Newb w/a Bash 500S needs sugg. on Sub & Enclosure

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Newb w/a Bash 500S needs sugg. on Sub & Enclosure

Hello Everyone, I just bought the 500S Bash on Parts Express' Ebay site for $162. I've never built a sub enclosure and I'm excited to start one for my home theater. The room is 14x22 and is sealed with velvet and fabric on the doors and ceiling. The room has 9 tiered theater seats, a bowling lane stage, 10' Screen at 5 degrees forward to compensate my awesome unique DIY Lumenlab inspired 15" Projector, concession stand full of boxed candy, bright blue 70's shag carpet and even an exit sign...the whole works. Runs off a htpc.

This room seldom plays music. So, I need some suggestions on a woofer and an enclosure for this room/amp. I'd like to stay under $2hunny for the sub, but can go ^. The enclosure is $open. I don't really want to alter the amp, but if I have to I will. Most importantly, I want the Sub to Go 'LOW', under 20Hz . I want to feel the explosions in my pants. hehe. I like the box idea a lot, right along with the sonosubs too. The plate amp will be used on the enclosure of course. Whats the biggest bang for my amp?

Please comment and put any links to a particular build that you feel may make this a booming project. Thanks, Duane.
 
With stock settings that amp rolls off at 30 Hz or so. If this is for music, that isn't really a problem. If you want to use this for movies you can modify that frequency with a little soldering. Sorry, there is really no way around this.

With a room that big I'd almost automatically go ported. Making an enclosure yourself will probably only take $30 of MDF and parts - more if you used sonotube (but easier IMHO). That leaves $170 for a driver from your $200 budget.

Here are a few drivers to look at.

Dayton 15" DVC
2 x Mach 5 Audio MJ-12's or Mach 5 Audio MJ-18
3 x Foster NHT 10s in parallel (on sale)

Also, just as a FYI, much of the bass you feel isn't sub-20 Hz. It is 60Hz up to mid-bass even. If you want the same power to be louder you may want to not design a sub-sonic sub. That being said, more and more DVDs are using some pretty low frequency effects now.
 
If you want the sub to go 'LOW', under 20Hz, and want to feel the explosions in your pants, in a 14 x 22 foot room, you should consider spending a bit more. The IXL-18.4 was designed to do just that, with a FS of 17.7 and xmax of 22mm. It cost $250 including shipping, which is more then you want to spend, but it will put the other subs mentioned to shame.
http://www.mach5audio.com/index-1.html
 
Mikey p said:
If you want the sub to go 'LOW', under 20Hz, and want to feel the explosions in your pants, in a 14 x 22 foot room, you should consider spending a bit more. The IXL-18.4 was designed to do just that, with a FS of 17.7 and xmax of 22mm. It cost $250 including shipping, which is more then you want to spend, but it will put the other subs mentioned to shame.
http://www.mach5audio.com/index-1.html


The IXL-18 will certainly play lower, but not louder. With 500 watts it has a peak SPL of just under 115 dB. The three Foster NHT-10s will have a peak SPL of 117 dB. The 15" Dayton DVC will be just under 117 dB.

So for $100 more you get an extra quarter octave extension (anechoic) and loose a few dB of peak output. Personally (and this is no slight to the IXL18 which is a great driver) I'd rather spend that on a BFD to control room modes.
 
It's the lower extension that the OP was looking for. A 15 inch with 15.1mm xmax will run out of gas long before a 18 inch with 22 mm xmax. It's simply moving more air. I agree with having a BFD to control room modes, but that doesn't appear to be in his budget at this time.
 
No, I said the IXL18 will extend flat about a quarter octave lower. That being said, there is more to this than surface area and excursion.

With 500 watts and a big EBL type sub the IXL18 isn't coming close to using its full excursion until about 13.5 Hz - well below what most common amps will produce (the BASH 500 if modified to play low still has an 18 Hz corner frequency) and well below your threshold of hearing. It is a good thing it has 22 mm of linear excursion, but for the most part it isn't getting enough power to actually use it. It would perform just as well in this setup with only 15mm so why pay for the extra?

Since the IXL18 won't be limited by its excursion - it is limited by the output of the amp. The IXL18 will take 800 watts RMS but the OP only has 450 (the real output of the PE BASH 500). An IXL18 EBL setup will have an F3 of 18 Hz or so, but the amp won't play much below that. So basically this driver isn't being used to its full capabilty.

Which brings me to the other point, the OP has roughly 2100 cubic feet to fill with bass using one subwoofer and 450 watts. I am merely suggesting that perhaps that a more efficient lower displacement (or cheaper) alternative has serious merit.

Using three of the Foster NHT 10"ers in a ported enclosure will get you an F3 of 22 Hz and an F10 of 19 Hz. With room gain you are easily going infrasonic. Your ear can't really tell 18 Hz apart from 13 Hz (and the amp won't play down there anyway) so why waste the power (that could be used for more loudness) trying to?

Anyhoo - this is just my opinion. The nice thing about this discussion is that all the options are good ones and will produce tons of beautiful beautiful bass.
 
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