Driver Options for Gainclone powered Sub

[raromachine]

Hi all,

I've spent a few nights looking and looking at the sorts of drivers I can get in New Zealand that might suits a Gainclone (LM4780) powered sub.

See this thread: Sub' Amp - LM4780 questions!

I want to build a sealed enclosure around 40-50l in size as:
- I want to be able to hide it under a table, behind a couch etc
- I care about the quality of the sound more than the loudness
- I'm not planning on building a lot of speakers and have limited tools

I've been looking for drivers and 10" seems like a manageable size.

My choices so far have been targeting < NZ$150 so I've only been looking at what I can get locally (no nice/expensive Peerless drivers).

I've come up with the following:

Jaycar 10" - 4ohm 'double magnet'
- good looking db/w
- small xmax and higher fs.
- $80NZ

Jaycar 10" 2+2ohm Metal Coated Cone Subwoofer (car sub)
- okay db/w
- bigger xmax and low fs
- $150NZ

JBL GT4-10
- good db/w
- bigger xmax and fs is between the other two drivers
- $90NZ + national shipping

Are there other options I've not found?

Am I right in leaning toward the JBL driver as being right for my needs?

Help

[ocool_15]

In a sealed box of that size I find none of those drivers will hit even 50Hz You may want to try using a vented box. Try downloading win Isd to model some designs.

When providing specs of the " 10" Profile Metal Coated Cone Subwoofer" they only drove one VC of a DVC driver so if you drove both coils the specs would be different.

[arjscott]

Hi there,

I gave up trying to find subwoofer drivers (or anything related to speaker building) locally in New Zealand.

I recently purchased a Dayton DVC 8" from www.partsexpress.com. It's fantastic for what I wanted - a small sealed box with in room extension in high 30hz - low 40hz.

Shipping is a bit expensive, but it's still worth the money. I ordered a few other parts to exceed the US$ 50 minimum international order.

In my opinion this US$ 23 driver is better than drivers from Jaycar, or car subwoofers available here.

You might be able to get a Dayton 10" and a few other parts for NZ $150 including shipping. Maybe a little more than that...

I'm also planning on using an LM4780 for my sub. Plate amps from Jaycar are so expensive!

Andrew.

[raromachine]

Hrm - interesting, was the shipping fast? or slowwwwwww?

[arjscott]

Really fast. Ordered on Wednesday, shipped that night, arrived on Monday morning. I expected nothing less considering the shipping cost! But still like I say, reasonable cost in my opinion.

[raromachine]

Thanks for the link - I have to say the range looks great esp with the NZ$ so high at the moment.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=295-550

[arjscott]

No worries. Let us know how your project works out.

One more thing - if you register on partsexpress you can find out exact shipping costs. If you add items to your cart and click "checkout", confirm your address and do a few other things, it will tell you the total cost without having to confirm payment.

[raromachine]

I'm not sure if the data I have is 100% or if I setup WinISD properly - but it's interesting to look at.

I plugged in all of the values I could find and skipped the ones I couldn't.

I set the box to sealed, and 42Litres (400mm^3 made from 18mm MDF).

Am I nuts - or does the JBL driver look pretty good?

[richie00boy]

Depends if you think that a 50Hz -3dB point is good or not. I would say not really. Some EQ will be needed.

I suggest you try modelling the second Jaycar driver in a vented box. It's low Qts means it's designed for a vented box. Usually a vented box is the best way to get good results on a budget.

Also bear in mind you are only looking at relative frequency response there. Achievable SPL is equally if not more important.

[raromachine]

What does achieveable SPL mean? (I've googled but came up with junk).

And does the SPL plot in WINISD mean anything in relation to this?