woofers (not to be confused with subwoofers) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

kmaysob · #1 06-12-2009, 09:37 PM

so ive been thinking for a while, everyone and their brother has subwoofers in their cars. while they do put out good bass(as are they intended) its not as clean as what a regular woofer could produce. although the woofer will never get as low as the subwoofer. so my thought is to try putting an 8-10in woofer in my truck for a little added bass and sound quality. im not looking to rattle peoples windows or even mine really, it would just be nice to have slightly more bass. so, has anyone ever tried it?

ideal would be something like jbl or peavey.

RichC · #2 06-12-2009, 10:52 PM

Subwoofers do only reproduce a very limited section of the human hearing spectrum.
Some go way below.
You feel the sound more than you hear it.

A good 8 inch woofer will reproduce a nice even sound wave up to about twice its width.

That would be 16 inches which equates, I think, to about 30 hertz near the bottom of
the human hearing spectrum.

I am sure you will get many recomendations on what brand is better.
Some brand I respect are M&K or Miller and Keisler, NHT, Infinity, Advent, MB Quart,
Electro Voice, Focal

If you can get it, a frequency responce graph can tell you a lot about how a speaker
will sound.

I like a nice flat response curve, without much fade off either end, or spiking in the middle.

Matching a crossover to a set of speakers is an art form, and can make a major difference in sound quality you get from the speakers you choose.

I had no idea there was so much math behind good sound untill I started building
a few sets of high end home speakerss.

Emmerich · #3 06-13-2009, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmaysob

so ive been thinking for a while, everyone and their brother has subwoofers in their cars. while they do put out good bass(as are they intended) its not as clean as what a regular woofer could produce. although the woofer will never get as low as the subwoofer. so my thought is to try putting an 8-10in woofer in my truck for a little added bass and sound quality. im not looking to rattle peoples windows or even mine really, it would just be nice to have slightly more bass. so, has anyone ever tried it?

ideal would be something like jbl or peavey.

First thing to remember is a car is the worst acoustical environment so don't expect much. Best investments would be to put Dynamat in the doors, floors and body panels to increase the dB of any system. Cheap sound improvement.

Personally, I invest big bucks in home sound, car sound is just a distraction, I like my cars to be driven. A long time ago I decided it was not a good plan to have a stereo that masks the sound of the radar detector going off....

BodhiBenz1987 · #4 06-13-2009, 02:06 PM

I think you'll have a hard time hearing anything from a woofer if you put it in the trunk. The low-lows that a sub puts out are non-directional and can also be felt, so a sub in the trunk achieves a lot. A woofer is going to put out frequencies that are directional, so location will be very important, and the trunk is a terrible place. You'd be better off putting component speakers in the kick panels or doors. Like RichC mentioned the crossover you choose will be important too.

My advice would be just replace the speakers with high-end components or even co-axs, and amp them. I have Focals, 4-inchs in the front and 5 1/4s in the back, and the sound is unbelievable. I have them amped and also have a 12-inch sub in the trunk. When I turn the sub off, the sound is still quite powerful. Even with 4-inch speakers in the front, it sounds brilliant. I think the quality of the speaker and the crossover, and the crossover setting, is crucial.

Monomer · #5 06-13-2009, 04:36 PM

Driver size does not determine it's frequency response.

You have to take into account the driver t/s parameters and the box type/design.

I'm partial to folded-horn subwoofers, designs are tough to build, but put out a nice, distortion less (both thd and doppler) clean sounds; which you can listen to for hours without your ears being stressed.

G-Benz · #6 06-13-2009, 05:55 PM

One of the reasons why subwoofers are so popular is because so much of the latest material, both music and soundtracks are heavily equalized in the low-frequency spectrum. It's not so much the dimensions of the standard woofer as much as the "piston action" required to reproduce such frequencies is beyond what is engineered for a lot of standard woofers.

Car amps with appropriate power requirements used to be prohibitively expensive, but no more. But the standard 6x9s were no longer up to the task, and seperate woofers came into play, but as the demand for chest-pounding bass came into play, the subwoofer became the only choice.

