Subwoofer specs and brand question.

bgrosul · January 2005

Hi all,

I was hoping sopmeone could help me out. I used to be all into car audio and stuff and know what I was talking about, but that was sometime ago and I am just getting caught up again.

What I am looking for is a nice deep bass with clarity and a bit of kick. Can only fit about a 10" in my Jeep TJ. I have a 400w concept amp with crossovers that is also bridged to my current sub. (10" pyle)

What I want to know is, what are the voice coils on a subwoofer, and is more better?

Also what ohm range should I be looking for?

There is this place that is selling "Visonik" competition subs for like 30-50 bucks, and I wanna know if anybody knows of this brand.

http://www.visonikcaraudio.com/sub/...subwoofers.html

There is the site link, but I dont really know what Im looking for when it comes to specs and details.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks

maltesechicken · January 2005

Voice coils are the wound copper section of the woofer. By appliing power to the voice coil, you create a magnet field which reacts with the speaker magent causing the speaker to move. Voice coils are rated for their impedance typically 2, 4, or 8 ohms, but also can be found in 12, 6 and 3 ohm set -ups.

More voice coils does not = better. More voice coils means more wiring flexibility and potentially more power handling (but power handling depends completely on the speaker, there are many single voice coils that can take way more power than a dual or a quad voice coil).

When I say wiring flexibility this is what I mean. If you have a DVC (Dual Voice Coil), with each coil rated at 4 ohms, you can wire those to coils in parallel for a 2 ohm load, or series for an 8 ohm load. I'll post more on the math of that later.

The end impedance you are looking for should match your amp. If your amp is 400 watts x 1 @ 4ohms, then you will want a 4 ohm load. Like wise if it is rated at 2ohms. You can deviate from this by providing a higher number, but it is not safe to provided a lower number. I am not familiar with your amp so I don't know what impedance it wants - feel free to post the specs here.

As for the math figuring out impedances goes Here you have it:
Parallel. Running multiple wires from the positive of the amp to the positive terminals of each sub. Each speaker gets its own wire from the amp. You calculate this by taking the impedance and invertings it (8 ohm becomes 1/8) Then you add all of the inverted impedances to gether (so if you have four 8 ohm speakers it becomes 1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8 = 4/8 = 1/2) Then you invert the answer and you get the final load (1/2 becomes 2).

Series is easier to calculate. From the positive of the amp to the positive of the speaker, from the negative of that speaker to the positive of the next speaker etc. From the negative of the last speaker to the negative of the amp.
WHen calculating these impedances, simply add them all together.

I hope this helps.

bgrosul · January 2005

Thank you very much, that clarified things quite a bit.

This is the link to the amp I have:

http://www.conceptconcept.com/proddetail.asp?ID=36&ProductLine=Amplifier

*Also, I was at a Best Buy and some audio dude made me feel like **** cause he had never heard of "Concept Audio" before. Do they not have good products?....it sounds good!!!

Anyhow, now that Im a little knowledgeable about subs, whats a good brand?...... They have a decent 10" Pioneer for $45..... Visions had a Decent 10" Alpine for $75........... so much stuff!!!

Again, much appreciated with feedback.

Bryan

MacLeod · January 2005

First off, pay no attention to ANYTHING a Best Buy sales dude tells you. Concept is a pretty solid manufacturer. I think their amps are their best product.

2nd, this is the sub you should get if you can fit a .88 box in your TJ. These are great sounding subs and would handle the 400 watts just fine.

PoweredByDodge · January 2005

don't listen to any limp-d*cked Best Buy or Circuit Sh*tty salesman...

i've walked in there many a time and dropped words like "Alphasonic" and "Image Dynamics" and received nothing but a dull blank face in return.

if polk hadn't squeaked it's way into the 'mainstream' so many years ago, those morons wouldn't even know what a Momo was.

my point is... good brand names (in general) like Polk, Mtx, Soundstream, etc etc etc... are good because they're good... not because Joe Blow at Circuit CrapWad knows what they are.

Fact is - most of those salesmen are 16 years old to 18 years old, clueless, and listen to (forgive me here by i have to say it) Pyle speakers off a factory deck.

Now that I'm done ranting... I have not heard of the amp either - however - again, just because I don't know about it doesn't mean it's not good... I still have a 400-450-ish watt radio shack/optimus amp that's been running for about 7 or so years now. Like a tank... and sounds nice.

