New subs?

[William Lemmerhirt]

140 bucks a sheet??? That’s Fukkin extortion!!! That’s ridiculous man. I would encourage you to tray a sonosub. I’ve built a couple and could offer some tips. It’s a lot cheaper, and if you’re just looking for a tester ATM, easy.

 

[Reckel]

Room is 13ftw x 19ftL x 8ft, left side of the area opens up to rest of basement. Ported smaller ones be fine also. She was not particularly fond of them when I got the first two in October of 17, then I bought the third in September of 18. Heard comments but not much said really. She hates how big they are.
They honestly don’t have a lot of hours on them since I got them. My work schedule sucks and my kids sports doesn’t let me get down there as much as I’d like. I’m only down there a lot when I’m on vacation which will be next month and December. Normally I’d just take the bitching n complaining but I was just trying to figure out a compromise with somethingin a smaller footprint . If I can’t, I’ll just deal with any complaints

 

[ryanosaur]

Room is 13ftw x 19ftL x 8ft, left side of the area opens up to rest of basement. Ported smaller ones be fine also. She was not particularly fond of them when I got the first two in October of 17, then I bought the third in September of 18. Heard comments but not much said really. She hates how big they are.
They honestly don’t have a lot of hours on them since I got them. My work schedule sucks and my kids sports doesn’t let me get down there as much as I’d like. I’m only down there a lot when I’m on vacation which will be next month and December. Normally I’d just take the bitching n complaining but I was just trying to figure out a compromise with somethingin a smaller footprint . If I can’t, I’ll just deal with any complaints

Your "theater volume" is very small, but with this being a basement and your theater open to the whole space, all the concrete, anything small is going to result in complete loss of any Tactile Response.
As I suggested earlier, if your total open room volume is less than 3000cu.ft. you may be OK switching to ULS15s... but I think you will be unhappy with the end result of those speedwoofers.

Frankly, I'd ask her, respectfully, to deal. I'm not trying to offer relationship advice or dig into your personal life, but unless you've got a huge mess elsewhere in the house and you don't contribute to the home and household... you've got the right to your own thing. If it means something to you, take a stand for it.
I had to put my foot down on my Lady griping about my rig after discussing it with her and trying to involve her. It just took my reminding her that she agreed to it and I didn't appreciate her snark. She got it. *shrugs

Anyway... to solve the situation, in the basement, you are going to be making a serious sacrifice downsizing as you are discussing. If it's not a big deal, that go for it and see what happens. If it's important to you, then take a stand. If it means bribing her with a new iPhone or computer, well...

But just so it doesn't get lost...
How much open space are the Subs exposed to?

 

[MaxInValrico]

Anything

140 bucks a sheet??? That’s Fukkin extortion!!! That’s ridiculous man. I would encourage you to tray a sonosub. I’ve built a couple and could offer some tips. It’s a lot cheaper, and if you’re just looking for a tester ATM, easy.

Anything hardwood will be expensive unless you buy in the rough.

 

[lovinthehd]

Anything

Anything hardwood will be expensive unless you buy in the rough.

Especially when it needs to be imported....

 

[ryanosaur]

Anything

Anything hardwood will be expensive unless you buy in the rough.

Hardwoods are bad for building Speakers. Any REAL wood is.
Baltic Birch Plywood is great for Subs as it is very stable, void free and has resonances that aren’t triggered at low frequencies.
The benefit of Baltic Birch is that it is lighter than MDF per square foot of similar thickness and therefore an excellent material for large cabinets.
MDF has become the standard for most other Speaker cabinets because it is very good at dampening most resonances, usually affordable, rigid and stable. Other than the dust created by working with MDF, it is easy to work with and finish.
Real wood expands and contracts with humidity and cannot be sealed properly to prevent leakage losses. Likewise, it splits, warps and twists. It is simply not suitable for usage in Speaker building.

