captainslow
Junior Member
Hey everyone,
I inherited a home theater subwoofer from a friend a few years ago, an RCA SP3500SW. Right now it's in a huge ported box (probably 20 inches cubed) with a built in amp and everything. It's a 12" sub and the amp at least says it's rated for a 120w draw. I'm moving down to college and recently got an older Honda Civic (2003) for my ride. My roommates don't want the sub for our setup and to be quite honest the thing is massive, so I don't really want to move it. I've been debating re-purposing the speaker and setting it up as a car subwoofer as I don't mind the thought of some extra punch to my music.
I'm pretty handy so building/wiring a smaller, car-worthy enclosure wouldn't be difficult, but I'm just wondering if this is a decent idea in the first place - the sub's gotta be over a decade old at this point, and I'm not sure how much the quality degrades, and I don't know what "good bass" sounds like. Secondly, I'm not sure if home theater equipment is much different than car audio - I can't imagine that it is, but you never know. Thirdly, I'm wondering if a 12" sub is a good fit for me - I closed off the port on the box and enjoyed the sound a lot more that way, so I think I like my bass a bit more clean and punchy, and only wall-rattling when the music is written that way. I'm not a total basshead (heck, I listen to movie scores when I'm driving), but I appreciate a little extra kick in the lows.
I guess apart from that I have to live with sounding like a ricer, but I can handle that...
I inherited a home theater subwoofer from a friend a few years ago, an RCA SP3500SW. Right now it's in a huge ported box (probably 20 inches cubed) with a built in amp and everything. It's a 12" sub and the amp at least says it's rated for a 120w draw. I'm moving down to college and recently got an older Honda Civic (2003) for my ride. My roommates don't want the sub for our setup and to be quite honest the thing is massive, so I don't really want to move it. I've been debating re-purposing the speaker and setting it up as a car subwoofer as I don't mind the thought of some extra punch to my music.
I'm pretty handy so building/wiring a smaller, car-worthy enclosure wouldn't be difficult, but I'm just wondering if this is a decent idea in the first place - the sub's gotta be over a decade old at this point, and I'm not sure how much the quality degrades, and I don't know what "good bass" sounds like. Secondly, I'm not sure if home theater equipment is much different than car audio - I can't imagine that it is, but you never know. Thirdly, I'm wondering if a 12" sub is a good fit for me - I closed off the port on the box and enjoyed the sound a lot more that way, so I think I like my bass a bit more clean and punchy, and only wall-rattling when the music is written that way. I'm not a total basshead (heck, I listen to movie scores when I'm driving), but I appreciate a little extra kick in the lows.
I guess apart from that I have to live with sounding like a ricer, but I can handle that...
