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Hi Dan, What would you recommend for a good general purpose car sub? I don't want to win contests, I want good sound in a reasonably small package. What would you recommend? Regards, Kramer
What about the Brahma 10? It is supposed to be a high fidelity woofer, isn't it? (Not a lowfi high output competition woofer)
You can expect low distortion for sure. -not that i have one... Just how loud do you want it? a linear 10" in a car is PLENTY enough for moderate SPL - problem is car woofers arent known for their linearity. perhaps peerless units with shorting rings. Cheers! Mike.e
The Brahma is a nice driver and I suppose if available space forces you to use a direct radiator alignment it would be tough to beat. On the other hand, you can horn load an eight (MCM 55-2421) and get a lot more SPL for a lot less money; about $300 less to be exact. The downside is cabinet size, but I've managed to get a horn loaded autosound sub down to 3.6 cu ft, which to my mind is well worth living with for the $300 driver price differential, not to mention the extra 10dB of sensitivity.
Do Adire XBL2 woofers have a shorting ring? I thought the unique feature was how the voice coil hung in the gap.
no they dont have flux shorting rings. Almsot the entire peerless range does.JBL pro stuff does. Yes thats unique in this case. But not to diss the xbl2 system,but when claims of huge linearity are made,distortion measurements are required! the tumult is quoted as
First if all what is considered "a reasonably small package"? The Brahma woofers as suggested by others here are indeed great drivers. I do believe though that they are about two steps beyond what you are looking for here. If you can live with 1.5 cubes then drop a Shiva into that and seal 'er up. Use about 1-1.5 lbs of polyfill in thar and hit her with anywhere from 100-300 watts of RMS power and be happy....VERY HAPPY!!! If you need smaller box, let me know. Noidster
Adire doesn't claim that the distortion level is perfect throughout the range of Xmax. What XBL2 does is it helps keep the driver in control with a smoother, more linear BL range. Take for instance, the Tumult against the Blueprint 1503. Both high Xmax drivers but the XBL motor topoloy of the Tumult allows it more excursion while staying in a high BL, low distortion output range. I know this from personal experience with both drivers on many occasions. Being at 3%THD at Xmax is a good thing really. How many drivers do you know that are even close, yet the same or better at their rated Xmax? Most are up around 10% and above I am betting. Now don't get the wrong idea here, I am bot saying the Tumult is the end all answer to high excursion 15"ers, but by all means, it does hold it's own when it comes to SQ in the "monster subwoofer" category. Noidster
Is the Brahma ten available now? I thought they hadn't been available for about a year. JOHN
Bill, As you know, I've built a clone of your autotuba. You may not know that I've also built a system with a Brahma ten. I would argue that the two systems are *completely* different. They are almost "apples and oranges". My autotuba clone has such a low level of distortion, you can hear the pitch of every bass note. It may well be the most revealing sub I've ever heard, and I've heard A LOT. It is also very inexpensive, and VERY LARGE. Three and a half cubic feet is huge by car audio standards. The Brahma 10 I built is much more expensive, but it's also an order of magnitude smaller. They sound completely different; the Brahma 10 sounds more like a "traditional" car audio sub. John