Someone stop me before I do something stupid! *15" woofer drooling*

[Bluesmoke]

First off, I love my SVS PB10! It's a great sub. But I recently heard a custom 15" sealed Sub at a house party. It was a DIY the guy bought locally. Now, his room was roughly the same size as mine and in both rooms a 10" or 12" would be more than enough. But we all gathered around to watch The Incredible Hulk (2008) on Blu-ray and I was floored by the clarity, depth, output. This sub had oomph, and it went low.

My measly PB10 can't compete with that and now I want that sound in my home.

I'm really drooling for th ULS. I don't want a giant sub and this fits the bill. The rosewood finish is gorgeous and it's a quality sub. The catch? I live in Canada. Shipping is a pain and it's still too expensive for me. Would I be able to go a DIY route for a sealed 15" for a lot less money?

 

[GlocksRock]

Yes, DIY will almost always be cheaper and better for less money, at least if you know what you are doing.

 

[Adam]

Huh, I thought that "stupid" on here was NOT buying something.

Do you like the wireless aspect of the ULS, or are you just liking the 15" sealed design?

 

[Chopin_Guy]

As Glocks said, you will be able to do better for less money...or you could even come close price and have a unit like ParadigmDawg's new DIY and that will be an absolute beast...

 

[Bluesmoke]

The thing is, I don't have the know how or the equipment to do a DIY job. I was hoping I could buy a cabinet, 15" woofer, the amp and just put it together.

The wireless aspect of the HSU is a plus. My sub cable goes under my seating so it's not a big deal. I think the sealed aspect of it is what drew me in. It's such a tight, controlled bass, compared to port designs to me.

 

[GlocksRock]

You can buy kits, check out the sub kits at parts express, the Dayton Titanic stuff looks nice.

 

[WmAx]

Sealed is generally a poor choice for deep powerful bass with the exception of a few very capable drivers. And I do mean very few....

In any event, a commercial sub is not going to get you anywhere unless you spend a substantial amount that would still in the end.... get you much farther with the DIY route.

You need to establish a realistic budget. Then I will be glad to make suggestions for you.

-Chris

 

[Warpdrv]

I beg to differ with WmAx to a certain point.... Sealed in a small room can and will get you that low bass, not as low or efficiently as ported, but it can work. I am hitting the high teens effectively with my sealed F112 in my bedroom.

I really don't get all caught up with the 10hz and all that stuff, as long as I am getting a decent response in the upper teens thats all I care for. My biggest thing is finding a driver that will sound as good as my JL F112 does in the upper bass, and now that I have finished 2 of my Mal-X's I can confidently say I love these drivers...

There is nothing wrong with buying commercial, as its little work and you also get the wireless flexibility with HSU's ULS-15, but again its expensive.

DIY is certainly going to achieve more with less money, but there is a good amount of work involved, but its worth it in the end. IMO

 

[WmAx]

I beg to differ with WmAx to a certain point.... Sealed in a small room can and will get you that low bass, not as low or efficiently as ported, but it can work. I am hitting the high teens effectively with my sealed F112 in my bedroom.

I really don't get all caught up with the 10hz and all that stuff, as long as I am getting a decent response in the upper teens thats all I care for. My biggest thing is finding a driver that will sound as good as my JL F112 does in the upper bass, and now that I have finished 2 of my Mal-X's I can confidently say I love these drivers...

There is nothing wrong with buying commercial, as its little work and you also get the wireless flexibility with HSU's ULS-15, but again its expensive.

DIY is certainly going to achieve more with less money, but there is a good amount of work involved, but its worth it in the end. IMO

Warpdrive.... you are really not one to speak here. You are using a JL W7... this specifically comes under the part of my post that said : "Sealed is generally a poor choice for deep powerful bass with the exception of a few very capable drivers."

The W7 drivers come under this exception, and you know, that few drivers are comparable.

-Chris

 

[mike c]

i think the better question is, what driver your friend has and what amp ... also what EQ.

let's start from there ...

 

[Warpdrv]

Warpdrive.... you are really not one to speak here. You are using a JL W7... this specifically comes under the part of my post that said : "Sealed is generally a poor choice for deep powerful bass with the exception of a few very capable drivers."

The W7 drivers come under this exception, and you know, that few drivers are comparable.

-Chris

Ok ya got me....

But the ULS-15 can work in a small to medium size room and still work for low bass (upper teens), but again it all depends on the size of the room...

Bluesmoke - what size room are we talking about here...?

 

[WmAx]

The thing is, I don't have the know how or the equipment to do a DIY job. I was hoping I could buy a cabinet, 15" woofer, the amp and just put it together.

