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D.I.Y. Subwoofer suggestions to suppliment cornwalls


Mike Price

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I currently have a home made ported sub with a J.L.Audio 10W6V2 in it , powered by a behringer ep2500 , and it's not keeping up with the cornwalls as far as output goes. At low volumes it sounds great , I have it matched in spl to the mains ,it blends in perfectly, it's located in a great spot with no bad room modes , it just doesnt get loud enough without bottoming out. I feel that it is simply too small for the room , and the cornwalls. So it's time to upgrade , the room is large aprox. 19'x27' , and connected to the kitchen by a large openeing. I use my setup 50% for music , and 50% movies. The location that is best for my sub will allow me about 6 cubic feet for a new sub. My question is what drivers are available that will work well in my situation ? and should i go sealed , or ported? I had a few in mind for example the dayton rss390 models nicely in a sealed box but looks like it may lack a little in the sub 30hz region , the dayton titanic would work in a ported enclosure but some have said that it is not very musical. is that sub 30hz info all that important? is the titanic all that bad in sound quality? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated , please realize this is my first post , so if i left out any crucial element to this equation i apologize , thanks , mike price

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I think after some more modeling through WinISD , it looks like the titanics are more efficient and require half the box size of the reference so I am actually leaning towards going with two titanic MK-III 15's , in a 6.3 cubic foot sealed enclosure. The response graph shows it to be down about 5db at 30hz , but it just so happens I have an old cerwin vega DB-10 bass excavator in my posession , which is a bass boost module with a selectable 5db or 10db boost at exactly 30hz. With the DB-10 in line (set to +5db) I should technically be completely flat down to 30hz. and roll off gently below that , and still have the transient response of the sealed box. Does this sound about right? Or am I way off base ? Two 15" titanic MK-III's on my EP2500 should yield a respectable amount of output , as long as the sound quality is there. Also my cornwalls seem to have about a 5db "bump" at 60hz or so , so I was considering crossing my subs over low , around 50hz. Does this make sense? ....................Thanks for the input , Mike Price

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Budget wise I really need to stay under $500 or so , for the driver or drivers alone , however ... if there were an option that would be leaps and bounds beyond what I can acheive in that price range , I could save up for a bit and reconsider. I definitely did plan on powering it with my EP2500

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Those certainly look like two excellent options , and from companies I knew nothing about. I really appreciate your input , this is why I posted on here everyone seems to be quite knowledgable and I figured dayton wasn't my only option , I just don't know where to look. Now I have to go model these two up and see what i come up with as far as box size and lo frequency extension. Thanks again for the links , Mike Price.

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PE just had the Titanic 15"er on sale for $178/each! ...They're back to the regular price now, though. ($220/ea.)

The Titanic driver is only 1.7dB more sensitive than the Reference, though, which is only $160. Of course, every little bit helps.

Yeah I know , I missed the sale , I'm sure they'll do it again. The titanic is only 1.7db more sensitive but I can also put two of them in the same enclosure it would take for one reference. Going that route I'd be gaining 4.7 db over the reference , which is a really big deal considering the size of the room I'm trying to fill.

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Also take a look at madisound. www.madisound.com - they carry the "Peerless" brand of subwoofer drivers, which are well-respected in DIY subwoofers as well.

I appreciate the input , I have looked at the Peerless xls-12'" , and unless im doing something wrong with Winisd , it looks like in its optimum vented box it is down 3db just below 50hz , which is where i planned on crossing this thing over at , judging by the number of people that use the xls , i'm starting to second guess the response chart winisd gave me on it , but if its correct it certainly isn't going to work in my system

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I appreciate the input , I have looked at the Peerless xls-12'" , and unless im doing something wrong with Winisd , it looks like in its optimum vented box it is down 3db just below 50hz , which is where i planned on crossing this thing over at , judging by the number of people that use the xls , i'm starting to second guess the response chart winisd gave me on it , but if its correct it certainly isn't going to work in my system

The -3db on most subwoofers is usually going to be about twice the resonant

frequency in a sealed box (exceptions to this certainly apply). If I

recall, the XLS does very well paired with the Peerless passive

radiator or a tuned vent in a fairly small enclosure.

