8, 12, 10 ,15, 18

[AndonD454]

Hey i know kinda the basics of why the different size subs sound different.. but i am still a little confused. Do larger subs only help give you deeper bass and not louder? are your ears even sensitive enough to notice the difference in pitch between a 12 and a 15? For example, besides power handling, why does everyone in this forum seem to love the 15 XXX and i havent seen anyone with a 12 XXX. I guess my biggest question is why would somebody with ample cargo space in their car choose two 10" subs over two identical 15"s?(besides power handling). Does a ten give better sq or hit higher notes? Why are 18s so rare? anybody just throw in your two cents i know i asked a lot of random questions here. thanks

[Haibane]

2 10s is power handeling only real reason. More spl... Larger sub is louder and deeper. different size subs don't have different power handeling btw. Don't think they make a 8xxx

[AndonD454]

yeah youre right they dont.. but cool so basically if i was goin for spl a 15 of almost any sub will play louder than a 12 of the same model?

[luxuriouslyloudz]

Theoretically, I'd say yes. But then again...you have guys like N. Munson who hit 170 with one DD 9510 10" sub a couple years ago(of course it was an extreme setup for dB Drags)....but it goes to show what IS possible.

[AndonD454]

oh my god thats a crazy number for one ten.. actually its that kinda thing that is making me lean from two decent 12s like everybody has and goin with one 15 thats worth the extra money

[KMoney28]

What in the world kinda setup was it?? How can anyone hit 170 db with one 10"sub??? How many amps was he running and what kinda box was it in(or was it a wall), also was in in a truck or minivan?? Thats insane, I can't even comprehend that from one sub.

[sr20de4evr]

In optimal enclosures, a larger size of a given sub will play louder at all frequencies, and normally it will be able to dig lower, with no real downsides other than the larger box requirements. That's why people, or at least educated people, tend to go with a single sub in the largest size that they need or can fit. The only time you should run multiple subs IMO is when the specific sub you have your heart set on isn't available in a size large enough to suit your needs, or if you're doing a show car (3 10" subs with a few of them inverted is more flashy than a single 15).

[Haibane]

The same guy hitting 170 with 110 3 years ago would be hitting 148 area these days on these mics... Almost sure..

[CBFryman]

lol, ya back in the day thei mics where super sensitive. Sony Xplods oculd his 150's, lol...

[GSteg]

he was running (2) Viper 2500.d amps i believe.

before that, he also did low 170 with a dd9515. that was with (4) DEI 1100d though.


it's possible when u have a car loaded with cement and about 80% of the car is the box and the other 20% is the port. hahaha.

[GSteg]

Originally Posted by AndonD454

For example, besides power handling, why does everyone in this forum seem to love the 15 XXX and i havent seen anyone with a 12 XXX.

1. because 15's means serious business
2. the 15" is sometimes not much more than the 12"
3. sound quality performance are not drastically different.
4. people have the space
5. they wanna be different

I guess my biggest question is why would somebody with ample cargo space in their car choose two 10" subs over two identical 15"s?(besides power handling)

some people believe 10s hit harder and quicker, which is not true. Not to mention, some may think having 2 15s is overkill.

. Does a ten give better sq or hit higher notes?

not better sound quality. if anything, 15s should be able to provide less distortion than 10s at the same volume because the cone of the 15" sub is not moving nearly as far as the 10". higher notes? most of the time the 10s are able to play higher freq before the rolloff, but in many cases, a quality 15" sub has no problem playing up to 75hz with no problem.

Why are 18s so rare?

supply and demand. not everyone can fit an 18" in their trunk.

[CBFryman]

75Hz? 15's can handle 200-400Hz... but if your midbass can handle that then why would yo uwant to be putting more work on your woofers than needed. guitar amps with 15's can reach into the 3kHz range easy. as a amtter of fact the paper coned foam surround lead guitar amps perform best in the 1kHz-2.5kHz range. granted car audi woofers designed to make insane sub bass cant do 3kHz but my parents Pioneer Hometheatre set up has 15's and after looking at the specs they are low passed at 2kHz and highpassed at 100Hz. the 6" woofers are lowed at 5Khz and highed at 1.9kHz. and the tweets carry into 10Khz and then are lowpassed because in reality most sound over 6kHz is harmonics, ie, unpleasant Noise.

[sr20de4evr]

well those are 15" midbass drivers, not subwoofers. They're engineered totally differently. 15" subwoofers are generally limited to ~100hz before they start rolling off, though when I was playing with my B freeair I just sent it a full range signal and it was playing perfectly fine well up into the 1-2khz range.

[GSteg]

i say 75hz because that's about the area where you want to Low pass it. if you are looking to use your sub for midbass frequency, then u are not using the sub for it's intended purpose.

[CBFryman]

yes SR20 they are engineered different, however, a woofer is a woofer. a sub woofer is nothing but a woofer with an enclosure built to preform and recreate sub bass frequincies. the subwoofer will preform better it the woofers resonant frequincy is very low (ie thoes 15's had a resonant frequincy as high as 700Hz, i brought that up just to prove a point that not ALL 15's roll off around the mid bass area). (people such as Halibane and SR20, no need to read the following as i know you already know this) you have 3 basic types of "speakers." im not counting coxials because htey are a combination of 2 speakers. anyway, you have woofers, a woofer is a driver designed to recreate lower frequincies. you have your midbass drivers, which is designed to recreate frequincies where the woofers begine to roll off, there is no set frequincy for midbass drivers. generally they will start around 100Hz and in some cases as low as the 2nd octave (40Hz) in car audio. Home audio is much different, the woofers are generally crossed over at a much higher frequincy, this is because small divers such as a 6" driver lack the cone area to recreate 100-500Hz for large volumes of air. Finally, you have your tweeters, whihc are designed to handle high frequincies, harmonics, and harmonial distortion. tweeters are usually very small, as small as 0.25" in car audio and 0.75" in home audio. they are so small because a large cone would be very hard to vibrate at 3kHz+. it also doesnt take the cone area that lower frequincies do to bring their SPL up to par with the woofers and midbass drivers.