According to what my Wholesale account sales rep told me at Parts Express, i was the first one to receive their 15" Titanic sub kit when it came out. It was not bad for the money, but can definitely benefit from some TLC during assembly. I posted some comments about this over at AA quite a while ago. Out of that thread, i ended up emailing back and forth with Darren concerning the lack of cabinet bracing and some other problems i had, so they might have taken care of these problems by now.
If you want the most bass extension with reasonable control, line the cabinet walls very heavily with acoustic foam. I would use one layer directly mounted to the cabinet walls and two layers stacked on top of that for a total of three layers over the entire interior of the cabinet. If done properly, this will eat up about half of the internal box volume. After doing that, the entire center chamber should be packed full of Acousta-Stuff damping material. Contrary to popular belief, this stuff works best if packed into the cabinet, not used sparingly and "fluffed up". When all is said and done, you should have a hard time pushing the woofer into the cabinet due to all of the stuffing in the cabinet.
If looking for the greatest control and definition with this specific combo, stuff the box with fiberglass to the tune of appr 2 lbs per cubic foot. Once again, this will make it hard to shove the driver in, but don't worry about it. Just make sure that the damping material can't get between the driver's framework and cause the cone to bind up internally.
The first approach will provide good control, a slightly higher max spl at the extreme bottom end and a few more Hz of extension. Consider this a high quality HT subwoofer that will also work well with music. The latter approach will offer excellent control with better transient response but a slightly lower max spl at the extreme bottom end. This would be more like a high quality music subwoofer that will also work well with HT.
Using appr 1.5 lbs per cu ft of fiberglass will give you something between these two variations i.e. control that is better than the Acousta-Stuff / Foam combo but not quite as good as the more heavily stuffed fiberglass. The sub will go almost as deep as the Acousta-Stuff / Foam combo, which is lower than what the 2 lb cu ft fiberglass will do. Max output at low freq's will, once again, be somewhere between the AS / Foam combo and that of the 2 lb cu ft fiberglass version. This would be the "i want it all" approach that is a pretty well rounded performer for both HT and music.
If they still offer options on the amp, go with the most power that you can afford. Alter the EQ circuit so that the amp has a few dB's of boost at the lowest frequency listed on the instruction chart. Don't go crazy here though. This will entail changing two resistors ( from what i can recall ). Cross the sub over VERY low and gradually bring the level up to where the bass firms up, but you can't really hear the subwoofer by itself. You might have to adjust the crossover point and gain settings a few times as these two controls will somewhat effect one another and what you hear.
The end result should be pretty impressive to most folks right off the bat, but will need a REALLY good and hard work-out to loosen up the suspension before she really starts to shake, rattle & roll. It should be noted that, even after break-in, this sub may not be as "thunderous" as some other subs that you've heard. The reason for this? Those subs will have typically produced much higher levels of mid-bass with a lot of ringing ( lack of damping ). This produces a lot of "apparent" bass, but it will be fat, slow and sloppy. Using any of the approaches listed above, the output from this sub will always be very tight and well-controlled.
As a side note, if you want more "earthquake action" during movies, raise the crossover point on the sub up to a higher frequency. If this doesn't give you what you want, crank up the gain a bit. You might find that you have one setting for most music and another setting for watching movies.
Hope this helps... Sean
>
If you want the most bass extension with reasonable control, line the cabinet walls very heavily with acoustic foam. I would use one layer directly mounted to the cabinet walls and two layers stacked on top of that for a total of three layers over the entire interior of the cabinet. If done properly, this will eat up about half of the internal box volume. After doing that, the entire center chamber should be packed full of Acousta-Stuff damping material. Contrary to popular belief, this stuff works best if packed into the cabinet, not used sparingly and "fluffed up". When all is said and done, you should have a hard time pushing the woofer into the cabinet due to all of the stuffing in the cabinet.
If looking for the greatest control and definition with this specific combo, stuff the box with fiberglass to the tune of appr 2 lbs per cubic foot. Once again, this will make it hard to shove the driver in, but don't worry about it. Just make sure that the damping material can't get between the driver's framework and cause the cone to bind up internally.
The first approach will provide good control, a slightly higher max spl at the extreme bottom end and a few more Hz of extension. Consider this a high quality HT subwoofer that will also work well with music. The latter approach will offer excellent control with better transient response but a slightly lower max spl at the extreme bottom end. This would be more like a high quality music subwoofer that will also work well with HT.
Using appr 1.5 lbs per cu ft of fiberglass will give you something between these two variations i.e. control that is better than the Acousta-Stuff / Foam combo but not quite as good as the more heavily stuffed fiberglass. The sub will go almost as deep as the Acousta-Stuff / Foam combo, which is lower than what the 2 lb cu ft fiberglass will do. Max output at low freq's will, once again, be somewhere between the AS / Foam combo and that of the 2 lb cu ft fiberglass version. This would be the "i want it all" approach that is a pretty well rounded performer for both HT and music.
If they still offer options on the amp, go with the most power that you can afford. Alter the EQ circuit so that the amp has a few dB's of boost at the lowest frequency listed on the instruction chart. Don't go crazy here though. This will entail changing two resistors ( from what i can recall ). Cross the sub over VERY low and gradually bring the level up to where the bass firms up, but you can't really hear the subwoofer by itself. You might have to adjust the crossover point and gain settings a few times as these two controls will somewhat effect one another and what you hear.
The end result should be pretty impressive to most folks right off the bat, but will need a REALLY good and hard work-out to loosen up the suspension before she really starts to shake, rattle & roll. It should be noted that, even after break-in, this sub may not be as "thunderous" as some other subs that you've heard. The reason for this? Those subs will have typically produced much higher levels of mid-bass with a lot of ringing ( lack of damping ). This produces a lot of "apparent" bass, but it will be fat, slow and sloppy. Using any of the approaches listed above, the output from this sub will always be very tight and well-controlled.
As a side note, if you want more "earthquake action" during movies, raise the crossover point on the sub up to a higher frequency. If this doesn't give you what you want, crank up the gain a bit. You might find that you have one setting for most music and another setting for watching movies.
Hope this helps... Sean
>