Question Need help with DRIVERS for first subwoofer build (£300~)

[subbuilder12]

Hi,

I'm new to all this and have been reading up a fair bit on WinISD etc.

I am looking to build some speakers, with total volume less than 43~ litres.

I was thinking of using 10" drivers? But I don't even know where to start with this!
I'm looking for good value for money and am happy to go second hand. can you give me advice on where to start here?

any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I'm thinking of building a ported sub.

 

[angliaboy]

Maybe with such limited volume, youd be better off looking at sealed designs? Ported designs usually favour larger sizes otherwise you end up sacrificing the tuning frequency or port noise.

What kind of space do you intend to fill with a 10" sub, it will give you some good notes, but it wont go all that low to be honest, not with any real authority.

To go lower, you either need watts and watts + EQ or plenty of cone movement to shift lots of air. a 10" wont be shifting too much air unless it has a ton of Xmax and power handling, in which case then, things will start to heat up, so the amp and driver need to be able to handle the heat well.

43 Litres works out roughly a 14" cube, so you could do a 12" sealed build possibly.

But for £300, the ready built market really is your friend, its only when you start going 600/700 plus, that things start looking much better value wise.

A good amp alone with be around 100/150 at minimum, Driver / cabinet costs and then painting unless you like bare MDF finish in your living room.

Also factor in what you will be doing with the Sub movies/music etc?

IMO if you have £300 (and cannot spend more) then you will save a lot of time/effort by just getting a BK XXLS 400 or Monolith if you can hack the space it requires. BK XLS200 if you cannot find the other 2 but try to hold out for one for the above if you can.

 

[slayerx]

The best option IMHO is SW5 12" from IPLacoustics.
IPL ACOUSTICS
43litres, budget ~300 for all kit including amp. And I'm sure it's sounds amazing like all IPL kits.

 

[angliaboy]

The best option IMHO is SW5 12" from IPLacoustics.
IPL ACOUSTICS
43litres, budget ~300 for all kit including amp. And I'm sure it's sounds amazing like all IPL kits.

Ive never seen those kits before or even heard them mentioned, do they publish any TS specs on the drivers anywhere out of interest? Has anyone done a write up or review on any of them. Id be really interested to hear how they fair compared with other offerings

 

[Liammonty123]

DIY subs only really become good value when you get above 500ish. For 300 it'd be hard to beat an offering from BK.

 

[mattkhan]

the other good reason is if you need something in a bespoke size to fit a particular space

the OP doesn't mention what they're trying to achieve though so recs are v hard to offer

 

[Liammonty123]

the other good reason is if you need something in a bespoke size to fit a particular space

the OP doesn't mention what they're trying to achieve though so recs are v hard to offer

Good point didn’t think of this, the cost of decent drivers/amps with wood soon gets above 300!

 

[tazzo1]

I've owned a BK XLS200 and the IPL Acoustics SW5, and the SW5 is a clear winner by a good bit, BUT you would have to build and put the finish on the cabinet yourself. That would cost more money if someone does it for you.

The SW5 driver is a Hivi Research F12, Google it to try and get the specs.