[zunglam]

Hi Guys

I have absolutely no DIY skills but have decided to build my first ever speaker so if any one wants to add to this thread please do and it would also be much appreciated.

Having seen the Behringer inuke, 3000 on amazon on sale for £202 I decided there was nothing to lose really so I'm expecting that in the next few days. First thing to do on that is to mod it with a silent fan, probably the same one as ashmanuk. Does this need to be soldered on?
I will be running this bridged and so will need to get some speakon connectors. I take it normal speaker cable is fine and that it will be just one cable for the + and one cable for the -?

I have just spoke to AM also at bladeice and picked up an FI SSD 15" with the home theatre option, which AM says will have a high QTS value. Wait is going to be 2 weeks for this.

Cabinet is going to be MDF from b&q and hopefully round it of with some veneer.

As to cabinet design, I'm not sure yet. Should I have orded two to do a dual opposed or a push pull? Thought I would keep it simple and start with one. I could always build it again and add another. My space is limited so I would rather build a slighty taller (not cyclinder tall!) one rather than a deep or wide one. It will mainly be for movies so should I go ported or sealed?

Well the shopping list is huge, as I dont have many tools so lets see how long this is going to take me.

[Ashmanuk]

Well done Zunglam you are much braver then me I had the help of a friend who knows how to work with wood and Moonfly who has been such good help using Winisd without both I think I would have bottled it SO HATS OFF TO YOU SIR

£202.00 for the inuke3000 :-0 I paid £227 so a good deal for you there.

As for ported or sealed, Sealed will be easier to build and model but there are some very cleaver guys on here that will guide you regarding port size and air speed velocity :~0 what ever all that is Vinny gave you some good advice on that one regarding QTC values..

I know Moonfly was saying around 60 Litres for a single 15" sub but I don't know anything about the SSD drivers so Am at Bladeice will help you there, I still say buy two 15"s and build two cabinets one for each corner at front of room and you will not look back.

Also it may be worth while asking if you can get all the MDF cut to the desired size then you can glue and screw it together ? Wood working shops can get a cut list together i.e main box, brace, baffle including cutout for the drivers, "though it will be better to have the driver at hand to work out size from.

Good luck and if I or Tim who built mine can help we will :-)

[vinny914]

Hi Zunglam, as requested:

Please refer to my build here : Musical Build Sub Help

In particular look at #65 onwards for info and links to a good gloss black finish. The link in post #65 is the process I adopted to get my gloss black finish.

From going through the process my main tips would be to make sure you spend good time getting the cabinet sanded down to a flawless flush finish before applying the primers and the black gloss paint. Any tiny blemish will be clearly visible with this finish.

Apply lots of coats of black gloss paint. Minimum of 6 coats, because you will be fine wet sanding through the last few coats, and also because you will also compound and polish it and these are cutting agents that take away a fine layer of paint to get the nice gloss finish.

Anything you need clearing up when you come to attempt this please let me know

Thanks

[zunglam]

Thanks, Vinny. Just waiting for various bits and bobs to arrive before any updates now but I'm sure theres going to be many more questions.

Spoke to AM and we are going for the dual 2 ohm version so that I can series wire this single FI15 to give me a 4ohm load, thus giving me a claimed 3000w of the behinger running in bridged mode.

[Ashmanuk]

Originally Posted by zunglam

Thanks, Vinny. Just waiting for various bits and bobs to arrive before any updates now but I'm sure theres going to be many more questions.

Spoke to AM and we are going for the dual 2 ohm version so that I can series wire this single FI15 to give me a 4ohm load, thus giving me a claimed 3000w of the behinger running in bridged mode.

Is this the Q15 or the SSD driver ?

[zunglam]

Originally Posted by Ashmanuk

Is this the Q15 or the SSD driver ?

It is the SSD 15" with the Hometheatre options, D2.

It was £249, FIQ15 was about £350ish I think.

Only 1000w as opposed to 1500w

[Ashmanuk]

Originally Posted by zunglam

It is the SSD 15" with the Hometheatre options, D2.

It was £249, FIQ15 was about £350ish I think.

