are home theater subwoofers better than car subwoofers (1 Viewer)

[Ryan T]

Hi, I own a pair of Jensen xs1212 bass subwoofers they usual sell for around a $100 per sub, they sound really nice and have great output but some times when I’m watching a movie really loud they start to bottom out. There in a vented enclosure and I have a 200 watt onkyo amp powering them the speakers are rated at 175 watts RMS and 525 Peak. My question is if I buy a home theater sub will it be able to handle high volume levels better than my car sub and will it be able to reproduce lower frequencies better. Here are some of the specs on the car subs I own
Usable frequency response 20hz to 1khz
Magnet weight 40 oz
FS 38.1 Hz
Vas 63.1 ltr's
qts .38
qms 10.13
qes 0.4
xmax .157 in (4 mm)
(pe) rms (max) 175W
(re) dc (r) 3.49 ohms
spl 91 db, 1w/1m
I know the resonant frequency is kinda high and the Xmax isn’t the greatest but the do pack quite a punch, so if you could tell me if it is worth it to buy a home theater subwoofer or not I would really appreciate it. Thanks
Ryan

 

[Dustin B]

If you are as familar as it seems you are with building subs for car audio, it shouldn't be difficult for you to build a sub better suited to home theater use for marginal cost (compared to buying a retail one). Sell off those two drivers and get an Adire Shiva or Tempest ($120 and $140 USD respectively). The Tempest is a 15" driver that has an Xmax of 16.4 mm (one way) and an FS of 18.8hz, the Shiva is a 12" that has an Xmax of 15.8mm (one way) and an FS of 21hz. Either of these drivers powered by that 200 watt Onkyo Amp of yours should put a permenant ear to ear grin on you. You won't have the bottoming problem anymore (especially with the Tempest) and you'll have a lot more output capability than your old subs as well.
Head over to the Advanced forum on this site and do a search for those drivers. You'll find dozens of other peoples projects with those drivers and all the info you need on enclosures etc.