Ok so why are more people doing this? Is it a younger generation fad thing going on or am I missing something here? How much difference is there between home audio subwoofers and car audio? I've seen top end HT subs going for thousands, and people are using car subs and building it for a fraction.
I might try this. Any comments are welcome. Thanks, Josh.
Josh, the biggest dif is sound quality. If all you want is thump thump, then sure, anything will do. A car sub is made to do just that, thump thump, in a confined space.
To extrapolate the bass qualities of music into a broader listening area, the sub has to do many other things, like sustain, carry, etc.
The qualities of a bass unit are exposed when introduced into a listening room, far removed from the back of a civic, and truth be known, there is a lot of music to be had beyond bass.
If your listening pleasure is rap and dance, then any sub will do, the bigger the better. If your listening extends beyond these genres, then a little further investigation might find you well.
Thanks Nuck. I was just trying to compare what the difference was between the sound quality of a car audio sub and a home audio sub. I was looking into HT subs and saw some ppl building thier own using car subs. (Elemental designs, TC sounds, FI,...ect). I'm looking to expand my HT system and want more impressive bass response without the price high end units can run. I've seen some do so pretty well using car subs and wanted to know how smart/dumb it was.
You have to look for drivers with T/S Parameters that lend themselves to good performance in a home setting.
If you design it well and do an excellent job building it, then you have no worries. It will perform based on your design.
I think it's a good idea, but opinions are broad.
I plan to be building my own sub out of two Q18s from Fi. The design is to minimize any sluggishness and extend to 10hz 120+dB. I actually mostly listen to music (Edgar Winter Group, Coldplay, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Mack Rice, Rush, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, and many more), but thought it would be fun to have extension. I know I'd want it later if I didn't get it now.
It's all based on the perception of the person observing anyway.
Josh, everything depends on integration. The sub should enter your listening space as an invisible guest, purely to augment the other speakers. ie: the best sub is the one which is never even known to be there.
If the crossover points are not right, or spl's are over or under, then you get the 'sub in the corner'. Smooth transition of frequencies is hard to get perfect. The sub amp is usually equipped with a variable XO, and found in lots of BASH amps. This is more important to integration than a frequency limiting bandpass enclosure or similar, which is what often goes in the trunk/hatch.
If the T/S values of the bass driver are comprimised, such as allowing the enclosure to fit around strut towers and so on, then the designers specs are comprimixed as well, and you get what you get. In a limitless home sub, the T/S values can be optimixed, followed properly and managed to a full extent. Airflow(or lack of it) is managed, the amp is tuned for proper driver excursion at a given power level and the enclosure is not limited by spacial constraints. What I mean is...the thing is doing exactly what it is meant to do. This is a good thing.
Sure does Nuck. It will only perform as well as how the overall sub is built to "optimum" design criteria. I knew all those numbers and values meant something lol.
Ok so I know it can work. Now I just need a plan of attack. I've got some research in drivers and amps to do. Thanks guys. Josh.
I ain't so sure that my point of a driver designed to operate in an enclosed area of about 30 cubic feet being tasked to fill an unencombered space of 3000 square feet, but give it a go, man.
Actually, TC Sounds and Aurasound make drivers that are designed for low distortion and high output into a large area. Fi has pretty good models too.
If you want the absolute lowest distortion and most extension, the TC Sounds 18" LMS Series driver or the Aurasound 18" would be great.
I believe the TC Sounds model goes for a bit over 1k and the Aurasound goes for $800.
If what you're worried about is the distortion and low SQ of car subs...those just might float your boat.
They have done extensive testing on some amps and the Behringer EP2500 is actually much better than people thought it would be. It will give a solid 2000w RMS and do it with lower distortion than some much more expensive amps. It's $300.
You could even design it so that it copies sub designs of other companies. The ML Descent has 3 drivers at 120 degree angles to each other and you could follow that design if you want to lower distortion even more.
The TC Sub needs about 4000w/driver to reach its full potential...so you'd have to double up EP2500s on VCs...the Aurasounds would do fine with 2000w.
Just keep researching.
If you want even lower distortion, you could try an infinite baffle design...