Me documenting my Dayton 18-22 cabinet build and thanks to...

[moves]

Best way is with a solder sucker but you should be able to heat that and drag/scrape it off with a metal pick or something,

The wire seems very thick.... should I separate the strands a bit? The terminal posts are not very wide at all not sure why they are so small.

 

[Swerd]

The wire seems very thick.... should I separate the strands a bit? The terminal posts are not very wide at all not sure why they are so small.

Are these terminals on the back of your sub woofer driver? They're intended for use with much thinner wire than 12g.

Was your 12g wire meant to go between the driver and terminals on the back of your cabinets? If so, a short length of 16g or smaller wire will work just fine.

Like MrBoat says, heat the terminal posts until the solder melts, pull away the old wire and scrape the excess solder off. Have more wire with fresh tips ready and solder them on. Use thinner wire if you have it.

 

[moves]

Are these terminals on the back of your sub woofer driver? They're intended for use with much thinner wire than 12g. YES!

Was your 12g wire meant to go between the driver and terminals on the back of your cabinets? If so, a short length of 16g or smaller wire will work just fine. YES!

Like MrBoat says, heat the terminal posts until the solder melts, pull away the old wire and scrape the excess solder off. Have more wire with fresh tips ready and solder them on. Use thinner wire if you have it.

It's the round terminal piece that you see in the pic that attaches to the back of the cabinet. The subwoofer terminals are just clip in. They don't need soldering. So you are suggesting to use 16AWG wire from driver to back of cabinet hardware for Speakon to connect to and then use 12AWG wire for the speakon?

 

[KEW]

Do you speak from experience using lock miter bits on speaker cabinet sized MDF panels? I know you have more wood working experience than I do.

I have not. A friend who had just bought one of these bits invited me over to check it out. His project was to make make some "faux solid" 3" X 4" cherry (table) legs using 3/4" thick hardwood. I played with the boards and fit-up before we glued them and was impressed with how, just using my hands, I could press fit them together (no glue) and they would hold together to make a pretty solid box just from the accuracy of the fit! I feel completely confident you would not smash or tear mdf when assembling. However, to answer your question, we did not route mdf.
Downsides were:
1) It took a bit using test scraps to get the bit height right so the miters met perfectly on the corner. However, he now has his final test sample to use as setup gauge to get close for the next time. It won't be perfect because the objective is to align the center of the cutter to the center of the stock and 3/4" is not always .7500"
2) He had some tear out at the thin point of the corner when he had to feed the stock cutting against the grain. We took care of that by making 3 passes (when the cut was against the grain),such that the last pass was only cutting less than 1/8" (IOW, a "finishing cut"). Of course this is not an issue with mdf, it cuts very clean and doesn't have a grain to cut against.

 

[Swerd]

It's the round terminal piece that you see in the pic that attaches to the back of the cabinet. The subwoofer terminals are just clip in. They don't need soldering. So you are suggesting to use 16AWG wire from driver to back of cabinet hardware for Speakon to connect to and then use 12AWG wire for the speakon?

Yes. Short lengths of narrower wire won't harm anything. With my small 40 watt iron, I find soldering any copper wire thicker than 16AWG takes way too long.

 

[moves]

Okay thanks for the input. I don't have 16 AWG but I do have 14AWG. I'll give that a try and see how it works out.

As long as there are no issues from going from 14 or 16 AWG to 12 AWG (sub to amp).

 

[lovinthehd]

Okay thanks for the input. I don't have 16 AWG but I do have 14AWG. I'll give that a try and see how it works out.

As long as there are no issues from going from 14 or 16 AWG to 12 AWG (sub to amp).

At the lengths involved not even a thought....

 

[moves]

Well I think that previous solder might have worked fine because I just spent 45 minutes trying to get them off and I only got 3/4 wires off lol.

 

[moves]

Could I use 18 AWG or is that too small?

Remember that it is a 2 OHM dual Voice coil.

 

[lovinthehd]

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable
https://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge

 

[moves]

So I've put it together tonight. It's pretty cool. First, I hooked it up and turned it on and there was no sound. I was like oh no... but I was too excited and forgot to hook the amp up to the AVR haha... anyway, here are a bunch of pics: Let me know what you think:

Better soldering job I think with smaller wire.

I am using blue jean cable and I don't recommend the Belden model. The casing is way too stiff and hard to work with hence the clamps. The jacket is not easy to remove.

 

[moves]

Here are some more:

 

[moves]

I had some trouble with one of the hex bolts that I couldn't get fully screwed in. It was tough turning it in and I heard some cracking from underneath... not sure where abouts really. I am guessing the T nut started to separate from the glue and the MDF. I loosened a half turn to take the stress of the bolt and left it as is. I am not sure what to do now regarding painting and removing the woofer. I am confident that it is secure but not sure what will happen if I unscrew the driver and then try to screw it back in....

