Building a subwoofer

[Patthehat033 10+ year member]

I've noticed on the classifieds that a lot of you purchase subwoofer motors etc. and build your own custom subs.

I want to try this. What is the best way to start off doing this?

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[knotdrummer88 10+ year member]

Im interested in this

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

Its not something you want to take on yourself since there are so many aspects and tricks you need to know... I have been reading a ton and am going to try it myself but only after I have learned enough and with a cheap motor... Talk to SPL audio though and he can build whatever you want... What are you looking to have done?

 

[Patthehat033 10+ year member]

Well it's not that I need anything specific done, it just looks like it would be nice to be able to make your own because then you can pick from different parts and make a custom one. I would probably experiment with a P.O.S. sub first, but haven't other guys on the forum done this?

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Almost all people buy known motors, that can be easily rebuilt with a drop-in recone kit with available parts.

There is not much "customizing" to it. It's motors that have standard 3" coils, sometimes 2.5" coils, and most other parts a limited in selection. In the end, you buy a drop-in recone kit where the coil, spider, cone, surround, are all pre-built for your specific application to "drop-in" with the only thing needing to be done is align/glue.

So, it's different from what I imagine your idea of it is.

 

[R34P3R 10+ year member]

Almost all people buy known motors, that can be easily rebuilt with a drop-in recone kit with available parts.
There is not much "customizing" to it. It's motors that have standard 3" coils, sometimes 2.5" coils, and most other parts a limited in selection. In the end, you buy a drop-in recone kit where the coil, spider, cone, surround, are all pre-built for your specific application to "drop-in" with the only thing needing to be done is align/glue.

So, it's different from what I imagine your idea of it is.

Holy god I thought you were perma-banned? Like seeing a ghost.

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

it is a expencive learning prosses to do and to build something that is gonna perform really well is hard. picking a motor and havin a custom drop in built is a diff story. you need to know ur soft parts really well...

 

[Patthehat033 10+ year member]

So what is the benefit of putting in a recone kit on a specific motor? Is it any cheaper than buying a brand new woofer that can handle the same wattage and be just as loud?

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

yea its cheaper that new woofer

 

[Patthehat033 10+ year member]

Isn't it practically new since the recone kit is like rebuilding it? Do motors on subwoofers usually go bad?

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

It is just like new, granted no motor damage.

The thing is, "most" subwoofer soft-parts are chosen based on the motor design and usually optimized for the advertised application.

Can you slap in some other parts? Sure. Is this necessarily ideal, probably not. Sure you can put in a different type of coil (copper, roundwire, flatwind, 4-layer, 8-layer), different spiders (progressive, linear, material, amount), type of cone (pulp, nomex, etc), surround (foam, tall, rubber, etc)...

But you can't just choose randomly, and it must be matched to your motor/gap. And even in the end, it may not perform as well. But you can create a fully functional, great woofer with better parts as well. (Improved power handling, response, etc).

So, it's at your own risk. :shrug:

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

^ ya gotta know the parts you use. i have rebuilt almost all the major and underground brands and can change how it performs and make customers happy. such as if they want a lower freq responce,or louder on certain power.