In-wall subwoofers? (1 Viewer)

[John Gates]

Yup, three issues I see with all the volume in the garage:

1) The garage is not as "sound insulated" as the theater room. I'm concerned that the president of the neighborhood association (my neighbor facing my garage), might be upset if she can hear any bass.

2) All of the bedrooms of the house are directly above the garage. Probably means the end of after-bedtimee movie enjoyment once the kids are asleep. :frowning:

3) Vibration IN the garage could mean stuff falling off shelves, issue with water heater or furnace, ??? This is not a major concern...

I still like the idea, but I don't want to cut holes in may wall before I consider all the possible points of dissatisfaction. If it's a disaster, I have blown my upgrade budget, have to resell equipment, and have leftover holes.

I haven't discussed it with my wife yet, but it seems, especially given point number 2, that the best compromise solution given the space I have is to stick with an enclosed box design of somekind. Box can be in the garage, or in the theater room.

Still, very interesting option... Thanks!

John G

 

[ThomasW]

It's a pretty low buck tweak to buy some expanded foam insulation from a home center store and attach it to the garage door.

If you don't like the IB put the driver/drivers in a box and patch the drywall.

If everything in the garage is vibrating/buzzing/and falling off shelves then so will everything in the rest of the house.

Any high output sub can be turned up to ridiculous levels, it doesn't matter if it's in a standard box or built as an IB.

BTW it's a proved fact that children can and do sleep through smoke alarms. A sub in a diagonal room isn't likely to interrupt their sleep.

 

[Rob Formica]

I definitely agree that if stuff is vibrating in the garage, so is it everywhere else... the same goes with having people sleeping during your subwoofer use. If they can sleep with the rumble in you HT with a box sub, it won't be a BIG difference if you move to IB...

Wood structures aren't very good at insulating low frequency noise.

Rob

PS: i'm doing my best to help you sell it to your wife... you won't be able to do A-B comparisons anyways...

 

[John Gates]

Thanks for the input, guys. I'll keep trying to sell it.

One of the benefits I'm experiencing in my current HT is kid of odd. My lot slopes, and my house sits up on a hill. I live in a ranch house with basement. 1/2 the basement is garage (above ground), and the other half is HT room, bathroom, and 2 guest bedrooms (mostly underground). The underground nature of the HT means that the neighborhood is surprisingly insulated from my HT noise. In my present location, I have never had even a single complaint from any neighbor.

The HT is also below the living room, family room, and kitchen of the house. The bedrooms that my family uses are all upstairs over the garage. The drop ceiling in the HT room provides another buffer for sound to the upstairs.

Make no mistake, when the HT is rockin', you can hear it, but it's not overpowering elsewhere in the house. You can hear the occasional rumble, but that's it.

My next sub will be LOUD. I want it to be "tactile" loud. By that, I mean I want to feel the bass in the air, in the chairs, etc.

What I don't want is for bedroom furniture to be vibrating with the same intensity as what will occur in the HT, and I don't want my cars to develop squeeks and rattles because they are subjected to intense resonance in the garage.

I wonder if I can sound-proof the garage in the same way I might soundproof a HT.... insulation, double layered drywall, etc?

This is painful... I'm talking myself into and outta this at the same time. :b

John G

 

[ThomasW]

My next sub will be LOUD. I want it to be "tactile" loud. By that, I mean I want to feel the bass in the air, in the chairs, etc...............What I don't want is for bedroom furniture to be vibrating with the same intensity as what will occur in the HT, and I don't want my cars to develop squeeks and rattles because they are subjected to intense resonance in the garage.

Ok time for a reality check.

If you want LOUD, TACTILE, bass then it doesn't matter if you're using an IB vs any other sub design. When turned to the desired SPLs, the entire house will be energized, REGARDLESS of the design of the sub.

No HT sub will induce squeeks in a car....Actually on second thought the ServoDrive people built a set up to recreate jet exhaust. Using something like that could damage a car, but the house would probably fall down first.......Perhaps a few of these would suit your fancy........

 

[Rob Formica]

lol...

One of the ways you can add to the tactile feel of it without hurting your ears (and wakening the neighbours) would be to add a couple of tactile transducers to your sofas... They basically convert the bass into vibrations, without any audible sound. They are relatively inexpensive and you can run them off an old amp... you'll feel the explosions with shaking your house apart.... this is an example of the part: http://www.smarthome.com/8249.html

And here is an installation... Link Removed ... there are a couple of readers here who have them, and may be able to give more info...

 

[John Gates]

Yeah, baby! I like the looks of those, Thomas!

I notice the Stryke AV15's are still on pre-order discount. Do you think 4 of these in an IB setup would give me what I"m looking for in my room?

It's 29X18 with 8' ceiling (about 4100 Cu FT) with concrete floor.

Thanks,

John G

 

[ThomasW]

If you want to 'shake the world' then use 8 drivers. This will put you in world class league with the likes of Tom Nousaine and his 8-15" IB sub. That is the IB that started all this insanity....

For something a little more grounded in reality, yes 4-AV15's should be an extremely nice sub. If at some point you feel the need for real tactile stimulation then a platform populated with Buttkickers is in order.....

 

[David Lorenzo]

I think 4 AV15's driven with some decent power would be more than enough. You're talking 15.2L of displacement!

Thomas. Is there any way to model an IB setup with WinISD to give the estimated SPL?

BTW, what drivers did Tom Nousaine use?

 

[ThomasW]

I've never used WinISD so don't know. Can be done with Unibox set for a VERY large sealed enclosure

Nousaine's TSTSTW, "The subwoofer that shook the world" (article in Sound & Vision June 1999) used 8 of the original TC-Sound high excursion 15"s. So performance should be quite similar to 8 AV15's

 

[Mike Strassburg]

This is a garage wall mounted 4 Tempest IB outlet box that fires through a common wall with the HT

Thomas,

What kind of power is required for that sub? I'm considering one big amp or 2 smaller plate amps, not sure if it matters which way I go. I'm going to be building a 4 Tempest IB next Spring when the new house is done, so I'm doing the research now. Already have the Tempests.

Also, how would you recommend wiring them for the single and dual amp application? TIA....Mike

 

[Rich Kraus]

its so nice to see the disease continuing to spread

 

[Russell R]

Test