Should I go with IB (1 Viewer)

[PaulT]

I'm moving into my new house end of September and it has a dedicated HT Room (finally). The room is approx 2100 ft3.

Current setup is a Servo-15 with BFD EQ and Paradigm 40v3, CC570 and ADP's powered by Parasound 140WPCx3 and Parasound 125WPCx2.

Infinite Baffle Subs intrigue me, and I am wondering what benefits (if any) I would/could achieve by going that route.

The HT Room has a 4 foot crawl space (concrete, under the whole house, approx 6500 ft3 of open space) and the attic above would also be suitable, but the crawl space would be less hassle as the attic has blown in insulation.

I was thinking along the lines of 2 x 15 inch drivers (Tempest) in something similar to half of ThomasW's Mini Me enclosure/baffle.

My interest would be keeping low distortion tight Bass, but with an increase in SPL over the Servo if possible. Would I need to go to 4 x 15 drivers to achieve this??

 

[ThomasW]

If you have the ability to build an IB sub you really owe it to yourself to experience what IB bass is all about.

There is no comparison between IB bass and the performance any other sub (with the possible exception of a MASSIVE dipole unit).

The sound quality of IB bass is without peer. Going IB you will 'hear' details in the bass that you didin't know existed.

As always, I suggest building a manifold that can hold 4-15"s. Start with 2-15", add more if needed/wanted

 

[PaulT]

Well the ability and the tools I have (I'm an Electronics Tech with a garage full of good woodworking tools that I know how to use as well).

Because it's not a sealed or ported enclosure, are there any programs to determine the manifold size (limited I guess by the 16"OC floor joists), etc etc. What benefit would 4 Tempests over 2 give me, what amount of power, yadda yadda -

Surely it's not as simple as building the manifold, cutting a hole in the floor and mounting the thing into the floor joists?

ThomasW - Where to start ..... lots of reading via the link in your Sig I guess.

 

[ThomasW]

Right again, lots of good info on the FAQ page and in the photo gallery.

BTW actually a 'true' IB box (volume no less than 10 times the drivers Vas) is technically a 'sealed' box. Some of the better modeling program do a 'fair' job with an IB. Unibox is what I recommend. Put the largest number possible in for the box size.

 

[Ryan Schnacke]

Extra drivers give you more headroom when you're really cranking it and less distortion for any given volume level.

It looks like 100 watts per Tempest is probably enough to use most of their potential. For amplification I'd look for something that could easily expand from 2 woofers to 4. For instance, if you got a 2-channel amp that does 200 watts per channel at 8 ohms then you could run 2 Tempests off one channel. Wire the DVC's in parallel for 4 ohm/woofer then wire the woofers in series for 8 ohms total. If you expand to 4 woofers then just use the 2nd amplifier channel.

Maybe something like this
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/...se_pid/482052/
or this
http://www.directproaudio.com/produc...directid=13499

 

[John Wes]

I've one more question on this....

How do IB's sound for music? I keep hearing that one should pic a sealed over a ported sub if your main interest is music...and vice versa if your main interest is for HT.

Thoughts?

 

[PaulT]

I can probably pick up a used pro amp locally but I since I'll get the drivers 'down the road' at Creative Sound I saw this plate amp which has a 'remote' which might be handy
http://www.creativesound.ca/details.php?model=SUB250RF

other than having 2 channels, any other benefits to running with a pro amp rather than a plate?

 

[ThomasW]

John,


Personally I think this is bunk (actually misinformation via marketing). If a sub is good for music it's fine for HT.

And one more time, IB's make the finest sounding bass available, period. If you build an IB and want to use it for 'HT' make sure you have enough drivers. Then simply raise the overall output level, and some extra boost to add impact for HT.

Paul,

Unless one needs the space I think plate amps are a poor longterm investment. If you run 4 drivers and EQ, that plate amp probably doesn't have enough power. I recommend finding a nice prosound amp. The new Behringer amps and the Nady are good values.

 

[Cam McFarland]

Paul,

I have that same amp right now for my Tempest, & was thinking like you that the remote would be nice.

Only thing is, the remote can only be 18" from the amp
unless you want to cut the 6 wires & splice in more..

 

[John Wes]

Thanks for your opinion.....I've wondered about this myself. I've a Tempest in a ported box but I AM going to go the I.B route..Maybe a couple of BP's...

 

[PaulT]

Thanks for all your help guys, more reading to do....

 

[Chris White]

My interest would be keeping low distortion tight Bass, but with an increase in SPL over the Servo if possible. Would I need to go to 4 x 15 drivers to achieve this??

In my opinion, you shouldn't need more than 2 15" drivers. My IB employs 2 15" drivers and a 250watt plate amp and I get full reference output (with a LOT to spare) in a 3800 ft3 room.

Here is my DIY page: Infinite Baffle Subwoofer

 

[Chris Brock]

I was in the same type of boat as you are earlier this year. My wife and I are building a new house and we will have a basically 99% full time HT room. I decided to go ahead and do an IB and i ended up settling on doing twin BP 1804's. If I am doing my math right this should give me the same displacement capabilites as 5 Tempests but the BP's are IMHO a much more robust driver and safer to push hard expecially in an IB setup. Right now I also have that exact Nady amp that was mentioned earlier in this thread as well as a BFD. I am hoping the amp will provide enough power for these subs, but from playing in WinISD it looks like I wont even be able to bottom these drivers even if i tried with that amp!! haha. I will be posting some pics this weekend because it is actually time to install manifold now. So make sure to keep your eyes open for my review in the coming months!

 

[Daniel Metcalf]

Please do keep us posted, oh, and be careful, two 1804's can immobilize an adult human