Sunn 215 cabinet

[scotzoid]

Thanks. It's pine and/or spruce. Not sure actually. It's intended for floor making. ½-price compared to birch. Lots of knots and fills. 7-ply 18mm really close to 3/4". The port peaces will be 12mm birch.

It's been years ago since I read it, but somewhere I read that "Lots of knots and fills" are exactly the kind of plywood you don't want for any cab configuration - if you see fills on the outer surface, figure double that # on the inner plies, & they don't fill them - so there will be hollow spots causing bad vibrations throughout the cab structure. Some might get lucky & the hollows produce only desirable tones, but it seems like an expensive crap shoot to me. Add to that, the awful creaks & groans I hear from the floors of any house built in the last 30 yrs., I wouldn't use floor grade plywood for anything where tone is a critical factor. Birch is double the price for a reason.

FWIW, I'm not posting this to diss your work in any way; as one woodworker to another, it looks good from here. I'm just afraid you're not gonna be real happy with the end result when you pop some high-priced speakers in there...but for your sake, I hope I'm wrong.

[arskas]

What does a bad sounding cab actually sound like? And for that matter, what is the price range for good and bad cabs?

[scotzoid]

That's like asking what's the difference between good music & bad music  It's all a matter of taste, I suppose...I was just passing along something I heard that might be germane to your project. Very much related to the fact that luthiers  don't use the cheapest woods they can get, they use woods with good tone; even solid body electrics are affected by the tonal quality of the wood. It stands to reason (at least to me) that speaker cabs would be just as sensitive to the grade of wood used, allowing for the fact that baffles are used to keep things from getting too lively. I assume your goal here is to replicate, as best you can, the beautiful tone of the early Sunn cabs, w/o putting yourself in the poorhouse with EvilBay's help; I feel safe in guessing that Conrad didn't cut corners by using the cheap stuff from 84 Lumber 

Not for nothing, I really do hope your project is everything you're hoping it will be; I'm not an expert, I'm not here to lecture, just sharing what little knowledge I have to spare  And if it doesn't work, hey, it's a learning experience...

[ROCKETBRO2]

So, how is the project going? Do you have any new photos?

[HRobert]

What does a bad sounding cab actually sound like? And for that matter, what is the price range for good and bad cabs?

I agree with scotzoid about the quality of the wood.  If you're building a box to hold a chassis for a piggyback head, or to hold a horn and driver which doesn't need and resonance air space, it's OK to use wood with knots.  Those types of cabs don't have to to have any resonance.  But once you start using inferior wood for speaker cabs you can possibly run into problems.  You can be sure that if there are knots on the surface plys that are visible, then there will be knots in the inner plys that you can't see.  These can cause dead spots, or even weak spots that can come apart and cause buzzing and vibrations.  That is why I spent the extra money and purchased clear birch plywood.  The least expensive route is not often the best.

I hope that your project goes well and that you do not have any of the above mentioned problems.  It would be shame with all the work and effort you're putting into the project.

Good luck,

Rob

[arskas]

So, how is the project going? Do you have any new photos?

They're not done yet. I'm affraid to post here anyway...

[scotzoid]

So, how is the project going? Do you have any new photos?

They're not done yet. I'm affraid to post here anyway...

Please, don't take anything I've said the wrong way...in no way did I mean to diminish what you've done. As I said, it looks good, & I really do hope the low grade wood DOESN'T come back to bite you in the a$$...just sayin'...seriously, don't take it personally, OK? I wanna see how the project turns out too...

[D.M.N.]

I've actually been prepping to build a 2000s 2x15 cabinet, I can get all the materials, but I need measurements. I know the cab is 48x30x13(?) or so, but I need the internal measurements for the vents/ports and such. I figured somebody might have access to them since a couple other guys are building these cabs too.

[broiler]

Sunn used regular plywood in the boxes I've seen. Nothing fancy. I've been inside Sorados, 2000s as well as some PA stuff and others, no Birch that I saw.

[HRobert]

So, how is the project going? Do you have any new photos?

They're not done yet. I'm affraid to post here anyway...

How about an update on the cabs?  How close are you to haveing them finished?

Rob

[arskas]

Hello there,

Slow progress. I've been working with them for only 3-4 hours/week since the start. But finally something is happening.


The first cab is nearly done. Finished the tolex and corners last night. Two Fane speakers are in the post office waiting... Still need some damping and the F.silverface style front screen...And nearly a set of Ozzy era Black Sabbath songs rehearsed with the band. 

[EdBass]

The first cab is nearly done. Finished the tolex and corners last night. Two Fane speakers are in the post office waiting... Still need some damping and the F.silverface style front screen...And nearly a set of Ozzy era Black Sabbath songs rehearsed with the band. 

That looks real sweet! I have a stupid question though; will the Fane drivers fit? My 200S cabs are pretty unforgiving as far as frame/magnet clearance.
Also, I don't know where you are planning to get grill cloth, but after searching extensively and trying myriad samples, I've found this to be the closest;
http://www.wendellfabrics.com/flame.html
#SF7005
I used it on this 2000S rig.

[CLD]

Oh baby, EB, I wish I had a 2000S that pretty! Wow!

[ROCKETBRO2]

Eye candy!