What is better? Cone Area or X-Max?
Thread Starter
0 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 41
What is better? Cone Area or X-Max?
Hey canada, gotta say I love this forum, but I'm going to be doing a bass upgrade very soon (need more
) and was wondering which would be loudest? I'm considering (4) 10"-12" sub, (2) 12"-13.5" subs, or (1) 12"-18", but don't can't decide on the best option. I'm not sure what would be louder out of 4 mediocre subs, 2 advanced woofers, or 1 SPL driver.
To give you guys an idea, it could be these products or ones that compete with them, here are some examples:
4 - Alpine Type-R / Kicker CVX / Hifonics HFi / ?
2 - DD 3500 / JL Audio W6 / Rockford T2 / ?
1 - DD 9500 / TF1 / ?
Any suggestions?
Thanks CCA.
) and was wondering which would be loudest? I'm considering (4) 10"-12" sub, (2) 12"-13.5" subs, or (1) 12"-18", but don't can't decide on the best option. I'm not sure what would be louder out of 4 mediocre subs, 2 advanced woofers, or 1 SPL driver.To give you guys an idea, it could be these products or ones that compete with them, here are some examples:
4 - Alpine Type-R / Kicker CVX / Hifonics HFi / ?
2 - DD 3500 / JL Audio W6 / Rockford T2 / ?
1 - DD 9500 / TF1 / ?
Any suggestions?
Thanks CCA.
I thought this thread was an entirely different topic.... anyone have information about "cone area vs X-max (excursion)"?
Say I have 2 -12" subs, each with 78 sq in cone area and max excursion of 1.25". Would 1-12" with same 78 sq in of cone area that has a max excursion of 2.5" hit the same on the meter as the 2-12's with half the excursion? Assuming same power applied, box, yada, yada....
Say I have 2 -12" subs, each with 78 sq in cone area and max excursion of 1.25". Would 1-12" with same 78 sq in of cone area that has a max excursion of 2.5" hit the same on the meter as the 2-12's with half the excursion? Assuming same power applied, box, yada, yada....
I actually tested something similar in a normal...non spl...set up. One sub at max rms power vs. 2 subs(same subs) at half rms in spec'd ported boxes. The 2 subs were definitely louder and sounded better as well. Unfortunately, the exact test you're asking about is impossible to do in the real world as there is no single model of subwoofer that has 2x the excursion..it would be a different sub if that's the case and would most likely have other differences. My test was a good approximation i think though, as 1/2 power should equate to approximately half of the excursion. What i found was that close to the limits of excursion caused compression and poor sonics...more stress on the sub. This makes sense as most things close to their limits perform less than optimally.
Considering for street use most subs don't come near their Xmax for most frequencies covered in the music spectrum. For SPL purposes, the port can be bigger than the cone area and thus becomes the more important factor. at 50hz Port tuning for example. the cone of the sibwoofer would have far less excursion playing a 50hz note than would the same sub in a sealed box. Since pressure/resistance from the ported enclosure becomes much higher near port tuning, excursion actually lessens. Now with this fact at 50hz even in a sealed box getting a but with 1.25" xmax takes alot of power. Now cut cone excursion down drastically and it takes gobs and gobs of power. Which is why in many SPL setups people can run over 5Kw to a single woofer without damaging it's suspension. (that's 6.7 horsepower). So to answer your thread title. Get the sub with the strongest motor, and lightest stiffest cone with the most voice coil cooling technology.
To answer your real question. 1 sub with twice the travel still just has 1 motor. 2 subs with half the travel have 2 motors. as the theory goes, doubling cone area given the same power is an automatic 3dB gain. Doubling Xmax just gives more potential per each driver. But tat those power levels heat and pwoer compression become issues really quickly. Doubling the power under normal theory gains you 3dB's. Once you get past a certain point and heat and the enclosures tunings etc.etc. become factors, sometimes doubling power can only gain you a 1/2dB.
In short, more subs=louder with less power.
To answer your real question. 1 sub with twice the travel still just has 1 motor. 2 subs with half the travel have 2 motors. as the theory goes, doubling cone area given the same power is an automatic 3dB gain. Doubling Xmax just gives more potential per each driver. But tat those power levels heat and pwoer compression become issues really quickly. Doubling the power under normal theory gains you 3dB's. Once you get past a certain point and heat and the enclosures tunings etc.etc. become factors, sometimes doubling power can only gain you a 1/2dB.
In short, more subs=louder with less power.
Considering for street use most subs don't come near their Xmax for most frequencies covered in the music spectrum. For SPL purposes, the port can be bigger than the cone area and thus becomes the more important factor. at 50hz Port tuning for example. the cone of the sibwoofer would have far less excursion playing a 50hz note than would the same sub in a sealed box. Since pressure/resistance from the ported enclosure becomes much higher near port tuning, excursion actually lessens. Now with this fact at 50hz even in a sealed box getting a but with 1.25" xmax takes alot of power. Now cut cone excursion down drastically and it takes gobs and gobs of power. Which is why in many SPL setups people can run over 5Kw to a single woofer without damaging it's suspension. (that's 6.7 horsepower). So to answer your thread title. Get the sub with the strongest motor, and lightest stiffest cone with the most voice coil cooling technology.
To answer your real question. 1 sub with twice the travel still just has 1 motor. 2 subs with half the travel have 2 motors. as the theory goes, doubling cone area given the same power is an automatic 3dB gain. Doubling Xmax just gives more potential per each driver. But tat those power levels heat and pwoer compression become issues really quickly. Doubling the power under normal theory gains you 3dB's. Once you get past a certain point and heat and the enclosures tunings etc.etc. become factors, sometimes doubling power can only gain you a 1/2dB.
In short, more subs=louder with less power.
To answer your real question. 1 sub with twice the travel still just has 1 motor. 2 subs with half the travel have 2 motors. as the theory goes, doubling cone area given the same power is an automatic 3dB gain. Doubling Xmax just gives more potential per each driver. But tat those power levels heat and pwoer compression become issues really quickly. Doubling the power under normal theory gains you 3dB's. Once you get past a certain point and heat and the enclosures tunings etc.etc. become factors, sometimes doubling power can only gain you a 1/2dB.
In short, more subs=louder with less power.