Far as the sub to go with -- Polk Baby Momo 2104 would be ideal... strapped for cash, grab a JBL GT 10" or try to find a Baby Momo on ebay -- ebay is a wonderful place. Also - you can get a 10" single 4 ohm coil MTX 6000 series sub (same sort of range as a polk baby momo or thereabouts - for about 40 bucks refurbished on www.mitekfactoryoutlet.com if they're still up there).

single 4 ohm coil, bridge the amp to it, boom you're set.

bgrosul · January 2005

Awesome,

Thanks for the advice guys, this should help alot with my choice.

FYI, I am running a 10" Pyle right now.....its stil made of paper for crying out loud!!.........but hey....12 yrs ago, they were awesome..........but its time to grow up and get something new.....

~~

maltesechicken · January 2005

Thanks for the link to the amp.
As mentioned above, you'll be looking for one, single voice coil (SVC), 4ohm sub. Or one, Dual Voice Coil (DVC) 2ohm sub (each coil is rated at two ohms and can be wired series for a 4 ohm load)

That gives you a world of options. There are tonne of entry level SVC 4 ohm subs on the market. Let us know how much space you have for a box and we'll make suggestions accordingly.

In advance, I highly recommend a Ported box. Ported gives you deeper frequency extension, and you can tune them to make them louder at certain frequencies. In general, they are more fun. But a bit more skill is required to get ported to sound right.

Joelsbass · January 2005

^
personally i reccomend sealed.... much less hassle unless you want to put a LOT of work into getting the port tuned right for your setup...

as that amp only puts out 250rms bridged to 4 ohms i'd go with one of the single voice coil MM 10" subs...

bgrosul · January 2005

Agains, thanks guys,,,,,

So I ended up getting a 10" Alpine Type E sub.........let me guess........sucks right?...

lol...I only say that cause everyone automatically says that without hearing the system beforehand.

But hey, Im not into show or competitions.....just want all around sound.I find this sub does that for me, gives the punch when needed, and the rumble as well. It is in a sealed flared box thats approx. 13" deep at base, about 30" high and about 24" wide.

It is in the back area of a 2004 Jeep TJ.
I put some 150watt kenwoods in the speaker bar, and the console sub picks up some mid bass., actually......it sucks....too poppy sounding....probably the paper woofer

Just need some decent fronts and Im set.

They should just give credits for factory stereos!!

maltesechicken · January 2005

That sounds like a pretty big box for a sealed single 10". I still highly recommend ported; when done right, it always sounds better. Is that a box built/recommended by Alpine? If so, disregard my comment about porting it. You will probably need more air space yet to port it.

Alpine is good stuff. And if it sounds good to you, even better.

bgrosul · January 2005

No the box is not approved by Alpine, just a cheapo I picked up. I did line it a bit with insualtion to cut down on the echo.

I guess I could mount it with a optional port selector. I saw one at Best Buy that had the option of sealing the port or openening it up.

~

exalted512 · January 2005

Originally posted by maltesechicken
That sounds like a pretty big box for a sealed single 10". I still highly recommend ported; when done right, it always sounds better.

thats subjective
-Cody

Joelsbass · January 2005

I second that Cody...

MacLeod · January 2005

Yeah, I prefer a sealed box as well.

Thats not to say a ported box sounds like **** just that a sealed is more forgiving to design errors and will sound great with minimal effort. Maltese has a point tho that a properly tuned, designed and built ported box will sound really good.

Personally tho, I just stick to sealed. A lot easier to build and sounds just fine.

exalted512 · January 2005

if i have room, my next box will be ported
-Cody

MacLeod · January 2005

Originally posted by exalted512
if i have room, my next box will be ported
-Cody

Dude! Seriously. How much more output do you want?

My gawd! Youre gonna have dual Brahmas with 3000 watts!! Do you really think the extra 3 db or so is gonna matter?

exalted512 · January 2005

as a matter of fact, yes:D
-Cody

bgrosul · January 2005

lol.....

What do guys with power want?

MORE POWER!!!

PoweredByDodge · January 2005

Originally posted by MacLeod
Dude! Seriously. How much more output do you want?

My gawd! Youre gonna have dual Brahmas with 3000 watts!! Do you really think the extra 3 db or so is gonna matter?

...yes

Coming to a Driveway near you, summer 2005, twin INHUMANS.

Subwoofer specs and brand question.

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