Placement of subwoofers with passive radiators

[vvume]

Hi,

I would like to place my DefTech Supercube II subwoofer against a cabinet on a side that has one of the two passive radiators on that sub. It sounded ok, but is it likely to cause any long term damage to the sub/driver to have a passive radiator fenced off by a cabinet panel or distort the sound?

Thanks,

 

[markw]

It won't cause any harm but giving it a few inches of breathing space might help the sound.

 

[j_garcia]

Placing a sub inside another cabinet is never a good idea sound wise, but no damage should be caused. Agree with Mark, clearance would be better, but as long as the PR isn't actually touching the cabinet during excursion, should be OK.

 

[vvume]

Thanks. The cloth grille will be touching the cabinet side, but I haven't checked to see if the radiator would extrude as far as that and actually touch the cabinet. I also assume that the radiator on the panel side would be muted in its performance, and force the other radiator, which is facing the open side, to take more of the internal pressure?

 

[j_garcia]

A PR design sort of behaves like a sealed sub which is a little bit of a benefit to this type of placement. With those little deftechs, they get air movement by large excursion, but the PRs don't move quite as much as the driver itself. Try it out and see how it does.

 

[KEW]

Thanks. The cloth grille will be touching the cabinet side, but I haven't checked to see if the radiator would extrude as far as that and actually touch the cabinet. I also assume that the radiator on the panel side would be muted in its performance, and force the other radiator, which is facing the open side, to take more of the internal pressure?

I agree that by restricting the freedom of one radiator, the other will be pushed harder. If you are planning to drive it really hard, there may be some concerns for long term durability. I assume DefTech employs the usual limiters to prevent sub from destroying itself.