 

[Swerd]

I had some trouble with one of the hex bolts that I couldn't get fully screwed in. It was tough turning it in and I heard some cracking from underneath... not sure where abouts really. I am guessing the T nut started to separate from the glue and the MDF. I loosened a half turn to take the stress of the bolt and left it as is. I am not sure what to do now regarding painting and removing the woofer. I am confident that it is secure but not sure what will happen if I unscrew the driver and then try to screw it back in....

This seems like what happened to me – its hard to drill parallel holes for all 8 T nut shafts.

You have two possible solutions after painting. 1) Try doing similar to what you did when you loosened the hex bolt half a turn. But this time, don't tighten it all the way. 2) Remove that one T nut and use a wood screw instead. Be sure to tighten the wood screw last.

That's why I avoid using T nuts. If I install those E-Z LOK type threaded inserts, I don't have this problem. Their external knife threads seem to make it easier to drive them in so its square to the wood piece.

https://www.ezlok.com/e-z-hex-threaded-inserts-for-soft-wood

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/q-installing-threaded-inserts/

This video shows how to install the hardwood type threaded inserts, but the installation method is the same as for the softwood type that you would use for MDF.

 

[moves]

This seems like what happened to me – its hard to drill parallel holes for all 8 T nut shafts.

You have two possible solutions after painting. 1) Try doing similar to what you did when you loosened the hex bolt half a turn. But this time, don't tighten it all the way. 2) Remove that one T nut and use a wood screw instead. Be sure to tighten the wood screw last.

That's why I avoid using T nuts. If I install those E-Z LOK type threaded inserts, I don't have this problem.

The EZ locks... did you thread them in from the top just or from the bottom side of the baffle? I am guessing the top.

I thought of this as well. I may just do an EZ lock on that one bolt and leave the rest as is. I did do a dry fit to help prevent this from happening but not sure what happened in between dry fit and actual install.

I have a drill guide so the holes should be parallel.

The wood screw idea is a good one that I didn't think of. The one wood screw should do while the other 7 are in the T nuts.

 

[Swerd]

The EZ locks... did you thread them in from the top just or from the bottom side of the baffle? I am guessing the top.

I installed them from the outside of the sub woofer cabinet – as opposed to the way you'd install a T nut.

The wood screw idea is a good one that I didn't think of. The one wood screw should do while the other 7 are in the T nuts.

Frankly, using wood screws for all 8 holes does work. For a large driver, eight #8 or #10 (if you can find them) wood screws holds without a problem.

I added some links and a You Tube video to my previous post. Have a look.

 

[moves]

Thanks for the tips

I installed them from the outside of the sub woofer cabinet – as opposed to the way you'd install a T nut.
Frankly, using wood screws for all 8 holes does work. For a large driver, eight #8 or #10 (if you can find them) wood screws holds without a problem.

I added some links and a You Tube video to my previous post. Have a look.

 

[moves]

Okay so what should I cross this sucker over at in the AVR? Now I have it at 100Hz.

Also, is it okay to place it behind the speaker? The sub is right in the corner but the left speaker is about 2 feet off from the wall and it is just to the right of the sub in front.

 

[moves]

I installed them from the outside of the sub woofer cabinet – as opposed to the way you'd install a T nut.
Frankly, using wood screws for all 8 holes does work. For a large driver, eight #8 or #10 (if you can find them) wood screws holds without a problem.

I added some links and a You Tube video to my previous post. Have a look.

Wondering what your thoughts would be on the above re: cross over and placement.

 

[Swerd]

Okay so what should I cross this sucker over at in the AVR? Now I have it at 100Hz.

Deciding on a sub-to-speaker crossover frequency is best done by trial & error. What are your speakers, and what is their low roll-off frequency? Are they Totem Winds? They are rated to go as low as 24 Hz. If so, I think 100 Hz might be too high.

I'd try 60 or 80 Hz as a starting point and go lower until you think you hear a gap between the speakers and the sub woofer. Also try listening with both the sub and your speakers run full range. It isn't always easy to tell, so give it time.

How are you controlling this crossover? In your photo, I see a large MacIntosh (?) amp, but your sub woofer prevents me from seeing what could be an AVR.

Also, is it okay to place it behind the speaker? The sub is right in the corner but the left speaker is about 2 feet off from the wall and it is just to the right of the sub in front.

There is no generally correct or incorrect answer to sub woofer placement. Place it where ever it seems to work best in your room – within practical limits.

See the AH link that discusses how to go about this, Crawling for Bass – Subwoofer Placement Tips.