Mavilla: Try filling the interior volume of the sub with a varied density of foam ( or polyester fiberfil as a second choice ) and turning the crossover point as low or almost as low as it will go. This should get you a lot closer to something musical rather than something that goes "boom boom". You can fine-tune the quantity i.e. how "tight" or "loose" you want the bass by varying the amount of stuffing in the box. This shouldn't cost you more than about $10 or so to try and will probably make you a whole lot happier. Don't forget to try various placements for the sub once you get things dialed in reasonably close to where you want them with the stuffing.
El: As far as motor structure and mass goes, my Brother's 5" mids and 9" woofers both have 3" voice coils. The 9's have less than 30 grams of moving mass. How's that for "transient response capability"? From what i can tell, this is equivalent to having a fully massaged "big block" bolted into a shopping cart : )
Even with this much "motor structure" and lack of reciprocating weight, these drivers don't demonstrate the high "force factor" aka "slam" that many larger and heavier drivers are capable of. The bass is very tight and punchy, but it just doesn't have the "weight" or "impact" that one can achieve by using a larger driver. Even though my Brother is using two 9" woofers per side, he knows that he's missing bottom end. That's why he's also running two larger sub-woofers per side : ) Sean
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PS... Many folks confuse large quantities of bass and / or bass over-hang with deep bass extension. Since it is easier to obtain greater output at higher frequencies than it is to go deep and maintain high levels of linearity, many manufacturers substitute "bloom" for bottom end. Once one gets rid of the "artificial boost", you can really hear the lack of extension. I am going through this right now with my Father and his system. After rebuilding / modifying his system, he thinks he's missing deep bass. Since we effectively made his cabinets larger, which extends bass response, there is NO way that this is possible. What he's doing is confusing the lack of upper bass "bloat" for deep bass extension. While he's VERY happy with the improvements in bass definition and tonality, the lack of 80 Hz bass makes him think that the system is "lean". That's why i'm working on a 15" sub-woofer for him now : )
El: As far as motor structure and mass goes, my Brother's 5" mids and 9" woofers both have 3" voice coils. The 9's have less than 30 grams of moving mass. How's that for "transient response capability"? From what i can tell, this is equivalent to having a fully massaged "big block" bolted into a shopping cart : )
Even with this much "motor structure" and lack of reciprocating weight, these drivers don't demonstrate the high "force factor" aka "slam" that many larger and heavier drivers are capable of. The bass is very tight and punchy, but it just doesn't have the "weight" or "impact" that one can achieve by using a larger driver. Even though my Brother is using two 9" woofers per side, he knows that he's missing bottom end. That's why he's also running two larger sub-woofers per side : ) Sean
>
PS... Many folks confuse large quantities of bass and / or bass over-hang with deep bass extension. Since it is easier to obtain greater output at higher frequencies than it is to go deep and maintain high levels of linearity, many manufacturers substitute "bloom" for bottom end. Once one gets rid of the "artificial boost", you can really hear the lack of extension. I am going through this right now with my Father and his system. After rebuilding / modifying his system, he thinks he's missing deep bass. Since we effectively made his cabinets larger, which extends bass response, there is NO way that this is possible. What he's doing is confusing the lack of upper bass "bloat" for deep bass extension. While he's VERY happy with the improvements in bass definition and tonality, the lack of 80 Hz bass makes him think that the system is "lean". That's why i'm working on a 15" sub-woofer for him now : )