Choosing the right boxless subwoofer

Pioneer TS-W310

Pioneer is one of the most popular and versatile subwoofers around. Its cone is made of durable and rigid IMPP composite material, which reduces sound distortion while reproducing powerful bass. In addition, the IMPP cone is very light, so Pioneer TS-W310 has the best sensitivity in our selection — 95 dB.

The data sheet states that the 4-ohm voice coil can withstand 1 kW maximum power. Given that it does not have very good cooling, then perhaps this figure is too high. But 300 watts of rated power is quite real for a subwoofer with this design. When selecting an amplifier for a subwoofer, you need to focus on the rated long-playing power, and not on the maximum. Therefore, an amplifier with 400-500 watts of nominal power is desirable for this subwoofer head. Although this subwoofer can be well “shaken” with a less powerful amplifier due to the high sensitivity of its speaker.

Connecting speaker cables to the subwoofer through gold-plated spade terminals is the easiest and most common way to connect inexpensive car speakers. Terminals on the market are usually for a small cable section, although you can find spade terminals for a cable section of 4 mm. Therefore, thicker speaker cables will have to be soldered, which, by the way, is recommended as the best lossless connection, but in this case it will be inconvenient to turn off the subwoofer.

The Pioneer TS-W310 needs a lot of acoustic design and will take up a lot of space in the boot . This is a plus and a minus at the same time. The plus point is that this subwoofer can be installed in an infinite screen (Free Air) or, to put it more simply, it can be cut into the rear shelf, where the volume of the boot will serve as its acoustic design. This type of subwoofer installation can be called compact. But if you don’t have a flat and rigid rear shelf, then you need a body for this “two baby”.

The manufacturer offers three options for a relatively compact closed-type body: cramped (compact), 24.1 liters for the popular or classical music; recommended, at 35.4 liters for rock; deep, 49.5 liters for rap. There are also three options for recommendations from Pioneer engineers for a less compact bass-reflex design: tight — 35.4 liters, recommended — 42.5 liters and deep — 56.6 liters. Recommendations for the heaviest Bandpass enclosure, but with the highest efficiency in a narrow subwoofer frequency range are as follows: tight — 40L, recommended — 51L and deep — 62L.

Sony XS-GTR121L

The Japanese company decided to distinguish its XS-GTR121L subwoofer from other models in Caraudio, giving it a pentagonal shape rather than a classic round one . This was done not to correct the sound, but to attract the attention of customers.

The power indicators of this head are higher than those of the previous subwoofer: nominal 400 W, maximum 1500 W. A more powerful voice coil requires better cooling. The hole in the central part of the magnet is wider and has rounded edges so that there is no "whistling" when the air moves quickly at high cone amplitudes. Also in this model there is lateral cooling of a single 4-ohm voice coil through the holes in the stamped metal basket of the cone holder.

Gold-plated terminals fix a thick cable well with a threaded nut, and a thin cable of this kind is not securely fixed with such terminals. But, usually, this subwoofer is not connected to the amplifier with a cable with a cross section of less than 1.5 m2. The power amplifier for the Sony XS-GTR121L is desirable to choose 500 W of power for its optimal buildup and with minimal harmonic distortion. With a less powerful amplifier, Sony will also bass, but not so effectively, especially at low volume levels, especially since the sensitivity of the Sony XS-GTR121L is low — 87 dB.

Engineers recommend using this subwoofer in a closed case volume of 23.3 liters for optimally flat amplitude and phase frequency response. And for lovers of embellished low frequencies with an emphasis on deep bass, you can use the Sony XS-GTR121L in a bass-reflex case with a volume of 38.7 liters, but not with an perfect phase localization of low frequencies in the car.

Magnat Xpress 12

German company Magnat with over forty years of experience in the Hi-Fi industry offers the Xpress 12 entry-level model. Soft rubber the suspension is quite wide. This allows, on the one hand, to increase the linearity of the course of the polyurethane diffuser (for this "twin" diffuser displacement is 1 cm in each direction) to achieve a higher sound pressure, and on the other hand, a wide suspension reduces the effective area of the diffuser piston, which reduces the sound level pressure. Usually long-travel suspension is supplied with powerful low-frequency speakers. And the Magnat Xpress 12 is designed to connect to low-cost 2-channel or 4-channel amplifiers with low power with the ability to bridge to a subwoofer.

The Magnat Xpress 12 has a nominal power of 200 watts, and the maximum power is only twice as high, so the optimal amplifier should be one and a half times the subwoofer's rated power, i.e. 300 watts. Most amplifiers in bridged mode put out 150 watts per subwoofer channel, which is quite enough for the Xpress 12, since it has a good sensitivity of 93 dB.

The large and flat magnet is protected by a rubber boot that resembles a large gear in mechanical watches. A single 4-ohm voice coil is blown through a small hole in the central part of the magnet.

