Dayton DVC31088 12" Build Thread

[Argroft]

This is an AutoCAD rendering of what the table and tops (with the correct sizing) will look like. I would have liked to make the mahogany center maybe just a tad larger, but I don't have anymore pieces with that style grain in them. I was trying to avoid any obvious seams anywhere I could, especially the tops. I think it will look better with a smaller solid center piece than a larger seamed piece.

@rojo: I remembered what you said about it being a pain to clean, so I mentioned the idea to a friend of mine who came of with 2 suggestions. The first was to use stainless steel flat bar so there isn't any crevice between materials. That would be great, If I could source the right size. I was hoping for something 1/8" square, but no one makes anything that small, even 1/8" by 1/4" would have worked. The other suggestion was to get a piece of glass cut to fit the tops. This option I think would be the better option as it will work to protect the top as well, and with the vinyl edges, the glass will have a softer surface to sit on so it won't rattle. I can also wait to get the glass to see if it actually is that difficult to keep clean.

 

[Argroft]

More progress! I got a late start tonight because I decided to take a trip to the lake and go kayaking instead. It was a nice day and I couldn't resist!

Anyway, I rematched the mahogany panels since some of them stained a bit differently than expected, so I repaired a couple of them. I forgot to take a photo of the new match-ups, but I'll get one later. I did start on getting the top finished and I remembered to take pictures of that!

I laid out the panels after I cut them to make sure they fit. After thinking a bit, I remembered that wrapping them in vinyl will add some to the overall dimensions. To make up for this, I cut some scrap vinyl and used it as spacers between the center and the outer frame. It worked quite well. I also notched out the top outside edge of the inner mahogany panel so I could recess the stainless steel round bar for a flat finish.

So far I only have two of the side pieces wrapped, but it looks good so far. The vinyl went on a lot easier than I thought it would with the curved edge to work around. To save on contact cement and maximize adhesion, I coated the ends of the MDF with 50/50 wood glue and water to help seal it. I noticed on other pieces that the edges of MDF take 2-4 coats of contact cement before it stops soaking in while the flat surfaces only take 1-2.

The next steps are to get a final coat of stain on all mahogany pieces and apply some polyurethane to them. I also need to sand and stain the feet and hopefully by the time that's finished my stainless steel round bar should be here. At that point I should be able to put the whole thing together! Hopefully I also have the funds to get the driver before then as well.

 

[Argroft]

@rojo or anyone else who wants to chime in: I was reading up on other subwoofer builds and whatnot and see that a fair amount of people have "extra" components in their setups such as a miniDSP. To be honest, I don't even know what a miniDSP is or why I would need one. If anyone cares to explain it's purpose, or if I even need one, I'll look into it. Also, before I finish up this project, If anyone has any other suggestions as to additional accessories I may need, let me know!

On a side note (more directed at @rojo), I found that with the Crown XLS1500 I will need a converter like this one. I did a test (then some research) and found that the output from my AVR is not sufficient to power even my main speakers. Even with the gains maxed and the volume at 100% it was not nearly as loud as just running them off my AVR. My research confirmed this (it's the incompatibility between consumer and pro gear). Essentially, even though the Crown XLS1500 has RCA inputs, it is still expecting them to be to have the same input signal as you would get with an XLR input, basically making them useless. So some type of converter and the driver itself are on my shopping list at the moment.

 

[rojo]

A miniDSP is nice for applying room correction and a house curve to multiple subs, but I think your money would be better spent on the matching end table / 2nd sub first. The AVR's correction should be fine for a single sub.

Your "this one" link is broken, and points to the unfinished table top pic if the img tags are removed. I'm not sure what converter you had in mind. Wonder whether something like this line level amplifier would help? Or did you have this balanced / unbalanced line level converter in mind?

Also, once you get everything connected, you might find that the signal difference doesn't matter. Once you run your AVR's room correction, you may find that you still have room to turn the LFE volume up to balance with your mains quite nicely. I know my AVR auto sets the sub volume at like -8 or -7 when I run Audyssey setup, but the range is ±12dB.

And finally, remember that you'll be connecting these subs as 4Ω loads. If your mains are 8Ω, they won't draw as much current.

 

[Argroft]

Your "this one" link is broken, and points to the unfinished table top pic if the img tags are removed. I'm not sure what converter you had in mind. Wonder whether something like this line level amplifier would help? Or did you have this balanced / unbalanced line level converter in mind?

The converter I'm referring to is this one. It's primary goal it to convert between unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR. I guess as far as any add-ons go then, I'll simply hold off then until I get at least the first one finished.

 

[Argroft]

I finally ordered some stuff. I ordered the driver and the converter as well as two 1 meter XLR cables to connect the converter to my Crown XLS1500. They have all shipped as of last night and are due to arrive on Monday. I should be able to to get the table itself all but finished this weekend as well. My shipment of stainless steel is supposed to come tomorrow, and that's all need parts-wise to finish.

