DnGFranks Blog

Being the "handy" kind of fellow that I am, I decided one day that I would build my own home theater sub-woofer.  My current system has in-wall speakers, including a passive sub-woofer, and sounds good; but, sometimes you just want a little more "thump" in your sound.  So, I decided to build an active sub-woofer to help me out with my shortcomings.  After all, it's just a wooden cube with an amplifier and speaker, right?  Oh how little I knew.....

First step was finding the amplifier and speaker (technically called a "driver").  I wanted a good quality, but being the cheap bastard I am (sort of), I didn't want to spend a fortune either (plus the Wife would have squashed any high-dollar spending).  I have dealt with PartsExpress in the past, and they have good prices and good products.  However, the good stuff was more than I wanted to spend and the cheaper stuff was not rated real good, so I had to scratch them.  Spent days searching the Web and reading specs on lots of equipment, as well as learning what little I knew about speakers.  Found lots of really good stuff out there, along with really good prices, and my dream was starting to look more and more just like that: a dream.  Then I stumbled across a site (http://home.comcast.net/~jhidley/)  that, sadly, was liquidating stock - bad for them, but good for me.  Found an AR-12 driver and Foster WF-100k amp for $65.00!  Cost me a $100 to ship to Alaska (reamed again by the shipping industry!), but still a good deal.

While waiting for the good deal to get to me in Alaska, I started researching on doing the actual building.  I knew there were other crafty folks out there doing this same type of thing, but I was blown away by how many, as well as how many variations.  Everything from some itty-bitty shelf speakers to a mammoth theater wall with 6, 24-inch speakers that required some heavy duty support beams.  I also learned that there was more than just a cube, amp, and a speaker involved.  Things like: Box Volume, Port Volume, Driver Mass, SPL response, Vent Chuffing, Q-response, Port length, and F-3 roll-off, to name a few.  Holy shit, what was I getting myself in to?!

Good thing about so many people doing their own thing is, there was a ton of resources to find, and use, for free.

- "AJ Designer" (http://www.ajdesigner.com/speaker/index.php) has some nice on-line calculators and program downloads, but lacked the ability to save your project, so you had to enter driver info every time.

- "WinISD" (http://www.linearteam.dk/) is probably the King of speaker designer software; however, the 'alpha' version of the Pro software kept locking up on my system.  Once I actually read the Help Instructions, it was easy to use and fun to see the results while I played around with various settings

- "Flare-it" (http://www.subwoofer-builder.com/flare-it.htm) exposed me to how the rounded edges of the vent ports can make a world of difference.  The web site also had tones of other info and some interesting and impressive builds.  Also had "Boxnotes" that is a nice program for helping you calculate how much wood you'd need for your build.  Having years of factory work in my history, I have a pretty good grasp on calculating material needs, but still worth a mention.

- "Enclosure Volume Calculator" (http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/enclosure-volume-calculator/) is a nice on-line tool for helping you calculate the actual box volume, including vents and support bracing.  WinISD does all of this as well, but it's nice to be able to compare numbers between each program.  Home Theater Shack is also the place to find a free program for "after the build".....

- "Room EQ Wizard (REW)".  You have to join the Home Theater Shack forum to download this, but both are free and worth it.  REW is incredible software for measuring your speaker outputs and helping you "balance" your speaker layout.  Another item I learned during this venture.....

Not wanting to have just a boring, plain, black painted cube for my speaker, I decided to make it out of real wood and decorate it up some.  Most speakers are made from either particle board or MDF (multi-density fiberboard), because these are low-cost materials and not subject to real wood shortcomings, like warping, splitting, etc....  I just don't like working with MDF, as it creates a hell of a mess when cutting (all of that wood fiber dust), you can't use screws, and nails require a lot of wood glue to help hold things together.  Plus, you then either have to laminate it or paint it, to finish it off nicely (although I did come across one project that had stained MDF and had a nice result).