You may also find that from an economic standpoint, it is far cheaper to add a big amp, and large sub w/cabinet for less money than purchasing high-quality woofer separates. Also consider that much of the bass material below 60 hz isn't very musical, but the excursion required by the woofer degrades the signals it has the ability to reproduce faithfully. So again, the subwoofer has the task of bumping along...

kmaysob · #7 06-13-2009, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BodhiBenz1987

I think you'll have a hard time hearing anything from a woofer if you put it in the trunk. The low-lows that a sub puts out are non-directional and can also be felt, so a sub in the trunk achieves a lot. A woofer is going to put out frequencies that are directional, so location will be very important, and the trunk is a terrible place. You'd be better off putting component speakers in the kick panels or doors. Like RichC mentioned the crossover you choose will be important too.

My advice would be just replace the speakers with high-end components or even co-axs, and amp them. I have Focals, 4-inchs in the front and 5 1/4s in the back, and the sound is unbelievable. I have them amped and also have a 12-inch sub in the trunk. When I turn the sub off, the sound is still quite powerful. Even with 4-inch speakers in the front, it sounds brilliant. I think the quality of the speaker and the crossover, and the crossover setting, is crucial.

this would not be going in the trunk. this will be going in the cab of my toyota. its not that im just looking for a small amount of rumble. im looking for added bass along with nice sound. i would also be hitting this speaker with left and right channels so i dont have a good sound only when the left side is playing.

kmaysob · #8 06-13-2009, 09:31 PM

i may try to get an 18in peavey to play with

BodhiBenz1987 · #9 06-13-2009, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmaysob

this would not be going in the trunk. this will be going in the cab of my toyota. its not that im just looking for a small amount of rumble. im looking for added bass along with nice sound. i would also be hitting this speaker with left and right channels so i dont have a good sound only when the left side is playing.

Ah I just reread and saw that you said truck not trunk. Makes more sense, but still, I'd definitely go with two sides for imaging purposes. As said, you'll be dealing with directional frequencies and it will sound far better coming from both sides, in my very amateur opinion. Also, as far as I know, you don't want a woofer set that far apart from a tweeter. Location is a factor, unless you are dealing with very low frequencies.

I also think you'd be surprised at how much quality a sub can add if you have decent speakers in the front. Again, crossover setting (and slope) is key. My setup is far from "rumbly," or boomy, if you will and produces a wonderful sound with or without the sub on. With the sub on, though, it is divine, whether I'm listening to Racnmaninoff or T.I. Just my 2 cents: If you're going to spend for quality sound, but a pair of high-quality component or co-axial speakers and put them in the back ... trust me, you can get gorgeous sound out of them if you pay for it. They don't have to be huge.

RichC · #10 06-14-2009, 05:01 PM

Anyone done some recent cost verses sound quality comparisions lately.

What can give you the best bang for your buck in car audio ?

kmaysob · #11 06-14-2009, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BodhiBenz1987

Ah I just reread and saw that you said truck not trunk. Makes more sense, but still, I'd definitely go with two sides for imaging purposes. As said, you'll be dealing with directional frequencies and it will sound far better coming from both sides, in my very amateur opinion. Also, as far as I know, you don't want a woofer set that far apart from a tweeter. Location is a factor, unless you are dealing with very low frequencies.

I also think you'd be surprised at how much quality a sub can add if you have decent speakers in the front. Again, crossover setting (and slope) is key. My setup is far from "rumbly," or boomy, if you will and produces a wonderful sound with or without the sub on. With the sub on, though, it is divine, whether I'm listening to Racnmaninoff or T.I. Just my 2 cents: If you're going to spend for quality sound, but a pair of high-quality component or co-axial speakers and put them in the back ... trust me, you can get gorgeous sound out of them if you pay for it. They don't have to be huge.

i agree with all of what you have said. i had a pretty nice sound system in my mercedes before i gave it to my dad. i would love to replace all of the stock speakers with a set of infinity's or clarions and change the stock stereo. the problem is i dont have 6-700 dollars to spare. i dont really have the money for any of it at the minute. i really just want to try this as an experiment. the company i work for is a peavey dealer, so thats why im leaning that direction. i can get a peavey black widow 18in for the price of other brands in 8in. if it doesn't work the way i like ill use it here at home.

mytmousemalibu · #12 06-14-2009, 10:14 PM

Ill say this, newer 7-Series like 03 and up, have an optional 13 speaker Logic-7 system and it has 2 woofers, under the front seats, it sounds like a theater inside! alot better than the standard system!