Self-clamping terminals on springs that fix the cable not very securely, but it is most convenient to connect and disconnect the speaker cable to such terminals. The plus and minus terminals are located far from each other so that the wires do not close together, but the terminals are attached to the metal basket of the holder diffuser itself (through plastic inserts). Please note that if you connect the speaker wires inaccurately, you can close the subwoofer channel of the power amplifier (small hairs of a multi-core cable sticking out to the sides can touch the metal basket).

In the instructions, Magnat engineers recommend only one for the Xpress 12 subwoofer acoustic design option — 60-liter bass-reflex cabinet with port setting at 50 Hz. At the same time, he should play “tasty” and very loudly. If your head unit or power amplifier does not have a built-in low-pass filter, then the instructions contain a table for assembling a passive low-pass filter with different crossover frequencies.

Alpine SWE-1244E Price from 2 600 up to 3 699 ₴ →

Subwoofer from the youngest line Alpine very well proven itself in terms of sound quality among low-cost subwoofers. The two-layer cone (bottom of cellulose with moisture-resistant impregnation, top of a thin layer of polypropylene) provides both good impulse response and strength. The linearity of the diffuser stroke (7.5 mm), together with the centering washer, controls the mid-thick suspension made of soft butyl rubber. It's good that the kit includes a protective stylish grill that protects the subwoofer cone from damage.

The medium-sized ferrite magnet does not have a protective cover that visually increases its dimensions. Therefore, the model has a small installation depth and is suitable for installation, for example, in the boot wing. Acoustic terminals securely connect the cable with screw nuts. Good ventilation both from the side and from below will not allow the subwoofer's single 4-ohm voice coil to overheat. The power of a subwoofer from a low-cost series should not be high so that it is easier to match an amplifier to it. The rated power of the Alpine SWE-1244E is 200W, and the peak power is 650W. Recommended amplifier power rating is 150 – 300 watts.

Alpine recommends nine acoustic design options for this woofer. Three types of cabinets are offered in three versions: Loud — loud (with an emphasis on the upper bass), Normal — normal (with a relatively flat frequency response) and Low — low or deep (with an emphasis on the lower bass).

For bass reflex cabinet: Loud 50 liters, Normal 75 liters, Low 100 liters.

For bandpass 4th order (two chambers and one bass reflex port): Loud 65 liters, Normal 75 liters, Low 100 liters open volume (Free Air). There is practical evidence that this subwoofer (and more than one) can be embedded in the rear shelf. And pay attention to the almost identical dimensions for the bass-reflex and bandpass (Bandpass) design. That is, the last design option will “give out” more sound pressure, taking up the same amount of space in the boot as with a bass-reflex case.

Kicx PRO 300

This huge 12kg subwoofer is referred to as the "espiel" subwoofer, from the acronym SPL. At car audio competitions, there is a discipline where, with the help of a special SPL microphone, they measure who will achieve the highest sound pressure in the car. At the lowest sounding subwoofer frequencies, it's easiest to "pump" a lot of air. The main requirements for an SPL subwoofer driver are a long-throw moving system and a powerful voice coil. By the way, for an SPL subwoofer, the maximum short-term power is more important than the rated musical power, since at the time of sound pressure measurement the subwoofer operates, although not for long, at the limit of its peak power. A person at this moment should not be in the car (so as not to damage his hearing).

The Kicx PRO 300 subwoofer can withstand two kilowatts of power for a short time, and for long listening to music, the rated power indicator is also impressive — 1000 W . The extra wide 4cm surround allows the cellulose cone to move (in a controlled manner) 32.4mm up and down. The double ferrite magnet is hidden under a molded cone holder basket and a protective mesh through which the voice coil is well ventilated. It is also cooled through a large axial hole in the back of the magnet. Connecting terminals — clamping, for a hex key. For convenient parallel connection of two 4-ohm voice coils with thick cables, each has four terminals.

The sensitivity of "espiel" subwoofer heads, usually, is not high. Because they have a rather heavy moving system, which consists of a diffuser, suspension, centering washer and voice coil. The Kicx PRO 300 has the lowest sensitivity in today's selection — 83 dB, which means that the low-power amplifier of this heavyweight will not "pump" properly.

For the highest performance in SPL competitions, Kicx engineers recommend using this bass-reflex subwoofer head 42 liters (net volume of the box excluding the subwoofer itself) with a port setting of 35 Hz. In a closed cabinet with a net volume of 28 liters, the PRO 300 subwoofer will play with a lower sound pressure rating, but with a smooth rise at the lowest bass (down to 20 Hz). Accordingly, to make the subwoofer play more musically and pleasantly to the ear, and not hum very low and loudly on one note, you can place this woofer in a much more compact case: 10 liters for a closed box and 26 liters for bass-reflex acoustic design.