Car subwoofers in a theater

Well, they are not perfectly suited for home theater, however, I have been very happy with my Cerwin Vega Stroker 18. I actually had it in my previous car for about 5 years with a 2000wrms amp. About 5 years ago, I decided I wanted to use it in my home theater because it was very good at hitting the low notes. I don't need it to be 130dB, I mostly just wanted very deep bass that blends well with my other speakers. I no longer have those other speakers on the left side of the picture.


For reference, that box is 4ft wide, 20" tall, and 18" deep.


So, I had called Cerwin Vega and told them I wanted to use it for a home theater and wanted to know what size box and port to use, which they provided to me. I have it in a 7cuft box, tuned to approximately 23Hz, and currently only 120W per voice coil (so it's way under powered), but it sounds quite good. Well, that's what other people have told me. Of course, I like it otherwise I wouldn't still be using it. Eventually, I hope to get a much larger amp for it.

Someday, I will custom build another sub box, like a Maelstrom 21" or something.

I am curious to see what other people say, but I have seen some others that seems to enjoy using their old car subs for their home theaters.

6 of the 8 sub drivers in my demo room were manufactured by Alumapro. They customized them for me, but they are essentially Alchemy subs. 2 ft3 in-wall, each sub.

There are 2 18s that provide LFE. The in-walls act to smooth out bass response.

Da

The subjective reports are encouraging for the OP, but I'd love to see some actual measurements on the 3 replies posted.

Do they play below 20 Hz? What's the lowest bass frequency they reproduce in your room (with any authority)? Or if you haven't measured, please mention that as well.

thanks,

"car sub" and "home sub" are just marketing terms. Look at the Theile/Small parameters and most subs will work well in both environments. The enclosures will be different based on the goals.

For example, I run 15" TC-3000 drivers in my home theater. Those were marketed towards the SPL car audio crowd. Fi Car Audio makes subs that work well in both environments. The original Adire Shiva and Tempest drivers were first marketed to the home theater crowd but the car audio guys found out that they worked great there as well. I installed a pair of Shivas in my cousin's car a few years ago.

What kind of power supply are you using to power that amp?

How can you use a car amp in the house? Do you have to have some sort of special power converter?

What really? If that's the case I'd get a JLW7 12" and call it a day. Are they really the same thing? Cause I would imagine they are different...as far as the amp couldn't you just hook up a powerful speaker amp? Worst case you could just make your own power cord for the amp, although it would help if you had electrical skillz. I've got buddies that can do that, so Im wondering is there truth to this? Cuz I would for sure get that JLW7 it's prolly on the same level as most $1k HT subs.

JL Audio's home subwoofer line uses the W7 driver.

http://home.jlaudio.com/products_subs.php?prod_id=372

Is that right? I might just get a JL W7 then for my HT. What kind of AMP would I need?

Home vs Car, IMO same thing, box design is what makes the difference.

I was reading up on this a while ago. JL home theater subwoofer isnt the JL W7 to spec. I heard there are some differences in the driver.

In any case, I much rather buy a TC Sounds driver over a JL Audio driver.

15" LMS-R drivers preform better than f112.

edit: I used to be the biggest JL fanboy until I stopped drinking the cool-aid. Its a good product, but there is so much better out there.

You must be using one heck of a large 120v to 12v DC AC/DC transformer power supply. Seems to add an additional step and cost.

Why not just use a pro-audio amp? I use a Crown XS1200 for my TC Sounds drivers delivered about 3000 watts for my HT subs.

Hahahaa, I haven't even thought of that. Wow that's pretty crazy.

As for car sub vs home sub. Like someone stated above, there's absolutely no difference. It's the enclosure that makes all the difference. Subwoofer drivers are just subwoofer drivers.

As for JL... there's better. Just get a TC Sounds LMS 5400 and call it a day. At this moment, there isn't a single driver that can beat it. It is the end all be all driver. Throw it in a 4 ft^3 sealed box, pump 2000 clean watts into it, and see your walls flex all while maintaining practically no distortion.

Check out Notnyt's thread for the doubters.

W7 vs LMS 5400 isnt even a comparison. The W7 is more like a TC3000, its an SPL driver.

The TC LMS 5400 is on my short list right now... like a very short list.

I already have a 12" TC3000 and a two 15" TC2000s. The New LMS-R is basically the TC-2000 with some nice improvements. Its a worthy little brother to the LMS-U 5400.

