subwoofer specs

[mattspathe]

I've asked many people about good brands of subs and almost everybody had the same list. One guy was different and told me that when he was buying he was told to not look at brands and look at just specs. How big the spiders are, the thickness of the top and bottom plates are and the diameter of the slugs not the thickness. But all my sub shows is stuff like no, sd, vas, qms, bl, and x-max. I don't know what that means please help me understand what I'm looking at.

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[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

X-max- one way linear travel. Basically how far it moves one way.

Vas- ammount of air that equals the spring of the suspension. Useful when deciding box volume or IB setup

Qts- total measure of Q values. Lower number is punchy, higher has more boom

Qms- mechanical Q's

Qes-electrical Q's

Bl is motor forcs.

Sd is the surface area. Use cone area and half of surround.

These are the only ones I know off the top of my head

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

A few others I just looked up:

Fs- resonant frequency. Playing notes well under this number is difficult for the driver (but still possible).

Re- impedence of voice coils

Pe- thermal capacity

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

If you aren't going to model a subwoofer with computer software, which is what those terms(parameters) are used for, then they're about as informative to a lay person as knowing the dimensions of the pistons in your car's engine. People with real experience with subwoofers will recommend them to others because of how they perform. Matching your goals to a subwoofer with an appropriate enclosure, as well as your amplifier, is what you need to figure out what to buy. Knowing the spider and magnet diameters does not tell you if that subwoofer is going to perform better than another.

What do you want out of your sound system? What vehicle do you have? Year, make and model. That's a start.

 

[mattspathe]

If you aren't going to model a subwoofer with computer software, which is what those terms(parameters) are used for, then they're about as informative to a lay person as knowing the dimensions of the pistons in your car's engine. People with real experience with subwoofers will recommend them to others because of how they perform. Matching your goals to a subwoofer with an appropriate enclosure, as well as your amplifier, is what you need to figure out what to buy. Knowing the spider and magnet diameters does not tell you if that subwoofer is going to perform better than another.
What do you want out of your sound system? What vehicle do you have? Year, make and model. That's a start.

I have 05 scion xb I want a daily driver that also can put up good numbers...150 I have 2 power bass xta 5000s to power them. I could build a wall if need be but would prefer to use just cargo area if I could. Dont really want to go over 1,000 for what ever subs I decide to go with. So I'm open to any size or brand that I will need to achieve that 150 mark. Thanks for all your advice

 

[bbeljefe]

Generally speaking, one of the most important specs to look at when deciding whether a sub will work for your application is EPB or, efficiency bandwidth product. It's derived from dividing the driver's Fs by its Qes and it works as a guide for enclosure alignment....

Drivers with:

0-50 EBP will work best in sealed or 4th order alignments and they require larger boxes.

51-80 EBP will work well in sealed & 4th order or vented & 6th order enclosures and will work in a variety of box sizes.

81-110 EBP will work best in vented & 6th order enclosures and in small enclosures.

110-↑ EBP are typically hard to model and tend to defy the above rules of thumb.

Adding to that, if you put a low EBP sub in a small box you're going to kill it's low end response and if you put a high EBP sub in a large box, you'll kill its power handling. Of course, all of this is general and there are exceptions so, it's really important to do some extensive reading if you want to better understand how this and other specifications work.

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

any good sub will run you at least $400, so if you want 2 theres $800, plus your custom box which will also be at least $200. then for 150? thats some pretty good electrical, second batt and hi output alt, plus 1/0 gauge wiring all around so with 1k you have enough for your subs and box MAYBE, now you need another 1k for your electrical.

 

[mattspathe]

any good sub will run you at least $400, so if you want 2 theres $800, plus your custom box which will also be at least $200. then for 150? thats some pretty good electrical, second batt and hi output alt, plus 1/0 gauge wiring all around so with 1k you have enough for your subs and box MAYBE, now you need another 1k for your electrical.

Well I'm hoping to find nice used ones...all my electrical is good and I only paid 350 for 2 treo ssx 12s in a custom box