CSS DIY Sub - Tips/Advice please!

[caper26]

Hi guys. Since I am in Canada and looking for a value:money ratio, DIY was recommended to me. I have no idea about DIY, however, I am good with wires/soldering, and building stuff. I have a friend who is in charge of a local wood hobby club who has eons of experience woodworking and they have a massive shop with ALL the tools. He has graciously offered to build the box for free for me; I just have to buy the materials of course. He has no experience building "speakers" per se, but he looked quickly at one of the following plans and said it would be easy to build a 'box'. I was suggested these 3 kits. I have no idea which one would be better or why.
Lastly, what other materials are required to assemble these kits? There are no instructions that I could see, only the cutout plans. Do I need to buy a crossover, other hardware? Please advise!

CSS Trio12APR15 - C$359.00 Shipping: C$40.00
CSS QUARTET12(TRIO12)B - C$389.00 Shipping: C$40.00
CSS QUARTET12(TRIO12)H - C$469.00 Shipping: C$45.00


What are the differences in these kits?
~cape

 

[jinjuku]

Hi guys. Since I am in Canada and looking for a value:money ratio, DIY was recommended to me. I have no idea about DIY, however, I am good with wires/soldering, and building stuff. I have a friend who is in charge of a local wood hobby club who has eons of experience woodworking and they have a massive shop with ALL the tools. He has graciously offered to build the box for free for me; I just have to buy the materials of course. He has no experience building "speakers" per se, but he looked quickly at one of the following plans and said it would be easy to build a 'box'. I was suggested these 3 kits. I have no idea which one would be better or why.
Lastly, what other materials are required to assemble these kits? There are no instructions that I could see, only the cutout plans. Do I need to buy a crossover, other hardware? Please advise!

CSS Trio12APR15 - C$359.00 Shipping: C$40.00
CSS QUARTET12(TRIO12)B - C$389.00 Shipping: C$40.00
CSS QUARTET12(TRIO12)H - C$469.00 Shipping: C$45.00


What are the differences in these kits?
~cape

You need to see if they have any application notes that you can use.

 

[jinjuku]

The difference between the last two is the amp: BASH vs Class H technologies. No big deal IMO.

Without diving in to those I would tell you to call and ask what the sonic difference may be. I would go with the BASH setup.

They have a PDF listed here for the implementation.

 

[caper26]

Unfortunately, the PDFs are basically a cut sheet for the MDF. Looks like they assume you "know" how to put it all together

 

[GranteedEV]

CSS Trio12APR15

This uses a single 15" passive radiator therefore it costs less. However with passive radiators it's usually better to use two firing in opposite directions as it keeps the box a bit more inert. You could probably build this perfectly fine as a 12" driver isn't nearly as difficult to deal with as an 18 or 21 and the trio doesn't really strive for extrem-ness... just nice bass.

CSS QUARTET12(TRIO12)B

This uses a bash amplifier modified for use with the trio12 and a pair of passive radiators. By this I mean it's got a built in high pass filter which will limit excursion below the tuning frequency of the two passive radiators in the kit. These two passive radiators are designed to fire opposite of each other which helps with some of the internal pressure of the box.

CSS QUARTET12(TRIO12)H - C$469.00 Shipping: C$45.00
[/QUOTE]

This is almost the same kit as above, but you're basically just paying for a more expensive amp. I would definitely get in touch with CSS and ask them what exactly that amp offers that the bash amp does not, but my guess would be "not much".

If you're trying to save money you may also want to consider just the trio 12 with a similarily tuned port. We can help you in the process of figuring it out. It would have a bit bigger box than the Trio and you may have to take air speed into consideration but you could probably build two trio 12 boxes instead of just the one with passive radiators, which can get pricey. Ported boxes will also have a less steep rolloff than a PR.

 

[jinjuku]

Unfortunately, the PDFs are basically a cut sheet for the MDF. Looks like they assume you "know" how to put it all together

Just follow the cut sheets. Plenty of clamps and glue. What wood working equipment do you have?

 

[GranteedEV]

Just follow the cut sheets. Plenty of clamps and glue. What wood working equipment do you have?

He said he has ALL of them O_O

The main thing that isolates a subwoofer box from a regular cabinet etc is bracing.

If you can get a cross brace every 8-12 inches or so, it may be enough. Double thickness always helps too, especially for the baffle.

 

[GranteedEV]

Anyways I built a sub pretty recently. Stuff off the top of my head you should have


-Silicone to seal any gaps
-strong wood glue

^ purchase these when you actually build it, you don't want it to expire before you even open it.

-a quality caulking gun for the above. I went through about 4 from the garage until I gave up, bought a new one and it worked perfectly.

