MAW-12 home audio sub finished

[Matthew P. 0]

Hi folks and Mark,

I purchased an MAW-12 earlier this year to build into a home audio set-up for my apartment, to also match with another DIY speaker project I completed this year.

I built it in a sealed top-firing configuration with a separation between the driver and the top plate. The bottom is heavily reinforced and the sub now sits on a square cement plate covered with foam window insulation. I did all this in an effort to minimize floor vibrations and to help prevent too many enemies forming against me while I begin the DIY audio thing. I'll post a picture and a link to see the sub with the other components of the system it is matched with.

I'd like to say that this is a pretty spectacular sub for home audio. Since i live in an apartment, but still wanted to properly give the driver a burn-in period, I had it running subsonic test tones between 14-20HZ and this thing was great. Its interesting to hear the different vibrations of various things in the room - My closet doors rattled at about 17hz, a couple of paintings rattled at 19hz, all this while barely hearing anything. Except, when i went into different parts of my apartment, it felt like i was walking into water, it changed the pressure level of the room so drastically. I was very impressed by all this. After all this, and finishing the sub box, i became quite impressed by its musicality and the manner in which it filled in the lower registers that my speakers are unable to reproduce. It gave my whole sound package a substantial depth.

So, thanks Mark, I really like this sub, it sounds great. In a sealed box - 14 X 23 " it sounds tight, clear, goes to subsonic levels, and provides a great foundation for my audio system.

If people would like to see the rest of my projects and more pictures of the subs you can find them here on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31487069@N00/...57594487468580/

[Audio Junkies 3]

Beautiful!

Please give some details on the finish if you don't mind. Your other speakers look amazing as well. Very nice.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Wow really well done.

[tez4life 1]

Amazing, thats quite an enclosure! Good job is a understatement!

[mrogowski 6]

Nicely done. If you would like to become immortalized, send Gio an Email about your project and he will throw it up on is website:

http://www.diyaudioprojects.com

[Matthew P. 0]

Beautiful!

Please give some details on the finish if you don't mind. Your other speakers look amazing as well. Very nice.

Thanks a lot, I'm very happy with it. The enclosure is built from 3/4" mdf, with 1/8" maple veneered ply contact cemented on top. I used 1/8" X 3/4" walnut for the banding down the front of the cabinet and on the bottom of the table-top, that seemed to turn out quite well. it adds a really nice contrast I think. I separated the top plate and the cabinet with copper plumbing couplers. I might have to shine them up at some point to help match the whizzer cones on the WR125s in my speakers. I made the table top from solid chunks of raw 1" thick maple with a good streak of heartwood down most of it (my first attempt at joining boards). I used the large decorative connector bolts from Lee Valley and countersunk them in the tabletop (a bit crudely, i think, they're not perfect). I also used maple cabinet trim and edge trim that is glued and brad nailed, so they're solid. Oh ya, and i used the BASH 300 amp which works and sounds great. The finish was pretty laborious actually and took about 2 weeks. Its essentially an oil and wax finish. I started with a wood conditioner, then bathed the wood in oil for close to an hour for a couple of days before i started wet-sanding the wood. From there, I started with a 400 grit wet sand, then to 600 grit wet sand on the last coat of oil. I wanted to get a deep a luster as possible without having a film-finish. I then did a couple of coats of paste wax and buffed till my shoulder was sore. I'll do another coat of wax in about a month once everything is completely cured and dry. All in all, I'm very pleased with the end result. Its not perfect by any means and took me a few days before i could start appreciating the finish because I could just see the points at which i could have done better. but for my first attempt at a lot of woodworking techniques, including a real oil/wax finish, i think its alright.

Also, thanks Mark, I'll submit something to Gio's page as well eventually.

[gmilitano 0]

Superb work!

Yeah, shoot me an email.

Cheers,

Gio

[topgun 262]

Now that is a nice looking woofer box.

Nicely done sir.

[DevilDriver 28]

I see another CSS fan. A little Canadian, I presume?

How do you find the transition from your dual WR's per channel to the subwoofer? The WR's have an awful lot of output for a 4.5" driver but outside of a horn/TL hybrid (a slightly modified PAWO horn), I have had difficulty in the past mating WR's to a few subwoofers, although they were often with higher displacement than the MAW-12.

I believe the EL-2 and EL-3 come with one of the Hi-Vi tweeters? I've heard some slightly mixed reviews on them, but am glad to hear that you are quite satisfied with them.

The finish on the MAW-12 is quite impressive when you mention your relatively shorter history working with veneers. Your woodworking skills are quite up to par as well.

Very solid all around and welcome to SSA!

[mccleery3 166]

Wow! I wish I had the patience, time, and ability. Great lookin' stuff!

[///M5 2,833]

Beautiful work!!

[Matthew P. 0]

Thanks! yep, E-town is my home. the CSS stuff is great. I find with the MAW-12 in a sealed cabinet, crossed over at 80HZ that the transition between the speakers and the woofer is quite seamless and integrates very nicely, and with the BASH 300, it's not too loud. the Wr125s are definitely loud enough for me and apartment life right now. with just one wr they over extend a little too easily, but with two, they have quite a higher power handling capacity and much fuller and deeper sound stage with impressive mid-low extension. I think that's probably why they integrate so well with the sub. I'm very happy with the Hi-Vi tweeters actually, I'm sure there are better ones, such as the ribbons, but these have a clarity and precision to them that I've hardly heard anywhere, a real eye-opener to subtleties and atmosphere in decent recordings, but also very revealing.

But the MAW-12 performs extremely well in my system, it is musical, and has serious extension. I haven't found anything that it hasn't been able to do well, and in a controlled manner.

[platnum accord 0]

thats a grand looking enclosure.

needs more chrome.

[Matthew P. 0]

thats a grand looking enclosure.

needs more chrome.

Ha, yes...well, I was sort of going for the 70's station wagon wood paneling look!