|   subwoofer question | unc
Nov 29, 2001 1:10 PM | | I am kind of new to the whole home theater thing, but was wondering if it is possible to hook up a car stereo subwoofer in a home theater setting. We are trying to build an actual theater in our living room and are going to put a sub or 2 under the couch on a wood and carpeted platform. We would like to use some car sub's so we can make our own enclosures for them, but are not sure how much power we need for 300 or 500W subs. If anyone could help and let us know what we would need (receiver or amp.) and what power we would need to push them it would be greatly appreciated. |
| re: subwoofer question | paulbl
Nov 29, 2001 1:14 PM | | You don't need car subs or a car amp. If you wanted to use a car amp, you'd need an inverter to convert 120V (house current) to 12V for the car amp(s). You'd be better off getting a home amp, it will perform better in a home setting. Car subs tend to have different parameters to make them work better in a car environment, but this is a home environment, so IMO you'd be better off using gear designed for home use. Check out www.adireaudio.com - their Shiva is well regarded by DIY'ers. www.partsexpress has good drivers as well. |
| re: subwoofer question | unc
Nov 29, 2001 1:18 PM | | Thanks. I was actually just talking about using a home amp or receiver, but thanks for the info. I think that's what I will do. |
| re: subwoofer question | CHRIS8
Nov 30, 2001 7:12 PM | | Actually, if you already have these car subs I would first enter their T&S paramaters into a box response simulator program or do some manual calculations to see what low end response is possible. Many car woofers are just as good for home use as specifically designed units are, just that 'most' car subs are not adequate and produce a F3 that is too high for satisfactory use. Some examples of excellent budget car woofers for home use are: JL Audio W1 and W6, most Pioneer TS-W 12" woofers, some OZ audio woofers, etc...just do a simulation with the specs to know for sure. As for exceptional woofers, Kicker Solobaric C and D series(round versions) 10" and 12" sub are superb in a critically damped ported enclosure for music and theatre and provide massive SPL with a very large amp but are now discontinued but are available on auctions, and PPI Pro woofers with carbon fiber plate cones are excellent but their FS is too high for home theatre use though. Infinity Kappa Perfect 10 and 12" models will perform excellent in a ported enclosure and are not expensive considering their quality, but you need to find a discount dealer for these or they will cost a bundle.
Just don't discount something because it's been designated a particular use. Besides, you will need to run some calculations even for 'home use' subs too see if they produce adequate response and sound pressure levels for your purposes.
Likely you will be using a ported enclosure, their are not that many subs that produce a low F3 with an acoustic suspension design, and even if it does most people do agree that ported enclosures sound better for home theatre. The extremely tight sound of a sealed box just doesn't seem to compliment movie effects according to most. You might appreciate a sealed box more, who knows.
As a rule of thumb, I personally would not use a subwoofer for home theatre use that did not have at least a F3 of 28-30 hz theoretical anechoic in the box design and size that you need. This will lower 2-5 hertz depending on your room size and acoustics though allowing even deeper bass most of the time. Note that a sealed enclosure design will require a speaker with massive x-max to produce high spl at 30 hz and below, probably at least 14mm one way linear if you are looking for really dynamic bass passages.
-Chris |
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