Small, Lightweight Subwoofer

Bizwacky · 13th June 2011, 08:32 PM

Hey guys, recently got a new car and I'm planning an audio upgrade. I want to install Zaph's ZA5car design and supplement it with a subwoofer. The only problem is, the car is a Mini cooper and I need to preserve as much space as possible. My goal is a sub that can produce good levels of Bass for music from 40ish to 100 Hz while also taking up very little space. An enclosure <20 liters is my goal although really the smaller the better. Weight is another concern and I'd like it to be as light as possible.

I'm currently looking at a vented enclosure for either an Exodus Anarchy 6.5 or a Tang Band W8-1363SB. They both model fairly well but I wondered if anybody had experience with either driver or any suggestions for a different driver for a small sub. I was also curious about any space/weight saving construction materials or techniques for the box itself.

Thanks ahead of time for your help.

chris661 · 13th June 2011, 08:54 PM

TB W6-1139 - using them in tapped horns at the mo, but there's lots of people using them in ported boxes. Cabinet is around 14L, IIRC.

weltersys · 13th June 2011, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bizwacky

. Weight is another concern and I'd like it to be as light as possible.

Foam core with epoxy as used in boats and surfboards will probably have some of the best stiffness to weight ratios, but at a very high cost and a fairly messy build.

1/2" or 5/8" plywood with lots of triangular bracing is still fairly light and strong.

60ndown · 14th June 2011, 02:04 AM

small and light and they sound quite good

Bazooka BT6014 BT Series 6-1/2" 4-ohm Bass Tubes® enclosure at Crutchfield.com

chris661 · 14th June 2011, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 60ndown

small and light and they sound quite good

Bazooka BT6014 BT Series 6-1/2" 4-ohm Bass Tubes® enclosure at Crutchfield.com

... thought I would be skeptical about the 100dB sensitivity figure. And probably the figures for extension.

Mickatroids · 14th June 2011, 10:03 AM

Seems you are care about HiFi, nice splits! I think an important questions here are how much bass do you want and how much space can you spare. In the end there is no replacement for displacement

The cabin gain in a small car is a good start to decent SPL. I (who does not need a mobile dance party in his car or the very popular back massage experience) would be looking around for a higher end 10" sub which will both work in a small sealed enclosure and which will give you total Q that is where you want it (.7 to .8 perhaps).

I generally would not go for a vented enclosure in a car. They tend to be bigish and are sometimes tuned too high or have a port that is too narrow to behave itself for HiFi purposes (though fine for SPL). In addition, the port gain and the cabin gain together can be tricky to tame for hifi results. Of course if untamed bass is your thing then this is not a problem Also, don't get me wrong there are some excellent ported solutions about for HiFi and SPL purposes.

There are plenty of cool compact subs with inbuilt amps on the market too. I happened to see some Vibe (I think it was) bandpass units today that were quite compact and, being bandpass, had no exposed speaker and should include some decent gain if you don't want to go sealed. No idea how good they are though.

Pallas · 14th June 2011, 03:31 PM

Where does the factory system put subs? BMW often does them under the seats, but I don't know what they did specifically with your Mini. Still, there may be room there to play.

Brian Steele · 15th June 2011, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris661

... thought I would be skeptical about the 100dB sensitivity figure. And probably the figures for extension.

The quoted sensitivity figure is in-car sensitivity, taking cabin gain into account.

Ditto for the extension figure.

The Bazookas actually do quite well.

chops · 15th June 2011, 01:38 PM

Many many years ago, one of my brothers had a small 6" Bazooka in his '91 VW GTi with an a/d/s amp bridged mono for 180 watts. That little Bazooka sub was much more musical, had a lot more punch and impact, and dug deeper than the two Audio Art 10's he put in later. Most likely the box for those 10's were all wrong, but nonetheless, the 6" Bazooka blew them away with flying colors.

In fact, just as a "fun fact", his car was featured in the "Readers' Rides" section of Car Stereo Magazine back in the June '96 issue, and even mentions my name in there for doing work on his system! I had to fix up the botched up job one of the stereo shops did to his system. I rewired and reinstalled the entire system!

