The Bass Cannon

Every once in a while I build something ridiculous, and this would be one of those whiles.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the internet, I present to you what I understand to be the world’s first Bass Cannon.

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What is a “Bass Cannon” you might ask?

It’s a weapon of bass destruction. A party on your shoulders. Something to frizz your hair with. Something to peeve your neighbors.

It’s when you get when you take

  • An AirZooka
  • A pair of voice coils
  • Epoxy
  • Miscellaneous analog parts
  • A class D amplifier
  • A lithium-polymer battery
  • Birch plywood
  • Threaded rod
  • A physicist with too much time on his hands

And put them all together in a room with a soldering iron, and a laser cutter.

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I’m not going to try to flaunt, nor will I make a step-by-step guide on how to construct one of these contraptions. That said, if you’d like to make a portable party for yourself, the above photos, and the below schematic should be enough to get you started!

cannon

In truth there’s not a whole lot of fancy engineering that went into this project. It’s a mono audio system with a pair of x-pass filters, a power amplifier and suitable drivers. It has no battery management or protection circuitry, though, that’s a simple thing to add if you do feel it to be absolutely necessary (hint; use a relay, a BJT, a zener diode, three 1% tolerance resistors and a comparator).

Two potentiometers set the channel gains for the the pair of first order filters; one high-pass for the midrange driver, and one low-pass for the woofer. A PYLE “PLPW8D” voice coil conveniently seats snugly within the case of the AirZooka, leaving just enough room for a mid-range driver to be placed in front of it with threaded rod as a support structure.

Initially I had concern as to whether or not this assembly would shake itself to bits upon use, but fortunately that was not the case.

Instead, it shakes the windows. ∎

 

kickit

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13 Comments

  1. u need a bigger speaker.

    • you know how heavy that would be, not to mention the kick it would have from the bass you wouldnt be able to hold it at all

    • I believe the smaller speaker is for midrange only, there is a second one in the cone. Nice job Adam! Party On.

  2. Any chance of using a fog machine and making it really “shoot” bass?

  3. That’s so cool! Some musical suggestions that I think would suite your awesome device:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_EjaslTcg
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_SkJb7LPYE

  4. So cool !

  5. uhm what’s the fan for & how didya hook it up, it’s not in the instructions – I guessing it’s for “extra” air flow; ’cause the childs’ toy only has a membrane to “punch” the air?

  6. StlHeadake

    I’m guessing, but I’d bet the fan cools the amplifier. It takes power to move the speaker. That power makes heat. Just guessing though…

  7. feltrockni

    I shall rebuild this. I shall use a case that’s built custom to allow recommended airflow specs for the subwoofer. Then I shall hook up a sound reactive light system to the outlet. Added will be a laser show target system. Rave cannon. She will meet you in battle. Or she would. If I wasn’t too broke to afford parts. XD

  8. That is so awesome you should sell those. I would buy one. I’m too lazy to go through all those motions, work 60 hours a week and decided for stuff like this I just buy instead of spending the little free time I have.

  9. an inspiration. i envision a two man boomzooka with slightly augmented specs and wireless input sync’d with a source, all stuffed into a 12 x 40 fiberboard tube equipped with a battery-powered fogger (e.g., Antari M1) for the effect john speaks, accented with a reactive fan/diode array to pop the fog on peaks. rave on friends.

  10. Wow… I JUST saw this video. Truly fantastic. I can not only see it being sold to big bands but what of music waves as PROPULSION. How cool would it be to see a rocket lift off not with fire but to the sound of music. Maybe Speilberg was sort of on to something back when he made Close Encounters…. Seriously air/space travel via music/sound…THAT would be wicked!

  11. David Starr

    When I see this, I think of a completely different application.
    Fighting fires.
    Example.
    http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/sonic-fire-extinguisher-george-mason-university/

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