Very low budget sub.

**mgboy** · **01-20-07, 05:54 PM**

As of now, I have a small sealed 10" sub, powered by a 100watt amp that I got from PEx. I have a budget of about ~200 and was thinking about getting the 300watt BASH amp, and just some "good" car subwoofer in a fairly large ported enclosure. But, I don't know what sub to get that I could get for under 50 bucks. ( I'd look for a used but in good condition something or another from ebay. ) I have a Right now, I can go to about 27-30Hz, and get some sound, but anything below that and it gets really weak. The box I have now is about 16*16*12 (W-H-D) and I can go as large as 18*40*18. Should I wait until I've saved up a lot more? Because I don't know if I'm willing to spend much more being as I'm a student and don't have a lot of money to waste.

**F1 fan** · **01-20-07, 07:41 PM**

You could put together a nice little budget sub with that BASH amp and one of the MAW12 drivers from Mach 5 audio.
The driver sells for $56 but shipping to TN might not be cheap. http://www.mach5audio.com/index-2.html

**kano32** · **01-21-07, 12:18 AM**

I've seem a ton of Dayton Quatro 15" sub projects using the 240watt PE amp. The enclosures are usually around 5 to 6 cu ft. Prettly low budget and some decent output (based on others reviews).

**mgboy** · **01-22-07, 05:56 PM**

I might just get the amp now, and then wait a few weeks, try to get my current amp sold, or the whole sub, and buy a sub to match it. I might have to wait a while though because I can't think of anyone who around here who would pay ~90-100 bucks for a subwoofer/sub amp. (Unfortunately) =\

I was also thinking of putting the plate amp into it's own little enclosure and putting it on my desk with my receiver, speakers, moniter, etc. That was I could have full control of my sub without moving, unlike now where I have to get up, and walk over behind me and turn it down when my parents get home.

**punkrokr1701** · **01-23-07, 04:08 PM**

I myself am a freshman so i know low budget. Umm in your case if you really want to improve on what you have I'd bite the bullet and save up to around $300, b/c right now if you (and I'm not saying you will be) go ahead with your $200 budget for both the amp and the sub (I assume your like me and crave ground shaking, stomach wrenching bass

)then you might be dissapointed, but if you tough it out like i have to do alot then you'll be much more satisfied b/c then that'll give you around an extra $50-$75 for the driver itself cause you have to keep in mind shipping and the cost of the material for you enclosure, I was looking at getting the same 300 watt Bash amp and its hard to find them for under $200 so if I'm getting you right your spending 150 on the amp since you wanted a sub for under $50 on a $200 budget so if you found the Bash amp for around $150 i suggest you go ahead and get it then just wait it out till you can get a little more wiggle room on your driver selection.

**Exocer** · **01-23-07, 04:29 PM**

Yeah, definitely wait and save some money. A $50 driver just isn't going to get you much output.

If you can't go much higher than $50 I would also look into getting one of these for $90 + shipping http://www.ascendantaudio.com/assassin12specs.html. They model well in moderately sized ported boxes.

**BoomieMCT** · **01-23-07, 09:52 PM**

You need to figure out what you really are comfortable paying and what your realistically expect (in terms of volume, extension, accuracy, etc.). Figure that out and I think we can help you better.

**brandonnash** · **01-24-07, 05:49 PM**

You may want to look twice. The assassin sub is unavailable according to their website. I was thinking about that one also.

**Exocer** · **01-24-07, 07:13 PM**

ouch, i wasn't aware of that.

I knew ascendant was in the process of bringing new-improved drivers to the market, but wasn't aware that the current versions were unavailable.

**brandonnash** · **01-26-07, 08:07 AM**

I think they may some of their higher end subs still, but nothing for close to $90. You may also want to look at the Dayton quattro or DVC. Both around that price and both still very good subs.

**mgboy** · **01-28-07, 09:38 AM**

I've been looking at some subs, and was trying to get this sub to work in WinISD, but it keeps complaining about the qes, qms, and qts. I've got the specs for that woofer here at the very bottom, the TS-V15.

Or should I really stick to the 'known' stuff? My budget has been cut, but I was going to make an enclosure 24*20*45 (W*D*H)

**mgboy** · **01-28-07, 09:51 AM**

Or this other 15" audiopipe subwoofer, here I'd plug that into WinISD also, but i've tried and it doesn't work. The specs for it are here

**brandonnash** · **01-28-07, 08:42 PM**

try just inputting the qes and qms. If winisd is set to fill in the rest it'll figure out the qts for you. That sub looks pretty decent for that price. I'd like a little lower resonant frequency (fs) though and a little more xmax. I still like the quattro for just a few bucks more. You could also look at the elemental designs 12" sub. I think it's the ehqs12. $25 plus shipping. better xmax than that audiopipe sub, lower fs, and i'm sure all the other specs are probably close to or better. do a search for that on this board. someone has made a dual sub box that looks cool as hell.

**mgboy** · **01-28-07, 10:01 PM**

I'll check that Elemental Designs sub out, looks good. I think that might suite me better than the Quattro anyway. But I'm not sure yet.

**rlee777** · **01-30-07, 08:24 AM**

Quote:

mgboy wrote:

I'll check that Elemental Designs sub out, looks good. I think that might suite me better than the Quattro anyway. But I'm not sure yet.

The eD EHQS12 sub is an outstanding buy at $25 + shipping. Solid sub with tight, clean output and decent extension (it favors larger ported boxes). Main limitation is the 9.1mm XMAX, but mates well with the BASH 300w amp.

