[Deep and Old]

I’m upgrading my 9 year old Hsu 1220 cylinder subs. I will be doing dual 20” sonotubes with about 60” in tube length. Sonosub.exe shows this will result in about 9.85 cubic foot (272 liters) size. I will initially use Hsu’s combination amp/x-over to run the subs.

Winisd shows the Q for a sealed option to be about .7 and but ported model doesn’t give a Q.

My HT/TV/listening room is about 3344 square feet, but there is a 5’7” opening into another 4000 square foot room. There is a 3 ½ foot hallway also leading off the HT/TV/listening room. Finally, one wall of the HT/TV/listening room is a 6 foot glass slider.

I do about 90% music and 10% movies. The current 1220’s have no mid bass weight or slam which is especially noticeable on movies.

I don’t use a receiver. I use a tube pre-amp and solid state amp. Speakers are full range.

I am leaning toward the 15” Tempest driver. I have ruled out the Dayton sub. I’ve looked at the Soundsplinter line up, but their website doesn’t inspire me and I have found little information from users on them. This may be because of the price difference compared to the Tempest.

Is there another driver I should be looking at?

Will the 15” Tempest do well in a ported design? Winisd suggests its best used in a sealed box.

 

[BoomieMCT]

A few things;

Tempest-X's are good, Sound Splinter is good, there are many good sub drivers on the market right now. Take a look at the Subwoofer Database Mike P. put together and, if you need to, ask questions from the folks who made these subs what they think of their work.

All this is great but it sounds like your main complaint is a lack of mid-bass in music. That should be produced by your mains more then your subs. This flaw could be due to your crossover point being too high, a lack of capability of your mains or perhaps cancellation between your mains and your subs. Where are you crossing over and what are your mains? Have you tried inverting your subs?

 

[Deep and Old]

Boomie-thanks for the reply.

I currently have the crossover at 63.

My mains are old Energy 22.3's with dual 6.5 inch drivers and rated to go down to 35.

I have switched the polarity several times, but I don't think this is what you mean. However, I was able to test the subs alone last night and I'm definitely missing a lot of bass.

I will take the tubes apart tomorrow and see if there is some other visible problem.

Finally, the subs are placed in a corner. Moving them 6" didn't make any audible changes.

 

[BoomieMCT]

I do about 90% music and 10% movies. The current 1220’s have no mid bass weight or slam which is especially noticeable on movies.

I currently have the crossover at 63.

Since it is mid-bass you are missing, you mainly listen to music and your crossover is set to 63Hz I really think the problem is in your mains. Midbass is 50-200Hz. Your subs will be contributing to this range but really your mains are what is doing most of the work.

If you want to upgrade subs anyways I think a big (8 cubic foot or so) sealed or ported Tempest-X is a great choice for what you want to do.

 

[Deep and Old]

Wow! So I could be a candidate for Hsu's mid bass modules! I'll work at further identifying my issues.

9 plus cubic foot subs will be in the mix regardless.