 

[Eppie]

Hardwoods are bad for building Speakers. Any REAL wood is.
Baltic Birch Plywood is great for Subs as it is very stable, void free and has resonances that aren’t triggered at low frequencies.
The benefit of Baltic Birch is that it is lighter than MDF per square foot of similar thickness and therefore an excellent material for large cabinets.
MDF has become the standard for most other Speaker cabinets because it is very good at dampening most resonances, usually affordable, rigid and stable. Other than the dust created by working with MDF, it is easy to work with and finish.
Real wood expands and contracts with humidity and cannot be sealed properly to prevent leakage losses. Likewise, it splits, warps and twists. It is simply not suitable for usage in Speaker building.

Funny you should mention that. I was just looking at the PDF for the Enthraals build, but he used both materials. Started with plywood boxes and then wrapped them in laminated hardwood. Talk about overkill (and heavy) but if you want a hardwood exterior that's the proper way to go about it. I have a local hard wood supplier with loads of kiln dried walnut. Tempted to grab a few boards to dress the front of whatever project I choose next.

 

[ryanosaur]

Funny you should mention that. I was just looking at the PDF for the Enthraals build, but he used both materials. Started with plywood boxes and then wrapped them in laminated hardwood. Talk about overkill (and heavy) but if you want a hardwood exterior that's the proper way to go about it. I have a local hard wood supplier with loads of kiln dried walnut. Tempted to grab a few boards to dress the front of whatever project I choose next.

I watched some of his videos about that... IIRC, it was largely about doing something to look different as a facade. As you pointed out, Javad built the business part of the cabinet properly.
Frankly for the effort he put into that wood treatment, I would just learn to veneer, then stain or dye and seal to finish.

 

[Eppie]

I watched some of his videos about that... IIRC, it was largely about doing something to look different as a facade. As you pointed out, Javad built the business part of the cabinet properly.
Frankly for the effort he put into that wood treatment, I would just learn to veneer, then stain or dye and seal to finish.

The new glues that are heat applied are great for that. No worry about careful placement like you need for contact cement. I really like the look of rounded corners on the front face, though, which is hard to do in veneer unless it's a large round over. I've seen people edge band the fronts in hardwood to allow the rounding over, but then the veneer has to be inset to line up with the edge banding. Still thinking over about how I would tackle the front face.

 

[Reckel]

Your "theater volume" is very small, but with this being a basement and your theater open to the whole space, all the concrete, anything small is going to result in complete loss of any Tactile Response.
As I suggested earlier, if your total open room volume is less than 3000cu.ft. you may be OK switching to ULS15s... but I think you will be unhappy with the end result of those speedwoofers.

Frankly, I'd ask her, respectfully, to deal. I'm not trying to offer relationship advice or dig into your personal life, but unless you've got a huge mess elsewhere in the house and you don't contribute to the home and household... you've got the right to your own thing. If it means something to you, take a stand for it.
I had to put my foot down on my Lady griping about my rig after discussing it with her and trying to involve her. It just took my reminding her that she agreed to it and I didn't appreciate her snark. She got it. *shrugs

Anyway... to solve the situation, in the basement, you are going to be making a serious sacrifice downsizing as you are discussing. If it's not a big deal, that go for it and see what happens. If it's important to you, then take a stand. If it means bribing her with a new iPhone or computer, well...

But just so it doesn't get lost...
How much open space are the Subs exposed to?

To be honest she’s been pretty good with

Your "theater volume" is very small, but with this being a basement and your theater open to the whole space, all the concrete, anything small is going to result in complete loss of any Tactile Response.
As I suggested earlier, if your total open room volume is less than 3000cu.ft. you may be OK switching to ULS15s... but I think you will be unhappy with the end result of those speedwoofers.

Frankly, I'd ask her, respectfully, to deal. I'm not trying to offer relationship advice or dig into your personal life, but unless you've got a huge mess elsewhere in the house and you don't contribute to the home and household... you've got the right to your own thing. If it means something to you, take a stand for it.
I had to put my foot down on my Lady griping about my rig after discussing it with her and trying to involve her. It just took my reminding her that she agreed to it and I didn't appreciate her snark. She got it. *shrugs

Anyway... to solve the situation, in the basement, you are going to be making a serious sacrifice downsizing as you are discussing. If it's not a big deal, that go for it and see what happens. If it's important to you, then take a stand. If it means bribing her with a new iPhone or computer, well...

