Is There A Big Difference Between Subwoofers From Different Manufacturers

@mijostyn

I wish I could find the link but is slow mo’s an 18" woofer under a strobe actually wobbling under light power. One side starts moving before the other and goes downhill from there. The excursions are not very far.

I know they wouldn’t make badass, neodymium magnet-fitted 21" pro woofers if wobbling/cone flex was an issue. What’d be an issue for them wouldn’t necessarily be one for us; let’s remember our domestic roofs would fly off over our heads if we where to test such driver at Xvar values, so it’s a practical non-issue with plenty of headroom even. These are very efficient, stiffly suspended drivers that can take from ~1.7kW on up, many of them tested at their limits in horn iterations firing into a compression chamber with uneven pressurization on the cone and huge cone stress to follow, and they eat it up.

I’m sure some drivers can driven to cone flex, but some aren’t all, and at what excursions?

I feel the most comfortable with 12" drivers and you can get to the same place by using multiples. I keep doubling the number until I get what I want. Next stop is 8.

Multiple 12’s can sound great for sure. And for your home setup you mean 8 per channel, right? I was under the impression you’ve implemented 4 per channel already.

I saw Marcus Miller and Mike Stern at the Blue Note in NYC last month and I could feel Marcus’s E string vibrate. It is that kind of authority I would like to get at home. I have great bass, just not that great. I know there are some recordings that can do it like Supertramp’s Crime of the Century or any number of Dave Holland Albums and Jaco albums not to mention Organ works.

Practically speaking I don’t believe you can really overdo bass capacity, unless the sheer volume of cabinetry becomes obtrusive acoustically. Actually, the problem is the other way ’round; the cleaner and more effortless the bass (via more displacement and efficiency) the more it can be enjoyed at proper levels in relation to the remaining audio spectrum - that’s is: you’d gain it "hotter" instead of, perhaps paradoxically, dampening poorer and more meager capacity bass performance.

Some of the vital impact of bass is diminished with central bass nulls (or suck-out) and softer floor constructions that can absorb quite a lot a of bass. In your case a column bass solution would be very appealing.

@lalitk --

... No disrespect to DIY’s community, but every DIY bloke thinks whatever ‘they’ can do, I can do it better. And please define better, what’s better or best to you or your fellow could easily be ‘good enough’ in someone else eyes. As humans we often tend to judge things based on our personal experiences and express opinions driven by our personal biases :-)

In relation to subs in particular the DIY community can have their cake and eat it too. By that I mean there're no physical restrictions other than what they impose on themselves, every design principle can be pursued - of which detailed plans are oftentimes shared for free, and the cost of assembly and parts is more manageable compared to commercial offerings - certainly with bigger subs. You can yell it to their faces all day long trying to convince them otherwise, but many if not most audiophiles would rather pay dearly for a smaller commercial package than letting size have its say via DIY (at less dough). If you ask me it's an audiophile "attitude" for main speakers that's extended, so to speak, into the sub octaves for how to realize that frequency span as well: with size restrictions (that mostly leaves you with sealed designs) and a particular attention to detail that strikes me as being more about brand identification than core physics.

So, with the lowest ~3 octaves it IS about what DIY offerings can do that commercial products can't, because size gets in the way, and to my mind that's an awfully restricted playground - expensive at that - to limit yourself to. 

@phusis

May I remind you that this thread is about seeking differences between commercially build subwoofers. If you and @mijostyn wish to further portray the superiority of DIY designs then I suggest you start a new thread. Thank you for your consideration and understanding.

@lalitk , what we are talking about applies to any subwoofer and describes characteristics that others can use to evaluate commercial subs.

@Phusis, Right now it is two per channel and going to 4 drivers in two cabinets for a total of 8.  All the drivers are set to form a linear array so they all work as a unit as most bass is center channel. They are however hooked up stereo because I cross up at 100 Hz. As for overdoing it the limiting factor is space. I would use 15" drivers but the enclosures would have to be so big it would be impossible to fit them in. 

@mijostyn

I appreciate your insight and thanks for sharing. One can always contribute here objectively without showcasing their own prejudice or hatred for commercial builds.