Diferrence between car and home subwoofer

[ttan98]

I notice there is a price difference between car and home subwoofers. Normally the car subwwofer are generally cheaper(there are expensive ones as well). They can be purchased from Ebay at relatively cheaper price, eg less AUD $100 for 12" driver. Also there are more varieties to choose from.

My question is that for a similar priced home and car subwoofer, can we generalise that both types would be of similar quality.To generalise further for comparable subwoofers, the car subwoofer would have higher distortion compared with similar home subwoofer.

This issue comes to my mind as I am thinking of using car (in a home speaker cabinet) which are generally cheaper and more varieties to choose from.

Any inputs, eg avoid car subwoofer in home speaker cabinet and the reasons for saying so.

Thks

[screamersusa]

Car speakers are generally not as efficient or loud as speakers for home. They don't have to be.

In my opinion, The laymans difference between sound in a car and in a living room is as follows.
In a living room the speakers are in boxes/walls whatever and they project OUT to fill a fairly large living space.
In a car, the speakers project INTO the box where you sit.
That's why there is always more bass outside most cars than inside. You are inside the speaker box versus outside in a room.
Car speakers are designed for small spaces, traditional home woofers are designed for large spaces. Slamming 140db in a car is EASY compared to trying to do that in a living room.
Cheers

[Luke352]

I would've said quite the opposite in regards to cost actually, there are LOTS of very good Subwoofer drive units available for Home Audio for under $300 per unit. In car ones (specific car audio marketed drivers) are generally rubbish under about $200-$300 per driver unit.

Sure there are $100 car subs but for the most part if your after any kind of musicality their shithouse, their designed to go doof doof and thats about it, most have terrible low end response rediculous distortion, terrible transient response etc...

Luckily though there some nice Home Audio designed units that can operate perfectly in car and in most cases for about 1/2 the price of a Car Audio marketed driver for similar performance.

For example if I wanted to get a nice Car Audio driver I'd be looking to spend $600-$800 Alpine Type X and IDMAX are two examples, but I can get a driver frm a Home Audio driver manufacturer with similar performance (if not better) for around $300, Peerles XXLS and the Dayton RS HO are two great examples, though to be honest they are partially designed for in car use as well.

Although I use a Car Audio Sub myself a JBL W15Gti it is actually based off some of JBL's Pro Audio drivers in particular there split coil DDD ones.

In short Car Audio is overpriced for what you get.

[Dr.EM]

What do you think of a driver such as this:

http://www.jbl.com/car/products/prod...cat=SUB&ser=GT

primarily to be used in a W-profile Ripole?

Specs suggest it'd be decent and it is cheap for a driver with specs like it has. BL and MMS are similar to the original Ripole driver so transient response should be similar? Would you expect high distortion; theres no shorting rings or other special technology featured?

What could you get for similar price (about £50 each) that might perform better in this application? Something like the Dayton RSS315HF-4 would be nicer but is far more expensive! Would the Dayton SD315-88 be better than the JBL despite having lower Xmax and no mention of distortion reducing motor systems?

[aznboi3644]

Originally posted by Luke352
I would've said quite the opposite in regards to cost actually, there are LOTS of very good Subwoofer drive units available for Home Audio for under $300 per unit. In car ones (specific car audio marketed drivers) are generally rubbish under about $200-$300 per driver unit.

Sure there are $100 car subs but for the most part if your after any kind of musicality their shithouse, their designed to go doof doof and thats about it, most have terrible low end response rediculous distortion, terrible transient response etc...

Luckily though there some nice Home Audio designed units that can operate perfectly in car and in most cases for about 1/2 the price of a Car Audio marketed driver for similar performance.

For example if I wanted to get a nice Car Audio driver I'd be looking to spend $600-$800 Alpine Type X and IDMAX are two examples, but I can get a driver frm a Home Audio driver manufacturer with similar performance (if not better) for around $300, Peerles XXLS and the Dayton RS HO are two great examples, though to be honest they are partially designed for in car use as well.

Although I use a Car Audio Sub myself a JBL W15Gti it is actually based off some of JBL's Pro Audio drivers in particular there split coil DDD ones.

In short Car Audio is overpriced for what you get.

seems like you don't really keep up with the car audio subwoofer market...there are plenty of sound quality oriented subwoofers made by car audio companies.

[PeteMcK]

Re: the "difference between car and home subwoofers" - car subs never come with complete t/s parameters...

[Luke352]

Originally posted by aznboi3644


seems like you don't really keep up with the car audio subwoofer market...there are plenty of sound quality oriented subwoofers made by car audio companies.

Quite the opposite actually! But the OP is from Australia like myself, and the pricing of Equipment is very different. What you pay $100 USD for in Australia and with the current Aussie dollar value car audio prices are expected to rise in Australia.

Here is some example's

Alpine Type R
199 USD
399 aussie

JBL W15Gti
$1500 aussie RRP
anywhere from $300-$500 USD

The US market is flooded with some nice drivers in the sub $300 USD range the Aussie market though is very small in comparison of drivers under $300 aussie since it's the equivelant of sub $100 (maybe up to $150) US on the US market.

[Luke352]

Originally posted by PeteMcK
Re: the "difference between car and home subwoofers" - car subs never come with complete t/s parameters...

Thats untrue!

Although the cheap and nasties generally don't, most reputable brands supply full T/S specs.

[Dr.EM]

Originally posted by Luke352



Thats untrue!

Although the cheap and nasties generally don't, most reputable brands supply full T/S specs.

The JBL unit I linked to being a good example and the main reason I'd go with thier units:

http://manuals.harman.com/JBL/CAR/Bo...ech_050108.pdf

Thier very cheap models don't have such complete specs and many other manufacturers also only give basic specs; often just a made up power handling figure

[Thawach]

EM this JBL driver . i will use for the last project. but my friend didn't want because f3@about 50 hz then he change the mtx. but ok the jbl is cheap and a little okay use in a little room. em now i find the sub amp to drive. it's very cheap(53 dollars) but no transformer with this kit. if we are finished sometime i will post on here.

http://www.megatech-audio.com/produc...5d1c21322eca8c

http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products...a_T4512-44.pdf