# SB Acoustics SB17MFC35 - are they ok for car doors (without pods)?



## Azda1 (Apr 15, 2020)

Hello all,

Im thinking about upgrading my 2 way active system woofers.
SB Acoustics SB17 / SB17MFC35 was oftenly recommended at forum but does it really works in just deadened car doors without making low volume speaker (pods) boxes?


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## mrexcitement (Jan 23, 2019)

I am using the SB17MFC in my Hyundai I30 doors , no deadening , all i did was to make a spacer out of birch ply for the magnets to clear the windows.
They are the best speaker i have had in the car , very tight clean bass and they can really handle the power (150wrms no problems) , i'm running them down to 30Hz as i don't have a subwoofer (i was going to fit a subwoofer but i have been so happy with SB17MFC i haven't bothered , no they don't replace a subwoofer but the bass they produce is of such high quality).
I am so impressed with them i have just finished building some home hifi speakers using SB Acoustics drivers . 

Highly recommended.


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## Azda1 (Apr 15, 2020)

Hi, thanks for recommendation. 
Do you have some comparision to normal car audio speakers? Wonder if they are better than f.e. Focal 165F.


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## imickey503 (Dec 16, 2015)

NormaL? Better? As far as the Woofer is concerned? the focal seem to have better extension on the top end. But its not apples to apples here. 

You said you were going active, so stick with the SB hardware. GO with their great tweeter, and you should be good to go. 

Also, why no sound treatments?


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## mrexcitement (Jan 23, 2019)

I can only compare to Polk Audio MM6501 and there was no comparison the SB drivers were so much better.

The deadening i was going to do but my doors are pretty solid and sealed , i get no rattles and it sounds good so haven't bothered.

I have them paired with SB29RDNC-C000-4 tweets in an active setup crossed at 1.9Khz


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## Azda1 (Apr 15, 2020)

imickey503 said:


> NormaL? Better? As far as the Woofer is concerned? the focal seem to have better extension on the top end. But its not apples to apples here.
> 
> You said you were going active, so stick with the SB hardware. GO with their great tweeter, and you should be good to go.
> 
> Also, why no sound treatments?


Well my thinking was about "normal car speakers" as designed to work in infinite baffle system more than home audio which are closed/bassreflex.
Also my doors are deadned with mats and fiberglass, but i would not want to cut my door upholstery to make sealed boxes - so they would have to work in Infinite baffle.

Can SB play low in IB, like 63Hz?


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## mrexcitement (Jan 23, 2019)

I'm running mine down to 30Hz as no sub and they handle it very well , when i did a demo for my mate he couldn't believe the bass they were producing , he asked if i had the sub in the car.


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## imickey503 (Dec 16, 2015)

Now I get what you are saying. Yea, most people think all "home woofers" are all made for some kind of Ported or sealed box. That's not the case. 
E.G. :







Just match up the specs and they do pretty well when you add cabin gain. 

I have to admit, that many of the Car audio branded mass market woofers actually sound better in a box from the few that I have tried. In fact, I think they are all made to work in those stupid displays that you see at Big box stores. Makes you wonder a bit. 

Looking at high high end woofers you see at Speaker houses, most of the time, I think people who buys those woofers don't care about how big they have to make a box, or care about limitations of space (AKA Theil speakers, and so may others brands that Size sells. ) SO often, and this is just MY experience... Home woofers work FANTASTIC in doors as long as they have the room to breath and have a proper installation. 

You said you had fiberglass in your doors. Sweet!


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

have had them fall apart in a customers doors. No go. They have a low Q, high cms, and arent able to handle the elements.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

also, no offense but i cannot take any recommendation halfway seriously when its saying that their midbass is "great" when a 6.5 with a low Q is playing down to 30hz in an untreated door.. no. Thats just 100% not possible. sorry


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## mrexcitement (Jan 23, 2019)

I have been running mine for 2 years , pushing them really hard and they are still like new , of course they will fall apart if you don't make a water shield for them , this applies to any speaker fitted to the doors.

The Polks MM6501 i gave to my son and they are marine rated speakers and now they have fallen apart from the elements so it happens to all door speakers eventually.


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## mrexcitement (Jan 23, 2019)

I have a high pass at 30 hz so they don't bottom out , i never said they produce 30hz , but the bass they produce is the cleanest tightest bass i have ever heard and they go very low , that's why i haven't bothered with the subwoofer , i had never used SB acoustic drivers before and i was totally blown away by there performance and especially the bass , my mate commented it was taking his breath away literally from the bass.


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## Weigel21 (Sep 8, 2014)

That's quite impressive, I've only been in a couple rides that had systems in which I found it interfering with my breathing. One was a buddies Jeep with (4) Eclipse 10's on 2k. The other was a Tahoe with a pair of 15" Kickers in a massive ported enclosure wired to a Sundown 1500RMS amp. 

Hearing that two little 6.5" speakers in a leaky door are able to get the same result in the produced sound pressure interfering with regular breathing speaks volumes for the driver. 

On the other hand, maybe your mate needs his Heath checked out, he may have respiratory problems that need addressed before issues get worse.


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## mrexcitement (Jan 23, 2019)

This is the measured response in my car with no deadening on the doors or additional sealing , just a beefy mounting ring and sealing the front of the driver to the door card with gasket foam.

You can see it has no problem with the bottom end even though it is a low Qts driver.


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

50dB scale dude. Mt Everest will look flat on that


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

I went from sb17 to Stevens mb6 to af gb60. I would have been happy staying with the Stevens. Not that the gb60 isn't an upgrade but the Stevens positives were really strong


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## mrexcitement (Jan 23, 2019)

The scale is all screwed up , but that's not the point , it was to show they can produce bass in a car door.


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

I don't think you understand. There are multiple issues with the measurements you provided. First is the scale, second is the output level. If you truly measured your response with the peak at around 50dB you have a real problem. That is barely above ambient noise in many cases. Volume level would have had to be at "1" for output that low. 

For reference, here is your plot adjusted to a normalized scale. Yeah, that little peak at the bottom left at is the only part of your measurement that shows up. For reference, the same drivers reference measurement for 1W/1M is around 90dB.









Now, even adjusting up 50dB, this is what your response really looks like...









No further comment. 😬


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## Bayboy (Dec 29, 2010)

Ouch! Nasty dip at 400hz, but looks like you should be setting the hpf at 100hz which I would not be surprised. Not entirely bad but surely not impressive above that. Definitely needs some tuning 

Man & Machine... Power Extreme!


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## mrexcitement (Jan 23, 2019)

The scale and level on my home computer are correct , when i imported it at work the level and scale were all screwed up.

This measurement was taken at roughly 1/2 volume and according to the SPL meter reaching about 90 - 95db , but the level recorded in REW doesn't match

Also with no tuning at all.


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## mrexcitement (Jan 23, 2019)

I know why it's level is wrong , i use a Galaxy 140 SPL meter with line out for measurements and if i don't calibrate the SPL meter in REW to match the SPL meter then the levels recorded are wrong , which i didn't check as it was correct the last time i used it but somehow it went back to default and i missed it , anyway here is the correct levels.


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