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SUB-WOOFER

A subwoofer allows your sound system to reproduce


very-low bass, such as that found in organ recordings.
This SAFE subwoofer may be small, but it's mighty
where it counts.
GEORGE PAPPANIKOLAOU

IN TH E DECEMB ER 1981 ISS UE. RADIOELECTRONICS PUBLISH ED

plan s for constructing a speaker that used the SAFE (Symmetrical Air Friction Enclosure ) princ iple (U .S . patent no.
4.168.761. other patent s pending) to obtain good sound from
a small encl osure . Thi s article deal with a companion subwoofer using the SAFE principle that provides extended bass
resp on se from a relatively small enclosure .
The heart of the system is an 8- or lO-inch speaker in a
cabinet with a volume of under six cubic feet. It uses no special de vice s . such as passive radiato rs, to increase the effective size of the spea ker. and the SAFE design provides an
e xtremel y rigid enclo sur e.
The SAFE principle
The SAFE princ iple is an outgrowth of the lab yrinth-type
enclosure invented by Benjamin Olney in the 1930's. A
lab yrinth-type enclosure is simply a long tube placed behind
a spea ker and into wh ich the low-frequ enc y back wave from
th e spea ker is prop agat ed. The length of the tub e is used to

provide "reflex action, " causing the back wave to emerge


fro m the tub e in phase with the front wave . Thi s boosts the
low-frequ enc y outp ut of the system ove r a specific range of
fre que ncies. Th e longer the effective length of the tube , the
lower the frequencies that will be boosted .
T he reason for using the term " effecti ve length " is that
friction between the air set in motion by the speaker and the
internal surface of the labyrinth causes the velocit y of the
back wave to be decreased and making it take longer to pass
th rough th e tub e than would be the case if there were no
fric tion. Th e fact that it takes the sound wave longer to tran sve rse th e lab yrinth than it normally would. makes it appear
that the wave has traveled a longer path than it actually did.
Two meth od s co mmonly used to increase effecti ve length
of the lab yrinth are to line its interior with acou stic padding
suc h as fiberglass. or to co mpletely fill it with the same
mat er ial.
Many designs usually fold the tube (run it back and forth
instead of in stra ight line) to kee p the size of the enclosure

R-E TESTS IT
LEN FELDMAN
CONTRIBUTING HI-FI EDITOR
WE PUT AN EIGHT INCH SAFE SUB-

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woo fer th rough extensive listening


tes ts in our laboratory and also subject ed it to several measurement s.
We dro ve it using an amplifier rate d
at about 40-watt s-pe r-chan nel and a
passive crossover network .
Based on our sensitivity measurement s, we wo uld classify this spea ker as be ing low-to-medium in effic iency (an electro nic crossover
wo uld ha ve helped). Nonetheless,
we noted a fund ament al out put from
the subwoo fer do wn to 25 Hz. We
measured relatively uniform response
from the sys te m from 30 Hz up to

th e loo-Hz cutoff freq uency and


were ab le to produce sound-pressure
leve ls in excess of loo-dB SPL before any significant do ubling or disto rtio n was observed.
Th e unit was tested using both
sing le-to ne signals and musical material. In reproduc ing the music. the
imp rove ment in bass reproduction
was apparent only when the program
source co ntain ed a fair amo unt of
lo w-bass energy. Not too man y program sources do. but when you find
o ne that does . the added impact of
the low. low bass contributed by the
subwoofer made the project dec idedly wort hwhi le.
On e wo rd of cautio n. Trying to
reproduce ultra-low bass in a small

room can prove to be a frus tra ting


experience. Standing waves set up
in the roo m are responsible for that.
a nd it is possible to move about the
room and hear thunderous bass in
one location while heari ng virtua lly
none in another spot. where virtually
complete cancellation of bass frequencies takes place .
We used close-rniking techniques in our sound-pressure measurements , placi ng the micro phone both
at the up per back-wave port s of the
enclosure and at close prox imity to
the drive r itse lf. Below 40 to 50 Hz.
most of the energy. as might have
been expected . came from the backwave port s rat her than from the
R-E
front of the woofer.

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-- ~-

-- -

...

---..

0'----_ 0'--_ 0

* - - - - - - -. - - - - - - -~
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A - - - - - - --~----- - - - - "4
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~ - - - - - - -A - - - - - - -~
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. - - - - - - -~ - - - - - - -A

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.AXI.UM

~~AUERAGE

1
1

,- -

~ -- - - - --A - - - - - - -~

MINIMUM

-, 0

A - - - - - - - ~- - - - - - - A
I

FIG. 3-PARnnONS USED IN SAFE ENCLOSURE (a) affect its effective


cross-sectional area (b).
.

~ -- - - - - -A - - - - - - -~
I
1

A- ----- - ~ - - - - - - A
I

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B-- I"'

~ - - - -- - -A - - - - - - - -~

- - -. . .-

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- B

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FIG. 1- SIDE VIEW OF SAFE ENCLOSURE showing speaker back-wave


path . Pat h is sy mmetrical between points A and B.

