Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
This fourth article in the BestCarAudio.com series on understanding subwoofer quality focuses on a classic infinite baffle 10-inch subwoofer from Oz Audio. As seems to happen frequently, there is yet again a unique back-story on this subwoofer. Let’s dig in! While in college, I worked part-time for an independent big-box home and car audio retailer, Base Electronics, until Read more
We’re back with our third article in the BestCarAudio.com series about understanding subwoofer quality. This time, we have a 10-inch Clarion Signature Series SSW1001 subwoofer from around 2006 or 2007. There’s a bit of a back story about this driver, so get comfy. I worked at Clarion Canada Inc. from 2004 to 2017. During that time, I had roles in technical support, product Read more
We’re back again with the next subwoofer in our series about understanding subwoofer quality. That pawn shop woofer from the last article was a great starting point for evaluating woofer quality. The bass heads who think 6.5-inch PA speakers can play down to 80 Hz could learn a lot from it and the Understanding Speaker Quality article on the Skar FSX65-4 midrange. We are going Read more
Our first subject in this series of articles about understanding subwoofer quality is a low-cost 10-inch driver from a local electronics parts store. This manufacturer markets this transducer as a “full range” speaker that “looks and sounds great” and not a subwoofer. We’ll start by measuring the Thiele/Small parameters of the driver, then break it in to see if things change Read more
Last year, we published a series of articles that compared several 6.5-inch woofers. Those articles were intended to show the linearity and distortion differences between entry-level products and those with features that improve performance and sound quality. The results were exactly as we expected: The better drivers played louder with less distortion. We figured it was about Read more
Over the last decade, the popularity of under-seat truck subwoofer upgrades has exploded. At least a dozen companies offer vehicle-specific solutions with shallow-mount subwoofers to add bass to these vehicles. If you’re perusing the enclosure options for your truck, you’ll notice two distinct options: enclosures with drivers that face upward into the seat bottom and those that Read more
Any time your installer wants to wire two subwoofers to the same channel of an amplifier, they can wire them in series or parallel. The same goes for a dual voice coil design subwoofer. The only benefit of a DVC subwoofer over a single is that there are three wiring options. We examined whether the wiring options for dual voice coil subwoofers differed a while back. Thinking Read more
What happens when a subwoofer is used with an oversized subwoofer enclosure? This article will look at the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of an improper match between the electromechanical characteristics of a subwoofer and the need for a proper enclosure. Why Do Subwoofers Need an Enclosure? If you’ve been following our series of articles on understanding subwoofer Read more
One thing common to every car audio subwoofer enclosure is that they need to connect to the subwoofer amplifier. Most subwoofer enclosures include a terminal cup or something similar to facilitate easy connection to the subwoofers. Let’s look at subwoofer enclosure speaker wire connection options. Guess What? Ohm’s Law If you’re serious about car audio, Ohm’s law should be Read more
Let’s take a look at amplifier, speaker and subwoofer quality. This time, it won’t be a series of lab measurements that evaluate distortion, frequency response or power. It won’t even include listening evaluations or comments on shiny products. Many years ago, Rockford Fosgate ran a magazine advertisement showing a picture of a Punch 75 HD amplifier and Bruce. Bruce is Read more
A while back, we looked at how adding stuffing to a sealed enclosure affects its performance. It was clear from our measurements that the addition of Dacron lowered the system’s Qtc (Total Q). The original theory was that adding stuffing made the enclosure seem larger and let the driver play louder at low frequencies. Let’s revisit this test and add several acoustic Read more
We see a lot of questions like “My car audio amp can produce 800 watts; how much power does each of my subs get?” If you aren’t versed in the calculation basics of Ohm’s law, the answer might not be intuitive. Let’s dive into the math and logic that will let us calculate how the power from an amplifier is distributed through multiple speakers or subwoofers. How Much Power Does Read more
