How do you audition subwoofers?

DWR

New Member
Jul 26, 2010
262
10
0
Western burbs of Detroit
No I have not seen that particular project until now. It is very similar to a lot I have seen, his will be vertical where mine will be horizontal. The vertical build takes up much less space but of course I have to be different, the passive radiators will not work on the horizontal plane only the vertical plane so mine have to lay on their sides in "cradles" . My subs will be 40" long in 18"tubes with 700g of mass added to the passive radiators I get a final enclosure tuning of 21.75Hz, and have to use a high pass filter at 18Hz so the driver will not exceed its excursion.
 

DWR

New Member
Jul 26, 2010
262
10
0
Western burbs of Detroit
Yes a lot of people do put these behind furniture out of site and they work well for that. You cracked me up with the hanging it from the ceiling thing.....but that would actually work pretty well sound wise.
 

Gedlee

WBF Technical Expert
Jul 21, 2010
364
0
0
Novi, MI
Yes a lot of people do put these behind furniture out of site and they work well for that. You cracked me up with the hanging it from the ceiling thing.....but that would actually work pretty well sound wise.

Hanging a sub is a very good idea. Here is what I would do. Use nylon cord, like used on a sailboat, its available almost anywhere. Use as small a diameter as possible (I have a spool of 1/8"). Hang the sub from this cord and make it as long as practicable. You can use more cords than necessary for safety. This particular type of cord is extremely well damped owing to the many strands woven together. When a large mass is hung from it, this mass will not transmit any vibration up this type of cord, it just gets dissipated. I hang everything like this, even, believe it or not, my HVAC system. This stuff is incredible at damping the vibration transmission. All of my surround speakers are hung this way and my entire ceiling in my HT is hung this way.
 

Gregadd

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
10,515
1,774
1,850
Metro DC
Hanging a sub is a very good idea. Here is what I would do. Use nylon cord, like used on a sailboat, its available almost anywhere. Use as small a diameter as possible (I have a spool of 1/8"). Hang the sub from this cord and make it as long as practicable. You can use more cords than necessary for safety. This particular type of cord is extremely well damped owing to the many strands woven together. When a large mass is hung from it, this mass will not transmit any vibration up this type of cord, it just gets dissipated. I hang everything like this, even, believe it or not, my HVAC system. This stuff is incredible at damping the vibration transmission. All of my surround speakers are hung this way and my entire ceiling in my HT is hung this way.

Do you own a digital camera? I would love to see pictures.
 

Gedlee

WBF Technical Expert
Jul 21, 2010
364
0
0
Novi, MI
Well the ceiling hanging is not visible because its above the ceiling. The surrounds hang from cords just at the ceiling, through small holes in the ceiling, so they too are not visible except a small part right at the hooks. The HVAC part is clearly visible, if that helps.
 

silviajulieta

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2010
364
15
323
México city. rauliruegas@hotmail.com
I am curious, how do people audition subwoofers?

Dear Amir: I like es347 bought my sub's with out previously audition, IMHO subwoofer audition is futile or at least I don't know a precise and right way to do it.

I think that the most important issue on subwoofers is understand how subwoofers can help us to improve the whole quality performance in a home audio system but even if we have that knowledge an " audition " seems to me useless.

I bought my Velodyne's reading and asking information with the manufacturers directly, reading reviews and information over the net trying learn as many " subjects " ( including myths and non-sense information. ) as I could till I understand why I need subwoofers in my home system ( a full range passive system. ). After that " long " research I take my choice and when sub's arrive it take me months to integrated in my system in a seamless way, during all those months I followed learning to a full sub's subject understanding.
I'm not saying that my sub subject understanding is the right one but I don't know other yet that makes sense in a two stereo passive home system dedicated to music listening. In this thread ( post #16. ) you can read what I understand about:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?1005-Multiple-Subwoofer-Placement/page2



So, my answer to your question IMHO is: no need to audition. I don't have and don't know how to do it for with an audition I can/could take a choice about.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.
 

kareface

New Member
Jul 30, 2010
91
0
0
Seattle, Wa
I personally prefer to do it at dinner. The sub is more relaxed that way and there isn't this tension between us. I try to find out a little about the subs history, her likes and dislikes, where she sees herself in 10 years. I try not to let things like port size or attractive finishes distract me from what's on the inside. If all goes well, I'll bring the sub back to my place, turn down the lights, and gently place my preout in h... ====CENSORED==== ...later that morning I find an excuse to run into work early and I never call her back.
 

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
2,794
73
1,635
Near Atlanta, GA but not too near!
I personally prefer to do it at dinner. The sub is more relaxed that way and there isn't this tension between us. I try to find out a little about the subs history, her likes and dislikes, where she see's herself in 10 years. I try not to let things like port size or attractive finishes distract me from what's on the inside. If all goes well, I'll bring the sub back to my place, turn down the lights, and gently place my preout in h... ====CENSORED==== ...later that morning I find an excuse to run into work early and I never call her back.

I think I dated "her"!
 

kareface

New Member
Jul 30, 2010
91
0
0
Seattle, Wa
Yeah, she puts out. We can really rock the house when things get heavy.
 

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