Need a sub that goes LOW.

jdraughn
10+ year member

Junior Member
I want a sub that plays down to 20 to 25hz with some authority. I am thinking I would prefer a ported enclosure to get a few more db's out of the setup, so if there are any subs that play that low in a ported box, all the better, or I guess I will go with a sealed enclosure.

Size of the sub does not matter, if they are smallish, I will get multiple subs. I am looking to install this in the bed of a truck and port through to the cab via a cut-through.

I don't care about test tones, I just want it to play all music as good as possible, so they should be musical subs with a emphasis on sound quality over SPL.

 
In a vehilce that's pretty low, factoring in transfer function. Tuning much lower is generally a waste, unless you like listening to
yup, 28-30hz is as low as needed in a car. most people seem to tune around 32-36 for music. then there are the resonance built drivers like DD and AQ, but thats a whole different story. my little ten in my tiny box tuned to 30hz sure kills the lows though, thats was my point. gets loud enough and low enough to makes my headliner shake and my steering wheel shake, and also makes my glass roof start to flex just a tad.
 
Sometimes it's necessary to tune lower for a flat response ... yes, that is with the transfer function included. Although I'd still go sealed for most applications. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 
Enclosure specifications will dictate low-end output characteristics much more than simply picking a certain model of speaker. Especially so for ported applications.
Funny you should say that, I based much of that off what I read in one of the stickies: http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showpost.php?p=562172&postcount=15

You can't always tune a ported enclosure low. There is an optimal combination of volume and tuning frequency for any given sub. Deviate much at all from either one and the results are anything but quality sound. The response curve will get peaky, the transient response will become poor and the group delay will become unacceptably large. If you tune an enclosure too low you lose the efficiency advantage that a ported enclosure enjoys over a sealed in the 30-50 hz range and the accuracy of the output suffers as well. You can tune a bit higher than optimal without a huge tradeoff in quality of sound (you trade efficiency for low frequency extension in this case) but go too low and you will have problems. The performance of an enclosure volume and tuning depend entirely on the sub used in the enclosure. You can't just say build a box to this volume and tuning and any sub you throw in it will work well. A larger percentage of subs will perform terribly in that enclosure than will work even marginally well. Sealed is a lot more forgiving in this respect.

Hense the reason I specifially was looking for a sub that would play low, preferably in a ported enclosure. Creating the enlosurer is the easy part, I can make it whatever size is needed (within limits of course, don't want no 40sqft enclosure as being the optimal size), but getting that specific sub that will play extremely low in a properly tuned box may be a bit tougher.

I didn't want to get a sub that "performs terribly" in a box that I want tuned down to about 25hz or lower. There have been a few songs that my 12" infinity perfects had trouble playing, and they were in a sealed box. Sure I can hear them doing a pretty good job (actually, feeling is a better term for it). But there are times where I could hear them trying, but they just can't make any bass at that frequency. I cannot remember off hand the songs. Seems like ICP may have been one of them, but it's been years since I listened to that band, so I can't recall which song it was. Was a song that had a series of bass notes get progressively lower.

 
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jdraughn

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