New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

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  • Mayhem13
    Seasoned Veteran
    • Jun 2008
    • 2261

    #46
    Re: New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

    Great work! The new AE subs look promising and competitively priced considering the very low Le .196?

    Comment

    • mgrabow
      Senior Member
      • Nov 2008
      • 820

      #47
      Re: New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

      Very Nice. Excelent job on the internal bracing.... I may have missed it in the many posts but what was the application process on the veneer? Vacuum, clamping or Hot iron/PVA?
      Mark


      http://www.diy-ny.com

      Comment

      • Taterworks
        Senior Member
        • May 2008
        • 779

        #48
        Re: New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

        23mm Xmax (and over an inch of mechanical travel each way) - check.
        1000W RMS power handling - check
        90+ dB sensitivity (15" models) - check
        Low Qts - check
        .196 mH inductance - check

        In every sense, it looks like the new-generation AV subwoofers are set to outpace the Dayton RSS390 subs. Just be prepared for a somewhat higher cost of admission, and make sure your box is built like a tank.

        Even though I use an older-generation AV12-mkII driver, I'm amazed by how clean it remains, even when being pushed hard for movies.
        Best Regards,

        Rory Buszka

        Taterworks Audio

        "The work of the individual still remains the spark which moves mankind ahead, even more than teamwork." - Igor I. Sikorsky

        If it works, but you don't know why it works, then you haven't done any engineering.

        Comment

        • Jason
          Senior Member
          • Oct 2005
          • 512

          #49
          Re: New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

          Originally posted by mgrabow
          Very Nice. Excelent job on the internal bracing.... I may have missed it in the many posts but what was the application process on the veneer? Vacuum, clamping or Hot iron/PVA?
          I went iron/PVA for the veneer. With the curved sides it was that or contact cement, and I've given up on that. Turned out well. The thing I like is that if I didn't get a corner secured well the first time around, I can just crack out the iron and in a minute it's fixed (I didn that in 2 places last night, actually )

          The finish is just brushed on poly, which didn't come out quite as perfect as I would have liked. Normally I spray lacquer (which has it's fair share of headaches), but I like the result much better. With the freezing weather I was forced to do the finishing in the basement. I'm kind of wondering if I should have done one final coat with a can of spray poly... I suppose I can always do that down the road if I feel the need. For now it's finished and usable, which is the important thing!

          Comment

          • Jason
            Senior Member
            • Oct 2005
            • 512

            #50
            Re: New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

            Originally posted by Taterworks
            23mm Xmax (and over an inch of mechanical travel each way) - check.
            1000W RMS power handling - check
            90+ dB sensitivity (15" models) - check
            Low Qts - check
            .196 mH inductance - check

            In every sense, it looks like the new-generation AV subwoofers are set to outpace the Dayton RSS390 subs. Just be prepared for a somewhat higher cost of admission, and make sure your box is built like a tank.

            Even though I use an older-generation AV12-mkII driver, I'm amazed by how clean it remains, even when being pushed hard for movies.
            I'm a master of finding good deals. When I was looking for a sub, John had a couple of old drivers he was trying to get rid of, and when I inquired about them he made me an even better proposition. He had a couple of prototype AV15's and offered me one at a price I couldn't refuse. Mine differs slightly from the production models in that mine has an aluminum sleeve in the pole piece, rather than the copper one used in the production models. The specs on mine are a little different from production, but it's pretty close to the AV15-X (copper VC, slightly higher Qts). Mine may also have slightly higher Le given the aluminum sleeve. At the time John was calling this a 1500W driver (and it can handle the excursion at that power down to 18Hz!). The other difference is that mine has the super cool silver/black machined basket, which is only cool until you put it in the box

            Comment

            • mgrabow
              Senior Member
              • Nov 2008
              • 820

              #51
              Re: New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

              Foe a great brush on finish try general Finishes "arm-r-seal" . It can be wiped on, brushed on or sprayed on.... Very thin so there are no bubbles. It will run so you need to lay your project flat if brushing it on. You can rub it out if you want a high sheen or hit it with steel wool and then wax it for a nice semigloss...
              Mark


              http://www.diy-ny.com

              Comment

              • Jason
                Senior Member
                • Oct 2005
                • 512

                #52
                Re: New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

                So I got around to hooking the sub up tonight. The kids rented Horton Hears a Who, which oddly enough has some decent bass moments (I guess you'll have that with an elephant running around).

