{"id":9925,"date":"2019-05-23T20:30:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T00:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/?p=9925"},"modified":"2023-03-19T09:12:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T13:12:00","slug":"the-sonotube-subwoofer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/2019\/05\/the-sonotube-subwoofer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sonotube subwoofer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continuing with my speaker projects; I have finished building a Sonotube subwoofer for my Box One speakers. As I discovered, those speakers miss a significant part of the bottom end. I made up for this by using a Polk Audio PSW-10 subwoofer that was part of my home theater system.<\/p>\n

\"Sonotube<\/a>
Sonotube subwoofer, downward firing configuration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found the PSW-10 was certainly loud enough but lacked definition which became noticeable when the new speakers were installed. Thus, I began thinking about a sealed box subwoofer. When designing the enclosure, there is a good bit of math involved in calculating the box volume.<\/p>\n

\"Sonotube<\/a>
Sonotube subwoofer, upward-firing configuration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I now have a bit of a dilemma; should I set the subwoofer up downward firing into the floor or should I set it up upward firing into a dispersion cone?\u00a0 I have tried it both ways and in the downward firing position, it shakes the floor.\u00a0 That is a great effect for watching movies like “The Hunt for Red October,” where there is a lot of bass rumbling.\u00a0 It is also great for blasting some Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon.\u00a0\u00a0 However, the idea of a sealed subwoofer was to add detail to the bass, and that it does.\u00a0 The Polk Audio PSW-10 certainly had bass, but it was ill-defined.\u00a0 The sealed sono-sub has less low, low bass but the bass instruments now sound as good as the rest of the orchestra.\u00a0 In the upward position, I get clean omni directional bass which sounds fantastic when listening to P.I. Tchaikovsky Concert #1 in B flat minor, opus 23.\u00a0 That was the idea when I started making this.\u00a0 Still, blasting Led Zeppelin is fun and I recommend it to everyone.\u00a0 Decisions, decisions…<\/p>\n

After a couple of months of evaluation, I finally decided on the downward firing configuration.\u00a0 It does add another dimension to watching movies.\u00a0 Now, I kind of want to get a bass shaker for the floor underneath the sofa.<\/p>\n

\"Piece<\/a>
Piece of leftover, 12-inch diameter sonotube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In any case, the technical details for this subwoofer are as follows:<\/p>\n