Toolbox Speakers 2.0

About this build

This project is for my toolbox at work. The shop is huge — 14 bays, each one big enough to fit a Cat 797 haul truck. The environment is essentially the same as the outdoors. As a result I chose to go with pro audio drivers to distribute the sound long and wide. I used VituixCAD to design the enclosures for the mains and sub. I used Room EQ Wizard (REW) in combination with a UMIK-1 measurement mic to aid in the crossover design and DSP tuning. The build and testing were completed in my garage, but I have yet to set it up at work to hear the end result. May 15, 2026 I have now set the system up in my toolbox at work. During my first listen I realized a huge mistake I made with the subwoofer design. All of the subwoofers I have built in the past have been for car audio, home theater, or smaller shop setups. I now realize that during the system design stage I was focused on developing main speakers for a pro audio application. I went in full auto mode when designing the subwoofer and built it with low-end extension in mind. I tuned the port to 27 Hz, which made the enclosure extremely inefficient. So I did some research on pro audio subwoofers and learned some new things. Subwoofers in applications like car audio, home theater, and small shops benefit from room gain. Room gain is a natural acoustic phenomenon where low-frequency sound waves interact with a room’s boundaries, creating a boost in bass output below a specific threshold. This effect occurs because bass wavelengths are long enough that, below the frequency determined by the room's longest dimension, the room acts as an acoustic enclosure — pressurizing the space rather than allowing sound to dissipate. Most smaller pro audio subwoofers for outdoor applications focus on 40 Hz and up. It's because of the lack of room gain, and reproducing frequencies below 40 Hz requires significantly more power, larger drivers, and bigger enclosures. I am now back to the drawing board and have settled on the 15" B&C 15TBX100 pro audio subwoofer. It's designed for smaller enclosures and will work for my application. I only have to make the enclosure 2" taller and will be tuning the port to 39 Hz. I've already designed the box in VituixCAD and the response graph looks great. I'm waiting for parts to arrive so I can build the enclosure.

Parts list

qty part# Description
2x FE100-8 FaitalPRO 6FE100, 164mm (6.46in) Treated Paper Cone Pro Midbass
2x HF100 FaitalPRO HF100, 25mm (1in) COMPRESSION DRIVER 8 OHM, 1in THROAT, 2-BOLT.
2x ME10v2 B&C ME10v2 - 1" Throat Bolt On Horn Flare
1x RSS315HO-4 Dayton Audio RSS315HO-4, 315mm (12in) Reference HO Subwoofer 4 Ohm
1x Crown Audio CDi 1000–2-Channel Professional Power Amplifier Purchased used
1x Crown Power-Tech 1 Amp
1x AIYIMA A80 Bluetooth Amplifier DAC Stereo HiFi Home Audio Receiver
1x Dayton Audio DSP-408 4 Input 8 Output DSP Digital Signal Processor