                So I'll admit something up front... When I first hooked the sub up this summer, I was a little underwhelmed with what I was hearing. I was hoping it was a poorly sealed box or maybe I had the sub wired up wrong, as there just wasn't all that much output, especially the really low notes. After just a minute or two of test tones, the amp kicked into super screamer fan mode, which also worried me.

                I got the amp second-hand (i.e. FREE), and hadn't done much research on it. So I went to the QSC site and found the manual for it. I had everything wired up correctly, and I checked the DCR at the terminals, and it was about 3.4 ohms, so I had that wired correctly as well. After a little further reading, I found that the amp has a set of little mini dip switches hidden on the back, one of which engages a high pass filter. Turns out these were ON, so the amp was cutting off everything below 30Hz! I flipped those off and hooked it up to the receiver. I had the gain on the amp maxed, and the reciever's sub level set to +3dB. I set the speakers all to small, and set the LFE xover to 60Hz. We fired up Horton Hears a Who at a "moderate" level to see what would happen. Holy <expletive>! Deep, rumbling bass, but still very well controlled. About 5 minutes later my wife came down and said "That's all I can take". I guess it was shaking the windows upstairs.

                I built this sub exclusively for HT duties, so I'm honestly not at all concerned with it's "musicality". I wanted boom and rumble. Audiophiles will probably turn their noses up at a statement like that, but it's true. Obviously there's a difference between mushy rumble and tight gut wrenching slam, which is what this sub has in spades. My last sub was one of the Lambda "LE" PB-15s with a 350W amp, which I always thought was a pretty great combo. This is a whole different league. That combo had a definite limit (admittedly it was a pretty high limit, but you could reach it). This AV15 can crank out the volume! There were brief thumps that were easily 100dB+, and the cone was maybe at 10% excursion. You can tell when a sub is straining, and this thing never even came close. I'm not an extreme SPL kind of guy, but for dynamic moments in movies, it's really nice to have this kind of massive headroom to completely handle explosions and other effects. Absolutely no compression so those big booms rip right through you. To reach this driver's limits would take a big amp and painful SPLs.

                I'm using the sub in my basement theater room, which is fairly long and narrow - 13'x30' with 7' ceilings and closed off from the rest of the basement. So not a huge room. I just plopped the sub in the corner and didn't do any experimentation with room placement. Eventually I'll get around to that, and I'll probably add an EQ unit of some sort (BFD maybe) as I'm sure there are some serious room modes to deal with. However, for the time being I'm thoroughly impressed. Through the whole movie I never had the amp fan kick in and it ran dead quiet, which is a pretty major relief as I don't see any reason to have to replace it.

                Comment

                • shon39us
                  New Member
                  • Nov 2009
                  • 7

                  #53
                  Re: New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

                  What kinda of wood did you use for the first few layers?

                  Comment

                  • shon39us
                    New Member
                    • Nov 2009
                    • 7

                    #54
                    Re: New Sub Project - AV15 *PIC*

                    Originally posted by Jason


                    Provided Link: More Pics


                    I'm actually not too scared about the box. For the most part, it's going to be not much different than any other box I've built, aside from the curved sides. I actually picked up a cheap little Ryobi bandsaw for cutting the top/bottom/bracing. Basically, I'll build the box without the sides, including all of the internal bracing, and then I'll use 1/4" material for the sides in multiple layers. The baffle will be 1.5" thick, and the rest will probably just be 3/4". We'll see if 3/4" is adequate for the sides, and if not, I can always add a few extra layers. The pic below is the horizontal internal bracing.

                    I'm going with dual 4" ports. I won't be running a full 1500W into this thing, so hopefully port noise won't be too big of a problem. I'm still not sure what I'll use for an amp. Originally I was just going to use one of the 350W "Apex Senior" amps from Apex jr., but that seems like WAY underpowering this thing. I've got a QSC USA 900 available that I'll probably give a try first. I think bridged into the ~4 ohm load this thing provides, it should put out a little over 1000W. We'll see how that does.


                    What method did you use to make the arc for the curve?

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