A pondering question on subs

[skooter]

What makes a subwoofer a good subwoofer. I just can't get myself to understand! Just can't figure out what makes a sub worth $400.00.

[peanut123]

mostly material in my opinion. More expensive subs use kevlar and diffrent things like that. Bigger voics coils, magnets, ect...

[jol50]

It provides an incentive for me to setup my system so it does not need subs like that...LOL

It is a good question, I'd think mostly to make a sub work right at high excursion and also to make it durable. For my use I've never seen the need to use an expensive sub, I can get low and loud as I need without. But suppose if I bought my four 12s new they would have cost close to that. I like to run IB, so high power subs don't give me much return.

[KevinLee]

R&D, overhead, raw materials, manufacturing costs, marketing costs etc.

What is so hard to understand?

[tsmith1315]

What is so hard to understand?

How to determine:

which companies have made those investments and produced a superior product as a result,

vs.

which companies just made their product look interesting, stuck a large price tag on them.

[TNT]

The ones that provides its output from the drivers and not the enclosure is a good start.

[jol50]

Originally posted by tsmith1315


How to determine:

which companies have made those investments and produced a superior product as a result,

vs.

which companies just made their product look interesting, stuck a large price tag on them.

Hard to say. You can scour audio websites and see what the SQ guys like (for SQ) and look up tests on subs to get an idea. Problem is neither price or name can ensure quality, though it is more likely. I've had nice systems with pyramid subs and thinking of doing it again just for fun. They do wear out faster, as hard as I beat them I could not complain though. I like companies like mach5; they seem to make a good sub for reasonable price without the flash, but its not top of the line if you want that. After running expensive stuff long ago I find it more of a challenge to try cheaper stuff and get it to work, for some things would not do that (like for a HU but speakers more likely and subs most likely unless I have install that requires something special).

[shagone]

Originally posted by TNT
The ones that provides its output from the drivers and not the enclosure is a good start.

LOL!!! Good one!!!

are you looking for sound quality or SPL? that is the first place to start. The car, enclosure, amp power and tuning, cables and installation all play a big role in this equation. I can take an old radio shack or jensen sub and make it sound great on a budget with the right setup......

at the same time it is easy to by a $400 sub and put it in a bad pre-fab ported box with the wrong dimensions and power it with a bad amp and tune it wrong with the 18db's of bass boost all the way up along with the gain and sub x-over maxed out all tapped off of a stock radio with a cheap line-out converter.. Hint, it will be loud but sound like crappp and the cheap sub set up correctly will sound way better.

so unless your competing or have plenty of money to spend don't spend $400 on a sub. invest in a good enclosure and proper installation/tuning along with a decent sub at a decent price and you will be happy.

[Clipped]

...its all in the spider,voice coil, cone combinations.

baskets, mags, steel,....are all the same for 90% of the subs out there.

ridges in the spider should be tall for good tight rebound, cones shoud be stiff for tight bass.

the majority of 3" voice coils have a 75.5 -76.5mm ID...winding heights vary from 35, 40, 50mm.

aluminium formers are louder than kapton, and have better heat transfer from coil to cone.

the longer the coil the lower it goes, but the shorter coils are louder because theres more windings in the gap.

pick a sub based on your power.

[dangus]

Excursion, power handling, and efficiency. Efficiency means keeping as much voice coil in the gap as possible, more or less, while maximum excursion generally means having a lot of coil outside the gap. Increasing the magnet strength and/or gap length help but means more expensive magnets and structure. Power handling means making it mechanically more rugged, maybe dual spiders to really keep things under control, and keeping the voice coil cool. Larger diameter coils help distribute power over more coil area, plus allow more area for heat to radiate from the coil to the gap structure. Vented gaps are good too. Vented pole pieces allow the woofer motion to pump air around the gap, but that's not an expensive feature to include.