DIY Subwoofer Risers

[gettodamoofies]

I've posted this in my https://forum.blu-ray.com/home-theat...tre-build.html thread but thought I might throw in my attempt at constructing some sub risers!

I came across some stored timber I'd kept for any projects that might come up. Sure enough, rather than throw it out in the tidy up I thought I'd put it to good use and build some sub risers. As it turned out, the wood was the perfect size to build two risers!

The risers have been built to have approximately 1" of clearance on each side when a DSP-3200 is placed on them. That'll be enough to give them sure footing but to also still maintain a small footprint.

Construction took about 1.5 hours to measure, cut and put together. After a trip to the hardware store today for carpet and glue I covered them. That took another 1.5 hours. I'll install rubber feet as well as put foam between the legs when we get into the new place and I start building the new home theatre room.

I placed one of the finished risers under my current sub in my living room setup in our old house just to see what difference it might make. Apart from a far smoother response I registered close to a 5dB volume increase across the board with the SPL meter without any change in calibration!

All in all it cost me $25 for the two risers (only had to buy carpet and glue) so that's $12.50 per sub well spent! Came out looking pretty tidy too so I can't complain.

I can't wait to get these in the new home theatre room and let the 2 DSP-3200s loose on them!

[test123455]

Is there a type of dense foam, a few inches high, or rubber blocks or something, that i can use as feet? I dont want to use wood feet.

Something like the foam included with this A2-300:

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL93.../387758501.jpg

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by atexp80

I've posted this in my https://forum.blu-ray.com/home-theat...tre-build.html thread but thought I might throw in my attempt at constructing some sub risers!

I came across some stored timber I'd kept for any projects that might come up. Sure enough, rather than throw it out in the tidy up I thought I'd put it to good use and build some sub risers. As it turned out, the wood was the perfect size to build two risers!

The risers have been built to have approximately 1" of clearance on each side when a DSP-3200 is placed on them. That'll be enough to give them sure footing but to also still maintain a small footprint.

Construction took about 1.5 hours to measure, cut and put together. After a trip to the hardware store today for carpet and glue I covered them. That took another 1.5 hours. I'll install rubber feet as well as put foam between the legs when we get into the new place and I start building the new home theatre room.

I placed one of the finished risers under my current sub in my living room setup in our old house just to see what difference it might make. Apart from a far smoother response I registered close to a 5dB volume increase across the board with the SPL meter without any change in calibration!

All in all it cost me $25 for the two risers (only had to buy carpet and glue) so that's $12.50 per sub well spent! Came out looking pretty tidy too so I can't complain.

I can't wait to get these in the new home theatre room and let the 2 DSP-3200s loose on them!

I think they turned out great atexp80 nice job on them

[Almadacr]

Originally Posted by test123455

Is there a type of dense foam, a few inches high, or rubber blocks or something, that i can use as feet? I dont want to use wood feet.

Something like the foam included with this A2-300:

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL93.../387758501.jpg

How about Hockey pucks .

[test123455]

Im looking for foam like this:

https://images.static-bluray.com/htg...48403_full.jpg

and i cant find it anywhere locally!

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by test123455

Im looking for foam like this:

https://images.static-bluray.com/htg...48403_full.jpg

and i cant find it anywhere locally!

http://www.thefoamfactory.com/packag...agingfoam.html
http://www.foamorder.com/packing.html
http://foampackagingcompany.com/
http://www.foamforyou.com/custom_foam_packaging.htm
http://www.foampackagingcompany.com/...lene-foam.html

[test123455]

Do ou guys think sanding sponges would work as the feet of a riser/isolation pad?

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by test123455

Do ou guys think sanding sponges would work as the feet of a riser/isolation pad?

Hard to say.....don't you think they would compress over time from the weight of the sub?

[nathan_393]

Originally Posted by Fors*

Hard to say.....don't you think they would compress over time from the weight of the sub?

I agree with this. It's much wiser to use the rubber legs BigDaddy's been linking people to if you want to do something like this.

[test123455]

I bought 8 sanding sponges. I'm still deciding whether or not to use them. The foam seems thicker than any other foams I've seen and yet not hard like styrofoam. There would be a little bit of compression maybe but I dunno...they seem pretty solid. Plus I would be doubling them up.

[jruc03]

Well i've built most of my risers now. I just need to find some black carpet to cover them with and hopefully get some rubber feet for the bottom.

They are 3/4" thick plywood 16" x 20" x 4" tall. All of this has been free so far since my work has all the materials and scrap to use for free. I used wood glue and pneumatic staple gun to secure everything together.



Here is the interesting part that I don't think anybody has tried yet. We had some window and door insulating foam in a can sitting around. I figured it would work pretty well instead of trying to find some foam pieces to fit the opening underneath. For reference we used 3 full cans and it only filled about 1/2 of the empty space underneath the risers. The stuff expanded to what you see in the pictures overnight. I will be using a hacksaw to saw off the excess that overhangs the bottom.







I will update once I finish them and calibrate them with the new PA-120 sub that should arrive this week.

[KickItUpANotch]

Right now I am using some cheapo imitation sub riser just to experiment. It's simply a sturdy styrofoam block that is 9cm thick.

I did this because I wanted to see if it is definitely an upgrade and whether or not I should build my own risers with wood and foam. However, the styrofoam riser doesn't appear to do anything. Could I expect a lot more from a true DIY riser like those in this thread?

