Car Audio Central - Ultimate Car Audio Forum and Community

I'm a new member. I joined the forum after lurking for a while, as there seem to be quite a few folks here interested in good sound, and I'm hoping for some input.

I'm an older guy, have been involved with audio since childhood, spent the last 20+ years in the (home) High-End sector, and have only been working with car audio for 5-6 years. My record collection for your amusement:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d26/b ... ves001.jpg

I'm also a dedicated car guy and my current project involves a car that I don't plan on selling. It was purchased as a keeper, so the install has to work with that constraint. Meaning, I don't want to do anything that I may regret later on. This is the system:

Alpine 9887
Zapco Ref200.2 (tweeters)
Zapco AG350 (mids, another 350 is on its way)
Zapco Ref500 (sub)
Polk SR6500 (active)
Blaupunkt PCwb1200 (subwoofer)

I'm at a point where I'm not unhappy with the sound, but I would like to improve on two factors:

1. I hate having a box in the trunk
2. I'd like to decrease the 33lb weight on the current sub/enclosure

With that in mind, I'd like to explore a possibility of installing a 8" driver in the rear seat armrest. It would allow for a ~.3ft3 internal volume. I have a test enclosure that I've used to audition several 8" drivers - ID8, ARC8, eD, MBQ - and none of them met my expectations. Each and every one produced mechanical noises that made them unsuitable for such a config. Extension, in itself, isn't very important to me - low distortion, dynamics, and articulation are key.

I'm essentially looking for a sensitive 8" driver that'll work well in a .3ft3 sealed enclosure, and that doesn't make mechanical noises of its own. I'm hoping that some of the folks here have personally heard/used such an animal and can point me in the right direction.

Well mechanical noise comes from two things...

1) Tinsel leads. If the tinsel leads are exposed during high distress they can come in contact with the cone, creating tinsel lead slap.

2) Coil rub. Over driving the sub, getting the coil out of the gap. This will be more of a rub noise...

With that being said I would look for a sub with woven in tinsel leads.

We will need to know what kind of power you have or if you havent selected an amp yet?

Ryan from Ohio wrote:We will need to know what kind of power you have or if you havent selected an amp yet?

It's a Zapco Ref500.1.

I would investigate the following:

http://www.woofersetc.com/p4376/SQ800-G ... woofer.htm

http://cdtgold.com/pdfs/QES-820%20copy.pdf
^PDF specs. That driver is pretty much ideal for you providing you have sufficient mounting depth.

Alternative:
http://www.woofersetc.com/p6716/QES820- ... woofer.htm

Possibly:
http://www.woofersetc.com/p7118/8"-Vana ... woofer.htm

BWCAD1 Bill- he might be able to build you a custom monster also.

We have tried 8's and unfortunately are not on our list of subs to build.

Well ok then.

WB Billy willy

Ryan from Ohio wrote:I would investigate the following:
http://www.woofersetc.com/p4376/SQ800-G ... woofer.htm
http://cdtgold.com/pdfs/QES-820%20copy.pdf
^PDF specs. That driver is pretty much ideal for you providing you have sufficient mounting depth.
Alternative:
http://www.woofersetc.com/p6716/QES820- ... woofer.htm
Possibly:
http://www.woofersetc.com/p7118/8"-Vana ... woofer.htm
BWCAD1 Bill- he might be able to build you a custom monster also.

Thanks, Ryan. I don't know very much about the CDT drivers, but I'll look into them. Intuitively speaking, their relatively low sensitivity is a concern. I understand that a small driver can't reproduce low frequencies and remain highly sensitive, but in my case reach isn't an issue. You see, the car produces so much low frequency output on its own, that having it compete with the sub simply creates the sensation of listening to mud. Rolling-off the lows at ~40Hz with a steep filter cleans-up the overall presentation. As such, I'm hoping to find a driver that doesn't necessarily try to reach as deep as its larger counterparts and maintains fairly high sensitivity throughout its range.

this might be worth a shot:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdet ... er=295-456

Im sure Bill can put this a little better than Im about to...

But Sensitivity rating shouldnt be used to try and judge the loudness of the sub. After all its an SPL reading with 1 watt of power. When you put 360 Watts into it, its going to react differently. Also having a stiffer suspension will drag this number down some...

If the coil can handle say 1000 wrms, but the subs reaching Xmech @ 200 WRMS, the spiders tend to be stiffened up to bring the mechanical suspension in line with what the VC can handle. In a situation like that, you will see some lower "Sensitivity" ratings. These subs however tend to be louder ones

Bwcad1 wrote:We have tried 8's and unfortunately are not on our list of subs to build.

Tell me about it.

Ultra Subs FTW! I am looking at doing 4 of these little gems in my car. Not sure if I can mount all in the back of the mustang, but we will see.

Ultra Subwoofers