Bizwacky · 15th June 2011, 03:29 PM

I do like the way those TB W6s look. Mickatroids post has got me thinking about cabin gain though. After turning up this measured cabin gain in my car, (It's the top blue line)

I'm thinking a sealed box with a bit of a response bump at 70 hz would be a good way to go. Perhaps a Dayton RSS210HF in about 10 liters?

That bazooka sub looks interesting but I don't know if it's quite DIY-enough for me. Also the shape isn't particularly good for me as far as maximizing cargo space.

13th June 2011, 08:32 PM	#1
Bizwacky diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2007	Small, Lightweight Subwoofer Hey guys, recently got a new car and I'm planning an audio upgrade. I want to install Zaph's ZA5car design and supplement it with a subwoofer. The only problem is, the car is a Mini cooper and I need to preserve as much space as possible. My goal is a sub that can produce good levels of Bass for music from 40ish to 100 Hz while also taking up very little space. An enclosure <20 liters is my goal although really the smaller the better. Weight is another concern and I'd like it to be as light as possible. I'm currently looking at a vented enclosure for either an Exodus Anarchy 6.5 or a Tang Band W8-1363SB. They both model fairly well but I wondered if anybody had experience with either driver or any suggestions for a different driver for a small sub. I was also curious about any space/weight saving construction materials or techniques for the box itself. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

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13th June 2011, 08:54 PM	#2
chris661 diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lancashire Blog Entries: 7	TB W6-1139 - using them in tapped horns at the mo, but there's lots of people using them in ported boxes. Cabinet is around 14L, IIRC.

14th June 2011, 02:04 AM	#4
60ndown diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2011	small and light and they sound quite good Bazooka BT6014 BT Series 6-1/2" 4-ohm Bass Tubes® enclosure at Crutchfield.com

14th June 2011, 10:03 AM	#6
Mickatroids diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2011	Seems you are care about HiFi, nice splits! I think an important questions here are how much bass do you want and how much space can you spare. In the end there is no replacement for displacement The cabin gain in a small car is a good start to decent SPL. I (who does not need a mobile dance party in his car or the very popular back massage experience) would be looking around for a higher end 10" sub which will both work in a small sealed enclosure and which will give you total Q that is where you want it (.7 to .8 perhaps). I generally would not go for a vented enclosure in a car. They tend to be bigish and are sometimes tuned too high or have a port that is too narrow to behave itself for HiFi purposes (though fine for SPL). In addition, the port gain and the cabin gain together can be tricky to tame for hifi results. Of course if untamed bass is your thing then this is not a problem Also, don't get me wrong there are some excellent ported solutions about for HiFi and SPL purposes. There are plenty of cool compact subs with inbuilt amps on the market too. I happened to see some Vibe (I think it was) bandpass units today that were quite compact and, being bandpass, had no exposed speaker and should include some decent gain if you don't want to go sealed. No idea how good they are though.

14th June 2011, 03:31 PM	#7
Pallas diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: ATL	Where does the factory system put subs? BMW often does them under the seats, but I don't know what they did specifically with your Mini. Still, there may be room there to play.

15th June 2011, 01:38 PM	#9
chops diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: St Pete, Florida	Many many years ago, one of my brothers had a small 6" Bazooka in his '91 VW GTi with an a/d/s amp bridged mono for 180 watts. That little Bazooka sub was much more musical, had a lot more punch and impact, and dug deeper than the two Audio Art 10's he put in later. Most likely the box for those 10's were all wrong, but nonetheless, the 6" Bazooka blew them away with flying colors. In fact, just as a "fun fact", his car was featured in the "Readers' Rides" section of Car Stereo Magazine back in the June '96 issue, and even mentions my name in there for doing work on his system! I had to fix up the botched up job one of the stereo shops did to his system. I rewired and reinstalled the entire system!

15th June 2011, 03:29 PM	#10
Bizwacky diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2007	I do like the way those TB W6s look. Mickatroids post has got me thinking about cabin gain though. After turning up this measured cabin gain in my car, (It's the top blue line) I'm thinking a sealed box with a bit of a response bump at 70 hz would be a good way to go. Perhaps a Dayton RSS210HF in about 10 liters? That bazooka sub looks interesting but I don't know if it's quite DIY-enough for me. Also the shape isn't particularly good for me as far as maximizing cargo space.

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