Audioholics Reviews their first DIY Subwoofer, the CSS SDX12 Sealed Kit!

[annunaki]

Are there any plans for a DIY 3-way with the SDX12 that you know of? I'd be very interested.

You could probably swap it in place of the SDX10 in Javad Shadzi’s Enthraal’s.

DIY Loudspeaker Project Pad | New Project Enthraals Intro | Facebook

New Project Enthraals Intro! This is a project I’ve been excited to start for a while, called the Enthraals, they feature high end no holds barred drivers from Raal and CSS Drivers are Raal 70-20...

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I am sure there are other designs it would work with too.

 

[santodx5]

Hi Guys,

I just joined this forum. I would love to learn more about DIY sub drivers.

In your opinion, what is the best 12" and 15" DIY sub driver available now? My amp can do up to 2000w per channel.

I am using 4 DIY rockford fosgate T1D215 at the moment.

Thank you

 

[Verdinut]

Hi Guys,

I just joined this forum. I would love to learn more about DIY sub drivers.

In your opinion, what is the best 12" and 15" DIY sub driver available now? My amp can do up to 2000w per channel.

I am using 4 DIY rockford fosgate T1D215 at the moment.

Thank you

What is the sub to be used for? If it is to be used in a home environment, Parts-Express have enclosure packages using a Dayton RSS390HF-4 driver, which can handle a peak power of 1000 watts. As a matter of fact, I am using 3 of those in my HT system. This is a very smooth driver having a low distortion, which will operate well in an 8 to 9 net cf ported box for best performance:

Home

Dayton Audio RSS390HF-4 15" Reference HF Subwoofer 4 OhmThe Dayton Audio Reference Series RSS390HF-4 15" speakers take the quality and performance of the much acclaimed RS line into the subwoofer realm. As with the rest of the Reference Series, the main focus of these subwoofers is...

www.parts-express.com

 

[santodx5]

What is the sub to be used for? If it is to be used in a home environment, Parts-Express have enclosure packages using a Dayton RSS390HF-4 driver, which can handle a peak power of 1000 watts. As a matter of fact, I am using 3 of those in my HT system. This is a very smooth driver having a low distortion, which will operate well in an 8 to 9 net cf ported box for best performance:

Home

Dayton Audio RSS390HF-4 15" Reference HF Subwoofer 4 OhmThe Dayton Audio Reference Series RSS390HF-4 15" speakers take the quality and performance of the much acclaimed RS line into the subwoofer realm. As with the rest of the Reference Series, the main focus of these subwoofers is...

www.parts-express.com

Yes HT and music. I am not confidence with Parts express component. I am looking at the best sub woofer driver!

Btw what app do u use to measure distortion? Any tutorial? I have never done it, I do have smaart for XO/alignment and EQ.

 

[Verdinut]

Yes HT and music. I am not confidence with Parts express component. I am looking at the best sub woofer driver!

Btw what app do u use to measure distortion? Any tutorial? I have never done it, I do have smaart for XO/alignment and EQ.

You don't seem to know much about loudspeakers. Dayton subwoofers are among the best drivers for a DIY project. I have been building speakers for more than 50 years and I know what I am talking about. I know how a loudspeaker is built and performs.

The people who gave bad reviews on the subwoofer I recommended to you, lack the knowledge and don't know how to build a speaker enclosure. Just don't believe all the bullshit that is published on websites and on Youtube.

Edit: I don't have to measure distortion and I don't hear it with the Dayton subwoofers. Yes I have equipment to test loudspeakers. I use the Dayton DATS testing equipment and the OmniMic software to test speakers and frequency response. This equipment is reliable and precise:

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OmniMic V2 and DATS V3 Dayton Audio Speaker Measurement BundleAccurate measurements and specs are essential when designing and building speaker systems and Dayton Audio's OmniMic V2 and DATS V3 can help you with each step in the process. Whether you are verifying the T/S parameters of a woofer...

www.parts-express.com

I also use BassBox 6 Pro for designing enclosures and Harristech X-Over Pro for building precise passive crossovers.

 

[lovinthehd]

Hi Guys,

I just joined this forum. I would love to learn more about DIY sub drivers.

In your opinion, what is the best 12" and 15" DIY sub driver available now? My amp can do up to 2000w per channel.

I am using 4 DIY rockford fosgate T1D215 at the moment.

Thank you

What's wrong with the current subs' performance? I look to Stereo Integrity drivers myself for diy. Just having a high wattage is meaningless in and of itself, altho it may come into play if using a sealed box more than a ported box. Nothing wrong with Dayton offerings either.

 

[santodx5]

What's wrong with the current subs' performance? I look to Stereo Integrity drivers myself for diy. Just having a high wattage is meaningless in and of itself, altho it may come into play if using a sealed box more than a ported box. Nothing wrong with Dayton offerings either.

I may want to add 2 subs in the future, I am looking for better driver.

Stereo Integrity looks insane! 76mm XMAX? I want to find 12"/15" drives as bigger will not fit in my room.

Any other recommendation?

