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I have a friend at work who (I think) needs a small sound system. I decided to create a 2.1 system for her since I haven’t done a table radio with that arrangement. I’ve decided on the Peerless TC9 3.5 inch Full-Range driver for the stereo drivers based on good reviews from you guys here at Tech Talk.
For the subwoofer, I chose the Peerless SLS-P830945 5-1/4” subwoofer driver. It works well in a small enclosure and digs down into the 40 Hz range at a satisfying enough volume. It’s just under $40 at this time, and is shouldn’t sag excessively in my down-firing configuration. I’ve used this driver before in my “Summer Winds” speaker system from a few years back. It’s a little beast to be honest!
After some fiddling around in WinISD, I came up with a 7” x 7” x 14” tall enclosure with a 2” x 14” vent. I used ½” MDF for the enclosure and there is an internal brace that also holds the vent tube (ABS plastic) in place.
I used miter joints on the sides and top but just recessed the bottom to make life easy as it was the same size as the brace. I clamped it up with blue painters tape.
The vent is 14” long – the same length as the enclosure – so I used an elbow to get the required length. Home Depot had two elbows available, I chose the one with the larger radius. The vent exits near the top of the enclosure on the back and is a bit over 2” from the rear of the driver when mounted.
I built two of these which I veneered with White Birch, and Lacewood veneers. For the Birch, I ended up using rub-on Polyurethane. I applied a few coats of Minwax just to get the veneer sealed up since it’s very thin and dries so fast, then I hit it with a few coats of thicker General Finishes rub-on poly to build a bit of depth, followed up by a few final coats of the Minwax.
For the Lacewood veneer, I first applied boiled linseed oil, followed by a few sanding sealer coats. Then I filled the grain with Crystalac grain filler to get it smooth, which I followed up with a few more coats of the sealer. Then I applied clear lacquer for the final finish. The Birch is super-smooth on it’s own, but the Lacewood had lots of grain openings in various sizes due to the nature of the wood, so I thought filling the grain would look nice for that.
Finally, I used some nickel cabinet drawer handles for the feet – a trick I’ve used before on my little ND105 subwoofer build. This project ended up looking almost exactly like that one as luck would have it – I didn’t intend for that to be the case, but it’s just how it panned out.
Anyway, I have a video on the construction of this on Youtube. Applying the finish to the cabinets will be ‘Part 3’ and should be up in October I think if anyone is interested.
In this ‘build video’ I also show a few of the ‘boo-boo’s’ where things don’t go exactly as planned, and how to deal with them. I always have a few of those it seems.
I’ve played sine sweeps and music through this setup and while I do hear audible chuffing from the vent with the sine sweeps, Music is fairly quiet chuffing-wise – only when I’m pushing the sub too far anyway does it start to chuff for the most part.
I’ll hold off on saying too much on how it sounds until I can get a few more hours of listening under my belt… for now I’ll just say that I’m impressed. This Peerless driver performs similar to the Tang Band W5-1138 driver and may just have the edge in a few categories.
It’s a simple subwoofer build – It won’t shake the walls – but it really does a nice job filling in the low end for smaller speakers. Here is the link to the construction video on YouTube if you're so inclined: https://youtu.be/hsgkD7EOBS4 It should be ready to view shortly if it isn't quite ready yet.
This will be powered with a 2.1 amplifier housed in the radio portion…eventually. I’ll be working on the radio over the next few months and hope to have it completed by the end of the year, Lord willing. I'm moving a little slower these days.
Thanks for looking!
TomZ
For the subwoofer, I chose the Peerless SLS-P830945 5-1/4” subwoofer driver. It works well in a small enclosure and digs down into the 40 Hz range at a satisfying enough volume. It’s just under $40 at this time, and is shouldn’t sag excessively in my down-firing configuration. I’ve used this driver before in my “Summer Winds” speaker system from a few years back. It’s a little beast to be honest!
After some fiddling around in WinISD, I came up with a 7” x 7” x 14” tall enclosure with a 2” x 14” vent. I used ½” MDF for the enclosure and there is an internal brace that also holds the vent tube (ABS plastic) in place.
I used miter joints on the sides and top but just recessed the bottom to make life easy as it was the same size as the brace. I clamped it up with blue painters tape.
The vent is 14” long – the same length as the enclosure – so I used an elbow to get the required length. Home Depot had two elbows available, I chose the one with the larger radius. The vent exits near the top of the enclosure on the back and is a bit over 2” from the rear of the driver when mounted.
I built two of these which I veneered with White Birch, and Lacewood veneers. For the Birch, I ended up using rub-on Polyurethane. I applied a few coats of Minwax just to get the veneer sealed up since it’s very thin and dries so fast, then I hit it with a few coats of thicker General Finishes rub-on poly to build a bit of depth, followed up by a few final coats of the Minwax.
For the Lacewood veneer, I first applied boiled linseed oil, followed by a few sanding sealer coats. Then I filled the grain with Crystalac grain filler to get it smooth, which I followed up with a few more coats of the sealer. Then I applied clear lacquer for the final finish. The Birch is super-smooth on it’s own, but the Lacewood had lots of grain openings in various sizes due to the nature of the wood, so I thought filling the grain would look nice for that.
Finally, I used some nickel cabinet drawer handles for the feet – a trick I’ve used before on my little ND105 subwoofer build. This project ended up looking almost exactly like that one as luck would have it – I didn’t intend for that to be the case, but it’s just how it panned out.
Anyway, I have a video on the construction of this on Youtube. Applying the finish to the cabinets will be ‘Part 3’ and should be up in October I think if anyone is interested.
In this ‘build video’ I also show a few of the ‘boo-boo’s’ where things don’t go exactly as planned, and how to deal with them. I always have a few of those it seems.
I’ve played sine sweeps and music through this setup and while I do hear audible chuffing from the vent with the sine sweeps, Music is fairly quiet chuffing-wise – only when I’m pushing the sub too far anyway does it start to chuff for the most part.
I’ll hold off on saying too much on how it sounds until I can get a few more hours of listening under my belt… for now I’ll just say that I’m impressed. This Peerless driver performs similar to the Tang Band W5-1138 driver and may just have the edge in a few categories.
It’s a simple subwoofer build – It won’t shake the walls – but it really does a nice job filling in the low end for smaller speakers. Here is the link to the construction video on YouTube if you're so inclined: https://youtu.be/hsgkD7EOBS4 It should be ready to view shortly if it isn't quite ready yet.
This will be powered with a 2.1 amplifier housed in the radio portion…eventually. I’ll be working on the radio over the next few months and hope to have it completed by the end of the year, Lord willing. I'm moving a little slower these days.
Thanks for looking!
TomZ
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