[Aerodude73]

Originally Posted by jruc03

Well i've built most of my risers now. I just need to find some black carpet to cover them with and hopefully get some rubber feet for the bottom.

They are 3/4" thick plywood 16" x 20" x 4" tall. All of this has been free so far since my work has all the materials and scrap to use for free. I used wood glue and pneumatic staple gun to secure everything together.

[Show spoiler]

Here is the interesting part that I don't think anybody has tried yet. We had some window and door insulating foam in a can sitting around. I figured it would work pretty well instead of trying to find some foam pieces to fit the opening underneath. For reference we used 3 full cans and it only filled about 1/2 of the empty space underneath the risers. The stuff expanded to what you see in the pictures overnight. I will be using a hacksaw to saw off the excess that overhangs the bottom.

[Show spoiler]

I will update once I finish them and calibrate them with the new PA-120 sub that should arrive this week.

Great Sub, I have 2 of em'! Looks very good, that is Def Different (expanding foam), hopefully it works the same. Good luck!

Originally Posted by KickItUpANotch

Right now I am using some cheapo imitation sub riser just to experiment. It's simply a sturdy styrofoam block that is 9cm thick.

I did this because I wanted to see if it is definitely an upgrade and whether or not I should build my own risers with wood and foam. However, the styrofoam riser doesn't appear to do anything. Could I expect a lot more from a true DIY riser like those in this thread?

Hard to tell from that One photo - do you have any more you could take?

Most would say DIY Risers should be at Least 4-8" tall

[Show spoiler](some do em' Much Higher)

and really should be 100% isolated

[Show spoiler](with carpet, and/or foam)

from the Floor AND the Sub itself, so that the Sub almost appears to be Floating off the ground, AUDIO Wise, that is. In other words, no low-end travels down thru the riser or floor to Vibrate beneath you - the sound waves just travel OUT into the room.

If you have time, browse thru this thread, see the various DIY Risers everyone's done, get some ideas to incorporate into your Own build, if you choose to do so.

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by KickItUpANotch

Right now I am using some cheapo imitation sub riser just to experiment. It's simply a sturdy styrofoam block that is 9cm thick.

I did this because I wanted to see if it is definitely an upgrade and whether or not I should build my own risers with wood and foam. However, the styrofoam riser doesn't appear to do anything. Could I expect a lot more from a true DIY riser like those in this thread?

I might be in the minority, but I had my SVS on a ~6" platform and I did not feel there was any difference. Granted, I really only have one place to put my sub, so that may be the reason why I heard no difference.

I have to deal with WAF or I would probably have them on the side walls half way between the front and back walls.

[My_Two_Cents]

Question: As my HT is in my basement, which has carpeting over a concrete slab, would a sub riser really serve any purpose in my situation? I may build one just for something to do, but do I really need it?

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Question: As my HT is in my basement, which has carpeting over a concrete slab, would a sub riser really serve any purpose in my situation? I may build one just for something to do, but do I really need it?

That is the same situation I am in and I did not hear any difference. Just my two cents...

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by darkpoet25

I tried a little experiment a couple of days ago(still doing this). I had a couple of Yellow Pages the same height and put them under my Velodyne VX-11 subwoofer. The difference was noticable almost immediately. I was watching Sherlock Holmes, and the LFE was amazing, I felt it better than when my sub was just on the floor of my apartment. Okay, so now I have decided it's time for a sub riser. Looking at the links that BigDaddy provided I'm thinking of going with either the Auralex Gramma or the SubDude. Here is where I could use some help. The dimensions of the VX-11 are as follows: 15"Hx12"Wx17"D.
The Gramma is 15"Wx23"L, and the SubDude is 15"x15".
Given the dimmensions of the sub am I better off getting the Gramma which is a few inches longer, or the SubDude which is the same width, but shorter length wise? Or am I better off just going to Home Depot or Menard's and getting a sheet of plywood and some wooden feet cut in the dimensions of the subwoofer? Any ideas/help is appreciated.

I think being creative & making your own makes it better. DIY I have made all 3 of my risers so they are unique & one of a kind. no one on earth has one like it

I am also a firm believer that the higher the sub the better the sound ~ Just remember I am crazy

Been awhile since I posted these so here are my sub risers.

My 15" sub riser.

My 12" sub riser.



My 10" sub riser.

[spaceape]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

I think being creative & making your own makes it better. DIY I have made all 3 of my risers so they are unique & one of a kind. no one on earth has one like it

I am also a firm believer that the higher the sub the better the sound ~ Just remember I am crazy

Been awhile since I posted these so here are my sub risers.

My 15" sub riser.

My 12" sub riser.



My 10" sub riser.

They are classy looking Brent.

Did you put anything inside of those subtraps/risers?

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by spaceape

They are classy looking Brent.

Did you put anything inside of those subtraps/risers?

They are all filled with foam Tommy.

BTW ~ Thanks

[spaceape]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

They are all filled with foam Tommy.

BTW ~ Thanks

Cool. The reason for asking is that i might try and do an upgrade on my subdudes sometime in the future. I have lots of rockwool left from making my diy absorption panels so were thinking of maybe making a couple of square wood frames and fill them with some of that placing them on top of the subdudes.

Right now it's just in my head though hehe.