# best subwoofer for small sealed (under 1.0 cu ft) ?



## bill poster (Nov 22, 2010)

I know 'best' is not the right word but 2 criterias are important to me; tight musical bass and a sensitivity above 84 1w/1m, (85-86 wd be perfect)

I've spent a week on the interweb looking, comparing etc. Driving me nuts! Driving my girlfriend nuts too.. I ideally want the F3 under 40 hz, F6 under 30 hz if possible. at the moment the best I can find is the v good DIYMA R12.. also the Elemental Designs subs plot well on WinISD. 

C'mon guys, help me out!


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## mSaLL150 (Aug 14, 2008)

In 1.0 cu ft you can use 2 SI BM 12s. They wont model well in WinISD but they are designed for use in the car only, where cabin gain plays a significant role. Fs is 16Hz, I believe in .5 cu ft per sub the F3 is about 42Hz. Plenty efficient too, they dont need much power to sing. They might be sold out again though, check around the classifieds they pop up frequently.

Stereo Integrity | Home


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

Fi Q 12?


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## bill poster (Nov 22, 2010)

ItalynStylion said:


> Fi Q 12?


Stereo Integrity.. don't know this brand but the new mk III is a thing of beauty!

http://stereointegrity.com/index.php?id=47

Does it perform as good as it looks...


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## FartinInTheTub (May 25, 2010)

The IDQ10v2 is happy in a .75 cft enclosure. The 12 would be happy in a cube. I have 2 tens in .75 a piece and they sound fantastic.


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## strokin340 (Jul 31, 2008)

I think you could do IDMAX 12" in one cube... I have the DIYMA R12 going to put it to use in a couple of months.


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## Horsemanwill (Jun 1, 2008)

max would be pushing it at a cube they like 1.5 better sealed IDQ12 on the other hand loves 1 cube


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## bill poster (Nov 22, 2010)

The Stereo Integrity BM mk III - 
I'm a little confused because they say its optimum sealed size is between 0.5 and 0.6 cu ft but when I plot it on winISD (parameters from their forum pages) its not showing that at all- having said that its still pretty amazing altho at 83 db /1m its not easy to match ..


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

Seriously...Fi Q 12

Perfect for a 1 cube box and it will straight hammer when you want it to. But sweet music ALL the time.
https://ssl.perfora.net/www.ficaraudio.com/sess/utn;jsessionid=154ced1b13ea7c6/shopdata/0050_Speakers/0030_Q/product_overview.shopscript

What power do you have, did I miss that?


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## The Baron Groog (Mar 15, 2010)

I have a couple of the IDQ10D4V2, one will do the job, two mounted isobarically would be awsome. 

Fs 26Hz

.7cf 18Hz F3
.55cf 19Hz F3
.35cf 24Hz F3

All in car, from spec sheat.


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## T3mpest (Dec 25, 2005)

bill poster said:


> I know 'best' is not the right word but 2 criterias are important to me; tight musical bass and a sensitivity above 84 1w/1m, (85-86 wd be perfect)
> 
> I've spent a week on the interweb looking, comparing etc. Driving me nuts! Driving my girlfriend nuts too.. I ideally want the F3 under 40 hz, F6 under 30 hz if possible. at the moment the best I can find is the v good DIYMA R12.. also the Elemental Designs subs plot well on WinISD.
> 
> C'mon guys, help me out!


Hoffmans Iron low says your not going to get a small box high effeciency and low f3 in the same woofer. The DIYMA R12 won't have that low of an f3, it's a low q woofer IIRC and rolls off very fast. You can do it with a 8 or a 10 since the box won't techically be "small" anymore. However, that'll give up overall output for the correct response curve.

IMO, tight and musical don't have that low of an f3. That low of an f3 and f6 outside the car, with most vehicles gain will be bottom heavy which is the exact opposite. Anyway, the Exodus audio shiva has an f3 of 42 and an f6 of like 32, that's pretty good. An AE AV12X would likely sound very musical and tight in a box that size, but doesn't fit your frequency response requirements, but it is 86db, which is right up your alley


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

^Oh yeah...the Shiva X actually has a recommended enclosure volume of 1 cube too. I've used one of those and it was pretty sick. Never had it sealed but ported it was an ANIMAL!


