DA175 aluminum 7-inchers as PC subwoofers?

[vancepants]

Been hanging in the forums for a bit and just finally registered. Building a 2.1 PC system using zaph's single driver B3N design (good to 150 Hz). He suggests using a dual-subwoofer design so I was pondering 2 of the Dayton aluminum 7-inch drivers (DA175-8) to keep costs down. Anybody have any idea if these will have enough gusto and extension to get the job done?

Other notes:
Smallish room (11x13)
At a desk in the corner (sucks i know, little wiggle room)
Thinking 70-watt sub amp (yay/nay?)
Erring toward lively bass over deep rumbling - (jazz, blues, classical etc.)

Any and all advice welcome and appreciated, everybody tech talk ready go

[Pete Schumacher ®]

Been hanging in the forums for a bit and just finally registered. Building a 2.1 PC system using zaph's single driver B3N design (good to 150 Hz). He suggests using a dual-subwoofer design so I was pondering 2 of the Dayton aluminum 7-inch drivers (DA175-8) to keep costs down. Anybody have any idea if these will have enough gusto and extension to get the job done?

Other notes:
Smallish room (11x13)
At a desk in the corner (sucks i know, little wiggle room)
Thinking 70-watt sub amp (yay/nay?)
Erring toward lively bass over deep rumbling - (jazz, blues, classical etc.)

Any and all advice welcome and appreciated, everybody tech talk ready go

There are better choices, that are cheap. The DA175 will dig pretty deep, but it's severely Xmax/Xmech limited. I'd suggest the SD215A instead.

[arlis_1957@yahoo.com]

yes they will go pretty deep. if its just for music, a nice two-way nearfield is very good. no need for sub.

[woodtradesman_audio]

I built a a pair of karma Indugnias and set up as pc speaker for short period time while I reconfigured my listening space, they did not sound their best with that close of a listening distance. They sound much better (to me) when you are at least 7 feet away, so I personally don't recommenced them for in your face near fields.

[Pete Schumacher ®]

I built a a pair of karma Indugnias and set up as pc speaker for short period time while I reconfigured my listening space, they did not sound their best with that close of a listening distance. They sound much better (to me) when you are at least 7 feet away, so I personally don't recommenced them for in your face near fields.

In all fairness, the Karma's XO was voiced for stand mounting, and nearfield, on a desk with a PC, there will be too much baffle step and a thicker sound.

[vancepants]

Thank you for the input so far, just to clarify what's established, I will be using these: http://zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker18.html from zaphaudio.com for the nearfield speakers, but they will require a subwoofer.

I'm trying to find the right balance of small/not too expensive drivers such that two can be used running from a single sub amp without taking up too much of the area under my desk (again there's a little wiggle room with this requirement). Ideally they would be 2 ohm or 8 ohm so they could fully utilize the power from the amp when combined, but 4 ohm drivers are not out of the question.

The reason for the dual driver setup is per recommendation in Zaph's article outlining the design. I'm thinking of two seperate boxes flanking the desk, one with the amp integrated, and a speaker lead running to the other box with just the woofer.

[woodtradesman_audio]

The rs180 can handle sub duties. It might do the trick.

[isaeagle4031]

I understand Zaphs reasoning on the dual sub setup, however do you have the room to support this? If you are that space limited, using the single SD215A that Arlis suggested is a pretty solid way to go. If the sub is placed under the desk, evenly between the 2 B3Ns, you shouldn't get too much in the way of localization. The 70w plate amp will be plenty for this application.

How large of an enclosure can you swing?

[50 watt head]

I understand Zaphs reasoning on the dual sub setup, however do you have the room to support this? If you are that space limited, using the single SD215A that Arlis suggested is a pretty solid way to go. If the sub is placed under the desk, evenly between the 2 B3Ns, you shouldn't get too much in the way of localization. The 70w plate amp will be plenty for this application.

+1

[vancepants]

With a single enclosure in the middle I am the most size constrained, it would probably have to be about 0.75 cubic feet or less. Flanking the desk I could get away with a max of 2.25 cubic feet, but I'd like to make them much smaller than that. Closer to the 1 cubic foot range (each).

EDIT: Oh and I'm shying away from the single sub design because the desk is in the corner, so centering between the two speakers would yield the dreaded single sub in the corner syndrome.

[arlis_1957@yahoo.com]

how about two of the tangband 6.5" subs?

[PunkSweeper]

how about two of the tangband 6.5" subs?

+1 on that. I can say from first-hand experience that the Tang Band is astonishingly musical for a small, long-stroke sub and also ShawnA's Triska sub using the SD215A is an excellent design.

[vancepants]

Tang Band 6.5's may work, so far 2 of the SD125A's look more enticing as they are half the price. Do you guys and gals think they would each do alright in a ~1 cu ft enclosure?

[jbruner]

The DA175 can do 25hz in about 1 cu. ft. but output is limited. I liked it in that application, but I am using the SD215 now. The SD215 is about equal to 2 DA175's.

I even used a single DA175 to support my TMWW mains because I couldn't stand to be without the bottom octave. It's kinda backwards to have one 6.5" sub and four RS225-8 midbasses, but it sounded good, at least up to about 90dB.

[johnnyrichards]

Tang Band 6.5's may work, so far 2 of the SD125A's look more enticing as they are half the price. Do you guys and gals think they would each do alright in a ~1 cu ft enclosure?

The Daytons like a large enclosure to get below 35 Hz. You can do what I did with the thing, and stick it in a small, vented enclosure tuned low. Something like 1.15 cubic feet tuned to the mid 20's somewhere. It gave an F3 of only 35 Hz, but the roll off was closer to a sealed 12db/octave rather than the steeper roll off of a "standard" ported enclosure so the theoretical room gain helps it achieve better output down low.

[fastbike1]

A quick model of the SD215A-88 in 30 liters, tuned to 34Hz. F3/F10 34/29, 10.6dB @ 30 watts. At max excursion at 20 Hz. Port velocity 15m/s at 30Hz.

Tang Band 6.5's may work, so far 2 of the SD125A's look more enticing as they are half the price. Do you guys and gals think they would each do alright in a ~1 cu ft enclosure?

[vancepants]

Wow thank you all for all the help. I just noticed the dayton classic 8" is on sale for $39.00 with a similar Fs and a higher Xmax, would two of those be 24 dollars better than two of the DVC's?

[fastbike1]

I've modeled both the DCS205 and SD215A-88. Their F3/F10 in the same size box are very similar. The DCS205 plays about 1-2 Db lower. The DCS205 will play about 3dB louder before excursion problems but will need about 2.5 times the power (not surprising) to do it.

Wow thank you all for all the help. I just noticed the dayton classic 8" is on sale for $39.00 with a similar Fs and a higher Xmax, would two of those be 24 dollars better than two of the DVC's?

[djg]

What are you powering the satellites with? I ask because PE makes a 2.1 plate amp that I have used for a couple of 2.1 systems. I recommend it if you need a simple solution for 2.1 power. Stereo rca jacks in, 50 watts sub power, 25 watts L/R speaker level out.

Dayton MCA2550E 2.1 plate amp, P/N 300-773