So, to help match the oak wood in my house (this was going in to the bottom shelf of a built-in oak cabinet, after all), I used an oak-veneered plywood with some mahogany stained pine board for accent.  The results can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040049&id=1591263768&l=0e017e9e1d

The box is 12hx16wx20d and has a total volume of 45 liters.  I installed 2-3" diameter vents, each at a length of 15.25 inches.  Since I also learned that you need at least a port-diameter sized bit of space from the end of the port to any other item, and since my box was not that long, I had to use 90-degree elbows to help shorten the distance.  Of course, you have to make certain to calculate the length of the elbows in to your overall port length, so a bit of Geometry, Trigonometry, and even a bit of Algebra was used.  Wow!  This stuff does actually get used in the real world!  I used some 1-inch foam padding that I had laying around (for a "just-in-case" moment like this) to pad the inside and help reduce the amount of stray sound going out other directions besides the speaker.  I also learned that you need to insure that all seems and gaps are sealed with some caulking (hey, they have that in Black as well!) to prevent stray air movement.  The only air you want moving around, is in and out of your vent ports.

I haven't had a chance to really "balance" the speaker with the rest of the system, yet (waiting for some "alone" time with the box to be able to crank it up), but a little bit of play time so far has shown great promise and big smiles.  This will also be when I use the REW software to take some measurements and see if my results are close to what WinISD calculated they would be.

I wish I would have taken some pictures of the inside so I could show off the support bracing, piping, and more of my handy work; but, sadly I did not.

PS - excluding some purchases and money spent to buy additional hardware in helping me complete this project (they will be used in other projects, so they don't count, Dear!), this venture cost me somewhere between $250-$300.  Not bad, I think, for a custom speaker that will look, and sound, like those costing $500 and more!

PPS - Also, I'm looking for a name for this project (i.e. Pandora's Box, Sub-Atomic, etc...), so submit an idea and you might win.  Prize is only an honorable mention in this blog and on the Facebook Wall of Fame, but you get what you pay for.....

My Kitchen sink is about 3 miles from my Home hot water heater.  OK, a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.  It takes a very long time to get hot water to a sink when you only need a small amount for actual use.  Not only is it an irritation for me to have to wait forever for some hot water, but it is a huge waste of water in general.  Several gallons of water are going down the drain whilst I wait!  Another contributor to the Death of a Planet.  Thankfully, I live in Alaska and we have no shortage of water, but we also have very cold water.  Nice to be able to get a tall, cold glass of water straight from the tap; but not so nice when you want something with a little heat and it takes a long while to get it (at least from the tank to the sink).

So, to rectify this problem, and do my part to save the Planet as well, I started searching the Great Digital Ocean (the Internet, in case you did not get my metaphor...) for a solution.  I came across the Chronomite SR-20L 120v Instant-Flow tank-less heater at PlumbersSurplus.com (http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/Chronomite-SR-20L-120v-Instant-Flow-SR-Tankless-Water-Heater/39338/Cat/474) .  I liked this unit because it was small and looked pretty easy to connect (1 extra water-line connection and plug it in to an outlet - how much easier could that be?).  So I ordered it and received the box within a week - great service!  If you have ever done any plumbing projects, you know they are not as quite as easy as you'd think; but, other than having to remove my garbage disposal to get my larger than normal butt under the sink area, it was not bad overall.  2 hours later (and another trip to ACE as I had purchased the incorrect supply line) and I was all ready to enjoy my "instant" hot water.  So I thought.....  For those of you in the rest of the world where they have had tank-less water heaters for years, you probably have a better understanding of how these really work.  First off, these units are very particular on the amount of water flow that passes through them before they will work.  They turn on at a certain flow amount and turn off if above or below this amount.  I knew this when I purchased the device and had studied the documents, etc, etc....  I did not realize, though, how slow .4 gallons a minute really is.  Sounds like an average amount of water flow in theory; but in the real world, it is pretty freaking slow!  Plus, if you have studied these types of units for any amount of time at all, you also know about their "temperature rise".  This is how much the unit will heat the water from it's normal temperature and for how long.  This device has an average of a 40F rise - sounds like a lot, doesn't it?  Remember when I mentioned above about the advantage of very cold water in Alaska?  Well, I am not certain of the exact temp, but I believe it is just about somewhere above "Glacier".  So, a 40F rise will bring it up to about Piss-Warm, and only if you get the flow rate in the "sweet spot" range of .4 gallons a minute.  Needless to say, this was a huge disappointment, with the lack of any true heat and the slower than normal flow rate.  Well, back to the drawing board.....

