Contents

surround-sound
subwoofer part 1
Most surround- Surround sound, the popular audio ceive low frequencies not only via our
craze of the past few years, can pro- ears, but also through our entire body
sound installations vide an impressive combination of and this causes good low-frequency
use loudspeaker sound and picture when it is used in reproduction to give that added feel-
conjunction with a TV set. Good-qual- ing of reality to the sound. All this
boxes of modest ity spatial sound is provided by a makes it clear that the importance of
dimensions so as to number of loudspeakers (usually five) low frequencies must not be underes-
located in front of and behind the lis- timated.
avoid making them tener(s). Five loudspeakers present a The reproduction of low frequen-
too obtrusive for the problem, of course, in that they take cies requires the displacement of large
usual living room. up a lot of space in the average living
room. To keep the space occupied by
volumes of air. This in turn means that
a large low-frequency drive unit
The consequence of them to a minimum, the loudspeakers (woofer) should be used. But such a
this is a limited bass are often fairly small. Moreover, in unit must be contained in a large en-
economy-price systems, cost is impor- closure to enable it to reproduce low
response, whereas tant, too, and this also tends to keep frequencies effectively. And this is
especially the low the boxes small. where the crux of the matter is: most
Unfortunately, small loudspeaker living rooms just do not have the
frequencies can pro- boxes are detrimental to good bass re- space for such a large box.
vide impressive production. On the surface, this may In the subwoofer described in this
not seem such a terrible thing in an article an attempt has been made to
effects with a good audio-visual system until it is realized find a compromise between the con-
surround-sound sys- that the low frequencies contain spa- tradictory requirements just outlined.
tial information. Moreover, we per- It uses a large (300 mm) drive unit
tem. To counter this
drawback, the bass
response can be
enhanced with the Technical data
subwoofer Drive unit 300 mm (8 in), e.g. Monacor (SPH-300TC); KEF;
Radio Shack (40-1024); Parts Express (295-240)
described in this Dimensions of box 660×406×420 mm (26×16×16 9⁄16 in) incl. legs
three-part article. Volume of box about 65 l net
Type of box bass reflex
Nominal impedance 8 Ω per channel
Efficiency 88 dB W–1 m–1
Frequency range 45–105 Hz
Loading max 250 W per channel
Design by T. Giesberts

2 Elektor Electronics 3/96

 Contents
housed in a modestly-sized enclosure
of 65 l. The enclosure is designed in 1
the form of a side table with the drive
unit fitted between the legs so as to
make it (virtually) invisible. The vol-
ume of the enclosure is not really
large enough for very low frequency
reproduction, but a solution for this
will be published in next month’s in-
stalment. This consists of an active cor-
rection network and associated am-
plifier that bring the –3 dB point
down to 20 Hz. This article describes
the passive version of the subwoofer
which can be used without any diffi-
culties with existing apparatus. Its fre-
quency range extends from about
45 Hz to 105 Hz. The upper frequen-
cy and the efficiency of the unit pro- Fig. 1. The frequency
vide a good match with the (smaller) response curve of the
THE F I LT E R SPH-300TC in a 65 l
front loudspeakers. loudspeakers. A passive
bass reflex enclosure
Although so far reference has been Since the design aims tuned to 23 Hz. filter, however, has the
made only to a surround-sound sys- at keeping the costs as drawback that it func-
tem, the subwoofer may, of course, low as feasible, the tions properly only if it
also be used with a standard stereo (passive) filter has been kept as simple is terminated into a pure resistance. If
sound system. as possible, which, in the case of a sub- the cut-off point were chosen at
woofer, is not as easy as it may seem. 100 Hz, the 52 Hz peak would create a
The impedance characteristic of the problem: the resulting overall curve of
THE (PAS SIVE) drive unit is shown in Fig. 2. The two a theoretically computed filter would
DESIGN voice coils are connected in parallel to not be usable. To solve this problem,
The design is based on a 300 mm (8 in) obtain a reliable curve (which means the impedance curve of the drive unit
Monacor SPH-300TC drive unit, but that for each coil double the imped- has to be corrected. This is often ef-
other makes, such as KEF, Radio Shack ance value must be taken). The curve fected by connecting parallel across its
(40-1024), or Parts Express (295-240) shows two peaks. The lower one at terminals (for each channel) an RLC
should give good performance as well. about 10 Hz results from the bass re- network with the same resonant fre-
The SPH-300TC is a relatively inex- flex alignment (which, by the way, is quency. Unfortunately, at such low fre-
pensive unit with a fairly large magnet exactly in line with the 23 Hz res- quencies, the values of the necessary
that displaces a volume of around 0.2 l. onator). The second peak, just above inductors and capacitors are such that
Its parameters make it suitable for use 50 Hz, is caused by the resonance fre- they result in physically large (and ex-
in a bass reflex enclosure. quency of the drive unit in the box. pensive) components.
If the loudspeaker is to be used Normally, filtering The solution in the
with a stereo system, it should have of a subwoofer starts at Fig. 2. The impedance present design consists
connections for both channels. This around 100 Hz or curve when the two simply of shunting the
means that either two drive units or a slightly lower to ensure voice coils are in par- voice coil with a resistor.
drive unit with dual voice coil should good matching with allel. The high peak This does not totally
be used. Each voice coil is connected the standard stereo poses a problem for eradicate the peaks, but
the passive filter.
to one of the channels via a suitable fil-
ter. The present design uses the latter
solution, since the use of two drive
units would make the box unneces- 2
sarily large.
The alignment of the enclosure is
determined with the simulation pro-
gram Boxcalc, and aims to arrive at a
compromise between a (relatively)
small volume and a low –3 dB point.
This results in a 65 l box with the pipe
(acoustical resonator) tuned to 23 Hz.
The overall frequency response is
shown in Fig. 1. The –3 dB point is at
45 Hz, which, considering the small
box volume, is pretty good. The –3 dB
point is low enough to allow the sub-
woofer to be used as a passive unit
with most existing systems.

