# Tang Band W8-1853, shallow 8" subwoofer



## Miniboom (Jul 15, 2010)

Ok, so I thought I'd just post my first impressions with this driver.










Specs are here: http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/1230_04/w8-1853.htm

*Key features to me are these:*
67mm depth
Qtc of 0.71 in only 4.2 liters sealed!
Decent cone area
An Fs of 37hz
4 ohms voice coil
100 watts continous power handling

*The amp I use is a Kicker ZX200.2, bridged.*

I wanted more "oomph" up front, so rather to have the risk of doors rattling (and likely having to change my midbass drivers, which would f**k up my system completely, as I have coaxials up front), I looked for a single driver that would fit in a very small sealed enclosure, and pack a good punch while reaching as far down as possible.

Got the driver, and was very pleased with the build quality. However, the speaker does cost a bit for a Taiwan/China-made 8", and with that stamped basket, foam surround and weird "paper-sheet-glued-to-plastic-grid" cone, it looks a little too cheap for the price IMO (almost $90 at PE). Still, the important thing is that it is durable and sounds good.

I put together a 5 litre enclosure and put it in the passenger footwell. With double baffle and grille fitted, it's only around 10-11 centimeters deep, and since my girlfriend is only 5' 2" tall (or should I say short), it's not a problem at all to get her feet into the car. :laugh:

As for how it sounds, I can only say "WOW!".

When I got this speaker running, I was just blown away. I don't have the smallest car around (Impreza Wagon), but I'll still say that this little rascal easily puts out more than enough bass ALONE. If I hadn't already built subs/amps in the trunk, I'd consider not using rear subs at all. 

In my car, this little fellow actually goes below 50hz with ease. I added 4dB's at 40hz, and by my ears it's now flat like a pancake in its entire range (40-150hz). I've listened to a lot of different music, and I'm just so happy with how this little guy handles what I give it!

It blends extremely well with the midbass drivers too. No muddy sound, or too "manly" sounding vocals. 

The biggest PRO with this speaker, is how easy it is to fit one of these up front without any fiberglassing or cutting in the car! If you don't want any subs in your trunk, you don't really need 'em anymore, unless you're a bass head, off course... 

This speaker is a GREAT find for those wanting a subwoofer in their car without spending a fortune. Or those not wanting to use their entire trunk. Or any trunk space at all, this thing can run from a small 2-ch amp mounted under a seat. Or for those wanting to save weight. Or for those wanting up-front bass. Or those wanting to build a custom three way system with 8" drivers, or simply replace/upgrade the midbass drivers in an existing three way. Or for those with short girlfriends. 

Really, this is a find for just about any car audio enthusiast at some point. Remember to check it out sometime! 


Pros
+ Sounds great
+ Surprisingly efficient, and gets LOUD
+ Fits just about anywhere
+ Probably the most and best sounding amount of bass in 5 liters sealed!
+ Is properly vented, doesn't need much space behind it.

Cons
- looks a bit cheap, but hopefully durability doesn't suffer


I'll give it 9 out of 10! If it was $20 less, it'll get 11.


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## circa40 (Jan 20, 2008)

Another great TB product, nice review  Im using the 10" version and its pretty incredible for a .25cuft enclosure sub. EVERY TB speaker that I've played with in the past worked out great for me.


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## EricP72 (Mar 23, 2008)

I see you mentioned the driver being used as a midbass. I'm curious how high can these play cleanly. I'm looking for servere over kill in a midbass driver. So I'm looking at these now on my short list of new 8" to try out.


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## Miniboom (Jul 15, 2010)

Well, as the product description says, it's really more of a subwoofer than a midbass driver. This driver is _supposedly_ usable up to 350hz. Sure wouldn't go any higher, since it probably would result in distortion, or more preferably just a nice, natural rolloff due to inductance. Haven't tried, so can't say. Sorry!

For a two way with a regular tweeter, it's naturally a big NO-NO. For a two way with some 4" or larger fullranges, it might work well. In a three-way mated to a nice, capable midbass driver, it's freaking sweet!

A tip can be the W6-1139SI's from TB, they can actually work well without a LPF at all, depending on what your plans are...

A nice natural rolloff in those drivers, and they pack a big punch (12mm xmax) in even smaller enclosures (3.5 to 4 litres will do) while they're supposedly usable up to 800hz. 

I have these in my other car. Haven't measured mine, but I don't think it's impossible that they can be used that far up. I have them LPF'ed @ 200hz, and use them with a pair of W3-1364SA's in the dash. I'm quite happy with the result so far, allthough I'll probably try a higher crossover point to get more SPL before distortion in the 3".


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## motormiler (Jun 10, 2011)

How would this work in a .28cuft sealed box and would a Rockford 400.4 (rated at 190w mono) be too much for it?

I have a MDX with a factory sub box (shown here: www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-...dible-physics-zapco-install-08-acura-mdx.html )

The box is a pretty well fabricated .28cuft sealed inclosure. I put my Rockford on the OEM driver temporarily and surprisingly it plays pretty darn low, but goes boomy VERY fast. And pretty sure I'll tear up the 25w/VC pretty soon.

I like punch, not boom.


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## mitchjr (Mar 8, 2010)

Has anyone tried these open-baffle in a door. Right now I have my fr-88's high-passed @ 315, but they sound good @250 as well. So I could low-pass these @250, but I don't really want to build a sealed door pod. These are 3/4" shallower than my 6.5's I have in there now and only an inch bigger cut-out.


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