How do I install for the lowest of the lows?

[psycho72 10+ year member]

I love the lowest of the lows. Literally I listened to my test tone CD and 20-29hz is my range. To the point that I want to boost this area as much as possible. So what is the install advice to acheive this? Also, space is at a premium, I think I will have somewhere inbetween 3-4 cubes for a box.

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[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

"Space is at a premium" and "lowest of the lows" don't go together - if you want maximum frequency extension, it takes room, plain and simple. The lowest tuned ported box you can fit would work, or IB.

 

[puppie_chow 10+ year member]

Go to a boxmaker, give him your money, tell him "I love the lowest of the lows. Literally I listened to my test tone CD and 20-29hz is my range. To the point that I want to boost this area as much as possible." Easy enough?

 

[ntense702 10+ year member]

The low notes are the best, you know your system is good when it is hitting them, the lowest note I have ever heard in a song is from Sean T: Straight from the streets, track 3: Gangsta Sh*t, if you can cop this CD ( it is very underground ) get it and play it, the frequency is so low on that track.

 

[Ray21 10+ year member]

Jack Frost nailed it.

Big box, tuned very low.

 

[DFW40 10+ year member]

Or you can go with a large sealed box stuffed with polyfill and it will go low low. You can do ported but tuning to 20hz with enough port area is a pain and will result in a huge box. Here is a little article from JL and boxes.

Sub-30Hz Behavior

Sealed box designs and single-reflex bandpasses are much better at controlling excursion at extremely low-frequencies (below 30Hz.) For this reason, they can usually handle more power in these frequency ranges than ported designs and dual-reflex bandpass designs which makes them less prone to low-frequency induced speaker damage. At frequencies below the tuning frequency of the port, a woofer in a ported box (or a dual-reflex bandpass) starts to de-couple. This means that the controlling function of the enclosure begins to disappear. The collapse is gradual rather than immediate, but at some point below the tuning of the port, the speaker behaves as if it were operating without an enclosure and suffers from potentially damaging over-excursion. (This is why it is a good practice to use a sub-sonic filter when running a ported enclosure or a dual-reflex bandpass. Some high-quality electronic crossovers like the AudioControl 4XS incorporate a programmable subsonic filter circuit.)

Related to the loss of enclosure damping, ported and dual-reflex bandpass designs also exhibit higher distortion levels at very low frequencies than sealed or single-reflex bandpass designs. The importance of this is questionable, however, since little program material extends to below 30Hz.

Sealed enclosures and single-reflex bandpass designs have a rather shallow low-frequency roll-off rate of around 12dB/octave, whereas ported enclosures and dual-reflex bandpasses typically exhibit 18- 24dB/octave roll-off. For this reason, sealed enclosures and single-reflex bandpass boxes can have much higher -3dB points (the frequency at which the output dips 3dB below the reference efficiency of the speaker) than ported designs while still producing very good ultra-low frequency output.

 

[80INCHES 5,000+ posts]

jack is rite.......i got a vid of my 1ow3 in a 2cube ported box....and 2cubes for a ten is big....and its tuned at 29hz......and i'm playing 13-19hz....with 600watt......it played it very well considering it was not in a car but in my house........so imagine if it was in a car.....omg

what sub are u planning on using to get the "lowest of the lows"

80

 

[ANeonRider 10+ year member]

jack is rite.......i got a vid of my 1ow3 in a 2cube ported box....and 2cubes for a ten is big....and its tuned at 29hz......and i'm playing 13-19hz....with 600watt......it played it very well considering it was not in a car but in my house........so imagine if it was in a car.....

Lucky you didn't unload the driver. I'd advise not to do that...

 

[MrBill2U 10+ year member]

On my JL 500/1 the bass boost knob drops all the way to 20hz... I have tried tuning it for "freakishly huge lows" before and dialed in +15db at just under 30 hz with a Q of .5 and the subsonic filter tuned to 20 hz. This was through a 12w6v2 in 1.5 sealed cubes. It went deeeeeeeeep and hit hard. On a sealed box you pretty much do not have to worry about blowing your subs with deep bass response as long as your amp is rated near what your sub is... with the ported box I would set my subsonic filter to just below the tuned frequency of the box because under that tuning frequency the box does not act like a spring for your sub any more (read "POP goes the sub"). If space wasn't limited I would say go ported, but with limited space I would run sealed with huge boost on the amp (or some alpine H/Us have a parametric EQ which will let you dial in boost in the sub-bass range).

 

[80INCHES 5,000+ posts]

Lucky you didn't unload the driver. I'd advise not to do that...

why not i'll do it again.....when i had 2 10w3's in my 1990 ford taurus....i played a 28hz signal and it was unbelievable.......the output they had with 800watts(400 on each ten)was great.....and it stey within there xmax limit.......no problems at all

80

 

[80INCHES 5,000+ posts]

i'd say build a huge box and port it......but tune it to around 24hz..now i'm warning u now......the port will be long....but it will be well worth it...and dont send alot of power to the box.....the bigger the box the less power u need 2 push it....try the rms of the speaker and see what happends

80

 

[psycho72 10+ year member]

I was all set to go with an RL-p 15" but I need dual 2Ohm VC's (was gonna run 4ohms) so now I am going to have to do something different. Maybe a Magnum when they finally come out of hibernation or maybe even one of RE newest creations if they come out in a month or two.

But I am confused. Why do the low lows need so much space? You see I had based my decisions of sub setup (1-15 ported tuned to 24hz vs 2-12's sealed) on manu box specs because I am trying to get the most from the least amount of space. Like I mentioned before I have 3-4 cubes that I am willing to give up (I have way more but can't give it all up because I am a family guy).

So now it appears my ideas were all wrong. How can I figure out how much space I am gonna need per app so that I can make a decision based on my limitations without sacraficing any of the low lows?

 

[geonfreaq 10+ year member]

If a box is tuned to 38hz, does it hurt the sub to play below that frequency?

 

[slick rick 10+ year member]

nope. but if you play like a 25hz tone on that tune it might. if you have a SSF you should be fine though.

 

[geonfreaq 10+ year member]

Cause Im still kinda confuse on this Hz ****. My box is tuned to 38Hz so what would be the best test tone that would get loud. Above 38hz, 38Hz, or below?