On to last night's progress:

I still need to put a couple more coats of polyurethane on the wood, but other than that, this is close to the final product. The top isn't fastened yet as I'm still trying to decide the best way to do that. I may need to glue the mahogany piece on with wood glue, then use something like liquid nails and a few screws from the inside to keep the vinyl pieces in place. For this picture I tucked a couple pieces of vinyl in the center gap to show what it would look like.

In this image, I have the center piece wrapped and in place. I also placed some extra stainless rods for another project in place to get a feel for how the final product will look (I hate waiting). It's not a full shot because the stainless rods I used weren't long enough.

This is the top, as I mentioned above, it isn't fastened yet. It will look a little more aligned once it is and the gaps in the corners should tighten up some as well.

I don't have to work this weekend, so hopefully I can get the rest of this thing knocked out and ready so all I have to do is drop in the driver and hook it up! That might be a bit optimistic though as I still need to do a lot of stuff, but I should get pretty close to wrapping things up this weekend.

 

[Argroft]

Looks like I might get this all finished up by Monday! Polyurethane is done, the feet are stained (need poly) top is mostly fastened, just waiting for the wipe-on poly to dry on the mahogany before I fasten it. Tonight I should be able to get everything fastened to where it only needs the stainless rods attached. Hopefully they come in the mail today, last I checked they were still in Kansas city, which is a few states away.

On to last night's progress:

This is the top and sides with the final cost of polyurethane as well as the feet.

This is the vinyl pieces attached to the top. I decided to pocket screw the pieces together so they had a nice fit with one another. After that, I used heavy-duty liquid nails to glue it down. Normally I would have used Titebond II for this, but with the vinyl wrapping underneath I didn't have any good MDF on MDF contact. I did screw it down on each side with pocket screws to hold it in place.

That's all for now, but there will be another update tomorrow morning!

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[slipperybidness]

Yeah, I figured I'd likely need a second one at some point, but I can't drop another $130 for a second driver right now. So to compromise, I'll build a second table with a cutout for the driver and the wiring and port already installed, do when funds are available I can just plug-n-play. To be honest, I haven't even ordered the first driver yet... so we'll see how that goes.

Hey, what are those mains? Info would be appreciated.

Dang, you do some nice work!

 

[Argroft]

Hey, what are those mains? Info would be appreciated.

Dang, you do some nice work!

If you're referencing the ones I built the stands for that I mentioned before, they are Zaph Audio Sr-71's. I opted to buy a kit with the drivers and crossovers since it was my first build. I may not have anything to compare them to, but especially since I made the stands, they are some of the best sounding speakers I've heard and well worth the cost. With the stands, the bass response has drastically improved and sometimes leaves me wondering "do I even need a sub?". Then I realized that they don't quite shake the foundation, so I needed to fix that. I want to really feel the sound.

Anyway, if you have any questions on those or anything else, let me know. I'll be happy to answer them for you!

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[Argroft]

I'm a little late today, oh well. For starters, my shipment of stainless never showed up yesterday and the teacrhing info still says they are in Missouri. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they show up tomorrow.

On to tonight's progress:

I have the sides fastened and the top glued down.

I installed the binding posts, each with 2 leads since I'm installing a dual voice coil sub in parallel.

The feet need another couple coats of polyurethane yet, then I can fasten them.

All I need to do yet is mount the feet and driver and fasten the stainless steel rods when they show up. Hopefully I can get that finished by Tuesday at the latest if all goes to plan. I probably won't post another update until it's finished to save some clutter on here, so it may be another couple days for another update. However things go, I'll keep y'all updated!

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[TheWarrior]

Not sure if these will sit on hardwood, but I've been liking 3M FloorCare Pads. Its a 3/16" thick pad with 3M double sided adhesive tape on the back. You can get them in cut-to-size pads... just only buy them when they can be found $5-$10, I've seen them go for $15-$20 online.

 

[Argroft]

Not sure if these will sit on hardwood, but I've been liking 3M FloorCare Pads. Its a 3/16" thick pad with 3M double sided adhesive tape on the back. You can get them in cut-to-size pads... just only buy them when they can be found $5-$10, I've seen them go for $15-$20 online.

For now, they are going into a room with carpeted floors. In fact, aside from the bathrooms and kitchen, I think all my floors are carpet. Anyhow, I will definitely keep that in mind if they should ever find their way to hardwood floors! Thanks!

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[TheWarrior]

Random, I know. Its usually best to not have hardwood in a home theater, but I love it too much...

 

[Argroft]

I know what you mean, I prefer the feel of carpet, but I can't resist the looks of a nice hardwood floor. And random is cool, until USPS decides to randomly delay the delivery date of an item I needed yesterday... Oh well.

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[TheWarrior]

It must be Monday...

