Rebuilding my sub... would there be an improvement?

[Hi Ho]

I built my subwoofer two or three years ago. It has an Ascendant Audio Atlas 12" woofer and a PE 240w plate amp. The box is quite large and with the port it is tuned to 16hz. Now, I think it could use more power. I also think I could do better with the size of the box. That is, making it smaller. The enclosure was made following some plans given to me by members at AVS Forums.

The sub sounds OK but it seems to lack in its upper range. It doesn't have much in the way of tactical feel when producing very loud and low bass. It is probably tuned a bit too low. I want low bass but I don't want to sacrifice sound quality.

What kind of amp would be best for this driver? 240w isn't very much. I can't access the specs for this driver because the Ascendant Audio website is down right now. Would a 500w Bash amp be suitable or would I be better off using a pro amp in bridged mode? Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[j_garcia]

The 500w BASH amp really only puts out 238 RMS at 8 ohms if you read the specs. You're likely getting that already out of the current amp. Check out Rythmik Audio's A350 - it will give you over 100 more watts and will be a fairly decent step up from the PE amp. Either that or step up to the 1K BASH.

Have you considered looking at just changing the tuning of the box? Maybe it is tuned too low? With tuning that low, I would expect you to lose some output overall, and that may affect the upper range. What do the specs say about that driver, maybe it doesn't perform well in the upper range?

 

[Seth=L]

The 500w BASH amp really only puts out 238 RMS at 8 ohms if you read the specs. You're likely getting that already out of the current amp. Check out Rythmik Audio's A350 - it will give you over 100 more watts and will be a fairly decent step up from the PE amp. Either that or step up to the 1K BASH.

Have you considered looking at just changing the tuning of the box? Maybe it is tuned too low? With tuning that low, I would expect you to lose some output overall, and that may affect the upper range. What do the specs say about that driver, maybe it doesn't perform well in the upper range?

The Rythmik A350 is only 245 RMS @ 8 Ohms. The are fairly in-line with one another, unless you were comparing that to the PE.

 

[j_garcia]

I own the A350 and have heard the 240, and there is a big difference.

 

[Seth=L]

I own the A350 and have heard the 240, and there is a big difference.

No dispute there, I thought you were comparing the A350 to the Bash amp in terms of power. My mistake.

 

[j_garcia]

Ahh, I see. I reread what I said and it does look like I was comparing it to the BASH amp.

 

[Hi Ho]

It could be the tuning. I could try messing with that. However, I know the driver can handle a lot more power than my amp is providing and I can't see how more power would hurt.

The problem is that I cannot find the specs for this driver anywhere. The Ascendant Audio website just has the message about their merger with Resonant Engineering.

I said that my sub seems to be lacking in the upper range but that may not be the case. It's really hard to say for sure. It may very well be my room. It's a large room with very large windows and openings and I just don't get the mid bass punch that I hear/feel on so many other systems that I work with every day.

 

[j_garcia]

What about the mains?

 

[Hi Ho]

The speakers are DIY as well, seen HERE. They have very good bass response. I have no way of measuring the response but I can say they do very well without a sub (PureDirect mode).

The drivers used were Dayton RS-150 6" Woofer and Dayton DC28FS Silk Dome Tweeter. The enclosure is 624in^3 and the port is 2 1/2" diameter and 5" long.

The sub enclosure volume is 3ft^3 and the port length, if memory serves me right, is 16".

 

[j_garcia]

Have you run a room response on the sub in your room? I would say room is more likely, but it could be the sub too, or both. It could be that you have a peak or two in the lower range that makes the upper end sound uneven.

 

[Hi Ho]

The closest thing I have to running a room response is the YAPO system on my Yamaha 2700. It shows that it used the EQ to cut 62.5hz by 3.5dB. It's not a detailed graph.

 

[annunaki]

I would try a high quality sub eq such as a behringer for improving the higer end response.

 

[mtrycrafts]

The closest thing I have to running a room response is the YAPO system on my Yamaha 2700. It shows that it used the EQ to cut 62.5hz by 3.5dB. It's not a detailed graph.

Or, using that Behringer to cut the lower end where it is loud and boosting it overall by receiver volume. But, you need a better idea of your room's response curve and at a better resolution than 1/3 octave.

 

[annunaki]

Or, using that Behringer to cut the lower end where it is loud and boosting it overall by receiver volume. But, you need a better idea of your room's response curve and at a better resolution than 1/3 octave.

I agree with that as well.

 

[mjhamre]

Free Frequency Response Software

If you are building your own sub you probably already know about this program, but I downloaded Room EQ Wizard a couple of months ago and it worked out great. Uses your computer and a Radio Shack SPL meter, plus cables that you probably have handy. Nice graphs of frequency response, waterfall, etc. I'm going to use it to do full range testing in a new place that I'm moving into, so I picked up a $50 mic and $50 mic amp, but the Radio Shack meter works well for low frequencies, and is something that a lot of people have on hand. The software is free and well supported with forums. It took a bit of fiddling, but was not tough to set up.