Replace my Sub Driver.

[Knowsknone]

Alright, well my dad's Optimus Pro SW-10p subwoofer died, the driver is shot and I have no clue what to replace it with, and my dad wont spring for me buying a good driver and building a new box and recycling the amp. Yes, my father is that stubborn he wont even let me do the work and spend the money on it.

Our living room is HUGE and is open to the rest of the house, so I tired to convince him to spend the money on a Dayton 12" sub.

Although like I said he is stubborn, if there isn't a suitable replacement I am sure some of you audio gurus saying so will convince him of going another direction. I would rather him buy a Dayton sub than some off brand one from wherever else and spend more and get half the performance.

Anyway, thanks guys!

[arlis_1957@yahoo.com]

the catolog has a subwoofer replacment guide. the guys can probably make suggestions but we need to know the size of the amp and the dmintions of the box h,d,w, plus thickness of the material.

[Ludo]

Also whether the cabinet is sealed, ported or passive radiator; most lilely ported so can the port tuning be easily adjusted?

Louis

[depthsounder]

Here's a start:

Amplifier Output:..............................120 W RMS (4 Ohms @ 1% THD)
High Cut Filter:...................................50 Hz-150 Hz Adjustable
Frequency Response:......................................... ..28 Hz-180 Hz
Power Voltage:.......................................... ....AC 120 V/60 Hz
Power Consumption:...................................... .............120 W
S/N Ratio:
Nominal........................................... ..............80 dB
Minimum........................................... ..............60 dB
Dimensions:.......................14 13/16 x 13 1/4 x 16 5/16 Inches (HWD)

If the dimensions do not include the feet we're looking at 1.35 cu ft or so, less the amp and subwoofer. (assuming 3/4 walls, 5/8 walls would give around 1.4)

If it it is ported, the ports must be pretty small to get any kind of low tuning. You are going to need a fairly efficient woofer too, dayton quattro?
-David

[rogoll]

...and I don't know about the rest of you, but none of the "Stimulus Package" has seemed to reach me... Way things are right now, "dad" may want to wait just a little while

[depthsounder]

A quick search has located one potential candidate:

http://meniscusaudio.com/polk-subwoofer-p-825.html

$50 and can be tuned to 30Hz in that enclosure.

What diameter is the port?

-David

[johnastockman]

Alright, well my dad's Optimus Pro SW-10p subwoofer died, the driver is shot and I have no clue what to replace it with, and my dad wont spring for me buying a good driver and building a new box and recycling the amp. Yes, my father is that stubborn he wont even let me do the work and spend the money on it.

Our living room is HUGE and is open to the rest of the house, so I tired to convince him to spend the money on a Dayton 12" sub.

Although like I said he is stubborn, if there isn't a suitable replacement I am sure some of you audio gurus saying so will convince him of going another direction. I would rather him buy a Dayton sub than some off brand one from wherever else and spend more and get half the performance.

Anyway, thanks guys!

Not a guru, but I have 20 years of retail audio experience, and with those types of mass-market subs, the value/performance ratio of one of the Dayton options would far surpass anything you could do with the stock cabinet. Having a solid, well-braced enclosure is especially important with a sub and the commercial big-box store offerings, including the Optimus, don't measure up. Usually no bracing and less-than-3/4"-thick material is what you get. The old silk-purse-from-a-sow's-ear thing regarding improving the SQ by just replacing the driver. The original cabinet will benefit from some internal bracing, but not always easy. I've done it many times with those mass-market subs, you just have to work through the woofer or amp hole. That SUB-120 you linked to is a pretty good deal. My sister has the SUB-100 10"-woofer model. It embarrasses the much more expensive 10"-driver name-brand she had, so it's a bargain. I imagine the -120 is an equally good deal in terms of price and performance. Or you could go with making the cabinet & bracing yourself, getting one of the plate amps and using a Quatro or SDVC sub driver. If your dad wants plug-and-play, the SUB-120.

John A.

[rogoll]

Not a guru, but I have 20 years of retail audio experience...
John A.

John is being very modest. Listen to the things he and others with years of experience say. I know from my own personal experience how you can get an idea in your head and start planning on doing it and get really excited. Then when you hear advice that is critical of it, you tend to not give it the credence it deserves. You'll save a lot of time, money, and effort listening to and following the (free!) advice available here.

I really appreciate John because he kindly expressed these same principles to me when I was just starting out (he didn't have an ego that needed to be fed by putting me down for my lack of knowledge).

With that said, once you've worked in this hobby/field a while, you'll learn to spot some bargains that you can "salvage". About a year ago Parts Express had some surplus Nintendo subwoofers that were missing the amps for $19.00. Turned out to be a pretty good unit when coupled with the Dayton amp. But like John said, you have to do some "dressing up" of the original consumer product.

Respectfully,
Leonard

[johnastockman]

John is being very modest. Listen to the things he and others with years of experience say. I know from my own personal experience how you can get an idea in your head and start planning on doing it and get really excited. Then when you hear advice that is critical of it, you tend to not give it the credence it deserves. You'll save a lot of time, money, and effort listening to and following the (free!) advice available here.

I really appreciate John because he kindly expressed these same principles to me when I was just starting out (he didn't have an ego that needed to be fed by putting me down for my lack of knowledge).

With that said, once you've worked in this hobby/field a while, you'll learn to spot some bargains that you can "salvage". About a year ago Parts Express had some surplus Nintendo subwoofers that were missing the amps for $19.00. Turned out to be a pretty good unit when coupled with the Dayton amp. But like John said, you have to do some "dressing up" of the original consumer product.

Respectfully,
Leonard

Thanks, Leonard. Since I've been content to build OPP's (other peoples projects) and not yet ready to do a design on my own, my experience with retail audio and especially commercial speakers, is about the extent of my contributions. Not stack-'em-high-sell-'em-low retail, but a true mom 'n pop hands-on audio store background. Everything from 6-figure-priced speaker ridiculousness, to $100 house-brand varieties...with an in-house service department and the owners desire to have the equipment and knowledge to do all our own measurements (both listening environment and anechoic). Unfortunatly, very few high-end brands of speakers jived with the BS and marketing hype that came with them. Naturally, being in that situation gave me a skeptical eye and ear when it comes to commercial speakers and from what I've heard, deservedly so. That meaningless techno blah-blah didn't seem to be as prevelant with the electronics, though. Companies would take advantage of the consumers lack of knowledge of speakers and how they work. From a customers view, most could grasp how an amp or other electronics work, but speakers were more of a mystery. And when you look inside a $16,000 pair of speakers and find cheap XO components and a toilet-paper tube for a port, along with other things, well, you can see where I come from. Not all were like that and if you look, you can find good performance/value ratio...just not at the usual big-box retailer. The days of the helpful & knowledgeable locally-based audio stores are dwindling. The only ones left around here are in the Seattle metro area; Definitive, Hawthorne and Speakerlab.

John A.