# Car-audio style sub for home use?



## Spasticteapot (Mar 5, 2007)

I'm posting this here because I need what is, fundamentally, a car audio sub. This is for music, not HT - I need an F3 of 80hz and low distortion at the 80hz crossover point to my sealed-box sats, and an enclosure that takes up as little space on my floor as possible. 

I haven't heard a ported sub I've actually liked (including a Velodyne that cost more than I'm worth), so I'm thinking a sealed box, passive radiator, or very tall transmission line is in order. I've had the JL 8W7 sub recommended to me as absolutely ideal for this sort of duty, but the pricetag is very high. The other major option, a Peerless XLS, can be had on this forum for $100 or so - but the cost of a passive radiator is $85, making the whole thing nearly as expensive as an 8W7. 

Anyone here have any thoughts?


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## Ricci (Sep 30, 2008)

First thing to do is define a few things. 

Budget
Enclosure size limitation
Listening habits

Is a 20" cube too big? Do you plan on really cranking the system a lot or do you mostly listen at a moderate volume? That kind of thing. 80hz F3? I assume that you mean the sub needs clean upper frequency extension up to 80hz at least to match up well with the sats? What kind of low end extension do you want? I'm going to assume 30hz or so would be good since it's music only. 

All things being equal a PR sub doesn't operate or sound that much differently from a ported sub. Since you need to keep the size small, sealed is probably the best and simplest option. I'd skip the JL 8W7 (aren't these like $270)and look at one of the following. Any of them are about half the price. There are many others too.

Peerless XLS / XLSS
Dayton Reference series HF and HO
CSS SD10 and SD12
Exodus Audio Shiva 12"


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## Tambiengabriel (Aug 14, 2008)

image dynamics subs are great for home or car use.


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## Spasticteapot (Mar 5, 2007)

Budget: sub-$200 for the driver. I already have a truly massive PA amp to power it, and I'm getting a DCX2496. 

Listening habits: Near-field (about 5ft from the speakers - hence the itsy-bitsy satellites) for music. No HT. This will likely end up in a dorm room at some point, so really small size (ideally no more than a 15" cube) would be ideal - and I'm a strong believer in "bracing is good, so more bracing is better!" 

Required FR: 30hz-80hz. The 80hz F3 was a typo. 

My past experiences with subs have so far all been quite negative - I've yet to hear one I really liked, so I figure I ought to go all the way to the top. Since my maximum box size is only 1.5 cubic feet after bracing, I figured that only a high-power (e.g. car-audio style) sealed sub would have the motor capable of the required output - a 8" ported RSS210 wouldn't cut it. The 8W7 is supposed to be very good in a 1 cu. ft. box, although the DIYMA 12 seems to be a close competitor. (There's also a guy on the forum willing to sell me one for $200 shipped - more than I wanted to spend, but not that much more.) 

I've been warned against the Dayton subs due to a lack of linearity at excursion - apparently, under normal subwoofer conditions, the 8W7 will distort much, much less. (Whether this is true, I'm not really sure - I'm still a bit fuzzy on reading Klippel data). While I don't need much output, quite a lot of excursion is required to produce even 100dB at 30hz. 

So far, the major candidates are:

-DIYMA 12
-8W7
-Infinity Kappa Perfect 10 or possibly 12 (you can get 'em used for cheap)
-Anything else I can find on the F/S/T forum.


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

If you are willing to build a little bit lager box then I would go with the Peerless XLS for sure. I can say that because that IS actually what I did. In fact, I have TWO and I love them to death. They are so musical and accurate. I swear they don't even really work hard. I have never once reached full Xmax or ever heard one distort. I will be keeping these for a long time.

If you are going for the smallest box possible then I would suggest going with the DIYMA sub for sure.


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## Valoblk (Nov 25, 2008)

I'm consideing doing the same thing for my HT system. I have a Image Dynamics/ED OEM DVC 12 laying around, and it sounds great even with one voice coil blown. I was looking at building a sealed box and adding a dedicated subwoofer amp. would you guys recommend corner loading, or building it to fire downward?


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

Autiophile said:


> I'd go with the shiva-x in a sealed box. If you've got decent power on tap I wouldn't bother with vented or pr designs since you really aren't looking for lots of output at very low frequencies.
> 
> DIYCable.com : Intro » Home » Exodus Speakers » Exodus Subs » Subwoofer Drivers »


If he's wanting to keep the size of the enclosure to a minimum I doubt he will want a Shiva X. And I can say that with an unbiased opinion because I own one....sort of....I'm almost finished


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## Ricci (Sep 30, 2008)

I'd personally go with the Shiva X, but the Peerless, CSS, or Dayton drivers should be great too. 

Just go with a 12" in a sealed box. A 18" cube would be good for any of them mentioned really. It'll be a bit less than optimum for the Shiva X , but I don't think that you would ever know the difference. It has a lot of extra throw and xmech over the others for safety since you are using what you termed as a massive pro amp.


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## Spasticteapot (Mar 5, 2007)

I was kind of hoping to keep this down to a 1.5 cu. ft. volume, if possible. I'm going to be casting this out of concrete, and I need to keep the volume down.

If it makes the selection easier, my amp is rated at 1,600 watts RMS bridged into four ohms. I have more power than I could possibly ever use.


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

Spasticteapot said:


> I was kind of hoping to keep this down to a 1.5 cu. ft. volume, if possible. I'm going to be casting this out of concrete, and I need to keep the volume down.
> 
> If it makes the selection easier, my amp is rated at 1,600 watts RMS bridged into four ohms. I have more power than I could possibly ever use.


Uhhhh, why concrete? I know it's retarded dense but really...why?


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## DS-21 (Apr 16, 2005)

Spasticteapot said:


> I've had the JL 8W7 sub recommended to me as absolutely ideal for this sort of duty.


Long coil, no shorting ring? No thanks. 

That guy Chris on the PE board has some good ideas, but in a lot of aspects he really doesn't know what he's talking about.


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## Ricci (Sep 30, 2008)

Spasticteapot said:


> I'm going to be casting this out of concrete, and I need to keep the volume down.
> 
> .


:dizzy: That's going to be HEAVY with the driver in it. I don't really see the point, but whatever floats your boat.


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## cubdenno (Nov 10, 2007)

HardTimes 12" Adire TC Sounds Orion HCCA Incriminator - eBay (item 220338322354 end time Feb-01-09 01:35:10 PST)

I bought one and threw it in my home cabinet to try it out. It was being run by the polk Audio [email protected] amp. Was great.Blended well with my Celestion Fronts. Needed a bit more power though. I know its not in the realm of the Peerless but it was surprisingly musical and the price was very right. I am going to put mine in a 1.5 cubic ft ported in my Suburban For some low end reinforcement.


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## 1sashenka (Nov 26, 2008)

I use car audio subs at home all the time with a stand-alone sub rack amp.


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