Best Subwoofer EVER

[Bucknekked]

I will apologize in advance: this really isn't about a subwoofer in the traditional audio sense. But since I can tie it to subwoofers, I will risk offending the subwoofer community.

Yesterday I spent the day out at the NHRA drag races listening to subwoofers that had 8 drivers in each cabinet using a rear facing ported tube for each driver. They weren't driven by mere amplifiers, they were driven by 11,000 horsepower engines. The sound they produce is unique: you can feel your internal organs vibrate with each firing of each woofer.

Even at a distance of over 100 feet, the SPL they generate will actually vibrate your organs and internal body parts at a level that just never gets old. Try as you might, I don't know that I have ever heard an audio system of any kind reproduce that "sound" or feeling. I can replay a drag race on a home theater, and it just aint the same.

QUESTION: Does anyone know the SPL statistics or general audio measurements of an NHRA dragster? What is it that gives it that unique quality of vibrating your guts even over a relatively long distance?

The lady in the attached video set an NHRA world record on Friday night. Yep, a blond lady driving a dragster to world record times. Our world continues to be a cool place to live. And DAMN, is her car loud.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Yep. Her name is Leah Pritchett, and drives for Don Schumacher. Father of Tony. I grew up an Brainerd international raceway, with fuel cars. You're right. There's nothing like it in the world. I don't have statistical data, but I used the spl meter in my phone while next to one at idle, and got around 119 iirc. That was an old front engine machine too, but I would guess around 125db in close proximity.
Are you a regular fan, or was this a special thing?

 

[Bucknekked]

It was both. We are long time fans and we had a reason to celebrate. One of my sons got comped for the event including getting to go trackside for the last race of the day.. He is associated with Matco Tools so we got to meet Antron Brown (the driver of the Matco Army car) and watch him light it up at point blank range.

 

[lovinthehd]

I've seen reports of 140-160 dB for such.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I've seen reports of 140-160 dB for such.

I would say that's probably accurate when they're making a pass.

 

[shadyJ]

Yep. Her name is Leah Pritchett, and drives for Don Schumacher. Father of Tony. I grew up an Brainerd international raceway, with fuel cars. You're right. There's nothing like it in the world. I don't have statistical data, but I used the spl meter in my phone while next to one at idle, and got around 119 iirc. That was an old front engine machine too, but I would guess around 125db in close proximity.
Are you a regular fan, or was this a special thing?

Your phone's mic was clipping, they get much louder than 120. I have a pretty good SPL meter, but it only goes up to 130 dB, and that's a pretty good dynamic range. These cars will surpass that easy. Whatever their maximum SPL, at these events, hearing protection is absolutely needed. I can assure you that driver and her team are losing their hearing, despite the precautions they are taking to protect their hearing, because even attenuating these kind of SPLs by 30 dB would not be enough.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Yeah I'm sure it was clipping. It definitely was acting strange when I tried it. It was only at idle too. Front engine dragster cackle fest.
Love the smell of nitro in the morning!!!

 

[Bucknekked]

Your phone's mic was clipping, they get much louder than 120. I have a pretty good SPL meter, but it only goes up to 130 dB, and that's a pretty good dynamic range. These cars will surpass that easy. Whatever their maximum SPL, at these events, hearing protection is absolutely needed. I can assure you that driver and her team are losing their hearing, despite the precautions they are taking to protect their hearing, because even attenuating these kind of SPLs by 30 dB would not be enough.

Shadyj
We learned a long time ago about hearing protection for events like this. We love the sound ! It is a visceral experience. But we wear hearing protection and keep the exposure to a minimum. I too have often wondered about the drivers hearing exposure and potential loss. I know from being in the Air Force and working around jet engines I have hearing loss even though I always wore hearing protection. I can't imagine the drivers of these cars are escaping hearing loss unless they have some pretty exotic protection devices.

As we left the event even at a half mile away the sound was unmistakable. These things truly are the most awesome subwoofers I have ever heard.

 

[MrBoat]

I get to work on some pretty righteous engines, engine parts. Here is twin turbos that are going on an American V-8, to the tune of about 2200 hp. I have a vintage Ford Bronco that at one time, was pushing about 415 hp (had to detune it when I found out was gonna be a dad) that really used to surprise the youngsters with the Mustang GT's, just with the 4 wheel burnouts alone. I can assure you, even something as streetable as that with open headers is very loud.

I have welded some pretty exotic engine parts. Some for boats that are way up there as well. Monster trucks, you name it, I've welded it.

There's two turbos in this plumbing pile. I think he told me 50# of boost, IIRC. A little after work project on a loud 8x subwoofer.

 

[lovinthehd]

Now if you wanted to reproduce that with a sub, maybe the Danley Matterhorn would do okay....http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/the-matterhorn/

 

[Pogre]

Now if you wanted to reproduce that with a sub, maybe the Danley Matterhorn would do okay....http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/the-matterhorn/

Holy crap. So... I'm assuming you're working on the cabinet for one of those to put in your room right now?

