I love sound systems!

Back when I was a little kid, a toddler even, I was absolutely awed at the spectacle of visiting a proper cinema. At first I thought the massive screen was responsible for most of the incredible experience you find at a movie theater. Then one day in 6th grade (2006), my science teacher decided to show a video about volcanos to the class. He mentioned that he bought a surround-sound system for the classroom as soon as the room began to rumble while showing footage of a massive lava fountain. It was at that moment that I realized what the key ingredient is in a cinema experience: the speakers. He mentioned the word "subwoofer", and from then on I was hooked on powerful bass.

My First "Subwoofer"

The year is 2007, I was living in a large, two-story home owned by grandma and grandpa. The family consists of me, my younger sister, my mom, and grandma and grandpa. Dad has long since been estranged. For my birthday in early 2007, mom bought me a cheap 2.1 channel speaker system. I was ecstatic about my tiny little subwoofer, a little 4-inch driver that barely played below 50hz, but it was mine and my computer sounded amazing to me. It was a Cyber Acoustics brand speaker, I can't remember the model number but it had two very (very) light-weight main speakers and a dedicated bass knob, which I always kept on max. I remember that with the bass on full, the subwoofer would struggle and distort badly if the main volume knob past about 60% volume. Full volume would sound like the sound system was dying, but the system as a whole was so cute! It tried it's hardest to provide the best sound it could for my listening pleasure, and it kept me happy as my main computer sound system for years. But I still yearned for deeper and more powerful bass, and soon I would find it.

The Fishers

A few months after acquiring my little speaker system that I hooked up to my computer, a local thrift store was shutting down. For something like $30, they offered me the store's radio system, which consisted of what I remember to be a JVC RX-307 reciever with a pair of Fisher 3-way speakers that were pretty chunky. The speakers had a 9" woofer, and a ~4" mid and a 2" tweeter all paper cone drivers, and they sounded really mellow and warm. I remember coming home from middle school and sitting in the corner of my room listening to hip-hop and Linkin Park on the radio for about an hour every day after school. Then I'd procrastinate for a few hours, then do my homework way too late. But that's besides the point, those Fisher speakers plus my computer's Cyber Acoustics speakers were my pride and joy.

Swapmeet

The local swapmeet used to always have at least one or two used subwoofers or subwoofer drivers for sale, but in the past ten years or so it's mostly people just reselling cheap products obviously bought wholesale. But there was a time (the 2000s) when you could find plenty of true garage sales, and there I would find and collect maybe a dozen subwoofer drivers in various sizes, usually of obscure brands.

Custom subwoofer boxes

Some time around 2008 I had the opportunity to build my own subwoofer box. After begging mom to pay for the project (I was too young for a job at the time), I designed a basic subwoofer box for four 12" drivers in Google Sketchup. Having no table saw at home, I used the service at Home Depot where they'll cut wood for you and charge just a few cents per cut, which was essential to the project. The downside was that there was a minimum size they could cut because of the design of the saw they used, which I believe was about 10 inches from the edge, so I designed around this constraint. Designing around this problem wasn't too hard for such a large subwoofer. The subwoofer was designed to have four driver holes cut in it, using a jigsaw, however, I only ended up cutting out one hole for one driver, and the result was an oversized and very nice sounding subwoofer. It was tuned to a ported resonant frequency of about 28Hz, and with it being oversized it had a peak around that frequency. Having a peak around a frequency so low made it sound BIG. The driver I used was found at the swapmeet, branded "Rockwood", which seems to be an obscure brand. Very little information exists about this brand online. But one thing I can say for sure was that this subwoofer KICKED. I powered it with a home theater reciever I also found at the swapmeet, which provided some unkown wattage (probably only around 50 watts rms or so).

2008-2011 is a particular period that sticks out in my mind, mostly because I was able to actually able to play with speakers as a hobby. I would buy several subwoofer drivers at the swapmeet, the largest being a 15" Pheonix Gold Xmax driver with a cracked frame that I sadly never got to actually use and build a box for.

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