Change of plans, need help picking sub

[saabracer23]

Hello all,

First off I would like to apologize to GM and bjorno for wasting their time in another thread about helping with my dayton reference sub. My wife caught ear of what I was planning and she said, "Dan I let you have your way all the time when it comes to audio stuff because it's your passion, but I promise you there will not be two BIG subwoofers in my living room!" So I talked to her about it a bit and she is very serious. I can have one though. So I am selling off the daytons and my behringer amp to fund the new sub since it has been made clear that I can find better than the HO series.

I would say my budget for amp and driver would be about 400-450 dollars and I am more than happy to buy used. It will be used for 50% music and 50% HT. I want it to cover the 20 hz range with ease and and rummble the floors. I also (if possible) would like it to be clean. I cannot go IB, just not possible. Probably no horn loading either, cannot be a 15 cubic foot box lol. I am interested in any 12", 15" or 18" woofer you guys can recommend.

I have given some thought to the Rythmik audio subs, I know they are very clean I am just worried about output. My room is 15x22 with vaulted ceilings. I have also looked into the tempestx (that is the new 15 " version right) but have heard it really only comes alive in the lower frequencies and is not very musical.

Any help would be great

Thank you
Dan

[lousymusician]

IMO, forget about single 12" subs, they won't move enough air to rumble a room that size. One 15 may be enough, or may not depending on how much of an earthquake you need to make!

I just completed a 15" Rhythmik for a friend. It's only been playing for an hour this morning, it's just plopped in the middle of the living room (no boundry reinforcement), and I'm not using any eq (as I do on my own sub), but so far I think it's really good. According to my Radio Shack meter warble tones from a Stereophile test disc were solid down to 20 (as low as they go, and lower than I really hear as a note). It's very clean on music, and the cannon shots in the Master and Commander DVD DTS soundtrack had plenty of impact for me.

It runs a bit over your budget ($500 or $519 depending on xover slope for driver and amp), but I think the quality is there to justify it. I built the recommended down-firing sealed design out of 3/4" Baltic birch plywood. It measures 18 x 22-1/2 x 24". This box in MDF would weigh a ton!

If I wanted more tactile bass than this, I'd think about adding a couple of 'shakers' under the couch rather than more huge woofer boxes.

[MikeHunt79]

If your just allowed 1 then build something like a labhorn or THT.

[Brett]

Originally posted by saabracer23
My wife caught ear of what I was planning and she said, "Dan I let you have your way all the time when it comes to audio stuff because it's your passion, but I promise you there will not be two BIG subwoofers in my living room!" So I talked to her about it a bit and she is very serious. I can have one though. So I am selling off the daytons and my behringer amp to fund the new sub since it has been made clear that I can find better than the HO series.

Oh, the joys of no SO. I'm in the process of building 4 very large speakers, and 4 possibly 6 TH subs.

I second the TH idea. They take a lot of volume, but are usually tall and slender so may be able to be placed discretely in a corner and painted or veneered to match the decor, hence present less of a visual distraction.

[GM]

Originally posted by saabracer23

........but I promise you there will not be two BIG subwoofers in my living room!"

I can have one though.

OK, since you can only have one BIG one, here's a ~260 L tapped horn using just one of your Daytons. 125 dB peak/20 Hz/225 W corner loaded, not too shabby for a dinky little 12" with a little added inductance and some digital EQ or skip the inductor and just use a bit more EQ if required :

GM

[GM]

plot:

[saabracer23]

Thanks for the info guys, GM would you mind talking to my wife and see if she would mind a 9 cubic foot box in the living room lol. That is impressive for the 12 though! I think I am going to have to go with a more conventional box like 5-6 cubic feet or so max. Thats why I mentioned a 15 or 18" because they could do well in a box that size and have more output than a 12. No mentions for an 18 yet, is it out of my price range? Would the 15" sealed rythmik have more output than the ported 12"?

Thanks again
Dan

[GM]

Trust me, you don't want me to talk to her.

I'm not current with the various make/models of sub drivers, but big drivers in acoustically small vented cabs have vent issues as shown in the previous thread and sealed requires lots of Xmax and power that has its own SQ issues as well as added cost, so without spending any more time all I'll suggest is put both your Daytons in the largest sealed cab you can broker with the drivers in a bipole layout to minimize vibration and drive it with the most powerful amp your budget allows (preferably one without a boost ckt. or at least one that can be disabled).

GM

[EWorkshop1708]

Your wife wants only ONE sub, she never mentioned how many DRIVERS the ONE sub has

You could take 4 12" 4 ohm subwoofers and put them in a large sealed box. A good cheap driver is a 12" Sony P5 121 or similar, they perform well in small boxes at 20hz. Wal-Mart sells them for only $68.00 a piece.

You can wire 4 subs series-parallel to still have 4 ohms as if you had one driver. Also having more drivers makes your power handing MUCH greater. 350W per sub * 4 = 1400W RMS @ 4 ohms.......................

[boydon_lepasci]

Originally posted by GM


OK, since you can only have one BIG one, here's a ~260 L tapped horn using just one of your Daytons. 125 dB peak/20 Hz/225 W corner loaded, not too shabby for a dinky little 12" with a little added inductance and some digital EQ or skip the inductor and just use a bit more EQ if required :

GM

At >6:1 compression, would the cone hold up? Is that another TH bonus?