Suggestions on a budget Subwoofer driver (1 Viewer)

[Dan Hine]

Guys,
A friend of mine came to me and asked me to help him build a subwoofer. However, he wants to use a driver he already has by Lighting Audio which is really made for car audio applications. I'm looking for alternatives. And cost is very important.
These are the specs on the Lighting Audio driver:
FS: 36hz
QTS: .648
Vas: 3.30 cubic feet
Xmax: 3mm
SPL: 90db
Power handling is 100watts RMS 300watts peak. And yes, those are the only parameters given.
I am thinking that Dayton's 12" driver # 295-320 looks like it would be a cost efficient alternative. Any thoughts? What about the TB 8" driver?
And while I have you here, I've thought about pulling the plate amp out of an older Radioshack Subwoofer that I have lying around. I know some manufacturers build the amps to work well with the specific driver being used but somehow I just don't expect RS to have done this. Any thoughts, yea or nea?
Thanks,
Dan

 

[Rory Buszka]

First off, if your friend uses his Lightning Audio woofer, he will get hosed. He might not know this at first, but when he hears an actual home-audio-type subwoofer, then he will feel hosed.

The Dayton woofer seems like it might be okay for what you're wanting to do, but if super-nice subwoofing is what you want, then you might want to consider something else, which will be more expensive. What are your friend's needs? That is, what does he want to accomplish?

I really like the Tangband 8" woofer. It seems like it will be able to put out a lot of bass, especially for only being an 8". You would be better off with this than you would with the Dayton because the Dayton just doesn't have the excursion.

Also, that plate amp, while it may not be all that powerful, it is probably not designed specifically for that driver. Only servo-feedback things like Velodyne and true active configurations like Mackie (designed to exert really tight control over the driver) that have amplifiers specifically designed for the woofer in question.

 

[Dan Hine]

Thanks Rory,

As I mentioned, he is on a budget. As in about $100 total. The only reason he is wanting to use the LA driver is b/c he already has it. I'd love to build him a 3cubic foot Dayton 12" DVC like I have but it's just not the cards.

So you like the TB 8" sub better? That's what I was leaning towards if it was worth the extra $20 or so bucks.

Anyone else?


Dan

 

[Rudy H]

Get him the 15inch Dayton Thruster.'
Fs is around 29hz, high sensitivity.... reasonable Xmax.
He should get lots of "punch" with it, and it only has a Qtc of 0.9 in a 1.5cf sealed box IIRC.

 

[Brian Bunge]

The problem with the TB 8" driver is that it really is designed for car audio use as well. To get a Qtc=.7 only requires around a 6.2L enclosure (less than .25ft^3) but it's got an F3 of 57Hz. And then porting it wouldn't work really well because you need to tune it to around 25Hz to get any kind of flat response in a 28L enclosure. The problem is that it would require a 2" port to be 12" long and a 3" port would be over 28" long.

You can use a PR in a 28L enclosure and get similar results to the 25Hz tuning of a ported enclosure. But, the PR would cost you more than the driver itself.

Brian

 

[ThomasW]

Isn't SVS selling the trade-up units for $50ea?

 

[Fred Seger]

I second the SVS drivers. There seems to always to be someone selling one in the Hardware for sales section of this forum. I've picked them up for between 45-55 shipped.
Try using the old RS Amp, or an old stereo reciever until he can afford a better amp

 

[Dan Hine]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I didn't even think about getting a used/older SVS driver! That's probably the way to go for $50-ish.

Brian, thanks for the input on the TB 8" driver. It looks like it wouldn't be too good for HT but I've had my eye on it for a computer system. What do you think?


Regards,

Dan Hine

 

[Joe Meissner]

I built a sub recently using the SVS driver and i had an old radio shack (optimus amp) that i used and it sounded great. I recently upgraded to the pe250 watt amp and it is much improved but it still sounded damn good with the rs amp. you could also look at the blueprint drivers for $89.

 

[Brian Bunge]

Dan,

If you wanted to use it in a small, sealed enclosure for a computer system I think it would be OK. It wouldn't give you much extension, but it would add a helluva lot of impact!

Brian (or Brain)

 

[Jack Gilvey]

My idea for the TB 8" was like Brian's, using a 30L box I already have and a PR or two (not all that cost-effective, for sure, I had the idea when John was blowing out some b-stock Stryke 10" PR for cheap)). Sealed with EQ might be cool for low levels in a really small box, certainly should rock for a computer app.

 

[Brian Bunge]

Jack,
And there's always the LT! Oops! Did I say that out loud?

 

[Jack Gilvey]

If you did, you need to get out more.
How cool would it be to have an 8" TB on each face of a really small cube? LT/Eq and you're all set.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

I'm thinking two TB's, on opposite sides. I have a name for a small cube with a TB, but fear of legal action on the part of a company that sells small cube subs powered by magic amps for big bucks prevents me from divulging my idea

 

[Brian Bunge]

OOH, OOH, Mista Kotta! (Hand Raised)

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Sit down! Never mind, yes, you're excused. Here's your hall pass.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Here's what I get for the TB 8" in 30 liters with a Stryke 12" PR/900g Mms and 150 watts, kind of EBS. 100dB @ 20Hz isn't too shabby.
Frequency response.
Excursion.

 

[Brian Bunge]

Jack,
What is Fs and Qms for the PR in your alignment? I'm getting a slightly different response curve using either of the Stryke 12" PR's and changing the Mms to 900g.
Wait, now I see! The specs on the Nuera site are drastically different than the specs from the TB site! The Nuera version is also named the W8-740C as opposed to just the W8-740 in the TB website.
Here's Nuera's specs: notice Fs is 28Hz instead of 20Hz and Vas has changed from 47L to 23L. Qms and Qes are different as well.
http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/w8-740c.htm
Here's the woofer on the TB site:
http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/w8-740.htm
Brian

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

I noticed that Parts Express has changed the specs on a 4" Tangband driver since a month ago. Also, Danny said the measured specs on sample TB 10" woofs were different than published specs (but, he said they were consistent from driver to driver). I'm getting the impression that TB publishes specs prematurely and then lets the production driver specs fall where they may. Question now is, what are the production specs really going to be for this 8"?
That's quite a difference in Fs and Vas

 

[Brian Bunge]

I assumed the specs were based on what Nuera or PE requested but I could be wrong.

Response looks about the same despite the differing specs for the 8".

Brian