Can I reuse an old subwoofer enclosure (home audio)?

[Mancave]

I have an old sub I bought from goodwill, "Precision s8." It's an old parts-express subwoofer:

Proficient S8 8" Subwoofer 303-205

It is actually pretty sturdy and feels well made. Can I put a new driver and amp/crossover/circuitry and make it a better sub? Can you reuse an enclosure like that? What could I put in it? Thanks.

edit: parts express guy said no because it was ported. How come it matters if it was ported? He said something about tuning frequency.

 

[j_garcia]

Does not matter if it is home/car/whatever if it is a good enclosure. It is a vented design and is intended for use with that driver. If you want to use a different one, you would need to either find one that will work with that tuning, change the tuning of that cabinet to suit another driver, or find a driver that will work in a sealed box and seal that one up.

*Edit just looked at it - looks like a bandpass design with the dual ports, so I'd say it is going to be tougher to work with. If I were doing it, I'd add a whole new front baffle for the new driver, which would plug both ports. Leave the existing amp in there and just pop some binding posts in somewhere and use an external amp.

I have an old Velodyne that died that I will eventually get around to doing something very similar to.

 

[Swerd]

I have an old sub I bought from goodwill, "Precision s8." It's an old parts-express subwoofer:

Proficient S8 8" Subwoofer 303-205

It is actually pretty sturdy and feels well made. Can I put a new driver and amp/crossover/circuitry and make it a better sub? Can you reuse an enclosure like that? What could I put in it? Thanks.

edit: parts express guy said no because it was ported. How come it matters if it was ported? He said something about tuning frequency.

There is more to this than finding a driver to fit in the hole in your cabinet. The usual method is to start with woofer or subwoofer, and design a cabinet for it. You will need at least 3 electromechanical properties (called the Thiele/Small parameters) of the woofer, Fs, Vas, and Qts. See Thiele/Small - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you read and understand the first three chapters in Speaker Building 201 by Ray Alden you will understand this process. These chapters will explain cabinet design and tuning for both sealed and ported cabinets.

 

[lsiberian]

You might be able to cap the ports and replace the driver. It would be a lot of work to get it dialed in and it may be for nothing.

Yes I know I'm the evil jimmy rigger. I can't promise there is a viable option.

The only one that might work is the JL Audio 8w7, but you might not have enough depth inside for that.

 

[Jeff R.]

Call Partsexpress....they may be able to recommend one.

 

[Steve81]

To offer my 2 cents, instead of trying to rig up an "upgraded" 8" subwoofer from Goodwill, you might consider just getting a Parts Express subwoofer kit like this or something similar. You get to pop in the driver and amp, and you can brag to your friends it was hand assembled with care in the US or wherever you may happen to reside.

 

[j_garcia]

Call Partsexpress....they may be able to recommend one.

He did call them and they said it wasn't a good plan.

 

[Jeff R.]

Oh....must have missed that....disregard. In that case it seems like a lot of work to salavage a cabinet.