Car audio speakers for bass?

[Grinderman]

car audio speakers are designed to amplify mixed/mastered music, not the power section of a bass amp
you could, but you shouldn't

(but seriously)

It's only Feb 1 and I'm already wondering how the threads on April 1 can outdo the threads I've seen on TB this week.

 

[LiptonJigglers]

Many years ago, before interweb, I tried getting a 15" speaker for my old Crate cab.
Nowhere in this backwards town had anything suitable. So I visited an car audio shop.
The guy flat out refused to sell me a speaker, and rightly so, telling me that they aren't designed for the job intended and it will not end well.
Luckily he knew a shop near by and sent me there.. where I scored a nice Celestion that's still going today.

 

[Tim Schnautz]

Relax guys. I’m not building with these beasts. I’ve got plenty of 15” tried and true peavey BW stacks and cubes to use instead of mess with untried methods that won’t go anywhere.

but seeing I know nothing about car audio, I thought I’d ask about these beasts in a stringed platform. Some have said they’ve tried it and it doesn’t work. And that obviously why big and custom cabinet makers don’t use them
That’s good enough for me.
I appreciate all the worthy information on them though. Like I said”you don’t know unless you ask…”

 

[Carl Hillman]

Can I run a Phil Jones Bighead into the Aux input on my '80s Braun clock radio and mic that to the FOH board?
????

Depends.

Does your last name start with Mac, and end with Gyver?

 

[JacklegBass]

Truth be told, many years ago I scored an Acoustic Control model 404 1x15 cabinet on eBay. I already knew from the pictures that the driver wasn't original. When I got it and opened it up I found a Rockford Fosgate Punch Classic 15" 4-ohm 200W woofer with a foam surround. I almost immediately flipped it to someone else on eBay, but before removing it from the 404 and sending it off I fired it up. Guilty pleasure or true confessions, call it what you want, but it sounded pretty cool at low bedroom volume. So sue me!

 

[Killing Floor]

I say go for it.

 

[Ostie]

I’m gonna put a couple of those subs in my car and install an input jack, then I’ll plug in my bass, play the gig, and then drive away! Practice is gonna piss off the neighbors, though….

 

[Tim Schnautz]

I say go for it.

Nah…

 

[Pilgrim]

This is asked from time to time. Short answer: no.

Long answer: search and ye shall find explanations.

 

[Pilgrim]

Wrong.. They are amazing!!

Feel free to disagree. I can't say "nowhere in the universe are there car subs that would work for bass", but I've tried it and they sucked, for reasons which have long been discussed and aren't worth arguing over.

Yes, they were amazing.......ly bad.

 

[5StringBlues]

Oh dear.....

 

[mmbongo]

Truth be told, many years ago I scored an Acoustic Control model 404 1x15 cabinet on eBay. I already knew from the pictures that the driver wasn't original. When I got it and opened it up I found a Rockford Fosgate Punch Classic 15" 4-ohm 200W woofer with a foam surround. I almost immediately flipped it to someone else on eBay, but before removing it from the 404 and sending it off I fired it up. Guilty pleasure or true confessions, call it what you want, but it sounded pretty cool at low bedroom volume. So sue me!

View attachment 5337350

Back in the glory days of car audio when that Rockford speaker was made, car subs were closer to Pro Audio drivers than they were today's low efficency, nothing above 200hz Chinese made stuff. In fact, most of them were made by Eminence so they in effect WERE just modified Pro Audio drivers. I remember hooking my Carvin bass head to a box I built with my Savard Pro 10's which advertised a 99db sensitivity and it sounded great!

 

[mmbongo]

I couldn't disagree with you more..

Please explain.

 

[Jazzdogg]

I know the cost is ridiculously high (( and this is a cheaper one!)). but I was wondering if anyone made a bass speaker enclosure using these or similar drivers?
If so, what was the outcome?
https://www.amazon.com/Sundown-Audi...6&psc=1&mcid=3cc21e3d8b4237cbbbac14131697fa05

Are you planning to play your bass in your car?

 

[Johnny Fingers]

Car audio speakers for bass, just not for bass guitar.

 

[Tim Schnautz]

Are you planning to play your bass in your car?

No…

 

[agedhorse]

Sure.. Easy.. High excursion car audio subs are really good at one thing.. Moving alot of air at low frequencies, and doing it in a controlled and sustained way.. By low, I am referring to basically the 100hz and below range.. That is where these drivers shine.. That range is also where many bass cabs start really lacking in volume and quality.. That is due to the paper surround, lower excursion design of most bass cab drivers. Nearly every bass guitar driver (speaker) is designed the same. They have a low excursion design that is very tight.. This is due to the need for the speaker to generate such a large span of frequencies. But, there is no magical recipe for one speaker to rule them all.. The reason there is more than one type of speaker, is because they are good at doing different things..

The reason I chose a car audio driver is because they are specifically designed to generate the low frequencies just as well and just as loud as the bass guitar drivers are designed to create the tight mid frequencies.. A bass guitar speaker is much more similar to a guitar speaker than it is a bass subwoofer.. So, I noticed that hitting a low D or low B string would easily hit the limit of any bass cab I have ever used (I have tried and owned them all).. Not saying it didn't sound good, but the low strings were not as loud, and pushed the limit on max volume that I could attain compared to frequencies above, say 200hz..

Split your signal and run an active crossover into a low-frequency-only cab of ~70hz and below running a high excursion driver and powered with several thousand watts. The RMS rating is much higher when using 120v or 240v amplifiers so you can 2x-10x the power to the driver given the stability is much higher than 12v car systems..

When you build the system properly, and put the driver in a properly designed enclosure for a long-throw subwoofer, it is AMAZING!!! Blows your socks off!! Absolutely amazing!! It adds an experience to playing music that is hard to describe.. you can really feel the music!!

Paper surrounds? Really?

Bass speakers as well as pro audio subs don’t use paper surrounds, they use a treated linen and do outperform foam and rubber surrounds. All arena subwoofer drivers are built this way and have no problem running rings around car audio subs.

 

[Tom Bechtel]

I dunno, I just bought this bird for my Rumble 15 amp, at the recommendation of some dude on an amp forum (I don't think it was here):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002EHOOY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

For $35 I figured it would be an interesting data point. Turns out, this made my Rumble 15 sound sensational (with bass and guitar). It was prob a stupid idea, but one that worked out well! Paper cony-cone FTW!

 

[J Wilson]

Finally !

I can get a bass tone like those donks that pass my house with enough god-awful rumbling tone with those hood and trunk lid resonances. I thought I'd never figure out how to get there.

 

[agedhorse]

YES.. Really.. They are paper.. If you would like to call them fancy reinforced paper/linen I would go along with that.. I know that because I have replaced MANY of them after they tear and come apart.. Much different material than the polyamide or polyvinyl polymers of surrounds that car audio subs are made from (at least the newer exotic ones are).. they resist tearing much better.. But much more expensive..

No, they have nothing to do with paper. No sir, the surrounds are not paper, you are wrong on this too.