How much do you think this sub can actually take ???

[Fishchris]

I’m running a Skar ZVX 18, rated for 1600 wts RMS. I’m powering it with a Wolfram C2500.1 which was bench tested by Williston to put out 2635 wts RMS into 1 ohm...... But I know that because of impedance drop, among other things, my sub is probably only seeing 1800-2000 wts RMS. What’s your guess ? Anyway, it sounds great. Haven’t had any problems with it. Just kind of bored. How much more do you think this sub could take ?
Oh, and BTW, I currently have it in a 5 cu ft box, with two 15” passive radiators (acting as my port) tuned to 32hz. My subwoofer doesn’t even come close to bottoming out.... but my poor passives sure do lol I’ve already had a few issues with those, but good for now.
LOVE the performance of this enclosure, but I’ve always been concerned about thermal cooling in what is essentially, a sealed enclosure... Easy answer though, I could always invert the sub ?
Oh, and one more thing, I NEVER sit there and clip the chit out of my power. The first tiny bit of red flicker I see on my clipping indicator, I back off a touch. I want it as loud as possible, but if it distorts, it doesn’t count

Click to read more...

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

15” passive radiators (acting as my port) tuned to 32hz

No guess on the power handling, but nice setup. I have never seen passive radiators used in car audio and wondered how it would perform. How did you calculate the weight for the passive radiators for the 32hz tune? I've wanted to try this myself, but never did serious research for it.

concerned about thermal cooling

When you are inside your car with the a/c off, wave your hand in a double pimp slap motion. Feel that air? Same concept for the sub.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

You aren't doing that sub justice by using passive radiators lol. I'm surprised that sub has blown them out of the box yet

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

All sound has some level of distortion to it. The sound wave your sub is producing is almost certainly distorted if those passive radiators keep that sub from moving as far as it wants too, that's still distortion. That will flatten out the peak and crests of whatever wave you're trying to reproduce, because the sub just basically stops in it tracks, from not being able to move more than the radiators will allow it to.

 

[Fishchris]

No guess on the power handling, but nice setup. I have never seen passive radiators used in car audio and wondered how it would perform. How did you calculate the weight for the passive radiators for the 32hz tune? I've wanted to try this myself, but never did serious research for it.

When you are inside your car with the a/c off, wave your hand in a double pimp slap motion. Feel that air? Same concept for the sub.

I modeled it in WIN Isd Pro. And btw, with PR's it's super easy to adjust your tuning by adjusting the weights. I've ran this at 29 hz also. Sounded great too, but I have more music with higher bass, so 32 hz seems to be the best all around.

 

[Fishchris]

All sound has some level of distortion to it. The sound wave your sub is producing is almost certainly distorted if those passive radiators keep that sub from moving as far as it wants too, that's still distortion. That will flatten out the peak and crests of whatever wave you're trying to reproduce, because the sub just basically stops in it tracks, from not being able to move more than the radiators will allow it to.

Okay, true on the distortion. But my setup sounds ultra clean, right to the point I start to see some red flickering of my clip indicator... And probably a little beyond that, but I never play it like that

The PR's don't keep the sub from flexing all it wants to. They work almost exactly as a port would.

TBH, they do cost me about 2 db's, but then I've never heard an 18" sub play as tightly with old school stuff, and kick drums, yet still play crazy deep, continuous electronic bass tracks, like this one.

Here's the thing, I know there are a lot of louder systems out there, but mine still plays relatively loud, and it's crystal clear, balanced, and deep. Love it
Other than my lack of a perfect sound stage, my system leans towards the SQ side of SQL

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

Not enough amp or pr cone area for your America hating commie made china sub.

 

[Fishchris]

Not enough amp or pr cone area for your America hating commie made china sub.

lol Okay, so that's a pretty funny response Apparently this forum is not moderated ? Which makes me no difference. But then I guess I wouldn't let small kids come here. I'm actually a pretty hardcore Patriot, and it kills me that I can't afford all, bad ass American made equipment ! In fact, their are some things, that you can't buy from the US for any amount of $... Like supercaps ALL made in China.

But I see you have been a member here for 10+ years.... And your "almost right" about not having enough PR cone area.... It's actually borderline, if I run it tuned to 32hz. But yea, I should have went with two 18" PR's, and honestly, that might still happen.

So, now that I've showed you that 1) I'm not phased by your rhetoric.... and 2) I think you might actually know what your talking about, what kind of wattage do you think this amp will actually take ? If you want to show me some American made amps as an example, thats cool too Although I think wattage ratings are universal.