If cost was an issue, I would buy the LMS-R without hessitation.

I had a feeling you were using computer PSU. I took an older one and have it setup in the garage like that as a 12v bench power supply.

I basically made this.. but mine doesnt look at pretty.
http://autospeed.com.au/A_111380/cms/article.html

I know mine can play below 20Hz, not sure how loud though. For me, it doesn't need to have authority, just presence. I don't need 130dB at 10Hz, etc... I'm not sure how low the frequencies are in "Grandma's Hands by Livingston Taylor", but I can easily hear the foot taps on the large wooden stage. Not loud enough to make eardrums bleed, but to me it sounds natural, which is what I wanted.

As I mentioned, the sub is way underpowered with only 120wrms to each coil, so it's not neighborhood shaking. It just blends well with my Paradigm Reference 100 V3 mains at my typical listening volume.

After I get my theater room carpeted, I might try getting some measurements. I only have a desktop computer, so it takes work to drag it all the way to the basement. I do have an analog radio shack dB meter, so I might be able to play some test tones and just plot several points to get a basic idea.

Actually sealed subs play LOUDER at lower frequencies. Well that's a generalization since most ported or PR'd subs are tuned around 20Hz, except for the crazy ones built by crazy people here that end up being the size of a fridge, but that's besides the point!! If you want clean deep low frequencies, you'll want sealed. As many as you need to get the output you want.

Check out Notnyt's build. This is just nuts.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1314884
Keep in mind, he's running more wattage than IMAX theaters.

Haha. That's kinda funny. I've got the same exact subs in a 6 cu ft box for my home theater setup. They're pretty good subs, they go pretty low too. And I got mine for cheap.

@cooldude:

well my SB is dead... and happens that I have a car sub (Infinity 1650 300W) and an amplifier just getting dust... so ... how do I connect 2 PSU in parallel and gave the juice to the amp?

I've tried multiple DIY projects with car subs. Never had any that I really liked when I put them in the home - but all great in the car. I've tried four MA Audio 15's, two Infinity Kappa Perfects 10's, two Infinity Perfect 12's, and two beefy top level Visionteks.

meh...

My problem could easily be my box engineering skills - or lack thereof - but nearly every reasonable (not bottom dollar) commercial sub I've purchased easily beat my DIY attempts with car subs - even quality car subs like the Infinity Kappa Perfects.

The better commercial sub list I've owned.

Yamaha CW218V
Infinity HPS-1000
Jamo D7sub
SVS PB13-Ultra

Recently i found myself bored, with the bad weather and all. Reading thru the forum i found this post about the rythmik subs. Fell for the f25 and had to have one or two. As always, when it comes to my hobbie i started fantasing how would they sound and look. I have two older paradigm servo 15 sub's in my theater that work perfectly but i'd like something new. To replace them with new paradigm models the cost is around $3000. each . So before ordering the f15's, I went and got two dual 15 cabinets for cars,and two single 15 cabinets. Also purchased 6 pyle blue wave PLl1590bl drivers , wired the dual 15's at 4ohms and the singles(dual poles) each 4ohms. Each pole on the singles gets 200 watts from a lexicon 4ch amp, the dual 15's get 400 watts each from a bridged 4ch lexicon amp. The duals are wired at 4ohms connected to a single pole to the amp. Its a complex wiring job thats way beyond my knowledge,i had to reasearch the info. The subs are all at the front under my da-lite power, fixed 126" by 54 scope screen. Of course they look great, and the sound is very impressive.The drivers manufacture claims 21.2hz, thats low. I,m not as tec. as many people on these forums are , but i have had home theaters for many years . I wish i knew how to post pictures here of my room and setup. Anyway I say theres something to be said about car and pa subs in home theater. I'm using the paradigm subs at the mid back of the room about 6' apart, Balanced with all the other subs. I'm getting some nice tight bass for music and outstanding movie deep low end.Thinking of adding some other eq,apart from the denons 4308's aud.eq that i'm currently using. ,I don't use the denons amps,400watts for each front paradigm studio 100 , 690. But I'm still gonna get two f25's after i play around with the blue waves for a while. I've read on this forum that newer higher powered f25's are coming! Maybe i'll wait and see. Sorry i'm not a good writer i'm sure you can tell.