Cheap Subwoofer Driver for first project (1 Viewer)

[Tyler]

I'm thinking of building my first subwoofer project on a low budget.
I have been looking at drivers like the shiva and tempest and other good drivers.
I was looking at partsexpress and i found a driver which cost $37 it's orginal price is $99 but it is on sale.
The name of the driver is COUSTIC HT812 12" SUBWOOFER .
It's a 12" sub with a polypropylene injection cone it has a FS of 26Hz and frequency responce of 25Hz to 2000Hz.
It has a sensitivity of SPL: 93 dB 1W/1m.
I'm thinking of buying this driver and using a 120 watt plate amp from partsexpress it has 150 watts into 4 ohms and only cost $85.
If i built a good cabinet and tuned it to about 28Hz or 30Hz with 150 watts driving it would it turn out to be a ok sounding subwoofer for the price ?
Here is the linkhttp://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...15329&CATID=49
I'm not into spending alot of money on a first DIY project.
Please help thanks.
Ohh ya the sub can handle up to 120 watts rms and 250 watts max.
Thanks for any help

 

[Julian Data]

Tyler,
I played with the driver and a vented cabinet in LspCAD. I had to let LspCAD figure out the most of the missing parameters are they are not listed at the PE page. - Especially the Sd and Xmax specs.
So I use a nominal value of a 12" driver.
Anyhow, .. using a SBB4 alignment, here's what I came up with:
NET Volume 104L/3.6727ft³
Port Length: 4 x 10.118" (go 10.125") This is just one 4" port.
The tune is 26Hz.
Be careful if you decide to play this sub loud as the tune is high for some DVDs.
------------------

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Didn't you get a Hsu?
That driver won't compare to a Shiva. Made for the car audio crowd. Xmax is not listed, either, I imagine it's rather low.
Having said that, you should buy it, built it, and learn.

 

[Geoff L]

Yes Tyler, whats up with the HSU??????
No HSU?????
Im with Jack on this one..

 

[Tyler]

Yes still have the Hsu VTF-2.
i'm wanting to lern about DIY subs.
When i know lots about DIY subs i will sell the hsu and start to build either a tempest sub with a amp or a mass sub.
The Hsu sub is awesome and i mean AWESOME i have never heard such deep loud bass before in my life.
But when my family moves to a larger home thats when i will be selling the hsu and then i will build a large sub that will go LOUD.

I just want to exparament with a cheap DIY project before i build a verry GOOD sub.

 

[Peter Johnson]

Why not just buy a good power amp and the Tempest now. An external active x-over never goes astray..and you could even build one if you are half confident, plenty of kits available.
You can always pull the Tempest and put it in a new alignment...

 

[Mark Seaton]

Tyler,
If an Adire Shiva, or Stryke SAE-1204 are beyond what you want to spend on your first project, or you are planning on only using 150-200W, my recommendation is to head straight for the SWAN 305 sold by Madisound for $58. If you do some quick modeling, you can see that you can achieve very similar response curves as can be had with the Shiva. The big difference is that it requires similar box size, and is limited by it's excursion more than a Shiva. With only 150W, this won't be much of an issue, and I have personally heard the SWAN driver, and in a ported box, can definitely deliver. For the money, it's a great way to go. Of course for a little more, you can get 2x the Vd, but along with that need more power to make use of it.
Once below the $58 mark of the SWAN, the relative savings on the driver get completely washed out by the cost of the amp, and it makes little sense to go lower in price when you loose so much in output, extension and build quality.
Mark Seaton