Has anyone built a pro audio subwoofer? I was looking through PE's subwoofers and they have some pretty cool pro audio subwoofer drivers, at least they look good to me... I saw a sub that had an SPL of 101. I was not sure of how good Pyle was. But it seems like you could get some big sound from a driver with that high of sensitivity. What do you guys think? Kevin
I have never heard good things about Pyle. You should check out aespeakers.com. The TD subwoofers are supposed to be Pro and from what I have heard, they are amazing.
Ya I have never heard a Pyle driver I liked. But some times a company can have a different line of products that are good. But putting Pyle aside all of the subwoofer projects I have seen have not been "Pro Audio" or have high SPL. It might be interesting to see what a high SPL subwoofer could do. What do you think? Kevin
Well, there is a lot more to it than simply efficiency. For subwoofer duty, displacement is arguably the most important thing to look at. Pro drivers generally gain efficiency by giving up linear throw, so just like everything else in audio - nothing comes free. That being said - I like efficient drivers and cabinets. Achieving reference level bass with less than 250 watts is great. No issues with driver excursion or roasting of voice coils. When I want to get silly, I still have plenty left in the tank too. Same rules apply as always: Loud Small Low Pick two, sacrifice the third. No way around this - it is simply applied physics, and those laws are universal. Pyle? Many years ago, they used to be great. Now? Not worth the $$$, period. In my opinion, you don't even get what you've paid for.
I hear ya bro, I just thought it might be interesting to see what happens with a more efficient subwoofer. In theory you wouldn't need as much power to drive a more efficient subwoofer would you? Kevin
All else being equal, yes, efficiency is paramount. Less power required, less chance of driver damage due to power. Efficiency is a very good thing. Problem oftentimes is that all else is not equal, meaning that to get the efficiency we must sacrifice extension, or vice versa. Fundamentally, the role of a sub is extension, so efficiency is sacrificed. What defines extension? It varies for all of us, based on what we're trying to do It all comes down to where you want to get off the train. I'd choose a different driver for an over-the-top home theater vs a live music PA sub. There are many ways to get there, but that magical driver that will do 100 dB with a watt at less than 10% THD at 10 Hz in a 4 cubic-foot cabinet doesn't exist yet, so we're forced to work with what does. Cabinet design plays a big role, but no matter what we do - Hoffman's iron law applies.