 

[Argroft]

Mhmm. On the bright side, the rest of my stuff is coming in this afternoon as well, so I can have a party with the boatload of packing peanuts I'll probably end up with!

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[TheWarrior]

Wrap it all up in a giant garbage bag and call it furniture for all the people who will want to come listen!

I hear Love Sac is charging thousands for that now!

 

[Argroft]

The moment we've all been waiting for: project completion! I had time to wrap everything up and got the feet fastened this morning. I will say that it weighs a ton, about 130lbs I'd estimate. Anyway, here's some photos of the final assembly as well as the end product:

Level converter to hook up my sub output on my receiver to the XLR inputs on my Crown XLS1500.

The rest of the stuff that come in on monday: Stainless steel rods, the driver, and a free Dayton Audio hat that came with the sub.

Bottom shot of the table after I installed the driver. I used 1/4-20 x 1" hex cap bolts and some tee nut to mount the driver so I never have to worry about the driver coming loose.

I took this after I fastened all the stainless steel and it the glue was still drying.

This is the final product. I think it turned out great! It matches the rest of the collection perfectly. Just as a note to anyone who cares, it isn't placed in the room where it belongs, that's just all the further I got it after I drug it up the stairs in the background.

Now that's it's done and hooked up, I bet your all wondering how it sounds. Initially, I thought I had screwed something up because all I got was a nice loud hum... turns out if the Crown XLS1500 is set without a lowpass filter on a sub, it does that. So I place a filter crossover at around 1000hz and it stopped. Before doing any actual listening beyond that point, I ran Audyssey on my Denon AVR-X1000, which did a fairly good job. After listening to a few songs and adjusting the gain a bit on the sub, I think I got it set. The more I listen to it, the more it impresses me. The sound is fairly precise and very deep. It blends great with my SR-71's and neither of them have any problem getting LOUD! I can run my AVR on full volume which is more than I will ever need it and I had things falling off shelves and could listen to my music 2 floors away. What I love most is that it just barely catches those infrasonic notes. The first song that I heard it on freaked me out because I thought it was a helicopter outside. Prior to this sub, I don't think I've ever heard anything that could put out infrasonic notes before. I think I'll have to play around with the location of it to get the best sound, but I don't have a lot of space to for it at the moment. As I mentioned before, I don't have a dedication home theater room (yet) since I don't have my own house. I'm a little cautious to ask to put this stuff in the living room or the basement (it's a finished basement that would work best with this stuff). Mostly because they are used by everyone in the house and I don't really want to be denied access to my own stuff, so we'll see how that works out.

I walked around the room a bit after setting things up and found that if you didn't know that the sub was in the table, it was very difficult to tell where the sub was. Even knowing where it was, it still didn't sound like it was coming from the seemingly harmless table. Also, any doubts I had about things rattling off the top are gone. It didn't matter what I sat on it, nothing moved or rattled. Honestly, I'm more concerned for the stuff hanging on the walls.

I haven't had a chance to watch any movies yet, but I'm open to suggestions as to what I should watch for my first movie with this thing. I'm also itching to get the second one built, but I think I may hold off on it for a bit or work on it here and there on the side. I'm more concerned about getting my surrounds built and a matching entertainment center designed and built. I'm still on the fence about the entertainment center though as I can't decide whether to build my center channel into it or set it on top. Built-in would look cleaner, but on top would give me a lot more space in the cabinet. But lets save that for another thread!

Well, I guess that concludes this project! If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to post them. I may post another update if I finish the other table sometime soon or choose to make any alterations to it.

 

[rojo]

Brilliant job! That really is a work of art. Wish I could hear it, man. And I'm stoked that you're hearing notes that were never obvious before.

After running Audyssey setup did you make sure your AVR set your mains to "small"?

I recommend "Mad Max: Fury Road" as an excellent demo movie if you've got it. "Edge of Tomorrow" is another good one if not. Just be a bit conservative with the volume at first and listen for the sub to bottom out. I think the descending tones at the beginning dip down to 16Hz IIRC, and your sub has no subsonic filter.

Re: center built-in or on top of the entertainment center, I think it'll sound better on top. Built-in may defeat some baffle step compensation intended by the crossover design, and might make the speaker sound bloated in the midrange.

 

[Argroft]

The mains and center are set to small but I left the low-pass filter in place because I'm fairly certain its being caused by the converter.

I don't have "Mad Max: Fury Road, but I may have to get it. I wanted to see it in theaters but never got around to it. So that's probably next on my shopping list.

About the center console, what's your take on mounting above or before the TV? The center channel is 12" deep by 9" high by 30" wide. I could build a shelf angled down at the listening position. I think that might look cleaner and should allow me to have greater ability to place the tv, however it also limits me if I ever want to move anything. So I don't know which direction to go with that but I guess for now I'll design it without the speaker.

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