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## havinnoj (Sep 9, 2009)

ItalynStylion said:


> ^Oh yeah...the Shiva X actually has a recommended enclosure volume of 1 cube too. I've used one of those and it was pretty sick. Never had it sealed but ported it was an ANIMAL!


+1. Sounds good in a 1.2cuft sealed box


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## glidn (Apr 21, 2007)

FartinInTheTub said:


> The IDQ10v2 is happy in a .75 cft enclosure. The 12 would be happy in a cube. I have 2 tens in .75 a piece and they sound fantastic.


They go best in 0.41ft3 after sub displacement.


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## lycan (Dec 20, 2009)

T3mpest said:


> Hoffmans Iron low says your not going to get a small box high effeciency and low f3 in the same woofer.


^^^^ what he said.

Now that statement, in itself, is _relative_ ... it doesn't provide any _absolute_ limits. But it _does_ mean that there's tradeoff between these desirable parameters (small enclosure, high efficiency, and deep bass). Sometimes i think it makes sense to step back and ask which ones are most important in a car : we've got cabin gain going for us, so maybe low F3 isn't so terribly important. And we've typically got reasonable amounts of power ... especially with new advances in smaller, more efficient class D amps ... so maybe efficiency isn't the most important thing either. But we don't have lots of room in these shoeboxes where we listen 

I know, not much help ... maybe more intended for the general reader than the specific request of the OP.


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## brirat (Sep 19, 2007)

Audiopulse Epic 8" subs use .5 cuft enclosure sealed. Rated 600 watts rms. I have 2 maybe 3 available if interested.


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## cheesehead (Mar 20, 2007)

bill poster said:


> Stereo Integrity.. don't know this brand but the new mk III is a thing of beauty!
> 
> Stereo Integrity | SI BM mkIII
> 
> Does it perform as good as it looks...


IMO it performs better than it looks!


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## bill poster (Nov 22, 2010)

both these have an optimum(sealed) size under a cu ft(28 litres) on winISD

Monacor Sonic 12 mk 2 

84 db /1m 
f3 36 hz / f6 29 
28 litre cab

RE Audio REX 10 

84.7 db /1m 
f3 43 hz / f6 33 
25 litre cab


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## EROracing (Apr 11, 2008)

I second the 2 BM MKIII they sound awesome in such a small enclosure.


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## bill poster (Nov 22, 2010)

EROracing said:


> I second the 2 BM MKIII they sound awesome in such a small enclosure.


It is an awesome sub - the issue is that for my uses it may not be suitable. The enclosure i am building will look like a flightcase, with handle, as I want to be able to use it in the house as well as the car - it doesnt look great in winISD in a v small enclosure so not sure about home use. 
I think an 8" version of this sub aimed more at both car/home use like dayton/tangband etc would be a giantkiller, wish they wd do it

I have decided to go for two 7" CSS SDX7 units; not v high power but they are gorgeous, easy to drive and excellent SQ, f3 40 in 17 litre BR and nice gradual roll off on winISD

http://www.creativesound.ca/pdf/CSS-SDX7-data-261207.pdf


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

I have an SDX7 in the house in a tiny little BR enclosure. I have about 25 watts on it and it just sings!


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## bill poster (Nov 22, 2010)

gorgeous! I really wanted to go for sealed over BR but apparently these sound great in a BR as you have seconded  and are a true 85db 1w/1m neo driver so will def buy these.. seriously sexy carbon cone and milled copper phase plug, they just look the bo**ocks

ps change those screws!


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## Eastman474 (Jan 8, 2010)

Are you leaning towards a ported or sealed enclosure? 
Two subs come to mind and I'd say the idq12v3 and the ultra lv12.


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

bill poster said:


> ps change those screws!


lol, nice eye..that's before the black ones came in!


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## matt1212 (Jan 14, 2010)

Does it have to be a 12? A 10w6v2 might suffice


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