Fourplay

First and foremost, we would like to thank Steve at www.ApexJr.com for generously supporting our DIY hobby and events in FL. Without great manufacturers and vendors such as ApexJr, our hobby would be no where near what it is today. Thanks again Steve.

This project came together via trading, bartering, and the likes to get Mark's hands on four, ApexJr super8 subwoofer drivers. I tell you what folks, don't let their 8" size fool you. These little brutes are hefty indeed, you would not want to drop one on your foot, or even pinch a finger between one and it's baffle (yes I speak from experience). Thier cast aluminum frame, treated paper cone, and massive surround make them look beefy, and quite capable of some serious room shaking, but are they really up to the task? Let's find out.

Mark didn;t want to go with a plain ol' box for a subwoofer so we decided to use a piece of scrap 13" PVC that was "rescued" from a local road construction site. Instead of going the old sono-sub route, we decided to go with something a bit different. Inspired by Darren Kuzsma's design, we used a sawzall to cut the "front" of the tube away. PVC pipe has quite a bit of stored energy so beware anytime you are cutting this stuff, regardless of size. This pipe being well over 1/2" thick and 13" in diameter had MUCH stored energy and it was imperative that I kept hammering a piece of wood down the tube as I cut it to stretch it a bit and keep it from binding and literally snapping my blades.

Once cut, we used some scrap 13-ply "paraply" plywood Mark had in the garage for a baffle, and top/bottom caps. Everything was screwed and glued together with liquid nails. After much filling and sanding, filling and sanding, filling and sanding, well you get the picture here, we ended up with a nice smooth tube body and plywood pieces. Mark chose a nice sprayed on suede body finish and a dark mohagany stain for the top, bottom, and baffle.

In the end, we have a very nice looking, very heavy, sealed subwoofer with moderate to heavy polyfill stuffing. Mark chose www.PartsExpress.com for Dayton binding posts for easy hook-up. We had an O-Audio 500-watt amp hooked up to this beauty with the parametric EQ bumped a bit around 20Hz and boy did this thing shake the house. Mark is currently running a 150-watt subwoofer amp with bass-boost and it is still PLENTY of output for his needs in a smallish livingroom.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to hit me at marinephysicians@yahoo.com with the words Fourplay Subwoofer in the subject please. Thanks for tuning in and see ya next time...Chuck