I'm looking at building a nice and powerful subwoofer to reinforce the low bass produced by my 5-channel bass reflex rendition of the German MTM configuration by Zalytron (using Axon 6S3 woofers and T1S tweeters).
Now, I don't have a whole lot of cash, so I don't really want to spend > $150 USD on the subwoofer. Leaving me with two options. Purchase a genuine subwoofer like the ACI SV12, or purchase a set of cheaper large woofers. Apex Jr is offering a surplus 12" woofer for $50. Specs:
http://www.apexjr.com/images/W12P1.jpg
Now, I am wondering if it is more likely for me to find something along the lines of the SV12 better or worse than several of these W12P's. I am not so worried about the specific drivers, but rather what I am most likely to find works better: woofers not really designed for the job of a subwoofer but several or a singler subwoofer.
My specific goal here is powerful, but controlled bass.. I might look at a bass reflex alignment because of the good results I have had with them in the past.
Edit: Graphs for wrong driver were included.
[Edited by Ignite on 09-18-2001 at 01:57 AM]
Now, I don't have a whole lot of cash, so I don't really want to spend > $150 USD on the subwoofer. Leaving me with two options. Purchase a genuine subwoofer like the ACI SV12, or purchase a set of cheaper large woofers. Apex Jr is offering a surplus 12" woofer for $50. Specs:
http://www.apexjr.com/images/W12P1.jpg
Now, I am wondering if it is more likely for me to find something along the lines of the SV12 better or worse than several of these W12P's. I am not so worried about the specific drivers, but rather what I am most likely to find works better: woofers not really designed for the job of a subwoofer but several or a singler subwoofer.
My specific goal here is powerful, but controlled bass.. I might look at a bass reflex alignment because of the good results I have had with them in the past.
Edit: Graphs for wrong driver were included.
[Edited by Ignite on 09-18-2001 at 01:57 AM]
To be honest with you, I doubt you'll get a commercial unit of reasonable quality for $150 or less.
Building a sub opens up a whole new world of opportunity. If you want to reinforce the 30->40 hz region, then perhaps a 10 inch driver would be suitable. But if you want to go deeper and use a 12 inch driver, expect to pay at least 100 bucks for the driver, another 150+ for the amp, and at least 50 bucks (this can vary depending on where you live) for the enclosure. The specs for the drivers you've shown seem ok, but we have no idea what materials they're made out of. The power handling seems relatively low, and for all we know it could be a flimsy paper cone and thin foam surround. Also, that box design seems to be less than ideal for the drivers mentioned. A better one could be easily designed with a program like win ISD. If your willing to spend about 300 bucks, you can build a sub of good sound and quality, excluding little details like enclosure finish, etc. Personally, there are few commercial subs I've heard for under $1000 (exluding some of the Mirage subs I've heard) that I would consider tolerable for high end audio. Hope this helps.
Building a sub opens up a whole new world of opportunity. If you want to reinforce the 30->40 hz region, then perhaps a 10 inch driver would be suitable. But if you want to go deeper and use a 12 inch driver, expect to pay at least 100 bucks for the driver, another 150+ for the amp, and at least 50 bucks (this can vary depending on where you live) for the enclosure. The specs for the drivers you've shown seem ok, but we have no idea what materials they're made out of. The power handling seems relatively low, and for all we know it could be a flimsy paper cone and thin foam surround. Also, that box design seems to be less than ideal for the drivers mentioned. A better one could be easily designed with a program like win ISD. If your willing to spend about 300 bucks, you can build a sub of good sound and quality, excluding little details like enclosure finish, etc. Personally, there are few commercial subs I've heard for under $1000 (exluding some of the Mirage subs I've heard) that I would consider tolerable for high end audio. Hope this helps.
I would go for a sealed cabinet, BRs are much more difficult to build.
The margin of error of a sealed cabinet is very wide, a speaker, filled with polifyll and an airtight box is all you need.
The margin of error of a sealed cabinet is very wide, a speaker, filled with polifyll and an airtight box is all you need.
Merry Christmas Ignite
I would tend to agree with Super, $150 is on the very low side ... maybe you could be lucky with an older second hand sub for this money. .... also see the amps on apexjr ... they are more then 100 usd for 250W! ... Do you maybe have an older power amp lying around you could use? ... no reason you could not use an external amp.
Also the specs for the woofer you point to has Xmax of less than 5mm .... in a sub this os one of the most important specs, and I would say anything less than 8 mm is not really sub material (it of course all depends 😉 )
@academia50, not sure why you say don´t do a BR. I would argue to save money you should exactly go for an old school BR. A bigger box will give you more low end with less power (saving on the amp), and overall compared to closed box a BR is just more efficient.
But that is of course just my opinion
If you are talking home theater, I think you'll need at least a 12"
What size of box are you considering?
I would tend to agree with Super, $150 is on the very low side ... maybe you could be lucky with an older second hand sub for this money. .... also see the amps on apexjr ... they are more then 100 usd for 250W! ... Do you maybe have an older power amp lying around you could use? ... no reason you could not use an external amp.
Also the specs for the woofer you point to has Xmax of less than 5mm .... in a sub this os one of the most important specs, and I would say anything less than 8 mm is not really sub material (it of course all depends 😉 )
@academia50, not sure why you say don´t do a BR. I would argue to save money you should exactly go for an old school BR. A bigger box will give you more low end with less power (saving on the amp), and overall compared to closed box a BR is just more efficient.
But that is of course just my opinion
If you are talking home theater, I think you'll need at least a 12"
What size of box are you considering?
Someone needs to check the dates before posting - this thread is a little over 20 years old.
Chris
Chris
It is a gift to all of us that the board is still around and that such things are possible. Economy is perennially topical, too 🙂 Perhaps this was another Festivus miracle only just discovered.
Ops, I simply received the alert of a new post on my smartphone and from there I responded! 😕
It is the new DiyAudio format surely, I will cancel the warning option.
Happy Holidays to all ! 😊
The OP asked for "powerful but controlled" basses
To achieve that with BR you must make good use of a design program or buy a ready-made kit. But I don't think the OP will read this after 20 years, so it doesn't matter ! 😱
Who cares?! It's still relevant and IME pretty much any BR alignment can at least be made 'controlled' simply by critically damping the vent
:Click Test:
The old snapping trick! 👌
You can PM the OP, maybe he hasn't built his sub yet .....
Merry Christmas !
You can PM the OP, maybe he hasn't built his sub yet .....
Merry Christmas !