Elektor Electronics 3/96 3

 Contents
adapted as appropriate). Note that some retailers stock general-
3 L1 The box consists of six rec- purpose filter boards.
15mH tangular sheets and a stiff- Screw the completed filter into the
C1
ening crosspiece which are box and wire it up as shown. Take care
100µ R2
LS1 firmly fixed together with a not to interchange the plus and minus
35V
suitable heavy-duty glue. connections to the two channels. The

8Ω2
R1
At one side are the cables to the drive unit must be termi-

1Ω5
20W apertures for the drive unit nated into cable clips to avoid the ne-
5W SPH300
TC and acoustical resonator. cessity of having to solder to the drive
960038 - 13
The resonator consists of a unit terminals.
365 mm long piece of Place the resonator in position,
80 mm dia. PVC pipe avail- make the connections to the drive unit
Fig. 3. The filter has able from a builders mer- (make sure that the connections to the
flattens them suffi- been kept simple. chant. + terminals match, otherwise the
ciently to enable a Resistor R2 corrects The four banana drive unit does not work). Finally,
simulation pro- the impedance curve. sockets for connecting the place a strip of draught-excluding tape
Inductor L1 and
gram—Calsod— cables from the amplifier are under the rim of the drive unit and
capacitor C1 provide a
correcting the fil- slope of 12 dB per fitted at the bottom of the screw the unit to the box.
ter such that its octave and a high cut- one of the side panels. Some constructors (or their wives)
frequency re- off point at about The box is designed may find it aesthetically pleasing to
sponse is close to 105 Hz. to rest on four 50 mm high place a sheet of glass, marble or simi-
requirements. legs with the drive unit fit- lar material on top of the box to give it
To keep the number of components ted at the bottom facing the floor of the look of a side table.
small, the filter is a second-order type the living room. The passive subwoofer is then
consisting of conductor L1 and capac- After the glue has dried thorough- ready for use. It may be connected in
itor C1 (see Fig. 3). The resistor in se- ly and the material has been sand-pa- parallel with the existing stereo speak-
ries with the capacitor damps the LC pered, the box can be given a final coat ers. It will work most satisfactorily
circuit to some extent. The effect of the to individual taste. when its efficiency of about
filter is shown in Fig. 4. Although the The box is half filled (up to the 88 dB W–1 m–1 corresponds roughly to
high cut-off point is about 105 Hz, the cross piece) with suitable loudspeaker that of the existing loudspeakers and
response will ensure a good match to wadding, but take care that the open- it is placed in close proximity to these.
most small loudspeakers. ing of the pipe remains reasonably free Note that if you want the active ver-
of it. sion, which will be described next
The filter components are available month, you do not need the passive
BUILDING THE BOX from a specialist audio/hi-fi retailer or filter; the box remains the same.
The prototype box is made from a good electronics shop. The inductor (960038)
28 mm thick medium-density chip- is a 15 mH type with a 56 mm ferrite
board (MDF), but, as in some cases it core, preferably an HQ56 from IT. The
may not be possi- capacitor is a bipolar type
ble to obtain this, Fig. 4. The frequency with smooth terminals.
22 mm thick chip- response of the loud- The filter compo-
board may be speaker and filter nents may be glued to a
used (note that the combination. It small sheet of wood,chip-
ensures correct
dimensions in Fig. board, or prototyping board
matching to most
5 must then be smaller stereo loud- and then wired together.
speakers.

4 Elektor Electronics 3/96

 Contents

Drive unit revisited

During the design of the loudspeaker, a thor-
ough search was made for a 300 mm drive
unit at a reasonable price (to keep total costs
down to not more than £ 80–90). Of course,
such an economy-price unit cannot be expect-
ed to be perfect. And, indeed, in the testing of
the SPH-300TC unit, it appeared that the para-
meters stated by the manufacturer did not
agree with our own measurements.
Fortunately, the deviations were beneficial to
the box dimensions. Also, there was a kind of
rustling noise at large cone movements. This
was suspected in the first instance to be
caused by a loose cone or air leak, but a sec-
ond example exhibited exactly the same noise.
A detailed investigation showed that the dust
hood in the cone (the convex cap that closes
the upper side of the cone) was the culprit. Its
material is fairly soft, so that at large cone
movements it begins to vibrate at its own
(higher) frequency and thus causes the
rustling noise. This deficiency is easily negat-
ed by spraying the dust hood a couple of
times with a suitable plastic spray or applying
a few layers of a suitable cone impregnator.
This makes the cap more rigid so that it is not
set into vibration at large cone movements.
The Parts Express unit appears to be rather
more rugged than the Radio Shack and is
rather cheaper.

5 B-B

A
420 406
364 350
A-A

28

B B

Ø80
28
28

610
≈ 360

305 50

40 A 40 40 40

420
40

Ø80
406
280

Fig. 5. The enclosure

has been designed MATERIAL THICKNESS 28

such that it may be DIMENSIONS IN mm

used as a side table in SCALE 1 : 10

40

960038 - 15
which the drive unit is 40 40

not (or hardly) visible.

Elektor Electronics 3/96 5