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down . Also, the effective length of the tube and the free-air
resonance of the speaker are chose n so that the speaker is
da mped at its free-air-resonance frequency, avoiding objection able excess output at that frequency.
Th ere are, however, two other factors that can be used to
incr ease air friction, and there by the effective length of the
lab yrinth . The se factors are what's involved in the SAFE
principle . First, the interna l surface area-not the length-of
the tube can be increased : second, the back-wave path can
be made longe r by increasing the number of bend s in it.
A SA F E enclosure uses a number of small chambers in
se ries (see Fig. 1) to both increase the internal surface-area
a nd to insert more bend s in the path of the speake r backwave . Th e small chambers are constru cted by alternating
two type s of partiti ons within the tube as shown in Fig. 2.
The first type co mpletely block s the tube, except for a square
hole in its center. The second is smaller and is centered so
that the area between it and the inside perimet er of the tube
is equ al to that of the hole in the first type. This forces the
back-wave from the spea ker to be alternately spread out and
combined as it passes through the tube . (It is obvious that
thi s design incre ase s the internal surface-area of the tube and

2
3

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FIG. 2-SPEAKER BACK-WAVE is alternately combined and separated as it passes through and around SAFE enclosure's baffles.

67

FIG. 6-S'MPLIFIED CUTAWAY VIEW of enclosure showing mounting details of first and second behind-the-speaker partitions.

PARTS LIST-ENCLOSURE
Qty.

Size (inches)

Description

2
2

15% x ' 15V2 x 3/4

1
1
1

15V2 x
15% x
15V2 x
15V2 x
13V2 x

Front and rear panels


Side pane ls
Bottom
Top
Part it ion 11
Part it ions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9
Partitions 2, 4, 6, 8, 10
St rips for mo unti ng
odd-numbered partitions to
even -numbered ones
Part ition-to-cabi net mo unting
strips

5
5
40

(f)

a
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17 x34 x 3/4

15% x 3/.1
17 x 3/.1
15% X V2
15% x %
13% X V4
1 x 1 x 13/.1

12

% x 3/.1

12

% x 3/.1 X 14V2
15V2 X 7 x %

15V2

"

First behind-the-speaker
partition
15V2 X 8 x %
Second beh ind-the-speaker
partition
6V2 X 1 x 1
2
Mounti ng strips for f irst beh indthe -speaker partit ion
Speaker-JB L LE8T (8-in ch) or LE10A (1O-inch) or sim ilar
Miscellane ous : Two binding posts, screws, hot-melt glue and
glue gun , aco ust ic insulation, crossover network, etc .

FIG. 7-FIRST BEHIND-THE-SPEAKER PARTITION has cutouts to accommodate mounting strips.

the number of bend s in the bac k-wave path.) Traversing this


path cau ses the back -wave to be comp resse d and expanded
alternately (Fig. 3), slowing the wave and increas ing the effective length of the tu be.
Other factors

There are two other factors that have to be considered


when designing a speake r enclos ure: the free-air resonant frequency of the speaker used. which limits the low-frequency
respon se. and the reflex action of the enclosure . which boosts
the low-frequency output of the sys tem.
The two facto rs are interr elated and an enclos ure that does
not incre ase the free-air reso nant -freque ncy of the speaker
(desirable) but doe sn't provide any reflex action (undesirable),
or one that does increase the speaker's free-air resonant frequency (und esirable) but does prov ide reflex action (de-

FIG. S-PARTITION MOUNTING STRIPS for the fron t are shown in (a), rear
are shown in (b ), left side are shown in (c) and right side are shown in (d) .

FIG. 11-SIDE VIEW of even-numbered partition mounted atop odd -numbered part it ion using partition mounting strips. Each st rip is loc ated as
sh own in Fig. 10 and measure s 1 x 1 x 1'Y4 inches.

FIG. 9-SPEAKER SHOULD BE MOUNTED slightly off-center to prevent


standing waves. Center figure shows distance between partition 1 and
top of en clo sure.

FIG. 1o-EVEN-NUMBERED PARTITIONS (a) have "top hat" structure


caused by using center piece cut out of odd-numbered partitions .

sirable ). is not as effective as one that provid es reflex action


and does not incre ase the speaker's free-air resonance.
T he SAFE subwoofer enclo sure is designed so that it does
not significantly restrict the action of an 8-inch speaker (which
wou ld incre ase its free-air resona nt frequ enc y) while providing good reflex action. A lO-inch spea ker can also be used.
A lO-inch speaker would offer the advantage of increased
power-hand ling capacity and , per haps, better efficienc y.
Construction
T he choice of a speaker is not critic al. Almost any 8- or 10inch open-frame woofer will do: an 8-inch unit should have a
ceramic magnet weighing about 20 oun ces. JBL ' s LE8T is a
good choice for an 8-inch system; the same firm ' s LEIOA
sho uld do nicely in a lO-inch one.
While det ailed step-by-st ep instructions will not be provided , the figure s and the captions accompanying them
should be studied closely: they will allow you to construct the
enclos ure with little difficult y. (The only trick y part-the
are a behind the speaker- will be explained below .)
Like all subwoofers, the SAFE enclo sure should be constructed from solid , heavy material , such as .l-inch particle
board , to pre vent cabinet vibrat ions that will dec rease the
output of the sys tem. The partitions can be made from \4inch plywood , with the exception of partition II , which
should be Y.2-inch thick .
Use plenty of screw s and glue! The former will add
mec hanical integrity and the latter will make the enclosure
co ntinued on page 106

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