It used to be that a folded horn sub was just too big to fit in a
living room and leave space for anything else. No more. The Tuba 18 easily
tucks away in a room corner. For that matter, at 18x18x19 inches it's small
enough to fit in a car trunk. Cosmetic options are only limited by your
imagination. You can keep it simple, or you can disguise it as a piece of fine
furniture, like this:
How does it get high sensitivity from a small cabinet? By using Tuba folding
geometry and a high performance eight-inch driver. An eight you say? Surely an
eight can't work as a sub? Yes, it can. Here's a 1 watt SPL chart of the Tuba 18
in a room corner:
This review is from Carl Howell, who bought my original prototype:
I purchased the T18 that Bill built himself as the original T18 and I am really impressed. I bolted up the MCM driver,
wired it up to my 1000 watt Crown amplifier, placed it in a corner, and grabbed all my "reference" cd's. I am extremely
impressed with the output and extention from such a small driver, and relatively small enclosure. Bass is fast and punchy.
I am really happy with this enclosure. Thanks Bill!!!
You want your sub to go low, you want it to go loud, but you probably don't want it expensive. The recommended MCM 55-2421 driver
will cost you about $40. Plus, with its high efficiency the Tuba 18 only needs one quarter the power that other subs require,
so you save money on your amp too. In fact, Tuba 18 saves you enough on the driver to pay for the amp! And once you hear the smooth,
powerful bass that a folded horn delivers you'll know what every pro-sound tech already knows: Horns rule!
Construction Degree of Difficulty: 5
Performance Quotient: 7
Equivalent Retail Value: $ 899
Plans are $19.95, delivered within 24 hours as email attachment in MS Word format. 10 Pages, 18 Photos, 6 Diagrams. PDF available on request.
