what (<$200) driver to use for ultimimate music-sub per buck (siz unimportant)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jump to Latest
keyser

keyser

Member
Joined 2004
dutchdutch.com/
#1
what (<$200) driver to use for ultimimate music-sub per buck (siz unimportant)

hi all!
i am new at building hifi. i'd like to start with building a subwoofer for music use. a big box is no problem: high performance is priority! as i understand from other topics, a sealed-enclosure would be the best way to start. does anyone have recommendations for which driver to use? also, how big and what type of box should i build to support it?
would a large (maybe 18") woofer in a large sealed box give best results for music?
 
#2
$200 will not buy you a super high quality 18 incher. If quality is more important to you than quantity, go for a high-quality 12". My personal favorite in that price range is the NHT 1259, but there are a lot of choices.

Sealed box is an excellent design choice in your situation (first project, presumably no sophisticated measuring equipment).
 
#3
The Raveland TW-3000 and Mivoc XAW210HC are worth looking into.
Probably nowhere near a "top" chassis but certainly good bang for buck.

Both are featured in a lot of recent sub designs in "Klang+Ton" and "Hobby Hifi" (actually all of the last designs were done with these).

I´m using a Raveland TW-3000 in a sealed enclosure with high-pass cap for low frequency boost and it works very well and supports my Tangbands at my desktop.

As the Raveland is especially cheap you could build a very compact compound sub (~30l) with two per side and go down to 30Hz easily which should be alright for music.
 
#4
tanx for the help so far!
perhaps i should save a little more money to buy a better woofer. i already have an amplifier-module.
SY, you were right by putting that quality is more important to me than quantity. my main speakers are already reasonably sized. both have two 8" woofers, so i want a sub that gives me deep bass with an f3 not too far above 20 hz.
is there some miracle woofer around that doesn't cost too much then? be it over 200$😉
greetz,
martijn
 
#8
Not to thread jump, but how do you feel the Tempest performs in a vented enclosure for home theater use? I see they have 3 designs on their site. Which would you suggest? (something comparable to the SVS 20-39 would be great).
 
#9
Due to the popularity I believe that the Tempest and other Adire stuff is great but is also overly expensive in europe.
(for example the Tempest costs about 260€ which is almost 320$)
Keyser, as your budget increased you might wanna use it wisely and get drivers that are reasonably priced in netherlands/europe unless you can import them cheaper.
Monacor (SPH-xxx)have some very good sub drivers.
They do cover the whole price range so you can easily choose what´s appropriate for your application/budget.
 
#10
i think joensd is right. adire makes some wonderful products, yet in europe they are quite expensive!:smash: however, i do now think (considereng i am looking for deep bass) the tempest is the kind of woofer i need: its size and Xmax makes it suited for truely low stuff!
joensd, would there be a woofer you know of that has similar specifications, yet costs less here in europe?

is anyone familiar with a Dynaudio 30 W 100?
i can buy an almost never used one for about 100 EURO
it is a 30cm/12" unit.
it seems like a good deal, but would a 12" give me bass as low as 20 hz?
as i said before, my main speakers go pretty low already. So:
i want a sub that handles the frequensies below about 40-50 hertz!

thanks everybody!
🙂
 
#12
would there be a woofer you know of that has similar specifications, yet costs less here in europe?
Click to expand...
I´m not familiar with any Monacor driver, just read some good critiques about them. I tried some in WinISD but it looks as they are more suitable in vented applications.

You could also have a look at the Peerless 850146 (CSX-257) and Peerless SLS10/SLS12 (1381411/1381412) if you don´t mind big sealed enclosures.
 
#13
tanx jens!
i've looked those up, and they look quite promissing...
however, they are a bit more expensive than the almost-new dynaudio i could buy for just 100 euro!
is this programm you mentioned, winsid, available for free on the internet? are there any similar programms freely available?
i'd like to use it too check on the dynaudio.
does anyone else have any suggestions?
 
#14
I would have thought the Peerless unit would be reasonably priced inside Europe. The XLS range is very good though most of the range seem to be designed for ported or Passive radiator designs.
Boxplot is a shareware programme which is very easy to use to get reasonably accurate graphs. Feed in the driver's specs and see what you can get out of the Dyn is a sealed box. If you like what the graphs tell you r then my advice is go buy the Dynaudio ( Dyn doesn't officially sell to DIY anymore and a lot of DIY'ers would give their right arm to get hold of Dynadio gear.)
 
#16
Re: what (<$200) driver to use for ultimimate music-sub per buck (siz unimportant)

KONNICHIWA,

keyser said:
would a large (maybe 18") woofer in a large sealed box give best results for music?
Click to expand...

It would certainly give good results. For a friend with a very large music room we use 4 pcs Eminence Kappa 18 (List Price $ US 190) in dipoles, so one of them in a sealed box would give similar LF SPL's and this system absolutely rocks.

If you shop around carefully you should be able to get a rather serious 18" Pro-Woofer for $ 200 which will in a suitable enclosure and with a suitable Amp and Equaliser easilly outperform most of "High Fidelity" Toys.

I personally use a pair of 12" Pro Woofers in a "URPS" style sealed box, excellent and significantly superior to around £ 1,000 worth of commercial REL Subs....

BTW, as Amp, you might want to consider the Apex JR....

Sayonara
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom