This discussion is too good not to be its own thread: if subs have a car equivalent, which cars would be which subs? I think we have to define our ranges before we can really start making matches here. So lets say that the lowest end subwoofer is something that you get in a $120 HTiB, like a passive, plastic bandpass enclosure loaded with a very cheap 5" woofer. That would be like the crappiest car you can buy. I think in our analogy, even equating them to cars would to too kind, we might say these are like a vespa or a rickshaw. In fact I think that we should only be considering powered subs since a car equivalent to a passive sub would be like a car with no engine.
But the nicest sub would be something like the
Funk 18.2 or
Magico Q-sub. Let's say these are like the Koenigsegg or Bugatti Veyron of subwoofers. With that being the scale, what is your sub the car equivalent of? What would the more popular subwoofer be in cars, or even less well known brands?
For me, I would say that handling the equivalent of linearity, and output the equivalent of speed. Let's say that top speed is like maximum long-term output, and 0-60 or 0-100 is like CEA-2010 burst output. I guess braking distance would be like group delay.
To set some kind of standard here, I will start by saying that one of the most common and least expensive subs, the
Polk PS108 is now the least expensive new car, the Nissan Versa ($12,110). So what does that make a Paradigm Signature Sub 2? Or an SVS PB16-Ultra? or a Dayton Sub1500? an Hsu Research VTF-3 mk5? or a Deep Sea Sound Mariana 24S? Tell me what you think!