-either MANY clamps or if you're a bit less proper, then weights + screws in order to press glue airtight. Remember to always pre-drill and countersink before screwing

-cutting equipment - this one's obvious.

-The right screws to mount the driver into the baffle correct

-something to keep those above screws in the baffle. I used T-Nuts and made a mistake of not gluing them and two came out when I was screwing it in. So have a hot glue gun on hand and dab a little bit onto the T-Nut before hammering it in. I've got to go back in there one of these days and get those last two t-nuts in.

-Binding posts. Forget binding post cups. I used a binding post cup and did not like it at all. Gave me too much of a feeling of air leakage whether it was there or not. Just go with the kind of binding post you hammer in. Actually for a plate amp sub you won't need this will you?

-OC703 to line the insides.

-Weather stripping (open cell?) foam tape to seal up any possible leakage areas IE Plate amp mount.

 

[jostenmeat]

Hi caper, I wish you luck, and keep us posted! I noticed your thread at AVS too. If value is the main thing, I'd look into the Tuba HT designed by Fitzmaurice. It's really big though, however there are two sizes to choose from. I believe you pay $15 for plans. Its super high efficiency means you can buy a modest amp and still bring your house down.

Since not only do you have help, but expert help, don't limit yourself to "simpler" kits.

Going with a plate amp is personal preference I suppose, and my preference is to use an outboard amp with the intention of running speaker wire instead of an interconnect.

IMO, Neutrik Speakon connections are the way to go, both at the sub and at amp. Cheap, super beefy, super easy to connect/disconnect, super secure. I recommend calling them as plate and cable plug, not male/female because they are "opposite" from what we are used to. I also recommend the type where you can use a screwdriver to secure the wires, but that's just me.

 

[billy p]

Unfortunately, the PDFs are basically a cut sheet for the MDF. Looks like they assume you "know" how to put it all together

I contemplated those kits myself and was plagued by same issues as you maybe? Considering your friend is helping you out with the enclosure, that is half the battle. If your going to DIY it defeats that purpose paying someone to complete the process.... FYI...you should give funkywaves a call... I believe he uses those drivers and the fw10.1 could be an option for you?

 

[caper26]

He offered to do it for free, and I am helping as well. Will look into FW....are they in Canada? And I am going DIY to save on insane shipping costs to Canada, as well as duty, tax, brokerage, blah.....blah.....blah.....

 

[Matt34]

He offered to do it for free, and I am helping as well. Will look into FW....are they in Canada? And I am going DIY to save on insane shipping costs to Canada, as well as duty, tax, brokerage, blah.....blah.....blah.....

Yes FW is in Canada!

 

[GO-NAD!]

He offered to do it for free, and I am helping as well. Will look into FW....are they in Canada? And I am going DIY to save on insane shipping costs to Canada, as well as duty, tax, brokerage, blah.....blah.....blah.....

I've found that the lower prices found at US sources, like Parts Express, compensates for the shipping and brokerage costs. I haven't been charged duty on anything I've ordered from them, or from Monoprice. I got two 10" sub drivers from P.E. (RSS265HF) for my 2-channel system and couldn't be happier with the results. I asked a lllllllottttt of questions before I started, but the project turned out well. I'll be building a couple of subs in the near future for my HT and I'll be using the 12" version of the same driver - RSS315HF - in ported boxes, using this model found at TLSGuy's website:

http://www.drmarksays.com/?p=25

If you take a look there, you'll see that he has also modeled the Trio 12 in a vented box. Going vented may not be as simple as going the PR route, but it'll save you the cost of the passive radiators. You could skip ordering the kit and just get the driver and plate amp. If you go to hometheatreshack.com, you'll see a thread dedicated to CSS builds, which may be helpful.

I considered the Trio 12, as well as the SDX10, but I'm sticking with the RSS315HF, as it should offer me deeper extension. Total cost will be pretty similar price-wise, to the CSS option.

 

[caper26]

taxes are in... time to start considering a final decision!

 

[caper26]

CSS Quartet TRIO 12 (with psv radiators) and SPA500 amp. Made the first cuts last night!

 

[lsiberian]

CSS Quartet TRIO 12 (with psv radiators) and SPA500 amp. Made the first cuts last night!

Nothing quite like cutting the wood.

 

[caper26]

just need to round the corners and prime it

 

[Guiria]

just need to round the corners and prime it

AND post some pictures

 

[caper26]

AND post some pictures

You bet. Maybe tonight. Got is all finished and finally working. Ran into a few hiccups with the products, but sorted most of the kinks out now. Got to really test it this morning... Holy Hell ! The entire half of the house was vibrating
Here is a preview:

 

[GO-NAD!]

It's about time! This thread almost died from neglect!

J/K!

Looks good. What issues did you run into? Are you gonna take some in-room FR measurements?