Pi Subwoofer Project Part 1

3 Pi Sub, beautifully veneered,
at a trade show.

This is an intro to our subwoofer build project.

We will construct a professional, high quality subwoofer designed by Wayne Parham. It is called the 3 Pi Subwoofer. Read about it here.

The low frequency transducer, a 12" driver, is one of the best pro units, the EminenceLab 12.

The 3Pi Subwoofer gives excellent performance down to and below 20Hz. The cabinet will house a “plate amplifier,” which is an amp built into the speaker box.

In terms of low frequency extension, acoustical output and quality, this sub will be vastly superior to the small one I built for Radio CRA, shown below, left.

Small, budget sub I built for
RadioCRA

You’ll have to do a little reading. Start with the link at the top of this post, then read these below. I am currently searching for more beginner friendly readings. Glean what you can. From the Pi Speakers Forum:

Hoffman’s Iron Law:

http://audioroundtable.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&goto=15489#msg_15489

Vented box:

http://audioroundtable.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&goto=42557#msg_42557
more:
http://www.parts-express.com/resources/home-howtoguide/choose.cfm#choose2
and a few more paragraphs:
http://www.diysubwoofers.org/prt/

We will talk about construction methods later. Here are the plans from a CAD drawing my friend made of Wayne Parham’s design:

Now, our sub won't have fancy veneer. It will sport a utilitarian finish, perhaps Duratex, or truck-bed liner paint. I am thinking it will have wheels so we can roll it into classroom for playbacks and MARS CRC for awesome monitoring.

I have a circle jig and router, to cut precise round holes. We need 2, one for the driver, the other for the port, or vent. I can't cut the plywood sheets easily, however.

Router makes nice holes, fine dust.
Hazardous. We'll do it outside.

Wood dust destroyed living conditions in my apartment while building the little sub. So I am looking into getting our plywood cut by someone else to the above specs. After the sheets are cut, we will use the circle jig and router to remove our appendages...I mean, cut the holes, then glue the box together. I have large clamps to do this. We'll do all that at school and I expect problems, yes.

After dry, some sanding and painting. We are going for performance, not looks. But I'm sure it will look cool to me. More details to follow. Please use the comments section to sign up for the build.

This image shows the awesome construction of the LAB12, for inspiration.
I have already bought Wayne Parham's OEM version of this woofer. It has a provision to mount a cooling plug which removes heat more efficiently, for use in insane applications. You will like it. : )

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