Peerless XLS 12" Application Notes

It's hard to get a single solution that will give you the ultra-low frequency HT sound you want, precise response you want for music, and the SPL to fill a large space. The ported or passive radiator designs will lose out a little in musicality, but will greatly lower your -3db value and incrase SPL.

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The guy that built my sub says he used two 12" Peerless drivers. The amp/xover I bought was anemic for it so it hasn't seen much use. I'd like one of those Crown XTI amps with built in xover. My sub was for sale but couldn't find local buyer.

IMG_1089.jpg

IMG_1072.JPG

cab2.jpg

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Also
take a look at madisound. www.madisound.com - they carry the
"Peerless" brand of subwoofer drivers, which are well-respected in DIY
subwoofers as well.

I appreciate the input , I have
looked at the Peerless xls-12'" , and unless im doing something wrong
with Winisd , it looks like in its optimum vented box it is down 3db
just below 50hz , which is where i planned on crossing this thing over
at , judging by the number of people that use the xls , i'm starting to
second guess the response chart winisd gave me on it , but if its
correct it certainly isn't going to work in my system

I
don't think the XLS will keep up with Cornwalls...it's a 12" driver
with 12mm of Xmax. It's a problem of sheer displacement. Each Cornwall
has a 15" driver capable of 7mm. Ideally you'd have at least 4x the
displacement as the Cornwalls if you wanted to dig down to 20Hz.

You might be interested in the measurements posted here:

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/subwoofer-tests/6015-index-subwoofer-tests-manufacturer-model.html

It'll give you a few more ideas of drivers to use and give you a good comparison of performance.

I
would try to stick to more modern drivers as they've gotten a lot more
creative with addressing large signal behaviors (like Bl and suspension
nonlinearities as well as better thermal dissipation). LMS is probably outta your price range, but there's lots of options with the XBL^2 motor...

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+1 on the drivers that DrWho mentioned.

I have SDX's and they sound very good and will really rock your music with appropriate power (which you have). I don't have direct experience with the AE's but they get a lot of praise, and the design is very nice. A pair of either will be several cuts above your 10" JL.

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I just got a chance to plug these two into Winisd , the AV15 rolls off a little too high for me , the SDX15 however looks really nice , I'm thinking maybe two of them in a 6 cubic foot sealed box would probably be a really good option, I have both winisd beta , and winisd pro , I have been having problems with the pro , for instance when i plug in the parameters for the sdx15 , it wont let me save it because of " inconsistancy in the parameters" any tips on this???

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+1 on the drivers that DrWho mentioned.

I have SDX's and they sound very good and will really rock your music with appropriate power (which you have). I don't have direct experience with the AE's but they get a lot of praise, and the design is very nice. A pair of either will be several cuts above your 10" JL.

Yeah , I just got a chance to model them in Winisd , and I like the SDX alot , the av-15 doesnt quite go deep enough for my taste looks like f3 is around 47hz , So what type of enclosure do you have your sdx's in? and how well do they do with movies?

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The guy that built my sub says he used two 12" Peerless drivers. The amp/xover I bought was anemic for it so it hasn't seen much use. I'd like one of those Crown XTI amps with built in xover. My sub was for sale but couldn't find local buyer.

IMG_1072.JPG

Thats quite an interesting sub , I never would have thought of an isobaric alignment , or making it look like a table for that matter I have ruled out the peerless driver but the whole isobaric thing has got me thinking that i dont have to rule out drivers with higher VAS , I could just get two and half the cabinet size , unfortunately you lose alot of sensitivity that way though , that could be why your amp seems anemic on that sub

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