I built a ported 4.0 cu ft. heavily braced box using a single EHQS12 driver and it sounds great in my 2100 cu ft room, corner loaded (using the PE BASH 300w). From 23Hz (port tune) on up, the bass is punchy, deep and low distortion. Plenty of output for the room. Be sure to design the box well to minimize resonances and line the walls -- do not stuff. Perfect low budget sub.

I had read that eD will be raising its prices Feb 1. Not sure if it will apply to the EHQS12.

**mgboy** · **01-30-07, 03:49 PM**

Quote:

rlee777 wrote:

The eD EHQS12 sub is an outstanding buy at $25 + shipping. Solid sub with tight, clean output and decent extension (it favors larger ported boxes). Main limitation is the 9.1mm XMAX, but mates well with the BASH 300w amp.

I built a ported 4.0 cu ft. heavily braced box using a single EHQS12 driver and it sounds great in my 2100 cu ft room, corner loaded (using the PE BASH 300w). From 23Hz (port tune) on up, the bass is punchy, deep and low distortion. Plenty of output for the room. Be sure to design the box well to minimize resonances and line the walls -- do not stuff. Perfect low budget sub.

I had read that eD will be raising its prices Feb 1. Not sure if it will apply to the EHQS12.

Well that's good to hear as I just ordered one last night. I will be putting it in a 9.8 Cu ft. braced box with a ~20Hz tune. I'm hoping this will be a good upgrade from what I have, and I'm sure it will be.

**rlee777** · **01-30-07, 11:10 PM**

Quote:

mgboy wrote:

Well that's good to hear as I just ordered one last night. I will be putting it in a 9.8 Cu ft. braced box with a ~20Hz tune. I'm hoping this will be a good upgrade from what I have, and I'm sure it will be.

9.8 cu ft for a single EHQS12? That box is much too big unless you are considering two drivers. Group delay shoots up and the EBS shelf would lower the Q too much. That may produce weak, muddy bass. Consider a 4.0 - 5.0 cu. ft. box instead. Other drivers would work better in such a large enclosure, but they are more $$$.

**mgboy** · **01-31-07, 09:49 PM**

Well, I've figured up a few more things, and I'm thinking maybe a 20*20*45 (~8 ft^3) Because that gives an equal balance of db, and low hz compared to a smaller or bigger box, but I would love to have some useful output at 18 Hz, if that's just not possible, then 20 or 22 will do, but I can't get WinISD working properly at all, so I'm using some old program from the late 90's (Probox Professional - it's for car subs) but it can't do what I'm needing to do.

And also for the port, I was hoping to have a rectangular port, but built into the box like extend the sides, and the back, but not the front. The program I have can't do that either, so I really need help with this.

**kano32** · **01-31-07, 10:09 PM**

Quote:

mgboy wrote:

Well, I've figured up a few more things, and I'm thinking maybe a 20*20*45 (~8 ft^3) Because that gives an equal balance of db, and low hz compared to a smaller or bigger box, but I would love to have some useful output at 18 Hz, if that's just not possible, then 20 or 22 will do, but I can't get WinISD working properly at all, so I'm using some old program from the late 90's (Probox Professional - it's for car subs) but it can't do what I'm needing to do.

And also for the port, I was hoping to have a rectangular port, but built into the box like extend the sides, and the back, but not the front. The program I have can't do that either, so I really need help with this.

I'm not sure this sub can handle that box size and tuning. Although I am not a wiz at WinISD this is what I came up with. At 8cu ft the driver is exceeding it's xmax quite a bit.

**mgboy** · **02-01-07, 08:48 AM**

What about 20*20*35 (6.3 ft^3) tuned at 20. Here's what I came up with, but I can't check the Xmax with this program.

**mgboy** · **02-01-07, 12:51 PM**

What about, instead of using a port, I put this in there? That could probably cut down on the size of the enclosure and boost the low end some. Suggestions? Remember, I'm still a newbie at this.

**BoomieMCT** · **02-01-07, 12:58 PM**

Quote:

mgboy wrote:

What about, instead of using a port, I put this in there? That could probably cut down on the size of the enclosure and boost the low end some. Suggestions? Remember, I'm still a newbie at this.

That 12" Dayton PR has an xmax of 10mm. I've always heard you want the volume the PR moves to be 150% - 200% what the driver moves so you'd need at least two. After that, it basically acts like a ported enclosure which means if you were hitting overexcursion in a 8 cubic foot ported box, you will also hit overexcursion in an 8 cubic foot PR box.

But, yes, with a smaller box this should work and be interesting.

EDIT - BTW, please note that PR's can not be downward firing.

**mgboy** · **02-01-07, 01:01 PM**

So If I got two of those, get the enclosure size down to day, 5 c.u. ft, How well should/would it perform do you reckon?

**mgboy** · **02-01-07, 01:09 PM**

I wasn't planning on downfiring them anyway, but thanks for the tip. =)

**BoomieMCT** · **02-01-07, 01:11 PM**

Quote:

mgboy wrote:

So If I got two of those, get the enclosure size down to day, 4 c.u. ft, How well should/would it perform do you reckon?

Off the cuff I'd say once tuned it would sound okay. I will plug the numbers into Unibox when I get home to verify. One thing you will want to verify is whether it is best for you to have a $25 active driver with $45 in pasive radiators or just find a $70ish driver you like.

For example, for $86 you can get a Dayton 15" Quatro which would work well with a 300 watt BASH amp and a ported 6 cubic foot enclosure.

Please note that while PR's will allow you to construct a smaller box because you aren't dealing with the volume of the ports, they do not dig any deeper then ported designs. Actually, all things being equal they are usually 1 Hz or so less deep digging.

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