Had been browsing the web for good speaker designs and was intrigued by the concept of horn speakers. Thought I would go ahead and make one just to see if the claims on the web were true or not (very high efficiency, no cross over distortion, great sound in th mid range, and bass up to 30-50 Hz without woofers) . The designs on frugal-horn.com seemed well thought out and the Spawn family seemed to be good performers especially after the glowing reviews on equivalent speakers. I was planning on recycling drivers (3 inch or 4 inch speakers) that I already had so therefore selected the least wide Spawn speakers.
The picture shows how the speakers turned out. Wife likes em! Will post a video later on.
Printed the plans out. I needed 18 inch wide panels for the sides and 5 1/8th inch wides for the baffles and dividers etc. Closest were 16 inch wide and 5.5 inch wide. So decided to get enough of the 5.5 inch white MDF panels to make one speaker. Also bought some nice plywood and Lowes cut it for me to 18 inches wide. Was simpler to stick to the original 18 inch dimensions otherwise I would have to recalculate the internal baffle dimensions.
The picture shows how the speakers turned out. Wife likes em! Will post a video later on.
Printed the plans out. I needed 18 inch wide panels for the sides and 5 1/8th inch wides for the baffles and dividers etc. Closest were 16 inch wide and 5.5 inch wide. So decided to get enough of the 5.5 inch white MDF panels to make one speaker. Also bought some nice plywood and Lowes cut it for me to 18 inches wide. Was simpler to stick to the original 18 inch dimensions otherwise I would have to recalculate the internal baffle dimensions.
PLAN UPDATED ⬇️ Tapped Horn 18inch Subwoofer - Duration: 2:32. MrFlexy SMPS 89,588 views.
A little background first: I’ve been actively involved in the audio community for quite some time, and have built many, many speakers and subwoofers. Full range, multi-way, front loaded horns, rear loaded horns, transmission lines, open baffles, isobaric, you name it. I don’t believe in fancy cables or mystical noise filters, just sound engineering along with repeated listening and measurements. The purpose of this instructable is to demonstrate a different way to build subwoofers, which has become my absolute favorite method for low frequency reproduction: the tapped horn.
The tapped horn is a relatively obscure subwoofer arrangement, only recently brought to prominence by Tom Danley. A tapped horn is unlike other horns, in that it uses the radiation from both the front and rear of the driver, and combines them at the mouth. This allows for many possibilities, including greater efficiency, smaller enclosure size, and deeper extension. One of the greatest benefits a tapped horn exhibits over other arrangements is lower excursion (the distance a woofer moves from rest). Because of the acoustic load placed on the driver, excursion is reduced, leading to increased maximum SPL and lower distortion.
My goal of this instructable was to build a versatile, affordable, small, and high performance tapped horn that someone with reasonable woodworking skills could assemble. Don’t just think of this as another common sealed or bandpass subwoofer tutorial, this is a much different realm, and is also significantly harder to build. It utilizes two 8 inch MCM 55-2421 drivers, which cost $28 each, and perform at a level of drivers costing magnitudes more. Add a sheet of plywood and few bits of hardware, and you have an excellent tapped horn subwoofer for $120. How much would a tapped horn cost commercially? Well, the most affordable tapped horn sub I know of is the TH-Mini, which runs about $1300 per piece. For less than 1/10th the price, you can see what all the fuss is about. Now, without further delay, let’s make some sawdust!
What would I do with a Shopbot? Tom Danley had hinted at offering a kit for a multiway tapped horn speaker, but because of limitations with time and a focus on the professional market, it is something that will not happen. However, he was very supportive of the idea, and offered to license the technology to a third party if they wanted to tackle it. If I were to get a Shopbot, I would pursue a licensing agreement with Danley Sound Labs to provide these kits at a very low price. It would be my way of giving back to the community for a Shopbot that I didn’t have to pay for. A Shopbot can precisely cut the complex angles and provide the precise alignment that is necessary for such an undertaking, not to mention do it at a rate that would allow production costs to be kept very low.
The tapped horn is a relatively obscure subwoofer arrangement, only recently brought to prominence by Tom Danley. A tapped horn is unlike other horns, in that it uses the radiation from both the front and rear of the driver, and combines them at the mouth. This allows for many possibilities, including greater efficiency, smaller enclosure size, and deeper extension. One of the greatest benefits a tapped horn exhibits over other arrangements is lower excursion (the distance a woofer moves from rest). Because of the acoustic load placed on the driver, excursion is reduced, leading to increased maximum SPL and lower distortion.
My goal of this instructable was to build a versatile, affordable, small, and high performance tapped horn that someone with reasonable woodworking skills could assemble. Don’t just think of this as another common sealed or bandpass subwoofer tutorial, this is a much different realm, and is also significantly harder to build. It utilizes two 8 inch MCM 55-2421 drivers, which cost $28 each, and perform at a level of drivers costing magnitudes more. Add a sheet of plywood and few bits of hardware, and you have an excellent tapped horn subwoofer for $120. How much would a tapped horn cost commercially? Well, the most affordable tapped horn sub I know of is the TH-Mini, which runs about $1300 per piece. For less than 1/10th the price, you can see what all the fuss is about. Now, without further delay, let’s make some sawdust!
What would I do with a Shopbot? Tom Danley had hinted at offering a kit for a multiway tapped horn speaker, but because of limitations with time and a focus on the professional market, it is something that will not happen. However, he was very supportive of the idea, and offered to license the technology to a third party if they wanted to tackle it. If I were to get a Shopbot, I would pursue a licensing agreement with Danley Sound Labs to provide these kits at a very low price. It would be my way of giving back to the community for a Shopbot that I didn’t have to pay for. A Shopbot can precisely cut the complex angles and provide the precise alignment that is necessary for such an undertaking, not to mention do it at a rate that would allow production costs to be kept very low.