Sub-Woofers

[wing7788]

How good a sound does a sub-woofer produce enclosed in ABS plastic?

As claimed by the manufacturer, its frequency response sfrom 22Hz to 30 KHz (for the whole system) at 20 watts RMS.

Though this is not a high-end system, will it still produce good bass even with the indicated enclosed material?

[edwelly]

Wing7788: I am not for sure I understand.
Are you wanting to build a sub enclosure out of plastic.
Or are you just wanting to know if a sub enclosure made of plastic sounds good… (yes, it can, mine is).
---edwelly

[Cody]

Well, I find, if you want either

A) Really loud bass
B) Really clean, crisp sounding bass

Wood is better. For casual, very low volue listening, Plastic is OK, but I wouldn't personally reccommend it.

[edwelly]

Caddmannq: he always has the most technical responses. I love ready was this guy writes. Any the scary thing is, I usually understand it… He has a true gift with words.
---edwelly

[earnie86]

Wing7788 the 22hz. to 30khz. specs that you speak of are totally meaningless in the world of audio without a +/- rating after them. For starters a real sub woofer would not extend much beyond 200 hz. The chances of that speaker reaching a usable frequency even remotely close to 22hz. are about 0. I have a sub with bass extension below 22hz. and it is about 4x the size of a monitor and has a 500 watt amp. Other than very few computer speakers, for all intents none have real sub woofers.
So just try out those speakers and if you like the sound of them, buy them.
As far as materials go most subs are made of particle board of some sort, covered in veneer.
You may also find that what caddmannq refers to as efficiency is usually called sensitivity. ( basically the same thing) Any speakers with a sensitivity rating above 90, are usually considered very efficient.
[This message has been edited by earnie86 (edited 09-04-2001).]

[This message has been edited by earnie86 (edited 09-04-2001).]

[earnie86]

I agree with caddmannq about buying speakers with as high a sensitivity as possible with the low power ratings you are talking about. Every 3db increase in volume takes twice as much power. So with 20 watts,you are well advised to go high.
Caddmannq is also correct about most recordings not having much in the way of low bass,and about cds'. Some of the cds'we have can rattle pictures and give you a full body massage. Theoreticaly, speakers can't reproduce low frequencies with no distortion, but in the real world sub woofers achieve prodigious amounts of low bass, albeit with distortion levels in the 10 percent range. This is considered normal.
Most people actually like bass with higher levels of distortion because the bass will seem more powerfull. If you don't have a good sub woofer you don't miss the bass you can't feel, but when you get used to feeling and hearing low bass, you can't do without it.
Caddmannq is also correct about the pricing, my main sub cost $600 cdn, I also have a second sub for my center speaker in my surround sound system. Movies are great with this type of setup, as are mp3's, digital cable etc.
Total system continual power is about 1200 watts.

[This message has been edited by earnie86 (edited 09-05-2001).]