PS, Purple Kush is OK, but I always preferred original Girl Scout Cookies

 

[YourNameHere 10+ year member]

lol Okay, so that's a pretty funny response Apparently this forum is not moderated ? Which makes me no difference. But then I guess I wouldn't let small kids come here. I'm actually a pretty hardcore Patriot, and it kills me that I can't afford all, bad ass American made equipment ! In fact, their are some things, that you can't buy from the US for any amount of $... Like supercaps ALL made in China.

But I see you have been a member here for 10+ years.... And your "almost right" about not having enough PR cone area.... It's actually borderline, if I run it tuned to 32hz. But yea, I should have went with two 18" PR's, and honestly, that might still happen.

So, now that I've showed you that 1) I'm not phased by your rhetoric.... and 2) I think you might actually know what your talking about, what kind of wattage do you think this amp will actually take ? If you want to show me some American made amps as an example, thats cool too Although I think wattage ratings are universal.

PS, Purple Kush is OK, but I always preferred original Girl Scout Cookies

dude please stay at DIYMA and leave here......i read enough of your stupid ass posts over at diyma and i dont want to read that **** over here at caraudio.com

 

[Fishchris]

dude please stay at DIYMA and leave here......i read enough of your stupid ass posts over at diyma and i dont want to read that **** over here at caraudio.com

Plz fuc# off And have a nice day

 

[AnthonyO 10+ year member]

Wow, a lot of hate in this thread. Thats a big nice Hello Welcome to the Forums for you.

OP, nice setup. I have heard a couple PR setups and each of them sounded really good. But I know I wouldn't be able to do it. I would definite f@ck something up and it would cost me a sub.

 

[Fishchris]

Wow, a lot of hate in this thread. Thats a big nice Hello Welcome to the Forums for you.

OP, nice setup. I have heard a couple PR setups and each of them sounded really good. But I know I wouldn't be able to do it. I would definite f@ck something up and it would cost me a sub.

I wish I could let you have a listen It really is the nicest sounding setup I've ever had.... And I'm an old guy (56yo) that has been playing with this stuff for 35 years. It's not the loudest setup around. Probably doesn't even hit 140 ? But Im sure its close. Also, I actually made it a little quieter, by knocking down the cabin gain, when I was tuning it with my DSP. Chose SQ over SPL there. Otherwise, Id have tuned it to 48hz, and be playing 48hz test tracks I bet that would be pretty obnoxious lol

TBH, PR setups are REALLY easy to build and model If you can use WIN Isd, and know how to build a sealed box, that's basically it Certainly easier than regular ported boxes, and more forgiving, by allowing you to adjust the tuning after the build.
My only "live and learn" advice, is to actually follow the common advice with PR's, and use twice the VD of your PR's, for your sub. In other words, I should have used two 18" PR's, vs. two 15"s. As it is, Im pushing them right to the limits of excursion, and I damaged the spiders on them, when I had it tuned to 29hz. Glued one and replaced the other. Now I'm tuned to 32 hz and I don't think their has been any more problems..... But then even when I did damage those, I couldn't tell by listening to it. Still sounded great. I only noticed it when I took them out to play with the tuning.
Really the only cons with a PR setup is 1) they will cost you a couple DB's, and 2) the cost of the PR's themselves.

 

[AnthonyO 10+ year member]

I'm more of an SQL guy myself. I turn 50 this year. I'm still kicking myself every day for selling my CDT QES1220. That was the cleanest sub I have ever owned. 1cu.ft sealed with 500 watts. The bass was so clean.

 

[Fishchris]

I'm more of an SQL guy myself. I turn 50 this year. I'm still kicking myself every day for selling my CDT QES1220. That was the cleanest sub I have ever owned. 1cu.ft sealed with 500 watts. The bass was so clean.

Well like I say, I like LOUD too. But I've always said, if it's not loud enough, you need more speakers (surface area) and more power. Its fine to have a 10Kwt system, and only using 5Kwts of it. But having a 5Kwt system, and trying to get 10Kwt out of it, is just not happening lol

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Okay, true on the distortion. But my setup sounds ultra clean, right to the point I start to see some red flickering of my clip indicator... And probably a little beyond that, but I never play it like that

The PR's don't keep the sub from flexing all it wants to. They work almost exactly as a port would.

TBH, they do cost me about 2 db's, but then I've never heard an 18" sub play as tightly with old school stuff, and kick drums, yet still play crazy deep, continuous electronic bass tracks, like this one.

Here's the thing, I know there are a lot of louder systems out there, but mine still plays relatively loud, and it's crystal clear, balanced, and deep. Love it
Other than my lack of a perfect sound stage, my system leans towards the SQ side of SQL

For sure man, I'm not hating at all. It looks like a pretty cool and well thought out system to me. I'd love to hear it, I completely understand why you would make a box like that and I think it's a fairly good idea.

I'd love to take like a DD Z or Sundown NSv4 18, some hardcore woofer like that, and see how many PR's it could effectively use LOL