| Ryan Stubbs wrote on Tue, 11 January 2011 09:38 |
I'm curious to know why Labs cost as much as they do to build. Is it the Baltic Birch that costs so much? Where does the majority of the expense come from? I know they are an outstanding sub for the price, but to an outsider it seems like they wouldn't cost as much as they do.
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Baltic birch is a lot of the cost. It doesn't commonly come in convenient 4x8' sheets, typically they're roughly 5'x5'. There is a lot of waste. You can order 4'x8' sheets but often about 3" or more around each edge isn't 'finish grade' and it's more expensive per S.F. than the 5' panels. This also changes frequently, so you'd be advised to contact your hardwood vendor for current prices and availability.
On average, Baltic Birch is about 4x the price of softwood plywood in the USA.
The woofers are around $250/pair. The aluminum plates that cover the woofer hatches are about $40 each to fabricate, some have paid much more, others have paid a little less. It's a 2-per sub item. Other things, like jack plates, corners, handles, casters, grilles, etc run up the costs, too. This kind of hardware can easily total up to around $200 by itself, not including all the wood screws you'll use in the build.
Print out the plans, find some pictures in the "LABporn" thread and print them out, too, showing the finish and hardware. Take that to your local high school woodshop teacher and ask him/her to break the project down with you. You'll understand how it *can* cost $1000/per. I think the minimum we heard someone building LABsubs for was around $650.
Remember, though, that you're building a sub that WILL compete with commercial products that sell for twice or more your costs. That's what you need to focus on if you intend to build these. Otherwise build some generic 2x18" boxes and call it a day.
Have fun, happy sawdust.
Tim Mc
Author
Topic: My first pair of Labs (Read 13204 times)