Throw Me a Suggestion Please!

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Hello!

I have a box. 360x360x360mm. I need a subwoofer. Suggestions please!




I would like something that sounds as pure and simple as the design. Just a good driver, a good plate amp, and some tuning. Some ports or a passive wouldn't hurt either. I need it to go quite high because I don't have big woofers in the towers.

I like assertive punch and soothing warmth that makes you want a hot Thai girl to massage your back. Not so much "boom boom shake the room" droning.

The reason I already have the box is because I already made a subwoofer, but the sound and specs weren't quite up to my likings, plus it kinda exploded because the amp was poop. I've actually posted it here before! I spent so much time and money on the box that I'd really like to reuse it - give it a second chance at life. I hope to fill up the holes and start fresh.

I'm asking here because you guys are a lot more tech-savvy than I am, so I'm hoping it wouldn't take you guys too much imagination to come up with something as awesome as I'd ever need.

At the moment I'm thinking a front-firing XLS 830452 + 830481 down-firing passive. Or maybe something as simple as a 23W/4557T00 thrown in a sealed box.

I have roughly 32 litres to play with. But maybe I can chuck a big block in there if I need to decrease the volume. :D

Any suggestions would be great!

Cheers guys. Your work is amazing.

Here's the canvas:
It had a down-firing HiVi D8G with the poop amp and two ports. F3 of 35Hz.
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list of potential woofers

The Parts Express web site has a neat feature which lets you sort woofers by a variety of parameters, including recommended box volumes for sealed and vented enclosures. I don't know where they get their numbers from, because they often don't make any sense. However, I did a quick search and came up with two lists of woofers they recommend for a 32 liter sealed, and for a 32 liter vented cabinet.

Definitely do not buy a woofer based on this chart. Get the T/S parameters and model it in your cabinet before buying. Don't forget to subtract volume taken up by the vents from the cabinet volume.

I don't know whether or not any of these woofers make you want a Thai girl to massage you back.

All volumes are cubic feet (28.3 liters). All lengths are in inches.
 

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Thanks for the list! Very handy, but sadly the lowest F3 on the list happens to be the same driver that was originally in it!

I'm kinda hoping for 20Hz ported or passive, or 30Hz sealed. Maybe I'm a bit ambitious, but the Peerless and Scan-Speak drivers I noted above apparently do close to the job.

Could anyone please kindly model those drivers for me? I don't have any software, and I don't really understand it either.
 
I used this as a bit of a guideline: 20 litres and 105dB at 25Hz:
http://www.tymphany.com/files/resources/appnotes/Appnote_xlssub.pdf
I don't really trust that because it's manufacturer information, but I've seen a project with the same drivers in a 30l box. Thing is, the designer didn't say the results.
That project is here:
Peerless XLS10 10" Subwoofer (830452) and Passive Radiator (830481)

About the Scan-Speak, Madisound says it's shovable into a 30l sealed box and goes to 33Hz. Could be nice with a touch of boost?

I also found this on another thread:
Vigier said:
Closed in 18 liter, with a 2.000µF capacitor in series gives a -3dB of 25 Hz.
I have no idea how that works, but if it's true, I would definitely consider building that!

Both designs come at roughly the same cost, so I'm a bit unsure of which is better.
 
I have roughly 32 litres to play with.
I'm kinda hoping for 20Hz ported or passive, or 30Hz sealed. Maybe I'm a bit ambitious,
Madisound says it's shovable into a 30l sealed box and goes to 33Hz. Could be nice with a touch of boost?
IMO: Unless you are in a fairly small room - you are being "a bit ambitious" - trying to cheat Hoffman as it were.
I wouldn't add boost to try to achieve 20Hz, unless you also added an infrasonic filter below 20Hz.
 
Could anyone please kindly model those drivers for me? I don't have any software, and I don't really understand it either.

"DIY" stands for "Do It Yourself" not "Ask Others To Do It For You" :p

If you do an online search for "Woofer enclosure calculators" you'll come up with a variety of free online calculators. BoxPlot is a popular MS Excel-based program available here: Steve Ekblad's Free Audio Software and On-Line Enclosure Design

If you're smart and ambitious enough to build those beautiful cabinets (and they do look really nice), you will be able to figure out how to use these calculators.

IMHO: That cabinet is too nice for a HiVi woofer anyway. It looks worthy of a Seas or Peerless!
 
Low, Loud or Little--pick two

Since your box is 360mm square (14" per side) take off space for wood, braces and the woofer displacement and you have about 30 liters of air space (around 1.05 cu ft) Since you want Low--that is your two chosen parameters. It won't get very loud but it can be done.

I played that game with two 15" woofers and in a 100 liter (3.5 cu ft) cabinet, I got the tuning down to 21 Hz. Isobarik face-to-face push-pull alignment to cut box size in half and passive radiator to eliminate the huge 21 Hz port. Corner loaded and tuned to +/- 2dB at 20 to 40 Hz. Final tuning according to the program was 21.4 Hz. Tuning is done by adding or taking away weights from the passive.

Look for a woofer that has a Fs of around 30Hz, Vas of around 40 liters or so and tune it with a port. You can save space by using an external port if it can be hidden. Two passive radiators for balance should be mounted on the sides and that would mess up the pretty box.
 
Low, Loud or Little--pick two

Low and little! Little I have no choice over because I already have the box, and I prefer low than loud, because I don't really listen at ear-splitting volumes.
I'd definitely prefer an exceptional quality driver that doesn't go loud any day. Such as the Scan-Speak 23W, but I still haven't modeled it (or any of my current contenders).

I'm trying to figure out how to use WinISD, but it doesn't model passives which is a bit annoying, lol.

So many drivers to choose from!
 
define "low"

The HiVi sp10 is a beast. carver uses it in the sunfire line. with some eq it could go low in that box.

what are the current port dimensions? I'm just curious what went wrong. i'm guessing it's tuned too high.

Have you tried plugging one of the ports. That will lower the port tuning.
 
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