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The Future of Subwoofers?


Souldrop

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Hey all,

As I was working tonight I started to think about the advances car audio has seen in the past couple of decades. It amazes me to think that amps and the technology in amps have come so far, but it seems to me that subs have very little that could be improved upon. As the years go by and amps produce more and more power it seems subs just get bigger motors and bulkier voice coils to handle the increased power. Am I missing something? Is it just working from a larger motor and trying to design around it? Are there truly no innovative ideas out there because there is nothing to improve on as far as the tech involved because of a loudspeakers simplicity or are the innovations so subtle that I have failed to notice them?

btw I have a good amount of respect for EE's for advancing the car audio culture in the ways they have. I had to take an electronics course for my physics BS and that was the most tedious, painful class I took and we didn't even scratch the surface.

1997 Lexus ES300

HU - Pioneer MVH 7350

Processor - Helix DSP

Front Stage - JBL P660C

Mid/high amp - Alpine PDX-F4

Subs - 1 IA Death Penalty 12

Sub Amp - Cactus Sounds PF300.1

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the way i see it, the subs have advanced to take the increases in power so they can more violently move the air. lol and the new sundown zv.4 series i honestly think is pretty cool. they have spent so much time on the suspension and stuff with it that i think that's probably where subs are gonna move. i mean there's like no shift in T/S parameters when it's at high excursion!

p.s. im an EE student right now and i love all my EE classes lol

I think you have a bit of truck stuck in your mud bro

~Ford Ranger, ext cab
Kenwood DDX470
1/0ga stinger wiring for big 3
1/0ga ofc flextech wiring

3 kinetik 800's

AQ2200 @1ohm

Sundown Audio X15

in a 27Hz tuned ported box

LE BUILD LOG!!!

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There are many new technologies coming out with surrounds, cone compositions, spider materials, magnet material, and other advances to lower mechanical noise.

A problem for mass market is that when a new composition or designed cone/diaphragm comes out it is normally kept to the company that designed it.

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Krakin's Home Dipole Project

http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/186153-krakins-dipole-project-new-reciever-in-rockford-science/#entry2772370

Krakin, are you some sort of mad scientist?

I would have replied earlier, but I was measuring the output of my amp with a yardstick . . .

What you hear is not the air pressure variation in itself

but what has drawn your attention

in the two streams of superimposed air pressure variations at your eardrums

An acoustic event has dimensions of Time, Tone, Loudness and Space

Everyone learns to render the 3-dimensional localization of sound based on the individual shape of their ears,

thus no formula can achieve a definite effect for every listener.

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It comes down to R&D, and sadly a lot of companies dont do to much of that..

Your always going to be limited by certain things, even if they do design a big motor, or even a strong motor thats smaller.

Things like the 12spoke baskets for instance, theres limits on what you can all do excursion wise with it, or the same model cone that one company has been using for 5-10 years without change, even spiders which several manufactures use the same one and theres nothing special about them besides something like reliably.

Sundown for example is going above and beyond any other woofer manufacture just for that reason, pushing things farther, by having countless prototypes, and changes to prototypes, Tooling up your own surrounds, cones, spiders, baskets, and motors. Dont think there is really any other company that is doing things to that extent (and by that I mean using parts that no other manufacture is using).

 

 

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It comes down to R&D, and sadly a lot of companies dont do to much of that..

This got me thinking about Audax and their cone designs. They have many generations of each driver, and in the case of their HD-Aerogel 6.5" model that has reached its 18th gen.

Also has anyone had any experience with any of their drivers?

b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png

Krakin's Home Dipole Project

http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/186153-krakins-dipole-project-new-reciever-in-rockford-science/#entry2772370

Krakin, are you some sort of mad scientist?

I would have replied earlier, but I was measuring the output of my amp with a yardstick . . .

What you hear is not the air pressure variation in itself

but what has drawn your attention

in the two streams of superimposed air pressure variations at your eardrums

An acoustic event has dimensions of Time, Tone, Loudness and Space

Everyone learns to render the 3-dimensional localization of sound based on the individual shape of their ears,

thus no formula can achieve a definite effect for every listener.

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Apparently I need to look into some of what Sundown has been up to. I have only dealt with them a few years ago when I purchased a couple amps Jacob was discontinuing. I figured there would be advance in materials that would affect subwoofers, but assumed it would be more of trickle down effect from R&D not car audio related that would take a long while to be seen at the mass consumer level. I'm actually surprised that so many manufacturers seem to use the same parts. I would figure that they would tweak the sizes of the raw materials to be different from their competitors.

Krakin - No, I haven't even heard of Audax; I will definitely look into them. A new cone design sounds like it could be interesting. That's one area where I would think someone would have tried several different designs, especially with the popularity of Kicker's square subs.

Revo, you have to be crazy to go into EE imho lol.

1997 Lexus ES300

HU - Pioneer MVH 7350

Processor - Helix DSP

Front Stage - JBL P660C

Mid/high amp - Alpine PDX-F4

Subs - 1 IA Death Penalty 12

Sub Amp - Cactus Sounds PF300.1

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I was under the impression that Audax was changing cone shape not material, but still sounds cool.

1997 Lexus ES300

HU - Pioneer MVH 7350

Processor - Helix DSP

Front Stage - JBL P660C

Mid/high amp - Alpine PDX-F4

Subs - 1 IA Death Penalty 12

Sub Amp - Cactus Sounds PF300.1

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I too have a BS, but im done yaaayy no more school!!!! it only so much you can do to a sub to make it more efficient. unless the can create a better copper wire to wind around the voice coil it going to be the same for a while. what they need to do is find a speaker shape that can move extreme amounts of air, I wonder why speaker creaters didn't merge to the square concept of the solo baric speakers as a platform. to what I hear they do move great amount of air cause of the shape.

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Yeah, I don't know why there doesn't seem to be any other cone designs. I would personally like to see a dimpled cone tried, but maybe that would cause some wave cancellation?

1997 Lexus ES300

HU - Pioneer MVH 7350

Processor - Helix DSP

Front Stage - JBL P660C

Mid/high amp - Alpine PDX-F4

Subs - 1 IA Death Penalty 12

Sub Amp - Cactus Sounds PF300.1

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Share on other sites

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