Have I lost my mind!?!? Thinking of spending $6k AUD on a Subwoofer

[harrisni]

Hi All,

I've been enjoying the forums for quite some time now and had the idea to build a subwoofer.

So what I did was go out and test some that I would like to build, the three it came down to was:

B&W ASW855 $6k
Velodyne DD15 $5.7k
Velodyne DD18 $6.7k

I was thinking I could build one, but would it sound as good? Would it turn out to be utter cr@p!

What to do?

 

[Bas Horneman]

Definately build one yourself!!! There are a lot of great subwoofer builds out there. Getting it to look good is usually the challenge. Getting it to sound as good or better is the easier bit. There are classD subwoofer amplifier units that you can buy. (Probably the same as B&W are using)

At those big brand names you are paying for the name/marketing etc.

 

[Jonathan Bright]

Now it all sounds fine but; can it have a medical application......or possibly be used in national defence? Just see if Mr. Howard can give you a bribe SORRY, SORRY, wrong word.....a grant, that's it, a grant..... This is definitely the month to seek a favourable response for Federal Gov't assistance.

 

[BHTX]

If you really think a subwoofer is what you want, there are a lot of options out there as far as those go..
DON'T BUY ONE, BUILD YOUR OWN!

Tons of possibilities with different types of sealed, vented, transmission lines, horns, infinite baffle, open baffle (u frame, h frame, etc)..

12"-18" subwoofer drivers for around $150-$400 USD each, depending on what you want to do.
A VERY good professional rackmount amplifier, taking just about any reasonable load thrown at it and powering just about anything you could possibly need to use it for, can be purchased for roughly around the same price.

..$6k AUD?? I don't think so!! I hate it when people do this.

 

[tinitus]

RYTHMIK servosub kits are said to be the closest you will ever get to Velodyne ... at 1/10 of the cost ... so how many do you want

But I suppose you will need a 6-band bassEQ like the one from ESP or maybe something digital

Maybe this digital xo with EQ will be good fore a sub

http://www.groundsound.com/dcn23.html

 

[Brett]

Just give me the 6k. At least one of us will be happy then.

Build it yourself. If you have a loft then an Infinite Baffle will destroy anything you can buy commercially from one of the audiophile jewellers.

http://ibsubwoofers.proboards51.com/
http://home.comcast.net/~infinitelybaffled/

 

[BoomieMCT]

I'm a HUGE supporter of using EQ to reduce the effect of room modes in a subwoofer. There is no need to run out and get a $400 Velodyne SMS or similar unit. The Behringer Feedback Destroyer (BFD) in relatively inexpensive and has been used by many to tame LF room modes. See this link for much more info (and lots of free downloads):

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/bfdguide/

As far as building your own - you can do as good as most production subs for much much less DIY.

 

[BHTX]

As far as building your own - you can do as good as most production subs for much much less DIY.

Bull****, you can do MUCH better.

Manually edited by mod.

 

[MaVo]

Bull****, you can do MUCH better.

i agree

i am very happy with my tapped horns, which i build around two old 10 inch woofers which were unused for some years. definitely better than every sub i heard until now - which were all commercial ones at friends houses. try to build your own, its fun and should have a nice "wow" effect.

 

[dantwomey]

I'm building my own sub using a TCSOUNDS driver but since they've ceased selling to the public I thought I'd recommend one of their commerical products. Have a look at this sub . This and a Buttkicker amp and you'd be off to a good start for around $1200.

Regards,
Dan

 

[adason]

Have I lost my mind!?!?

most definitely YES!

 

[the joz]

Nic definately build your own,after nearly finishing mine I can't believe what they are capable of already.I'm searching for the right amp atm,even with what I'm using now they are fantastic.

 

[TerryO]

Holy Smokes...$6,000 !!!! I'm not sure what that translates to in US dollars, but for that kind of money, with a little thought and a bit of work on your part, you should be able to put together a whole system. And I don't mean a second rate system either.
In fact, if you can assemble kits, I see no reason why you couldn't have a system to rival just about any out there.

My advice would be to get the room acoustics fixed first, then start on your system. A $2,000 system in an acoustically treated room will just about always sound better than a $20,000 system in a typical untreated room. In fact, good headphones hooked into a decent headphone amp fed from a iPod will probably give you far better sound.

The short list, in order of priority:
1. Room
2. Speakers
3. Source
4. Amps, etc.

Best Regards,
TerryO

 

[Nordic]

My car costed about a third of that, shame on you.

 

[jnb]

Holy Smokes...$6,000 !!!! I'm not sure what that translates to in US dollars,

Around five and a half thousand.

I agree with all the above. DIY. DIY. DIY.

 

[hpolkerman]

I've got a little question:

I see the Velodyne DD-15 has 1250 watts RMS(3000 Peak) Watt....

How do they measure a 1250Watt? How does any manufacture measure the Watt of a speaker unit, do they all use RMS and is this the standaard?

 

[guitar_joe]

thats a bit over the top. must be a good sub....

 

[Eva]

You can probably build three to six high quality subwoofers including amplifier and crossover for that price

But if you like esoteric audio gear and you don't feel like learning electronics and acoustics, feel free to expend the money. Then again, people that masters these two sciences/arts have to make their living out of something

 

[badman]

I'm building my own sub using a TCSOUNDS driver but since they've ceased selling to the public I thought I'd recommend one of their commerical products. Have a look at this sub . This and a Buttkicker amp and you'd be off to a good start for around $1200.

Regards,
Dan

Wow, that looks like what the sunfire sub should have been. Still not sure I agree with the principle, but hey, it is pretty slick. A couple of those could have a lot of output and break up room modes/nodes without being visually obtrusive.

 

[Rembulan]

Hi all,
I build my sub from scratch I buy a local brand 18 inch ( I even do not know this driver parameter well I jnow the FS only) and do the carpenter job after I came home the driver cost me 54 USD the MDF cost 26 USD the quasy amp to power it cost me 100 USD the screw,other thing like damping bolt etc cost me 25 USD so total it cost 205 USD may be not cheap for somebody like me ( my mothly salary 200 USD) but I happy with the result. try it and you will now what I mean with happy in this case