Carver Sunfire Super Junior 8 - Who makes the subwoofer in the cabinet

[tomtomjr]

Hi, I am normally in the car audio section, but have a home audio question. I had a Sunfire Super Junior 8". I was very impressed with it. I know Bob Carver's Sunfire brand builds the amp/cabinet, but who is the maker of the actual subwoofer? Are they available by themselves? Where? ... Thanks in advance...

[Moondog55]

Have you tried to contact the maker and ask Bob??

[mikee55]

http://sound.westhost.com/linkwitz-transform.htm

and this...

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/thor-intro.htm

Get your tools then

Mike

[tomtomjr]

Makes sense. I read the above info. (partways) And will finish the read later tonight or tomorrow. Lots of good stuff in there. But I would still like to know who made the 8". That 8" sure got off. Would like to put a lot of them into a vehicle. I have a 32" subwoofer as my home audio sub. Use it in my shop at the moment. Just put a 34" sub into the car too. I like big subs, but the 8" sure impressed me. I like it loud, and 20 of those in a small car would do the trick. Or just two with a ton of power.

I sold Bob Carver an audio analyzer 2 years ago on Ebay. I don't think I have his email anymore, but will try to find it on Google. I thought I would try here first so I didn't have to bug him. I am sure he is a busy guy... But will keep checking back daily on this thread till I get a chance to hunt him down. Hopefully someone will know more about the Sunfire subs. Thanks everyone...

[badman]

But, my experience with them is much more negative than yours. They are fart boxes, IME, nothing more. Loud but not accurate in the least, comprised nearly entirely of distortion.

But loud.

[anatech]

Hi tomtomjr,
They need tons of power to make them go. Surely you want to use efficient speakers in a car. Power is not your friend in speakers.

What you want is good excursion with whatever TS parameters you are looking for. These sub boxes simply treat the driver as a piston, they ignore Thiel and Small completely. The result is that they depend on brute force.

Your car amps may be rated for some high power rating, but this generally ain't so. Even with Class D, you can only draw so many watts from a car electrical system. You are not going to win that battle I don't think.

Have you compared this driver to one with a known efficiency? That might be a good first step.

As for contacting Bob Carver, just use his Sunfire email. No biggie.

-Chris

[tsmith1315]

Even with Class D, you can only draw so many watts from a car electrical system. You are not going to win that battle I don't think

Don't put it past tomtomjr.

If you're willing and able, there are alternators out there capable of 250+ amps real output, and that's rated at working temperatures. If you need more than that, use multiple units. Of course, that does soak up horsepower.

[tomtomjr]

Originally posted by anatech
Hi tomtomjr,
They need tons of power to make them go. Surely you want to use efficient speakers in a car. Power is not your friend in speakers.

What you want is good excursion with whatever TS parameters you are looking for. These sub boxes simply treat the driver as a piston, they ignore Thiel and Small completely. The result is that they depend on brute force.

Your car amps may be rated for some high power rating, but this generally ain't so. Even with Class D, you can only draw so many watts from a car electrical system. You are not going to win that battle I don't think.

Have you compared this driver to one with a known efficiency? That might be a good first step.

As for contacting Bob Carver, just use his Sunfire email. No biggie.

-Chris

I have plenty of power. I agree on drawing only so much power, but that is the fun of it. Doing the best you can with what you have. I have not done any major comparison side by side with this sub. I have heard it against my Velodyne 12" and a few others. This was a few years ago, but the Sunfire impressed me more than the others. The size is just so small. Enclosure is 11x11x11. Weight was about 40-lbs I think (enclosure, sub, ect). And is scooted across the floor. Had to reposition it after playing it hard since if moved. I like doing projects of car audio and have been doing it for approx 25 years. Since getting out of the car audio/home audio business, I mainly collect vintage and "odd" car audio. But do have a project going where I took the smallest Honda I could find (1972 Honda Z600) and put a 34-inch, 211-LB subwoofer into it. Granted, it is not going to be a high end sound quality system, but will suit my tastes for the odd and unusual. Still under construction. I will put some links below. Overall, I am just wanting to put together another project. When this one is done with the big subwoofer, the 8" idea looks like it would be a neat idea. One or two 8" subs, tons of power, moving massive amounts of air. Not for the purist, but for me and my oddball audio projects, it fits right in. Will contact Bob this week. I appreciate the input...

LINK TO VINTAGE / ODD CAR AUDIO COLLECTION (museum)
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/g...DIO/?start=all

LINK TO MY CAR WITH 34-INCH SUBWOOFER (measures 36-inches)
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/g...Car/?start=all

LINK TO VIDEO OF SUBWOOFER IN ACTION (crappy vid, by you get the idea)
http://www.youtube.com/user/tomtomjr

[tomtomjr]

Originally posted by tsmith1315


Don't put it past tomtomjr.

If you're willing and able, there are alternators out there capable of 250+ amps real output, and that's rated at working temperatures. If you need more than that, use multiple units. Of course, that does soak up horsepower.

Hi Tim, Didn't know you cruised the home audio too. Cool. I am visiting here to figure out my next project. Took about 3 years to get together the current one. Figured if I start on a new one now (getting everything together) , I would have a jump on it... One or two 8" subs doing hair tricks... That would be a neat one...

[anatech]

Hi Tim,

Don't put it past tomtomjr.

The laws of physics = a boiling battery if he is successful. I guess that ultimately means it's not workable (= failure).

I worked a great deal in the automotive sound area. Back when Alpine was just introduced and Marantz had some nice decks. Concord was another good brand back then. I had to fix all the botched installs and abused amps that came our way. It wasn't very pretty.

Even back then, most bigger systems were up against the issues surrounding high, high current flow. Everyone seemed to be fixated on getting and using as much power as they could. Not many figured out the secret of using efficient drivers in proper box volumes. Those systems sounded a lot better and were easier on the car too. I think the downfall of car audio (as opposed to noise) were those darn crank-em ups. The public didn't know what hit them and bought right into that stuff.

-Chris