Only 1000w as opposed to 1500w

Nice sounds like it will be a good driver, very good price too.

well slowly but surely is my moto

[Cyland101]

Will be watching this with interest. Can't offer any real advice as to how to, but good luck with it!

[zunglam]

Turned on the Behringer amp today to see what the fuss was about the noisy fan and OMG I almost fell off my chair with laughter, it is like a hairdryer and you can feel the air blowing out of the front of the amp. Can't wait to stick my silent fan on and hear the difference. Just been buying loads of tools of fleabay this week to get ready for the build. Also been toying with the idea of vinyl wrapping the sub although having seen some of the subs on here that would be bit of a cop out. But we will see.

Did you guys just screw the driver straight on to the MDF as I have read some people use T-Nuts is it worth doing this?

[Ashmanuk]

Originally Posted by zunglam

Turned on the Behringer amp today to see what the fuss was about the noisy fan and OMG I almost fell off my chair with laughter, it is like a hairdryer and you can feel the air blowing out of the front of the amp. Can't wait to stick my silent fan on and hear the difference. Just been buying loads of tools of fleabay this week to get ready for the build. Also been toying with the idea of vinyl wrapping the sub although having seen some of the subs on here that would be bit of a cop out. But we will see.

Did you guys just screw the driver straight on to the MDF as I have read some people use T-Nuts is it worth doing this?

very noisy just wait till you mod yours the difference is amazing.
You should use T-Nuts because every time you remove the drivers to tweak those screw holes are going to get looser.

[swiftpete]

I screwed mine straight into the mdf, but then I never meant and have no reason to remove them so that was fine. If you're planning on taking them in and out then t nuts would be better, but buggering about doing that after the build was finished hasn't been top of my list!

[zunglam]

This is turning into a bit of a woodworking course for me. its all about routers, circular saws, screws,
polish, veneers. All interesting read though.

[joshua2005]

The Q15 is a 1000 watts driver not a 1500 watt one.

[Johnny.G]

Originally Posted by zunglam

This is turning into a bit of a woodworking course for me. its all about routers, circular saws, screws,
polish, veneers. All interesting read though.

Very rewarding though, especially when it all starts to come together. Happy building & Enjoy

[m4ccam]

Good luck with this. I got an ep 4000 and when the wife saw it come out of the box "That monstrosity will have to go in the utility room" I mounted it in there and ran all the cables before switching on. Wow that fan, i'm glad i did
Mine is sounding better everytime it gets turned on

[Cyland101]

Originally Posted by zunglam

This is turning into a bit of a woodworking course for me. its all about routers, circular saws, screws,
polish, veneers. All interesting read though.

Yes it was the same for me. Something very honest about doing all the woodworking and seeing the final results. I certainly enjoyed it! If you are going to use a router, then make sure you "play"/test a fair bit on some scrap bits of MDF.... and more than anything else, do not rush. The final finish is dependent and the quality of the base build!

I never used T-Nuts in my build, but then like others once it was assembled I had no reason to take it all appart.

[Ashmanuk]

The problem with not using T-Nuts is over time the screws work slightly loose and say for my main speakers i nip up the Allen bolts once a year they move a quarter of a turn enough to make me feel better about nipping them up

With wood screws you can only do that for so long then you will need wider screws to bite more into the wood.

[zunglam]

Right following Ashmanuk's guide in his thread I have modded the inuke3000 and yes its very quite, almost silent

Because all my gear is in black I thought I'd take the front plate off and give it a respray but having taken out all the srews there was one screw on the bottom left that I could not take out without have to take the board off so I had to put all the screws back in I still might spray it at some point just cover up all the grills, although I have seen on another thread some one has got some kind of face plate that covers the front which is also an option.

I also modded the cable as per Ashmanuk's tips, and I hope I havn't got my wires twisted, but for a bridged connection both speakon connections are wired into the 1+ holes, this was surprisingly easy and I wonder why the hifi industry has warmed more towards this type of connection? Anyway it was so easy I might even snip off the banaplugs at the other end and put speakon connections on and mount the speakon chasis on the sub.

