question about subwoofer designs... (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

hi all -

please forgive me if i'm totally goofing terms here. car audio isn't my thing...yet!

i currently have (i think) a "bandpass" sub? i think it's a 10". i'm not really happy with it. it's really really boomy, but in a bad way. i would describe it as "rumbly" instead of "tight".

my girlfriend's newphew, who is into car-audio big-time (is sponsored, etc.) told me that it was too small. he said for that type of design to work, the box has to be pretty darn big.

he mentioned some other type of sub that would provide the tighter "snappy" bass that i like. but, of course, i forgot what he said.

so, any recommendations/comments are appreciated.

thanks,

ted

btw - i noticed when i was examining this sub, that it may have been wired incorrectly. the speaker wire was wired in reverse. however, i can't trace it back to the amp without taking apart the truck (it was already installed when i bought it), so i don't know exactly if the wiring is correct on the amp side.

is there an easy way to tell?

i played some thumpy music and put my hand in front of the port, but it feels like the air is pushing out regardless of which polarity i choose.

 

[Jeff_Krueger]

It doesn't necesarily matter what the polarity of the sub is because the speaker moves in both directions, changing the polarity of the speaker wires will just change the phase, which way is correct will depend on the rest of the system and how the sub integrates with your mids.

If the driver is sealed in its own chamber with the only spot for sound to come out of is a port, then you have a Bandpass box. I personally would suggest a sealed enclosure as it will sound more natural without the "boomieness" you have now.

 

[Ted Lee]

thx for the info jeff.

i totally didn't even think about the phase of the woofer....just like ht subs have a phase switch. heh!

i'll check out some sealed enclosures too.

 

[Frank Carter]

I also think sealed is the way to go. With the amount of cabin gain in a car you won't have to deal with a lack of low end like you usually have to with sealed sub in an HT environment. I have 3 MTX 10" subs in a 3cu ft sealed enclosure and I have have a -6dB point of 12hz.

 

[Leif Wall]

Ported is the only way to go, unless space is a concern. I'll never go back to sealed.

Don't think you can't get good SQ out of a ported box either.

 

[Scott Simonian]

Don't think you can't get good SQ out of a ported box either.

I can vouch for that with my 214l vented Tempest. Yeah, it has a big box but it is in my HT. If you want a smaller box just get a good driver with the help a linkwitz transform. Paired with a modest amp and you can get the SQ and extension you want with a small box.

 

[Dave Bennett]

If you can get a quality woofer in a deep sealed box then you'll have nice tight bass. I had a single 10" in a sealed box that was 16" deep and it provided bass that sounded really smooth and tight and depending on how loud you wanted it could be subtle or earth shattering. Definately look into about a 10" woofer in a deep sealed box and you'll have great bass.

 

[Ted Lee]

thx for the additional info guys.

i know my amp is an alpine v-something. my girlfriend's newphew said it's a pretty good amp, so i'm not too worried there.

not sure if you can answer my next question since i'm so vague, but .... about how much should i expect to pay for what i'm looking for? finally, any general shopping tips when looking for a new sub would be appreciated. i may ask the nephew to build me one...but not sure.

 

[Dave Bennett]

I think the Orion Woofer I had was 150 and the box was 60.