Soundqubed HDC3 12 tuning

[MyNameIsNoob]

Hey y'all, jus doing a lil upgrading on my equipment this week n one of em is a Soundqubed HDC3 12. I hear some say tune high, some say don't use too big of a box, etc. Everyone has their preferences, and within reason, i dont mind giving up a lil volume if i can get it to play lower... but my question is do i need to rethink my plan here?

Love to hear y'all experiences ab what you've heard and what sorta tuning n box size y'all had best results with.

I got mine breaking in w my old box, but by the time I'm ready to turn it up I'd like to have a good starting point.

Also. I'm gna have a good amount of power go in to it, which is when I was told not to use a big box w those subs. I'm sure it's a preference thing, but I'm not one to assume anything, so I'm gna wait till I have a good feeling ab which way to go.

 

Tell me what ya think. Thx in advance!

[Triticum Agricolam]

How much power are you going to be running?  The larger the box the less the mechanical power handling of the sub is, which is why you hear not to run a large box on high power.  Just what "high power" is is a bit subjective though. 

 

As as far as tuning goes, it depends on what you want to do with the system. Higher tunings will have higher peak SPL numbers, but they sacrifice low frequency output. A general guideline is to tune a few Hz above the lowest frequency you want to be able to play well. 

[MyNameIsNoob]

1 hour ago, Triticum Agricolam said:

How much power are you going to be running?  The larger the box the less the mechanical power handling of the sub is, which is why you hear not to run a large box on high power.  Just what "high power" is is a bit subjective though. 

 

As as far as tuning goes, it depends on what you want to do with the system. Higher tunings will have higher peak SPL numbers, but they sacrifice low frequency output. A general guideline is to tune a few Hz above the lowest frequency you want to be able to play well. 

Most likely i will be somewhere around 3k. This way i can keep the gain down n the amp cool for extended road trips... Realistically, im waiting till i have the extra cash to get my alternator at the same time (prob by the end of summer), so until then i have a 1700 watt brutus goin to em.

Soundqubed website says "12 inch subs work in 1.8-2.5 net cuft" and everything says to tune em 34-39 hz. Personally, i like the deepest of the deep bass and in the past have mostly tuned my subs in the low 30's, but i want to get the most out of it so maybe theres a sweet spot w these?

[Triticum Agricolam]

If you like really low bass, tune low.  Unless you are going to be competing you aren't going to miss the slight amount of peak output loss from tuning a bit lower.  You can't really hear the difference between a couple Hz difference in tuning anyway.  

[Mitchaford]

This is what I built for my hdc3. JoeX did a box design here: 

 

Box was at 35hz played fairly well on the ct 2200 I had on it. 

 

I had that sub in a few other boxes over the years. 

That one 2.25 @ 35

2.5 @ 32

2.5 @ 30

All sounded great but I tuned lower each time because I prefer the lows but it was never really accomplished with that sub. 

It just didn't play low for me. I had it on 2k, 3k, and 3.5k. 

The sub is rated @ 1500 but it will take a lot of CLEAN power. If you clip, it will die. 

With more power it was obviously louder but the lows just never really happened. 

Its a really great sub for the money, I'm sure you'll be happy with it. 

I tested this sub A LOT so any questions about it I can probably answer. 

[MyNameIsNoob]

13 hours ago, Mitchaford said:

This is what I built for my hdc3. JoeX did a box design here: 

 

Box was at 35hz played fairly well on the ct 2200 I had on it. 

 

I had that sub in a few other boxes over the years. 

That one 2.25 @ 35

2.5 @ 32

2.5 @ 30

All sounded great but I tuned lower each time because I prefer the lows but it was never really accomplished with that sub. 

It just didn't play low for me. I had it on 2k, 3k, and 3.5k. 

The sub is rated @ 1500 but it will take a lot of CLEAN power. If you clip, it will die. 

With more power it was obviously louder but the lows just never really happened. 

Its a really great sub for the money, I'm sure you'll be happy with it. 

I tested this sub A LOT so any questions about it I can probably answer. 

Thx man... So what changes did you notice between each? Do you think there was enough difference between 35, 32 and 30 to go that low? and did you have any issues w the 3k on the larger box, like Triticum Agricolam explained?

[MyNameIsNoob]

13 hours ago, Triticum Agricolam said:

If you like really low bass, tune low.  Unless you are going to be competing you aren't going to miss the slight amount of peak output loss from tuning a bit lower.  You can't really hear the difference between a couple Hz difference in tuning anyway.  

Thats a good point, no i wont be competing, unless we count showing off a lil from time to time lol but yea i jus want to have every bit of efficiency and potential from my box as i can... Im not the most experienced guy around, but my woodworking skills are pretty good, so ive always made my own box w pretty good results. The listed parameters on these subs jus seem to be sorta random, so i figure if enough people reply, there will be a pattern of what was working for other folks, so i just mounted it in my old box for the break in period.

[Mitchaford]

On 6/5/2017 at 2:33 PM, MyNameIsNoob said:

Thx man... So what changes did you notice between each? Do you think there was enough difference between 35, 32 and 30 to go that low? and did you have any issues w the 3k on the larger box, like Triticum Agricolam explained?

Well with the lower tuning it obviously played lower. 

The thing I didn't take into account is that the sub is only rated @ 1500 so I guess for a sub that is rated at that it played low. 

It just was a night and day difference between the HDC3 and the AA Mayhem. Thats where my comparison is really coming from. 

I'd say the best box was the 32 @ 2.5 on 3k CLEAN. Thats was in my Jetta so if you're putting this in another type of vehicle, your results will obviously be different. 

[MyNameIsNoob]

13 minutes ago, Mitchaford said:

Well with the lower tuning it obviously played lower. 

The thing I didn't take into account is that the sub is only rated @ 1500 so I guess for a sub that is rated at that it played low. 

It just was a night and day difference between the HDC3 and the AA Mayhem. Thats where my comparison is really coming from. 

I'd say the best box was the 32 @ 2.5 on 3k CLEAN. Thats was in my Jetta so if you're putting this in another type of vehicle, your results will obviously be different. 

Nice. i was kinda hopin to go 31 or 32 hz and plan on gettin a 3k amp, so thats good to hear! How much clean power do you suppose it handled based on your gain setting?

[Mitchaford]

1 hour ago, MyNameIsNoob said:

Nice. i was kinda hopin to go 31 or 32 hz and plan on gettin a 3k amp, so thats good to hear! How much clean power do you suppose it handled based on your gain setting?

All of it if it was clean. 

Those copper coils aren't that long but the sub took it fairly well. 

I could easily clip if I turned the knob just a hair and then it would get smelly fast but it took a lot of clean power. 

If you're putting this into your trunk I have no idea how it will be.

I had mine in a trunk so you could have more output than me just because of the different cabin.