Thanks

 

[lovinthehd]

I may want to add 2 subs in the future, I am looking for better driver.

Stereo Integrity looks insane! 76mm XMAX? I want to find 12"/15" drives as bigger will not fit in my room.

Any other recommendation?

Thanks

I like 18"s. There used to be a few more smaller driver options at SI but due to circumstances of its owner, not so much now.

 

[ryanosaur]

I may want to add 2 subs in the future, I am looking for better driver.

Stereo Integrity looks insane! 76mm XMAX? I want to find 12"/15" drives as bigger will not fit in my room.

Any other recommendation?

Thanks

Do the SQL-15s from Stereo Integrity. Dual 4-ohm VCs wired in parallel for a 2-ohm load per driver.
Call it a day.

 

[santodx5]

I like 18"s. There used to be a few more smaller driver options at SI but due to circumstances of its owner, not so much now.

HST-18/HS-24 is doable if I use sealed enclosure.

Do you have freq response of above drivers in main listening position or near field?

 

[lovinthehd]

HST-18/HS-24 is doable if I use sealed enclosure.

Do you have freq response of above drivers in main listening position or near field?

Try these

Data-Bass: Subwoofer Measurements

data-bass.com

Data-Bass: Subwoofer Measurements

data-bass.com

Deep Sea Sound offers a finished product, too.

 

[Verdinut]

Yes HT and music. I am not confidence with Parts express component. I am looking at the best sub woofer driver!

Btw what app do u use to measure distortion? Any tutorial? I have never done it, I do have smaart for XO/alignment and EQ.

If you are looking for lower distortion, IMO you should build a ported box. Vented designs, as they are more efficient than the sealed type, don't require EQ boost to produce the lower frequencies which increases driver distortion.

 

[3db]

Thank you for the write up. Does this kit come up with its own plate amp or do they have recommendations on one.

 

[santodx5]

Please do a DIY NSW 21" devastator review.

Thanks

 

[lovinthehd]

Please do a DIY NSW 21" devastator review.

Thanks

Build one, set it up for AH to review, or maybe audiosciencereview or erin's audio corner....

 

[squeedle]

@Matthew J Poes , in the article you said you like to run your L+R mains with no high-pass, and then you use a 4th order low pass on the sub around 100Hz? Am I reading that right? Wouldn't that produce a huge bump around 100Hz where anything lower is notably louder than anything above?

 

[Dimitris_dsgg]

Have you ever wondered how typical DIY subwoofers stack up against the commercial competition? With DIY subwoofers being one of the first DIY projects enthusiasts take on, and certainly one of the first speaker designs I took on, I was very curious how a DIY subwoofer would compare to a commercial offering in value and performance.

View attachment 34260

I finally got my opportunity when CSS loaned us a prebuilt sample of their SDX12 driver in a small sealed enclosure. This mighty driver is a very high excursion driver, likely with more linear excursion than most moderately priced commercial offerings. Further, it is optimized for a very small enclosure. In many ways, this DIY subwoofer matched the size and style of many sealed commercial subwoofers and I just happened to have this subwoofer at the same time as I had access to a handful of similar commercial offerings.

We at audioholics put this subwoofer through it's paces in exactly the same way we would have for any commercial subwoofer. This included full CEA-2010 testing. To see what we found, review my review in the link below and come back here to let us know what you think.

Creative Sound Solutions SDX12 12" Sealed Subwoofer DIY Kit Review

We built and tested the Creative Sound Solutions SDX12 Subwoofer kit. Does the DIY 12" sealed subwoofer kit buy you more performance than commercial offerings? Read on to find out.

www.audioholics.com

I'm really curious how this https://www.soundimports.eu/en/css-sdx12-dualapr12-kit.html would compare to the single sealed CSS 12 kit.
It's a dual passive radiator, but since I don't have much experience on those things, I don't know if the passive radiators can add some SPL, or deeper extension or you loose "tightness" during heavy bass music.

 

[TLS Guy]

I'm really curious how this https://www.soundimports.eu/en/css-sdx12-dualapr12-kit.html would compare to the single sealed CSS 12 kit.
It's a dual passive radiator, but since I don't have much experience on those things, I don't know if the passive radiators can add some SPL, or deeper extension or you loose "tightness" during heavy bass music.

You use passive radiators when you don't have room for the port or ports. So the modelling is very similar to ported, but in a ported enclosure bass rolls off at 24db per octave below F3, but in a passive radiator design it tolls off at 36db per octave below F3. So the passive radiator design rolls off 12db per octave faster below F3. A sealed enclosure rolls off 12db below the F3 of the enclosure. However, the F3 is always at least an octave above the Fs of the driver, so a sealed enclosure needs a 12db per octave boost below the F3 of the design, and then high passing below the Fs of the driver to prevent driver over extension and damage. The only advantage of a sealed design is smaller cabinet size, otherwise it is all negative.
That is sub design 101.

So if you have carpentry skills a sub project is not that difficult. You just have to get the hang of doing the modelling, so you get a good performing sub.

The F3 is the point at which the output begins to roll off and is 3db below the output above F3.