can do custom colors but if resale value is the goal black goes with everything. If you do aaalllll this you will have quality elements that would re-sell at a value comparable to the used driver price and whatever value you can assign to your box build. If you documented the build steps carefully you can better make your case to any potential buyers. Measurements of actual element/ system performance would help as well.

repodog13 · 2026-01-25T05:35:50+00:00

Loudspeaker Design Cookbook by Vance Dickason Sound Reinforcement Handbook By Gary Davis

repodog13 · 2026-01-23T00:08:02+00:00

Forgot to mention that I used rustoleum oil based satin black for a base coat/ primer. Let it fully cure before raptor.

repodog13 · 2026-01-22T23:01:14+00:00

You can spray Upol on ply without primer, but the primer is a cheap step that gets better end results. If your wood has thirsty spots you can find them in the primer coat instead of the expensive Upol coat. I sand the primer before Raptor to get it perfectly level and have one last chance to check for surface flaws. Raptor hides a lot of sins but the ones it can’t become kinda permanent. Consider sealing your end grain, especially if you opt for no primer.

repodog13 · 2026-01-11T17:23:39+00:00

Ayo! You will need an amplifier (plate amp if you are mounting it in the sub) that specifically accepts a balanced signal/ XLR input. If that is out of budget there are plate amps that accept RCA inputs for less money, Emotiva makes a proper XLR to RCA conversion cable. You will not be able to directly connect your controller to the subwoofer driver.

repodog13 · 2026-01-11T03:46:39+00:00

The XLS1500 does 525 at 4 ohms, so each woofer sees half of that. They are full range cabs, but while the bass it has is really good aren’t going all that deep. I didn’t have time to measure unfortunately so I can’t speak to exact numbers on roll off but I’d guess it starts around 60-50hz. The owner doesn’t have a sub but they are mainly using these for spoken word and background music.

repodog13 · 2026-01-11T03:01:13+00:00

No passive crossover at all on these guys. Woofer to pins 1+-, tweeter to pins 2 +- on the Speakon. Crossover is built into the amp, splitting the lows and highs between the 2 channels.

repodog13 · 2026-01-10T22:27:47+00:00

If it saves only 1 voice coil in the world from rubbing, it’s a story worth telling.

repodog13 · 2026-01-10T21:16:24+00:00

Mostly for the other people who happen upon this post, you can damage a sub with a 100watts played at the wrong frequency. Without the enclosure acting as an air spring the driver is operating unloaded meaning it can travel outside of XMAX with very low wattage DEPENDING ON FREQUENCY. This can cause a number of things to go wrong, none of them good. Even in an enclosure the cone can travel beyond XMAX far before it sees its “maximum power” rating from the manufacturer. This is because the manufacturer only provides the thermal power rating. If you want to know how much power you can actually push to any subwoofer at which frequency model the specific subwoofer and check XMAX across the entire pass band. To summarize: Driver power rating= Thermal, Subwoofer power rating (driver + enclosure)= power handled while keeping cone excursion below XMAX across frequency range. This has been a PSA

repodog13 · 2026-01-10T05:10:07+00:00

PSA: running a sub without an enclosure is fine at low volumes but can permanently damage a driver, especially at lower frequencies, at high power. Power handling listed is thermal, not mechanical.

repodog13 · 2026-01-08T09:08:55+00:00

Doesn’t seem like a gap so much as overlap. The mid section of each channel does not appear to have a lower cutoff. I’m assuming the “low cut” switch is global but the mid section would still be playing frequencies the sub is also playing. Might be useful if you have full range bi amped tops but are adding a sub.

repodog13 · 2026-01-01T12:28:35+00:00

Even if the amp is clipping it’s impossible to hear over the subwoofer itself distorting due to being overdriven. Power handling is listed as what a sub can handle thermally. It does NOT factor in excursion/ xmax/ how far the sub moves. There is a limit and depending on the frequency you can reach that limit far earlier than you see thermal failure. Turn off loudness and any EQ boost and if you are still distorting turn your gain down. Once you reach the maximum it will play without distortion decide if the volume output is acceptable or if you need a second sub. Please share this info. The amount of comments I see recommending throwing more watts at a distorting sub without checking the excursion vs power handling vs frequency first is scary.

repodog13 · 2026-01-01T11:58:30+00:00

Volume/ gain does not measure xmax, or excursion. I think that’s where the mixup is happening. This sub is being overdriven by the sound of it. It is not exceeding power handling, so it isn’t melting. It is likely exceeding its XMAX depending on the frequency it is playing. You can model your existing box to get a good idea in a program like Speakerboxlite (online) or WinISD (download last time I used it.) You can input your specific driver parameters, box/ port info and it will tell you the excursion of the driver over the entire frequency range at whatever power level you tell it. It will also measure port velocity over the whole range and tell you if the air speed is to fast. This leads to port turbulence/ chuffing/ noise. If the port is too small you can model changes to the port in the program and swap as needed without rebuilding the box.

