Oops! Now what?

[cytokine]

I just modeled a box for the AE AV15 using WinISD and it gave me a box about 1' x 2' x 3'. If I build this slightly smaller, will I be sacrificing some depth of bass in favor of a better transient response? That is to say, tighter more musical bass?

[simon5]

T/S parameters which can help you decide...

Low Vas (smaller box)
High Xmax (can achieve deeper and louder bass)
Low Le (less rolloff for the higher frequencies, better transient response)
Low Fs (can achieve deeper bass)
Low Qts (can achieve deeper bass)

This will give you an idea, but modeling each driver in WinISD using the same box size will give you even a better idea.

Will the AV15 sound good in a sealed box (how big a box?) and can I make it down-firing?

Sure it will sound good. How big of a box? You can use the size you want to use, bigger = deeper. Yes you can make it downfiring but John don't recommend it (It's his opinion on the subject that downfiring should never be used with any driver of any brand). If you look at other manufacturers drivers with the same set of parameters, you'll see that you can make it downfiring. Just don't be mad when in 10 years your subwoofer need a recone.

If I build this slightly smaller, will I be sacrificing some depth of bass in favor of a better transient response? That is to say, tighter more musical bass?

You'll be sacrificing depth of bass for a louder transient response. That driver is really good, you'll have "tight" and musical bass with any box size.

That driver will also make nice ported enclosures also if you're interested.

[rcw]

Testing shows that below 50Hz. people can't hear the diffrence between suposedly "tight" bass and the more flabby sort.
Floyd Toole, who was a respected academic researcher before falling from grace and joining Harman international, has shown how "slow" bass can be majically transformed into "tight" bass by equalising the room resonance causing the slowness.
Incidentaly the punch peak that is characteristic of most live and recorded r&b, has more often than not a 6db. peak in it, and this confers a sealed box with a transient performance that is the same or worse than a reflex box.

[BAM]

As for sound, I think that the AE Speakers AV series drivers are some of the cleanest sounding bass drivers in their class, with very low distortion and very high output. I have my AV12 in a 3 cubic foot box with the dual 15" passive radiators, powered by the same amp you are getting. It can really move some air if you want it to. And then there are the looks of that aluminum cone. Come on, this is a no-brainer: get the AV-series drivers.

[cytokine]

Well, I was really sold on that driver despite the lousy website.

Still I'm conservative by nature and so I sent an e-mail a week ago asking if he had the AV15 in stock and how best to order because I wasn't sure of the website. I still haven't heard back from him.

That's a deal-breaker as far as I'm concerned.

My Titanic MKIII 15" showed up today and it'll be fine.

The wife is already rolling her eyes at me so I'm happy.

MDF is cut for the box and I'm ready to screw and glue tomorrow.

[BAM]

The web site isn't lousy. It's just not finished yet. Yes, the AV15 woofers are in stock. The ones at the reduced price have the wrong color zinc coating on the top plate. This doesn't affect performance, it just has a little less-than-consistent look to it.

[Chris8sirhC]

I'm actually in the same situation as you as far as what your building. I'm sorta waiting on the new generation of drivers to come out, or I'm going to try to get a lambda sub if I can figure out how...
but ill probibly end up getting the av15 too
release dates?

[cytokine]

May the force be with you.

I decided to go with the known quantity after much deliberation and box modeling. Since this is for home theater I'm somewhat less concerned about the SQ than I would have otherwise been. 'Deep and loud' is the main priority at this point and the Titanic didn't model that differently than the AV for that.

If you read my post above you know why I went with the PE product. Basically it's a company that I know will be there if something should happen and I need repair or replacement.

By the way, it's been two weeks and I still haven't heard back from the owner of the website where the AV is sold.

I'm finishing the box this week. I put the first coat of primer on the front and the back and am considering 1/4" poplar planking for the top and sides. That should give it a nice look, high WAF and solid vibration damping as well.

I'm probably going to bring it indoors tomorrow and test fire it to see if I like the way the box perfroms before going to the trouble of finishing it.

I too am looking forward to seeing what the new PE subwoofers look like as well. I wasn't prepared to wait for them for this project though.