Gladly, PlumbersSurplus.com has no problem with you returning items (although they do charge you 20% restocking fee on non-defective items) and I was able to send the device back.  Not to be defeated,though, I decided to try again with an item I had looked at before, but was too lazy to install, being as it involved a pressure-relieve drain valve and was a much larger unit.  The unit I decided on for Round 2 was the Bosch GL4Ti Ariston Pro mini-tank water heater (http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/Bosch-GL4Ti-Ariston-Pro-Ti-Electric-Mini-Tank-Water-Heater/56643/Cat/770).  They make these units in 2.5, 4, and 8 gallon sizes - I went with the 4, as I did not want to short-change myself again on the hot water, plus I have room under my corner-based kitchen sink.  Again, being an actual hot water "tank", this unit requires proper draining for the pressure relief valve, so therefore, required some additional changes to the existing PVC drain pipe.  Luckily, Home Depot has several options to 'Y' in to your existing drain, plus some rubber drain hose, and lot and lots of adapters to make it all fit together.  I believe it took me longer to actually find all of the parts I needed than it actually took to install the heater!  Of course, I did have a "trial" run with the earlier unit and knew what I needed to remove and such.  Now, there are 2 ways to hook this in to your system: 1) "break" your current cold water connection with a special Tri-valve shutoff valve (requires even more parts) or 2) "break" the incoming hot water line and put the tank between the incoming shutoff valve and the sink.  Being the lazy sort that I am, plus the fact that I already had the correct supply lines, etc..., from my previous attempt, I opted for #2.  This actually works out well, as it only has to heat the semi-warm water that comes from the House tank, and thus the heater element is not on all of the time.  So, another couple of hours later (most of it spent at Home Depot) I had actual hot water coming out of the sink within a matter of mere seconds.  Did I mention that another advantage of the mini-tank units is that you don't have to worry about the pressure flow rate?  Woo Hoo!  Hot water and as FAST as I want it!  For once, this was a moment I didn't mind being in hot water  

So, I finally gave in and signed up for Twitter the other day. I figured I needed to see what the big deal was all about and didn't want to get left behind in the technological dust.....  Too late, I think I'm coughing dirt, 'cuzz I just don't get it.  Maybe it's because my life is just not that exciting or I don't feel the need to share every impulsive thought I have or who the heck knows what    Whatever the reason, I haven't a clue.  Of course, noting the number of times I have actually updated this blog page, that may be obvious!

I intended to write in this blog the comings and goings of Georgeanna and Myself, but that doesn't seem to be working out.  Again, I guess we are just boring people???  Anyway, until something exciting comes along or our lives seem more exciting, I think I will just start writing about whatever and see how it goes.  However, knowing my issues with short attention span, this may be a really short forray!  It seems to be getting worse as I get older.  Half the time by the time I get the laptop booted up, I forgot what I was going to do or write 

Sorry Folks, but due to SPAM-Bots posting comments to this blog, it is now required that you create an account and login to post comments. I know I have been bad about posting any new items, but it is sad that the SPAM-Bots post more than anyone else......

Damn Passwords! You change one for some other program and it screws up everything.... Anyway, it is fixed now and we are back up and running. Now, I just have to figure out what to blog about