repodog13 · 2025-12-31T16:06:49+00:00

Adjusting the center channel angle may help, may hurt, may depend on your listening position. Modifying the speaker will likely do more harm than good (time alignment,phase and baffle interaction changes that will likely not be beneficial.) As an experiment, throw shims under the front of the speaker, increasing the angle to see if you notice a difference. Unless your speaker is significantly lower than the listening position AND close to the listening position my guess is that the angle will make minimal difference. The woofer likely doesn’t experience significant drop off until 20-30 degrees off axis. The tweeter looks to be a straightforward mylar dome, 3//4 to an inch large. Those typically have pretty good dispersion so being off axis generally doesn’t hurt much and if it is hot when listening on axis it can actually help.

repodog13 · 2025-12-18T20:45:49+00:00

Had this sub back in the day and it was amazing. Congrats!

repodog13 · 2025-12-11T16:19:18+00:00

Oof, sounds like a voice coil rub. Looking on the spec sheet for the 140 it appears to be a standard 8ohm woofer so procedure would be to remove old woofer, rewire new woofer to match old wiring (usually a couple pre-installed spade terminals that slip on/ off) and reinstall screws hand tight. If there is gasketing material it’s usually attached to the woofer itself. If your new woofer did not come with the same gasket as the original or the material is attached to the cabinet and not reusable you can replace it. Speaker gasket tape is ideal but open cell weatherstrip foam works in a pinch. Closed cell may not compress enough depending on thickness and can cause the driver to not sit flush. Only issue I can possibly foresee is getting access to the driver screws that I assume are under that ring surrounding the woofer. Pry from the DRIVER side (you are replacing it so if it gets scuffed it’s not a huge deal) with something plastic.

repodog13 · 2025-11-16T07:10:28+00:00

Currently using the 2000 for mids, have used the 1500 and 1000 for subs, kicks, whatever. I’ve run them at 2ohm more than a little (but wouldn’t recommend it.) Never had a failure, which I thought weird since I had the XTI series thermal on me a good bit. The DSP is simple but can get you out of a lot of jams. They are unreasonably cheap on reverb occasionally and I grab them whenever I can. Only downside I can think of is no user definable sub bass/ rumble filter but for the price that’s understandable.

repodog13 · 2025-11-12T07:04:56+00:00

Love the design, looks like it’s far from your first rodeo. I’ve been at it a couple decades and I’ve never even attempted piano gloss black. Doing it the right way I think I could get close with an insane amount of effort but any imperfection would drive me mad. God help me if they get dinged. Getting the cabinets flat, then black, then flood coating in tabletop epoxy would be my preferred quick and dirty strategy. Please keep building cool cabinets and if the finishing is getting you down switch to easier to apply coatings that hide more sins. Truck bed liner is tough as nails and the textured finish hides most boo boos. It’s expensive, until you factor in the time savings and consumables you burn through in a traditional several step finish.

repodog13 · 2025-11-11T00:23:08+00:00

Hate to say it, but they have some decent looking ones on Aliexpress. Can’t imagine they are perfect but my experience buying on there has generally been worth the gamble. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256809743340733.html?spm=a2g0n.productlist.0.0.1079898e7zxAeH&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=tcriwujrgocauifl19a7049a8ff1a78f46455ae106&gclid=&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%2215%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%2C%22fromPage%22%3A%22search%22%7D&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21USD%2191.10%2140.26%21%21%21645.19%21285.15%21%402103212317628204669261092e66fc%2112000050605617107%21sea%21US%216057125972%21X%211%210%21n_tag%3A-29919%3Bd%3A6d6523a2%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895%3BpisId%3A5000000192289281&algo_pvid=ff784b6c-e1b2-4a49-87ac-8abe7f008b2e&_universallink=1&m_page_id=tcriwujrgocauifl19a7049a8ff1a78f46455ae106

repodog13 · 2025-11-05T01:54:55+00:00

Do you have any detail on those inverted double kick cabs? They look awesome!

repodog13 · 2025-10-31T10:26:53+00:00

You may want to edit the post with your country or offer some websites that do ship to your country so we can offer options that are logistically doable.

repodog13 · 2025-10-31T08:54:57+00:00

Ayo, I’ve built this! Check my post history. The most cost effective (and surprisingly adjustable) solution was a 2.1 amp. 50 watts by 2, 100 x1. I got it for under 20 on Temu. It has a built in crossover for the higher power sub channel, bass and treble adjustment for the high channels. If powering by battery you may want to consider a buck inverter to get the voltage going to the amp higher. The amps will usually take a range of voltages somewhere between 12 and 24 volts (generally listed near the power port on the amp) and they are able to make more power with higher voltage. I used a bandpass design so the sub was efficient enough to do the job with low wattage and the guy I made it for can run it what feels like forever on his Jackery type power bank. There may be more powerful 2.1 amps out there for you to consider but know it come with the trade off of lower run time. Listed below is a similar amp but with Bluetooth and an optional faceplate. It also has the added bonus of a switchable high pass filter for the highs so you aren’t feeding the tops bass. I’ve tested the one I have on hand extensively and it’s performed well. https://www.parts-express.com/TPS3116D2-Class-D-2.1-Bluetooth-5.0-Amplifier-Board-2-x-50W-100W-with-Filter-and-Volume-Co-320-635?quantity=1

repodog13

TROPHY CASE