Xmax??

[95Prober 10+ year member]

hi. i've heard a lot about Xmax, but what is a really powerful, normal and poorly sub rated at in this category?? thx

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[Acidburn 5,000+ posts]

big, medium, and small

 

[Mark_ab 5,000+ posts]

Not entirely sure what you're asking. Xmax is the lesser of Xmag and Xsus, basically how far a drivers diaphram moves one way while remaining linear (70%BL). Any supersub out there will have a high Xmax, Brahma, XXX, W7, LMT, etc. A typical decent driver will be in the vacinity of 10-25mm, and crappy ones, well who the hell cares. They're crap. And unless you're a dung beatle, you don't care about that.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

...And unless you're a dung beatle, you don't care about that.

rofl. another funny comment from the mr mark. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/up2something.gif.dd110ecf3ae4b76050d87598f2f8de7c.gif

but what about the... dare i say it?

old strokers?! they should be in the medium\small catagory.. but they are some of the best SPL subs on the market..

so i can say that XMAX can be one of the smallest factors in a sub. the box it goes into it is way more important.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

One thing to keep in mind is that, while Xmax is a nice spec, it isn't the most important thing to worry about. There are a ton of great subs that don't have ungodly high Xmax figures yet still perfrom well. L7's don't have a ton of Xmax (13mm or something), yet they wang pretty good.

Bah, req and I posted at the same time

 

[g30ffr3y 10+ year member]

big, medium, and small

venti, grande, and tall?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Xmax is only as important as the application requires. It can be very important, and have a direct relationship with output and power handling, or it can be all but meaningless. It depends on the enclosure and the intended use of the subwoofer. SPL competitors using ported enclosures who only burp at or near tuning couldn't care less about xmax (within reason), that's why subs like the Stroker with its low excursion still excel. But someone wanting to pound with a small sealed enclosure would benefit greatly from a long excursion driver such as the Brahma. There are many varying degrees of importance between these two extremes.

Its not the end all be all spec some people claim, but its also not irrelevant as others claim. Know what it is, how it works, and how different enclsoure size/types affect it, and you'll then understand when it is and isnt important.

 

[psycho72 10+ year member]

how different enclsoure size/types affect it, and you'll then understand when it is and isnt important.

I know this is probably a ***** of a thing to answer but can you elaborate. I got the first two parts and was chuggin along and you set this cliff in front of me. I should a.......bought a.........squirrel..........

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

It's Saturday!

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

I know this is probably a ***** of a thing to answer but can you elaborate. I got the first two parts and was chuggin along and you set this cliff in front of me. I should a.......bought a.........squirrel..........

Sound is created by compressing air, the air is compressed by displacing it. The motion of the sub creates this displacement. A sealed enclosure relies solely on the motion of the cone to create this displacement/compression. Thus xmax is a pretty important spec for such systems, where the person wants it to get loud. but, in ported applications, especially those doing SPL competing where the subwoofer never veers far from the enclosure's tuning, cone motion is at its minimum, but of course efficiency of the enclosure is at its highest. The closer the signal source gets to the enclosure's tuning freq, the less the cone moves, but the less it NEEDS to move to maintain or increase SPL. This means in ported applications where the enclosure does much of the work and can heavily restrict cone motion along much of the freq range, cone excursion becomes less and less important.

My point of the sentence you quoted was simply that once you understand basically what I said above, about how each enclosure type and size (larger enclosures restriction cone motion less) affects cone excursion and you've decided what application you want (street beater, SPL machine, etc), you will then understand when lots of excursion is and isnt needed.

Clear as mud? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[psycho72 10+ year member]

Sound is created by compressing air, the air is compressed by displacing it. The motion of the sub creates this displacement. A sealed enclosure relies solely on the motion of the cone to......you've decided what application you want (street beater, SPL machine, etc), you will then understand when lots of excursion is and isnt needed.

Okay that makes perfect sense (had to read the ported part a few times). So then in my case if I have decided that I am an SQ guy who wants SQ that I can feel in my back which enclosure type would be better (seems to me that sealed is)?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Sealed generally results in better SQ. Not always, but usually. Keep in mind things aren't so black and white as sealed sounds good, ported gets loud. Id put a XXX in a ported enclosure tuned low (

 

[95Prober 10+ year member]

well the reason i asked is because the subs i have seem to be in the low class as far as Xmax is concerned. on my subs they are only a 7mm. i dont consider it to be a budget sub even for a pioneer. especially being a premier series and the rms rating is like 400. plus the are fairly pricey. i hope it can perform to the expectations as what i paid for it. actually im hoping xmax has little to do with its performance since of its low rating. any thought?

http://pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_4061_37598,00.html

http://www.caraudio.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19817&highlight=TS-W1041DVC