I understand that mids and midbasses need rear clearance to keep the sound unadulterated, but I've never heard that this is the case with subwoofers. So why are people always putting subs in these big cubes where the woofer looks tiny in comparison to the enclosure because the front baffle is so big? I am about to make a powered sub with a Peerless XLS 10" and a Passive radiator, and I want the enlosure to be really deep to compensate for the small front baffle I want. Is there really anything wrong with this? I just don't see why it isn't more common. Maybe as I reach the end of my twenties I am starting to appreciate aesthetics more and more, I dunno.
The boxes are big because of the required volume to get down low. If they didn't need to be so big, you could have the front baffle any size you want, BSC is not an issue with low frequencies.
A common consideration with making subwoofers is that the lowest frequency of standing wave the cabinet produces ought to be higher than the highest frequency the sub will reproduce.
This means a small enclosure is desirable, but of course it is rarely possible. A cube gives the fortunate position of the least large cabinet dimensions for a given volume.
This means a small enclosure is desirable, but of course it is rarely possible. A cube gives the fortunate position of the least large cabinet dimensions for a given volume.
Maybe I wasn't clear. I know the difference between a large and small enclosure, I am talking about the front baffle, or at least the overall shape of the box. The last couple subs I made had a front baffle that was barely large enough to fit the driver, and the enclosure was made as deep as necessary to make the internal volume what it needs to be. I just can't stand these gigantic cubes that look so huge from any side. I am just surprised I don't see more sub boxes that look smaller from the front so they don't take up as much space in your view of your system from the main listening location. I know this is picky, but I think there's something to be said for aesthetics in this hobby, especially with our reputation of filling our significant other's living room with huge, ugly boxes.
This is the baffle step for a 50x50 cm baffle with a 10" speaker at the centre. As you can see, the baffle has little effect below 100 Hz.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
This question is too simple. If you need 1 cubic foot, you can get it with a 1 sq foot internal baffle by making a cube. Drop your baffle down to 9" X 9", and you need a box 21 1/3 inches deep internal. drop it down to 6" X 6", you need a box 48 inches deep. These are just example numbers. If you have 1 inch thick enclosure walls, total box volume would be 2744 in3, 2823 in3, and 3200 in3 respectively.
So the reason is for aesthetics, living space consumption, etc. Why not just build your sub into a wall or floor? That way makeing it very unobtrusive.
So the reason is for aesthetics, living space consumption, etc. Why not just build your sub into a wall or floor? That way makeing it very unobtrusive.
A deep box is the worst from the point of view of standing waves.
The distance between two walls represents 1/2 wavelength
The distance between the driver and a wall represents 1/4 wavelength.
For example if you had a cube, 1m each side, with the driver in the middle of the front panel, the driver-to-back-wall resonance is around 90hz, whereas all the other dimensions give around 180hz.
Maybe not an issue for sealed subs, but something to take into account for ported. You definitely would want some damping material on the back wall
regards
Collo
The distance between two walls represents 1/2 wavelength
The distance between the driver and a wall represents 1/4 wavelength.
For example if you had a cube, 1m each side, with the driver in the middle of the front panel, the driver-to-back-wall resonance is around 90hz, whereas all the other dimensions give around 180hz.
Maybe not an issue for sealed subs, but something to take into account for ported. You definitely would want some damping material on the back wall
regards
Collo
I run a pair of Dayton Quatro 15s, sealed, in boxes approx. 18x18 (front) x 24ish (hey, I can go check if you really want me to...) deep, for in the neighborhood of a little over 3 cubes... I figure exact figures are sorta moot depending on how much I stuff the critters... each of 'em are holding up a Maggie MMG, which are run full range, with the subs crosssed over via the PE 240 watt plate amps' 4th orders at around 50-60ish (hey, I like the sound - if you wanna measure it, bring your gear, but I like it - that's why these dealies have knobs...).
I _would_ have gone smaller in the front, except that 18" was a nice cube for the base of the MMGs, and I didn't want to go deeper, because then I'd need to make a really big hole in the front of my house.
I like them. They'll go low enough to break things, and the large surface area seems to merge well with the MMGs. All told, may not technically be the world's lowest distortion, etc., etc., but it sounds nice. And this weekend I ranged from Bela's Cosmic Hippo through a bit of Gretchen (1st, thank you very much...), Dwight and Lyle, along with Paco, Al, and JohnMc.... Oh, and it rawks, which is sorta odd to hear about maggies... If the recording is good, everything sounds good. If it sucks, well, you know about it.
I _would_ have gone smaller in the front, except that 18" was a nice cube for the base of the MMGs, and I didn't want to go deeper, because then I'd need to make a really big hole in the front of my house.
I like them. They'll go low enough to break things, and the large surface area seems to merge well with the MMGs. All told, may not technically be the world's lowest distortion, etc., etc., but it sounds nice. And this weekend I ranged from Bela's Cosmic Hippo through a bit of Gretchen (1st, thank you very much...), Dwight and Lyle, along with Paco, Al, and JohnMc.... Oh, and it rawks, which is sorta odd to hear about maggies... If the recording is good, everything sounds good. If it sucks, well, you know about it.
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