Best 12" Subwoofer Driver That satisfies these constraints.

[jaceGM]

Hi guys I am looking for a 12" subwoofer driver to go into a bass horn. There are some constraints and some things that I would like it to do however.

The first constraint is that it must have a mounting depth of around 170-185mm which is not extremely deep.

The second is that it must have excellent cooling as it will be in a small chamber, (some form of cooling though the cone would be excellent)

I would like it to have at least 13mm of xmax however more would be better as long as sensitivity remains fairly high.

Any recommendations currently thinking about a vibe space 12 but am not very knowledgeable on subwoofers so would love to hear any idea you guys have.

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[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Best to download the horn-response program and start plugging in TSP's for subs that have adequate mounting depth and can handle power you plan to use. I wouldn't count on much cooling any way you slice it. How much power do you intend to run?

 

[jaceGM]

Best to download the horn-response program and start plugging in TSP's for subs that have adequate mounting depth and can handle power you plan to use. I wouldn't count on much cooling any way you slice it. How much power do you intend to run?

Hi hispls thanks for the reply.

I don't have a power goal its more just a case of enough volume out of the horn, if the driver had a very high sensitivity I would be happy putting 500 watts into it but if it barely had 80db sensitivity i'd want to stick 5000watts into it. I really would prefer a driver with high sensitivity though as it requires much less amplifier power.

I have tried hornresp and generally car subwoofers come out very well in general, pa woofers don't do so good which is why I came here looking for some help. The issus is I am not familiar with which brands and drivers will actually do what they say on the tin and which drivers physically can take the stress of being horn loaded.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Hi hispls thanks for the reply.
I don't have a power goal its more just a case of enough volume out of the horn, if the driver had a very high sensitivity I would be happy putting 500 watts into it but if it barely had 80db sensitivity i'd want to stick 5000watts into it. I really would prefer a driver with high sensitivity though as it requires much less amplifier power.

I have tried hornresp and generally car subwoofers come out very well in general, pa woofers don't do so good which is why I came here looking for some help. The issus is I am not familiar with which brands and drivers will actually do what they say on the tin and which drivers physically can take the stress of being horn loaded.

Anything with the standard 12 spoke basket will have plenty of x-mech. 4 spoke has a little less (but plenty for your purposes) and is a little bit shorter when considering depth. If you pick a woofer with 2 1/2" coil it should hold 600-700W no problem, 3" coil 1000W. Really anything smaller and you might as well be into PA anyway. That pretty much leaves you just about every option as far as popular stuff.

Do you know what sort of specs work best in horns? (Fs, Qts, Vas)? If you give some generalities someone may have some ideas.

Just noticed you're in the UK which may make things more difficult since a 150$ subwoofer here would cost you another 150$ after shipping and taxes to get over there.

I suspect you have Alpine there. Check out specs on the Type R. As far as big-box-store subwoofers it's very solid and it is something you can probably get easily in Europe. Close second would be the Kicker CVR.... They don't handle as much power as they claim, but I'd bet they would take 600-700W all day long.

 

[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

my favorite small box sub

Dayton Audio RSS315HO-4 12" Reference HO Subwoofer 4 Ohm 295-466

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

If your doing a tapped horn you really want something with a highish fs.. usually fs needs to be 1.5x the tuning of the horn itself for best results.. if you want to do a 30hz horn you want a fs between 40-50hz ideally. IDK what tuning you plan on doing, but that may help narrow choices.

 

[jaceGM]

If your doing a tapped horn you really want something with a highish fs.. usually fs needs to be 1.5x the tuning of the horn itself for best results.. if you want to do a 30hz horn you want a fs between 40-50hz ideally. IDK what tuning you plan on doing, but that may help narrow choices.

Hi mate they're going into a 'traditional' front loaded horn and not a tapped horn. This means that the driver fs is largely irrelevent as the horn will determine the tuning.

What i'm after at the core of it is a driver that has a high xmax ideally at least 15mm+ and a cone that is tough enough to withstand the load of the horn. Cooling is also an issue as the chamber is quite small.

I would prefer one with a higher sensitivity and lower power rating to one with an extreme power rating but low sensitivity.

Really though the driver just needs to be tough as a mother with good cooling and a moderately high xmax. This is really why i'm asking you guys cause I could buy a driver based on t/s but won't know how tough and reliable they are in the real world. They need to be able to be used for 6 hours hard without burning out...

 

[jaceGM]

Also looking at the design I may be able to stretch to 190-200mm mounting depth but only if the driver has a reall good enough cooling system as there won't be as much space behind the driver. Power is also not an issue, going to be running off mains and can get power much easier and cheaper than in car so will be getting fed with full rms power (ideally under 2000w) for long stretches So along with the driver you guys recommend it would be great if you could let me know what I could feed it with, working hard, for 6 hours.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

Sundown SA series are pretty stout compared to most and will thermally handle more than rated with good XMAX and fairly decent SQ. Probably what I'd be looking at.

 

[jaceGM]

I had a look at the sundown subs but they have a very low sensitivity around 83 which means that they will produce very little sound especially with only 600 watts of power. I am definitely looking for something tough but with either much better sensitivity or a higher power handling. Any recommendations?