Death Star Subwoofer

bmfs writes "A subwoofer so powerful it could loosen fillings, shake out the cholesterol from arteries and generally make a lot of noise. It seems that the Death Star, ignoring the weakness that ultimately lead to its complete destruction, was a pretty good design... so someone made his own (with a lot of help from a housemate). The Death Star Subwoofer is currently up for sale on Ebay."

Even more cool...

[CommanderData]

Are the construction photos [objectreality.co.uk] of the Death Star Subwoofer. He won't ship it due to size and weight so you need to be local to Reading, UK to pick it up. These photos betray enough of the design to build your own fully armed and operational battle station.

Nice Idea...

[hoka]

But still powerfully weak. While I'm sure the bass output from it is strong, that thing just doesn't have the sheer wattage or box design, or even a speaker worth a damn. Its minimally interesting only because the guy made a purty looking box, but for real home theatre you are better off with something ported and tuned for low frequencies (however low you consider "low").

And a better speaker would probably be good too.

Re:Nice Idea...

[ka9dgx]

He did port and tune it... you merely needed to Read the fine E-Bay Entry Listing (REBEL) to learn that.

--Mike--

The Plans

[spacemky]

The guy has his plans [objectreality.co.uk] posted on how he built this thing.

Now is see why it weighs 65Kilos.

Re:Idiots never learn from history.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

These suckers have put in yet another thermal exhaust port that would be the prefect fit for a couple of proton torpedoes. Idiots never learn from history. The Bose alliance is going to have a field day with this.

Bose speakers use ports too. I'd love to shove a torpedo into one.

Being only slightly better than Monster cable, they achieve much of their better sound through marketing.

I'd say they are a lot better than nothing, but I think I've gotten far better sound, and better for the money, from Canadian brand speakers.

Disclosure: I am not Canadian.

Re:Nice Idea...

[Reverberant]

that thing just doesn't have the sheer wattage or box design, or even a speaker worth a damn

On what, exactly, are you basing this? The enclosure is a ported 10-cubic foot enclosure - 5 times the recommend cabinent space - which is a good thing for (properly modeled and constructed) subwoofers because it increases efficiency and helps the low-frequency extension. I'm sure it's not a "one-note" bandpass monster, but then again, that's a good thing.

Wattage? Again, increasing the volume size of the cabinet results in a more efficient design which means that you (literally) get more bang per watt. Then again, if you were to double the peak power, you would only raise the peak SPL by a max of 6 dB (and probably less since thermal compression would become more of an issue with the increased power).

And the Alpine driver? I'll be the first to admit the car audio drivers tend to be overpriced and have less bass extension than comparably-sized home audio driver (car subwoofers depend on cabin gain for low-frequency response). However, the Alpine SWS-1242D is reasonably priced [google.com] (available for as low as $80). Also, the large cabinet volume will help with the low-frequency response.

This probably isn't the best subwoofer on the planet, but I'd bet that it sounds reasonably good, perhaps even great. It's hard to say without looking at measurement results, or hearing it. But criticizing it without taking a closer look at the facts is a disservice to everyone.

Re:Nice Idea...

[Anonymous Coward]

Look at the construction photos [objectreality.co.uk] -- the internal braces should remove standing waves.

Re:So... I see your Bass is as big as mine...

[dmf415]

Notice the fine print, "I'm not able to offer any shipping on this. The buyer must collect, I'm located near Reading."

Unless you live in the UK, forghetaboutit =)