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Construction of subwoofers


attycda

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I'm asking a question because I don't know the answer. I know that there are woofers and subwoofers with the latter having a lower range. Suppose you have the speakers side by side... A Klipsch 10" woofer and a Klipsch 10" subwoofer.  I assume that they're made differently and that they don't differ only by their respective crossovers sending signals to each. If they are different, how so? 

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The subwoofer driver will have a speaker surround that permits greater excursion (say, 3/4" for a subwoofer vs. 1/2" for a typical driver although those are not real numbers).

 

The greater travel is needed to move sufficient air at low frequencies.

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Another difference is obviously the subwoofer's dedicated amplifier. Reproducing low frequencies at the required levels to match the rest of the program material whether music or movies, requires more power than a typical amp delivers. That's why subwoofer amps typically have higher output ratings than stereo amps.

 

 

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14 hours ago, Peter P. said:

The subwoofer driver will have a speaker surround that permits greater excursion (say, 3/4" for a subwoofer vs. 1/2" for a typical driver although those are not real numbers).

 

The greater travel is needed to move sufficient air at low frequencies.

 

Thank you. I have a pair of subwoofer speakers without the electronics. I also have a pair of RF3 IIs which are nice, but I'm willing to experiment with them. The RF3 II's need bass. So I was exploring whether I could marry these two. Obviously I'd need an appropriate filter. 

 

If normal woofer frequencies are sent through a speaker with greater excursion, will it sound much different than one with less excursion? 

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8 hours ago, attycda said:

If normal woofer frequencies are sent through a speaker with greater excursion, will it sound much different than one with less excursion? 

The subwoofer driver's specifications may put limits on how high in frequency they can reproduce, independent of the cabinet they came out of or the amplifer attached to the cabinet. Therefore, they may not reproduce the same frequency range as a standard speaker's woofer, even though they may be the same size. Of course, the cabinet you re-mount the subwoofer driver in will have an effect on the speaker's performance, but most likely on the low end rather than the high end.

 

So yes, they most likely will sound different.

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