But just so it doesn't get lost...
How much open space are the Subs exposed to?

Sorry man, I work nights and my schedule sucks. Anyways, so basically for the most part she’s let me do what I want down there. She really just complains about the one in the rear behind my second row of seats. I built a floating table top around two columns I built on the back wall and there’s bar stools there for extra seating. The sub is underneath in the middle but she bitches cuz it sticks out, not horrible to me but it does stick out.
Im pretty limited with placement already so with the size of the vtf3’s I’m not putting them in walking paths. Realistically to get the one out from the back, I could have all three up front and put the rear one middle of front wall but I’d have to move gear stand that’s there now which I’ve been wanting to do for awhile, just have to figure out where to put my gear. I’d put pics on here so you can get a better understanding but my dam laptop needs cleaned up, it’s running very slow to open things. Don’t even know how three would sound up front, have to do some measuring with rew. I know my measurements with how it is now are pretty dam good and I haven’t eq’d anything, need a minidsp and I’m sure I can get it even better.
It’s well over 3000 down there. So to answer you, my foot has been put down plenty, I just get sick of hearing sh$t when the mood strikes about the rear one. I was just trying to think of a compromise to make her happy but she’s probably just gonna have to deal because the vtf3’s pound and sound great

 

[ryanosaur]

To be honest she’s been pretty good with

Sorry man, I work nights and my schedule sucks. Anyways, so basically for the most part she’s let me do what I want down there. She really just complains about the one in the rear behind my second row of seats. I built a floating table top around two columns I built on the back wall and there’s bar stools there for extra seating. The sub is underneath in the middle but she bitches cuz it sticks out, not horrible to me but it does stick out.
Im pretty limited with placement already so with the size of the vtf3’s I’m not putting them in walking paths. Realistically to get the one out from the back, I could have all three up front and put the rear one middle of front wall but I’d have to move gear stand that’s there now which I’ve been wanting to do for awhile, just have to figure out where to put my gear. I’d put pics on here so you can get a better understanding but my dam laptop needs cleaned up, it’s running very slow to open things. Don’t even know how three would sound up front, have to do some measuring with rew. I know my measurements with how it is now are pretty dam good and I haven’t eq’d anything, need a minidsp and I’m sure I can get it even better.
It’s well over 3000 down there. So to answer you, my foot has been put down plenty, I just get sick of hearing sh$t when the mood strikes about the rear one. I was just trying to think of a compromise to make her happy but she’s probably just gonna have to deal because the vtf3’s pound and sound great

Totally get it. It's nice having the subs spread around vs all front wall, but if you try it someday, maybe it works. You could also try yurning the sub in back 90º and see if that lessens the "impact" on the space. I wouldn't expect that to have a dramatic impact on in-room performance, but if it give two inches of space, maybe that's what's needed.

 

[Reckel]

Totally get it. It's nice having the subs spread around vs all front wall, but if you try it someday, maybe it works. You could also try yurning the sub in back 90º and see if that lessens the "impact" on the space. I wouldn't expect that to have a dramatic impact on in-room performance, but if it give two inches of space, maybe that's what's needed.

I’d like to get a fourth and have the two rear ones on the very ends of the table top underneath, I had already wired for a fourth when I did the basement. I’ll get you some pics as soon as I get the laptop cleaned up

 

[Eppie]

Audioholics has an upcoming review of the Starke Sound SW subs, but I don't want to spoil too much!

Saw some ads on the main page for Starke's Halo speakers. Think you will get a chance to listen to any of their speaker lines? Nice to see something different come out of the U.S.

 

[shadyJ]

Saw some ads on the main page for Starke's Halo speakers. Think you will get a chance to listen to any of their speaker lines? Nice to see something different come out of the U.S.

I have heard one of their speakers, but it wasn't one of their high-end ones.

 

[Reckel]

I have heard one of their speakers, but it wasn't one of their high-end ones.

When are you planning on reviewing those subs?

 

[shadyJ]

When are you planning on reviewing those subs?

The review should be published before too long, probably within a month.