Hope the weather warms up a bit though dont fancy working on the cabinet in these conditions.

[Ashmanuk]

Great stuff zunglam ) that fan is so quite compared to default fan.
That's a good idea about spraying the amp my amp is at the front with the sub but I am hoping to hide it behind the sub then I have some free LED effect lights behind the sub lol

Does the manual for the amp make sense to you? I think it's rubbish and yes +1 on both terminals and XLR on input A

I bet you are all excited now aren't you now you just want the weather to get warmer and crack on.

[zunglam]

Still waiting for my driver, probably another week or so really, and then its the hard bit - building the cabinet.

You got really nice rounded edges on your cabinet was that done by just running the down the edge with the router with the appropriate bit?

Yeah the manual was rubbish on the inuke, nowadays you get a great big manual but only 2 pages are in english.

Are you going to run your inuke in stereo mode when you get your other two drivers or you getting another inuke?

[Ashmanuk]

Originally Posted by zunglam

Still waiting for my driver, probably another week or so really, and then its the hard bit - building the cabinet.

You got really nice rounded edges on your cabinet was that done by just running the down the edge with the router with the appropriate bit?

Yeah the manual was rubbish on the inuke, nowadays you get a great big manual but only 2 pages are in english.

Are you going to run your inuke in stereo mode when you get your other two drivers or you getting another inuke?

How long ago did you place your order for the drivers ? I ordered mine about 3-4weeks ago and they are due in tomorrow 9th Feb.

I bought my second i-Nuke 2 weeks ago ready for drivers and done the fan mod as well so one for each sub build both set to bridge mode.

What camera did you use for those shots ? They look very good

[zunglam]

I was told it takes about 2 weeks for delivery by bladeice, that looks a bit optimistic seeing that yours took 3-4 weeks then.

Camera I use is only a Canon 500D dslr (bought from these forums), but a have various other lenses which make a big difference, it was my last obssessive disorder before reading the DIY forums!

[Ashmanuk]

I thought it was going to be a good camera very crisp and clean I've just just got myself a Panasonic DMC-GX1 3/4 micro i am hoping to take much better shots when it comes in

[jason1wood]

Originally Posted by zunglam

it was my last obssessive disorder before reading the DIY forums!

Haha, I done the very same thing. Needed a hobby, thought about photography, then discovered AVforums and have never looked back.

Boys and their toys eh!

[vinny914]

Originally Posted by jason1wood

Haha, I done the very same thing. Needed a hobby, thought about photography, then discovered AVforums and have never looked back.

Boys and their toys eh!

Agreed

Zunglam - glad you've started your build process

[zunglam]

Originally Posted by vinny914

Zunglam - glad you've started your build process

Still waiting for drivers and need to purchase wood, still along way off still.
If I go for the gloss black finish, I take it I wont need to do the veneering. I just prime, a few layers of gloss black paint then a few layers of lacquer/polish?

Need to learn how to use the router as well and what all the different bits do. It was only a cheap one off fleabay made by nutool.

[vinny914]

No veneering needed then. However veneering is easier than gloss black

Prime so is flawlessly smooth. Yep few layers of gloss black followed by clear lacquer.

Then follow the polishing process I sent you a link too earlier.

Youtube Router demos - that's how I learnt. Does your router come with a centre pin so you can cut a circle?

Here's a helpful link to what I am referring to reg the router bit: http://www.justforhardware.co.uk/Tre...Trammel_i98546

[zunglam]

Think I'd better practice this gloss black finish on some scrap first, ah vinny just read your thread again it was you with the face plate on the amp, I might do this too, would keep prying hands from turning the volume knobs on my inuke.

[IronGiant]

Some folks enlist the help of a friendly car body shop, it might be worth finding one and getting a quote.

[vinny914]

If you have the money then certainly go to a car body shop and see what they can do.
I didn't take that router as it was costing me in excess of £150 for just the paint process.
But as always - you get what you pay for

Yep the faceplates cost me less than £20 for my SMS1 and the Behringer amp. They were good looking enough to make it onto my Hifi rack.