!!!Dayton Audio DVC385-88 15" DVC Series Subwoofer $99!!! - Page 4

Performance wise at least in Winisd Pro the DVC385-88 and RSS390HF-4 are very close (385 is Red, HF is yellow) this is based on a sealed 3.3 cu ft design:



I did quite a bit of modeling between the 15" HF, HO, and DVC woofers and the results are just so close in Winisd Pro, that I decided to take advantage of the crazy price of the DVC driver since I am building 4 subwoofers. The price difference was going to be almost $300 between the two subwooders, and that was what I picked up a new iNuke3000DSP for..

But I cannot blame folks for getting the HO, HF or Titanic drivers for more money. I debated just building a pair of subs using 15" TC Sounds drivers, but when I modeled it, the cost just did not seem to justify the results, at least on paper.

It is a tough deal to beat at that price point.
Definitely more robust than the modest specs. A true deal in audio, which is nice for a change.

Well in typical me fashion I decided I didn't want make a special trip in to town to drop off that defective speaker at a fed ex store. I'm really irritated that they wouldnt send a truck to the house. And I was impatient to see how this horn sounds. So I decided to glue it myself and be done. Well that was not as easy as I thought and I used a completely wrong adhesive based on a Buddy's recommendation. Anyhow the glue seems to be holding up during break in and the horn is finally painted. I'm really anxious to hear it!!

Glad the glue is holding up for you btm.

I was going to glue mine but PE finally got the shipping label out to me when monday came rolling around. My fedex store is across street from menards so I picked up my 6 sheets of MDF I need for the enclsoures and dropped off the woofer in one trip. I got the replacement back two days later in good shape with the better looking cone I was hoping for as well.

Good to hear mtg90. Still curious how the cones didn't match or how the different ones got mixed into the rest, did you happen to ask PE about it? I wonder if it was a fluke or widespread...

Well it is not like the cones were terribly different; one just had more grain from the paper showing. It's too bad I did not get a picture before boxing it up and sending it back.

Look back at my earlier post:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1440269/dayton-audio-dvc385-88-15-dvc-series-subwoofer-99/60#post_22646234

do you guys think 200w rms would be enough in a ported box? I was thinking of going with 12s but didnt know if this 15 or any others would do ok with only 200w. i have 4 200w plate amps and want to stick with them to power whatever i end up with. In the end i will end up with 4 subs total if that gives you any ideas. trying to keep the cost down with cheaper multiples instead of one higher priced sub. thanks

They could take more then 200 watts but that is fine. One thing to consider with larger drivers is that you usually get both higher power handling and sensitivity. So while you could gain some output by going with a larger amp you are already looking at more output then a smaller woofer with the same wattage.

Anyway with 4 of these and 800 watts total you looking at 120+ dB.

You could probably get another 3db out of them if you had more power, but 200w each will absolutely work fine since that's what you already have. You can always add more power later if you feel you need it.

At what Hz. I kinda played around with these in winisd and it looked like iwith just one I was about 10 db down at 20 hz. Witch put me at 100 db. I have a A2300 now and am scared of going sealed. Especially with only 200w rms to each of these. Plus I would only be able to build 2 of these and then build 2 farther down the road. I have been thinking about 4 ported jbl gt-5s tuned to 17hz. That would cost what 2 of the dvc 15s would be. Thanks for everyones opinions.

What size ported box can you build? In 4 6 cu ft ported enclosures for 4 drivers and 800 watts total (200 watts per box) I am seeing 120db at 20hz with a 20hz tune on the ported enclosure. Remember, with room gain you should get more SPL too. Having owned an A2-300, four of these Dayton's would put it to shame, and with four subs you will get much better bass response throughout the room. That is not insignificant. I would not build the amps into the enclosures, that way if you ever wanted a better external pro amp, you could add it easily and sell the plate amps you have. With more power (like an iNuke 3000DSP) you would be up another 3db across the board, but IMHO, you might be very happy with 120db at 20hz with the 200 watt amps.

I am not sure I would go sealed with only 200 watts per amp. You would be down a good 7db @ 20hz vs the ported design. With more power, the sealed subs (3.5 - 4 cu ft) would most likely give you more than enough.

So you need to ask yourself how big a ported enclosure you can build.

I looked at ported also. If i have to i can go up to 6 internal. but for the ones in the back of my room I cant go much bigger than 4.5 internal. When i played with ported at like 5.5 the curve was almost the same shape as the sealed but just louder. I thought that was kinda wierd because all the other ported subs i have played with will be pretty flat and then drop from the tuning point. also winisd wated to fill in the sensetivity to 88.75 instead of the 90 pe lists. I could be doing somthing wrong thow. thanks for the help. Aak how much rms are yours seeing for each box?

I am getting 88.75 for sensitivity for this driver using WinIDS Pro as well. Perhaps Winisd is changing the values after inputting everything in? At any rate, here are some quick models for you to compare to what you are getting. Grey is a 4.5 cu ft ported sub. Pink is a 6 cu ft ported sub. Yellow is a sealed 4 cu ft sub. All subs take into account 200 watts, and the ported subs take into account a 20hz tune and 6" ports (you can model 4" ports if you would like). Also all stated sizes is internal volume only. Remember, you have to factor in material thickness, double baffle, bracing, and woofer volume.



As you can see the 6 cu ft sub has more SPL at the tune.

Here is how the above subs look when you build four each (4 x using the same parameters above for each sub):



I think the limiting factor with the sealed subs is the amp. Here is what happens if you put 500 watts in each driver in a 4 cu ft sealed box (yellow) vs the other ported subs using 200 watts per sub:



Just my opinion for what it is worth. I think if you are limited by box size (a 6 cu ft internal box is not small) and have to build smaller boxes under 5 cu ft, you should consider selling the 200 watt plate amps and getting a beefier pro amp like an iNuke 3000DSP to power all four. They cost around $300-350 new (I got mine for $290 shipped brand new in December). There are other amps out there to consider as well. Again, just a thought, clearly you can make ported subs work with those amps, but you have to consider box size.

Hope this helps.

Hey thanks man I came up with what you did pretty much. I think I'm going to have to go ported. Im might just stick to the original plan of 4 12s. Just thought if there was a cheep 15 that I could make work in the front I would go for it.

Also on this program how are you guys calculating multiples in seperate boxes. i have just been changing the watts on the single box but i dont thik that would be a accurate.thanks again for all your help.

Yes, you just add 4 drivers, four times the box volume, 4 times the amp/power, and four times the ports.

6cu ft would be ideal, but even 4.5 will gain you quite a bit of output over sealed: 117db at 20 hz vs 112 db sealed with 200w each tuned to 20hz. A 12 in the same 4.5/20 box gains nothing at tuning freq and starts to lose ~3db from 30hz up.


If you can swing 6 cu ft it's worth it though.

Yeah, I think all the Winisd plots show that too. 4.5 cu ft internal still gives you lots of output on a ported box with a 15" driver. I would give it a shot. You can always build one and see. The Dayton 385-88 at $99-120 is hard to pass up vs a 12" driver for the money.

Now $140 at Parts Express. A 40% increase...but still apparently 32% off.
Got to love the pricing shell game.

That's actually the typical price for the driver when it's not on sale.