Building a Sonotube Subwoofer
January 2006
My audio desires have been growing lately. I built an HTPC for my system about a year ago. Then I was fortunate enough to purchase a house that I could do what I want with (as long it pleases the wife!). I bought an Infocus SP4805 front projector and promptly graduated to an 84 inch by 48 inch Black Flame Ambient Light screen. At this point I was reasonably happy with the video side of my system. I had digital video from the HTPC for stored DVD's and component video for OTA HDTV and DIRECTV satellite. But my audio side was lacking. I owned KEF 101.2 front speakers, KEF model 90 center speaker, and KEF K140 rear surround speakers. I also owned a 10 year old Klipsch SW12 12 inch 150 watt subwoofer. Although I have liked the KEF's for years, technology and speaker building has advanced a long way in recent years. After reading various forums, asking questions on those forums, and listening to a lot of speakers, I chose to buy Ascend Acoustics 340SE left, center, & right speakers. I have never ever read or heard anything bad or negative about these speakers anywhere. With a 30 day money back guarantee, I gave them a try. All I can say is that they are incredibly accurate speakers. What goes in is what comes out. David Fabrikant (the owner & designer) has built a wonderful speaker. But I digress. That left me with needing a subwoofer that would handle today's movies and music. Current DVD's such as War of the Worlds have audio information in them as low as 3 Hz! I was all set to buy an SVS subwoofer when I found out about DIY (do it yourself) subwoofers. People have been building them for years with good results, and much less money than commercial subwoofers. I chose to build a sonotube subwoofer because of the ease of construction and the good results a lot of people are getting. Two people that I met through AVS and Htguide were instrumental in helping me design and construct this sub. Steve Callas and ThomasW made this possible for me.