How low to go, ht sub

[mikeford]

What I am getting at is the point of extension to 20hz, or 15hz or 10hz isn't that you can make it flat at some silly low level, its how loud it will play that low, how much effect can it make?

What your house can take structurally isn't a small concern with a subwoofer either, or just below 30 hz.

[djn]

Originally Posted by mikeford

I used to know guys that built system around the EV30, and with a freezer sized sealed box it wasn't flat to 20 hz, but sure kicked at 30 to 60hz.

What people need to keep in mind with boost is that if you need 8 db of boost to be flat at 15 hz, at best you have 8 db less overall max level flat if you don't run into excursion limits even sooner.

I use to own a pair of MINT 1962 EV Patrician 700s with the EV30 in them. What wonderful and beautiful speakers they were. I had to sell them to pay for getting rot fixed on my sailboat, but the rot was more expensive than we first though to I ended up selling the boat for a total fire sale price.....so then I had no boat and no speakers. Sheesh!

[mikeford]

Whats odd to me is that its like my brain was shut off, I didn't have the space for them, so I never really considered the speakers they were making, and they did even have the EV30 in a roughly Khorn sized "home" speaker. No money may have played some part in it as well. Such are the choices of youth, brand new Pantera, super home stereo, and I bought recording gear for a home studio. Hard to say what advice I would offer myself knowing what I do now, but pretty sure it would be one of the OTHER two options.

[Moonfly]

Originally Posted by djn

Thanks Moon. I agree about sealed boxes. I just finished my speakers tonight and they have two 4" ports 10" long each but I can use plumbers plugs to block them if I want. I'll get them set up and test both sealed and vented and go with what sounds best.

Remember though that optimising a cabinet is key to getting a sound you want, and what optimum for a ported design is pretty much never optimum for a sealed design. If your cabinet is designed to be ported, chances are that when you seal it up its probably going to be a little underwhelming.

[djn]

I understand that Moon, but I have 4 very good subs in the room to bring up the lower end whether it be a lower steep sloop from a vented box or a higher shallow sloop from a sealed box.

[norman bates]

I think there is some quality in a deep but sealed subwoofer.

Eventhough the signal will be lower in level, at least it is there, like a slow rolling thunder in the distance (definitely under 30hz).

But getting sealed and low require big drivers and big boxes for tolerable subwoofer sealed F3 (30hz).

But, You can run a pair of epic 12's sealed in 3ft3 total for a sealed F3 of 45hz (perfect for a car). Then add about 12db of boost @ 25hz (making -3db @ 25hz without room gain). But 6ft3 ported and have F3 at tuning frequency of 25hz in a 6ft3 box. And I bet the tuned will be more much cleaner due to the lack of excursion around 25hz, but good luck with getting large enough ports so it doesn't chuff. Those are 22mm xmax subwoofers.

Or the much larger boxed dual 15" dayton Hf, 11ft3 sealed (qtc .707) for 2 drivers, F3=31hz.

These 3 options are on my radar.
30hz Tapped horns are just too big for my apartment.

Stuffing the port of an Rb-75 klipsch (8" 2-way) and adding 6db to 9db of boost from 120hz down has reaquainted me with low volume but deep sealed bass. It's been a while.

I'm hesitant for a sub because even at low level, it goes right through the walls, and people who sleep in silence seem to get annoyed, even when I think the volume level is pretty low.

Norman

[mikeford]

Most cars have a rising response below about 60hz of 6d/oct, apples and oranges to home use.

Lots of boost on a small driver must be adding lots of distortion to the rest of its range. Not a place I would choose to go.

You don't need low bass to have big issues with it going through walls, 60 to 100 hz does fine in annoying people, lower frequencies need higher levels before being noticed.