Sub building?

[Gbob2003 10+ year member]

So i have researched extensivly and i still cant quite understand what all goes into building a sub woofer. So what all do you need peiceswise and how to put it all together. Could someone make me a list of what I would need to buy. Like everything and then could somone give me step by steps on what to do to put it all together and make it operational. Thanks. Really would appreciate the help

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[sundownz Pro Seller]

Motor

Basket

Coil

Spider Assembly

Cone

Dust Cap

Bolts and Terminals

Glue

Solder

Soldering Iron

Solder Flux

Coil Shims

Clamps

Should about do it...

 

[Gbob2003 10+ year member]

What would it cost in all to make just my first beater sub? for all the parts you listed what am I lookin at for a price? For basic stuff

 

[ahole-ic]

What would it cost in all to make just my first beater sub? for all the parts you listed what am I lookin at for a price? For basic stuff

If you're hoping to built a great sub your first time, money is tight, or you cannot figure out what equipment you will need from reading the tutorials on how to build a woofer... it is not for you. If none of these apply to you, happy building!

 

[groundpound4200 5,000+ posts]

I'd start with a drop-in recone first. All you have to do with those is shim and glue. Find a motor and the proper basket for it and contact the mfgr. for a drop in

 

[Gbob2003 10+ year member]

Hows the recone work? just cut the old cone out and then glue the new one back in? Im not quite understanding that

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

If you have never done it before, you need someone who has done it to show you how to do it in person. Its really the best way to learn without spending a bunch of money in parts that you'll screw up before you get it right.

 

[slim2fattycake 10+ year member]

you sure you did "extensive" research? lol.

 

[Gbob2003 10+ year member]

you sure you did "extensive" research? lol.

Yes actually. I have. Just because i dont understand how to do it doesnt mean I didnt look at how to do it dipshyt. Thanks for the usefull post brah. helped me out a lot

 

[slim2fattycake 10+ year member]

Someone gets mad easy, BRAH. Go back and do more research.

 

[Team TH (Donny) 10+ year member]

There are a couple few decent videos on youtube that can give you a start of an idea of what you would deal with doing a recone. It is quite simple, but can be tedious depending on the subwoofer. You basically cut around the woofers surround close to the inter basket to start. Fold or move around the cone to get to the spiders and start to cut around it as far out as you can until spiders are cut free. Solder/cut the leads from the terminals. Then lift out the soft parts (cone/surround/spiders/coil/etc) being careful to not get any debris in the motor. Once you have the soft parts removed the tedious part can come into play depending on woofer and such.. First you want to keep debris from getting into motor so put some tape around the motors gap. Now you will have to get all the remanding materials/glue from the basket leftover from where the spiders and surround were attached. People use whatever is most comfortable to them or whatever they have access to use for this. I tend to use a dremel for sanding of the remains and a wire brush attachment (IDK if it's called that, but its an attachment that is very effective to get the remains off quickly) at the beginning to get most of the stuff off. Once you have it all cleaned up, and you want it like the stuff wasn't there to begin with. Clean up the basket real well, take tape off motor gap, and make sure debris didn't sneak in the gap. Now, you have a good idea of how stuff works after doing that and the recone part is pretty easy. Just put some shims in between coil and motor of the new recone as your lowering it in place. Use CA glue for the spiders and you can use either CA or Goop for the surround and dustcap. Use clamps to press down on everything and I usually just set something about 5lbs worth centered on the dustcap after spiders and surround have dried. Dustcap is last.

This is a general idea but you need to check it out visually as well before you do it, so check them youtube videos, do more research then give her a go. I hope this makes sense and hope I did alright explaining, I had recently woke up from a nap and am still pretty tired haha.

Also, I do have a 18" SSA Xcon that needs a recone for sale if interested. It has everything still there for the whole procedure to be done too as far as removal of existing soft parts.

 

[Team TH (Donny) 10+ year member]

Oh.. And solder the new leads to the terminals.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

MotorBasket

Coil

Spider Assembly

Cone

Dust Cap

Bolts and Terminals

Glue

Solder

Soldering Iron

Solder Flux

Coil Shims

Clamps

Should about do it...

You forgot tinsel leads! (May of course have been included in spider).

What would it cost in all to make just my first beater sub? for all the parts you listed what am I lookin at for a price? For basic stuff

You will also want a utility knife, and I find a grinder works the best to clean up basket (after scraping as best you can with utility knife). A drill is helpful to poke holes in the cone to run your leads through, but you can carve holes with an exacto knife or steak knife, or whatever.

I would say 125$ minimum for anything decent. 50 for a motor, 25 for basket, and 50-75 for soft parts, and that's if you shop around or know somebody. IMO stick with 3" coil stuff since it's the most common and you'll have a wider selection of parts. Stick to a motor with a big gap since they're much more forgiving and allow more coil options. Avoid anything with proprietary parts and exotic basket/suspension/cones since they all generally add more cost and it really hurts to hose a 140$ recone...not like messing up a 50$ one is great, but you get the idea anyway.

Not the most economic way to get into a budget sub IMO unles you can pick up motor and basket for super cheap locally blown from someone who doesn't realize it's worth anything.

Also I'd highly reccomend a good respirator. CA glue has some fierce fumes, even working outside it can be rough on the lungs.