What an interesting thread. I've not been much of a Nascar guy, but I have plenty of friends who are. I've never thought about a dragster as a subwoofer, but I can definitely see what you're saying. I've driven past the racetrack out here a few times when stuff was going on and you can easily hear it over the freeway noise.

 

[MrBoat]

I think Buck has found the perfect subwoofer for another member's integrated amp that it won't blow up.

 

[yepimonfire]

Some of the vibrations you're feeling are infrasonic as well. I bet if you recorded it with a high quality mic with good low end response you'd find in a spectrograph that there is quite a lot of content below 20hz.

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[Bucknekked]

Some of the vibrations you're feeling are infrasonic as well. I bet if you recorded it with a high quality mic with good low end response you'd find in a spectrograph that there is quite a lot of content below 20hz.

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I am going to wager you are correct. I don't know what the overall sonic package looks like, but I think its a safe bet there's content below 20hz in large quantities. I've been thinking about it during the last week after the races. Its such a compelling experience: the hearing, feeling, smelling and seeing. When "normal" sized drag racers fire it up, its pretty loud and you can't miss it. But when the top fuel guys (and gals) fire it up, it simply demands your attention like nothing else. It is a visceral experience as much as an auditory one. Anything that shakes your guts demands your attention.

I suppose this is an example, for you guys with recording experience, of sound production that will never get equaled on a sound re-production system. What it takes to produce the sound in the first place is so over the top that re-creating it just isn't feasible (or safe). I guess that means we will all have to leave our listening spaces occasionally and go to the race track and hear it for real. It will put those paper subwoofers in perspective.

 

[lovinthehd]

Check out this article on the challenges of recording such http://www.sportsvideo.org/2012/11/08/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close-mixers-at-nhra-finals-deal-with-165-db/

 

[Bucknekked]

Check out this article on the challenges of recording such http://www.sportsvideo.org/2012/11/08/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close-mixers-at-nhra-finals-deal-with-165-db/

quotes from the article posted by lovinthehd:

"if you haven’t heard top-fuel dragsters up close, then you don’t know what loud really is.

“Massive [sound-pressure levels]. One hundred sixty-five dB. It’s like standing next to an explosion; it rattles your internal organs.”

That’s Tim Record speaking about what it’s like to be the A1 mixer for ESPN’s broadcasts of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, which has held 23 events since February, leading up to next month’s finals. “The sound can be deceiving, since so much of it is felt rather than actually heard,”

If anyone interested in just how loud loud is, read the article posted by lovinthehd. I think it expresses what I was trying to get across with the thread with an experts view: the guys at ESPN who try and record it for broadcast. I suppose that may be the viewpoint that truly exposes how much the experience of being there will differ from anything our recording technology can capture. You feel the sound more than hear it.
Now that's a kickass subwoofer.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd love to see a spectral analysis of the frequencies involved....

 

[Bucknekked]

I'd love to see a spectral analysis of the frequencies involved....

get Gene out there with his gear.............have an AH sponsored tent and make a day of it.
what better event to go to for Audioholics than one that will permanently damage your hearing if you don't strap your ears shut? I think it would be a hoot. The hoot would be seeing audio nerds mixing it up with drag race fans. I might pay to see that.

 

[Diesel57]

get Gene out there with his gear.............have an AH sponsored tent and make a day of it.
what better event to go to for Audioholics than one that will permanently damage your hearing if you don't strap your ears shut? I think it would be a hoot. The hoot would be seeing audio nerds mixing it up with drag race fans. I might pay to see that.

There's no convincing me that you would pass on that venture, I'm experiencing the excitement and energy from the testimonies being posted...Simply mind boggling...

 

[yepimonfire]

I'm sure you could record it just fine so long as you can avoid clipping the input. Even cheaper mics can pick up frequencies down to 5hz, but really it's more down to the spl level. That feeling in your chest you get is between 30-50hz anyways. If you extract an audio track from a movie and load it up into a DAW program and plot the spectrum of the lfe channel you will find most of the content falls in that range.

Properly capturing the dynamic range wouldn't be a problem either using 32 bit recording dithered down to 24bit.

The real problem is playing it back. For one, almost no equipment is calibrated for 165dB. 0dBfs in theater equates to 105dB, so you'd have to add 60dB of gain. 105dB with consumer gear is already difficult enough. A danley labs matterhorn at 2m in an enclosed space should do the trick

quotes from the article posted by lovinthehd:

"if you haven’t heard top-fuel dragsters up close, then you don’t know what loud really is.

“Massive [sound-pressure levels]. One hundred sixty-five dB. It’s like standing next to an explosion; it rattles your internal organs.”

That’s Tim Record speaking about what it’s like to be the A1 mixer for ESPN’s broadcasts of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, which has held 23 events since February, leading up to next month’s finals. “The sound can be deceiving, since so much of it is felt rather than actually heard,”

If anyone interested in just how loud loud is, read the article posted by lovinthehd. I think it expresses what I was trying to get across with the thread with an experts view: the guys at ESPN who try and record it for broadcast. I suppose that may be the viewpoint that truly exposes how much the experience of being there will differ from anything our recording technology can capture. You feel the sound more than hear it.
Now that's a kickass subwoofer.

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