The wireless aspect of the HSU is a plus. My sub cable goes under my seating so it's not a big deal. I think the sealed aspect of it is what drew me in. It's such a tight, controlled bass, compared to port designs to me.

You can buy a driver, pre-made cabinet, amp and a control processor(you can't leave this part out if you want proper performance with sealed designs - they all use frequency response curve correction to obtain flat extended response) and do just as you want. But only a few drivers are suited to do this well, as to get low frequencies with high SPL and low distortion requires a driver with extraordinary excursion and motor linearity. I will be glad to recommend specific products if you are interested and specify a budget.

BTW, a sealed offers nothing over a properly designed ported system in sound quality. In fact, a properly designed ported system will exceed the SQ of the sealed system at higher SPL ranges due to lowered distortion. FYI: using a processor such as the DCX you can make a ported design sound exactly like a sealed system by re-shaping the response curve.

-Chris

 

[Bluesmoke]

My room is about 1500 cu/f. I didn't see the sub up close. It was behind his couch and there's a wall right behind it. I could tell it had a BASH amp like design, and the cabinet was square. He took off the grill and it was for sure a sealed design. I'll get some more info. It was on sale in the local classifieds back in summer, when he picked it up.

As far as price for parts, I'm looking at about $600US total.

 

[WmAx]

My room is about 1500 cu/f. I didn't see the sub up close. It was behind his couch and there's a wall right behind it. I could tell it had a BASH amp like design, and the cabinet was square. He took off the grill and it was for sure a sealed design. I'll get some more info. It was on sale in the local classifieds back in summer, when he picked it up.

As far as price for parts, I'm looking at about $600US total.

I have been mulling this around, and the problem is, fitting exactly in your budget with high quality hardware. I'm not going to recommend a 15" woofer like the Dayton Titanic or Dayton RS or most other 15s... they just don't perform well in sealed applications with deep bass response.

About the cheapest 15" woofer that does pretty good sealed is the Acoustic Elegance AE15. The Sound Splinter 15" is superior - but it costs a bit more. Now, the problem is amplifier power. No reasonable plate amp is going to drive these woofers properly. You need at least 1000Watts at the bare minimum, to get good 20-22Hz output levels. In addition, sealed applications require parametric EQ to get a smooth/flat response. So this has to be considered in the budget. There is a 12" driver that has MORE linear displacement than most 15s, and would work well with a 500 watt O Audio plate amp, and that amp has built in parametric EQ. That driver is the Eclipse SW8200 and you can definitely fit this in your project budget. Use in a 3-4 cubic foot sealed cabinet. Don't let size fool you - this is no ordinary 12" driver and it will literally humiliate the majority of 15" drivers in a sealed application so far as LF extension capability. Now, if you are willing to accept a -3 point around 30-34 Hz instead of 20Hz, you can use these 15" drivers with a reasonable plate amplifier. But the EQ required to get substantial flat output to the 20's requires much more power.

-Chris

 

[WooHoo]

Cracks me up!

I read your review of the PB10 and it came just short of the second coming! "It does everything I would want it to!"

Now, less than 5 months later comes the quote "My measly PB10..."

ROTFLOL

This just proves what I really love about this hobby. There is always something out that bigger, better or badder!

If you pull the trigger on that 15" DIY we hope to get another review as good as the review you did on the PB10!

Good Luck!

 

[Bluesmoke]

I read your review of the PB10 and it came just short of the second coming! "It does everything I would want it to!"

Now, less than 5 months later comes the quote "My measly PB10..."

ROTFLOL

This just proves what I really love about this hobby. There is always something out that bigger, better or badder!

If you pull the trigger on that 15" DIY we hope to get another review as good as the review you did on the PB10!

Good Luck!

Ah but you see, in my review I said: " I'm relieved that my subwoofer quest is over - at least for the near future."

I just love good bass.

 

[WmAx]

Ah but you see, in my review I said: " I'm relieved that my subwoofer quest is over - at least for the near future."

I just love good bass.

GOOD bass? A pair of Eclipse SW8200 in an average sized room, sir, is not 'good' bass. It's utter perfection in sound quality.

-Chris

 

[Hi Ho]

I built a Rythmik Audio DS1500 sub a while back and it reaches 14hz in a sealed cabinet. It is an amazing sub and I couldn't be happier with it. Unfortunately the prices have increased quite a bit since I bought my parts.

They offer completed subs as well. The D15 is identical to my DIY sub but twice as expensive. They have other models that are slightly less expensive.

There were plans for a ported and sealed design when I built mine and the response graph for the sealed design looked better and after talking with the guys at Rythmik I settled on sealed. I have no regrets. I never thought a seald sub would perform like this one does.