Project Time: 1-8 hours
Project Complexity: Novice
Project Cost: $100-$500

Concept
I wanted a permanent solution for our theatre here at work which is a 50’/80′ room with a stage at the long end and seats throughout. I have a set of Peavey PG1 15″/1.4″ two way cabs flown up high and have previously been using my Dayton 10″8-8 dvc subs as a fill in (project to come), but decided to try these Dayton 15″ 4ohm classic subs. They have exceeded my expectations by a great deal! and my box, which is about 4.5cf with 2- 1″/9″/17″ ports shakes the building with no regard. I would highly recommend these subs for home and theatre use.

Driver Selection
dayton 15″ 4 ohm classic subwoofer

Enclosure Design
I used Winisd to come up with a 4.5 cf ported enclosure with two 1″/9″/17″ ports out the bottom for an f3 of around 30hz, it has proved to have a small peak at around 37 hz but otherwise smooth from 30-120 hz, and acceptable by a large margin 10+ hz either way. The enclosures are large at 20’wide by 24′ tall and 26″ deep. I put casters and large plywood handles on these for pro and touring use, but an edge banded stained look, or painted style would be very nice for home use.

Amplifier/Crossover Configuration
4ohm, needs active x-over at 120-60hz, or a 5mh inductor for a 135 hz 6db rolloff with slightly reduced power consumption.

Enclosure Assembly
I used birch 3/4″staingrade ply for the top, bottom and sides. i used one layer of mdf for the back (3/4″) and two glued layers of 3/4″ mdf for the front baffle. The port is based off the bottom with a single divider 16 1/4″ long of 1/2″ material with 1/2″ matching pieces tight on either edge. A layer of 16 1/4″ deep 3/4″ ply goes on top of that to make the rest of the port. The rest of the box bracing is your opinion, but I did two 4″ /3/4″ wide vertical supports on the rear panel and four 4″/3/4″ cross braces egually spaced on either side of the enclosure. I used 3/4″ round router lines on the face and 1/4″ rounds on the rest of the enclosure. It has 3″ casters and 3/4″ penn-elcom rubber feets. each box has a neutrix 2pole speaker socket and 14 gauge wiring internally with damping material.

Conclusion
These things rock the house and don’t eat too much power to do it. they play plenty low and still hit the upper bass and kick drum.. for $126 a driver I’m so happy

About The Designer
I am a scenic carpenter and theater sound designer by day and a speaker enthusiast/ novice builder by night. I love to work in a space where I built the systems that the space employs and loves.

Project Parts List