Subwoofers

So here it is everyone!

The definitive list of some of the best subwoofers around right now. As you may or may not know, subwoofers are in charge of playing the low frequencies of the sound spectrum. Therefore no matter what size subwoofer you have, it will fill that lower end that the midrange speakers can simply not produce. Due to their design and use, subwoofers are Omni-directional. This means that no matter which way they face you will still feel the force of the subwoofer, unlike midrange speakers for example, where you would not be able to gain benefit of all the detail and clarity they are able to produce if you are standing behind the actual speaker.

Through my experience with different subwoofers, I've found that subwoofers generally become more like tactile transducers as they get louder in essence, you end up feeling the bass more than being able to hear it. As a result, if you're someone that is going for sound quality over loudness, I would recommend using a smaller size subwoofer. Many audiophiles who concentrate on sound quality over sound pressure will choose a smaller size subwoofer as the cone area is much smaller, and as a result, a tighter bass is achieved and when married with a sealed enclosure, the end result will be a nice tight bass that will be precise and accurate while not attempting to crack your windows! However, those who prefer sound pressure will choose the biggest cone area they can fit in their car. Take for example Steve Meade; with regards to his subwoofer he was able to put 4 18 inch subwoofers. The result of these monster subs is that Steve is able to achieve a high SPL. It is apparent that Steve attempts to increase his sound quality by installing large midbass speakers as well as using high quality midrange and good quality tweeters, all manufactured by Rockford Fosgate.

For my system I was restricted for space, and that is what defined to an extent my choice of subwoofer. I needed to have amplifiers that would be as powerful as could be whilst being as small as possible while still trying to maintain a budget! As a result, I settled for the Alpine MRP-M500 and as you can probably tell from the name, the amp is capable of pushing out 500RMS at 2OHM. Sure you might be thinking there’s plenty of choice with regards to a subwoofer but after running a 400 RMS Pioneer subwoofer in my previous system, I quickly learnt that each sub sounds very different and although the Pioneer produce very good subwoofers, (my old Pioneer, now retired to my bedroom!) I found that they were not able to produce the sound I was after which is when I turned my eye to Kicker.

The Kicker L7, a subwoofer that has truly lived up to the reputation and hypes that goes along with it. Yes the first time someone told me they had an L7 as part of their setup I stared at them, blank faced and somewhat lost, but then they gave me a demo and WOW! Although it was not perfect for what I wanted it sounded great! Precise and Accurate as well and the best bit of it all, I found that if I gave it 500rms, although not reaching its potential, it would be more than happy.

For subwoofers, the enclosure is vital for the sub to perform to its best abilities. Although you’ll see many subwoofer packages come with generic subwoofer boxes. While this is not an issue, it does somewhat hinder the performance of your sub. This is why I would recommend a custom made box. By their nature, custom boxes are much larger in size giving the subwoofer the air they require and many people choose to have a ported box, usually tuned to between 30 and 34 hertz. The benefit of this range of frequencies is that you’re pretty much maximising the output of the subwoofer without it becoming solely a transducer. For me, my box was tuned to 32Hz and the result was a sound that is pleasurable to hear as well as giving you the physical experience of moving air and I love it!

So in conclusion, subwoofers are just as important as any other speaker you have in your car if you want to enjoy the full spectrum of your sound, and after having a subwoofer in my car I can guarantee you all that I will, no matter what size, always have a subwoofer in my future cars!

Mercedes Benz Vito Van

Meet our latest finished project, a Mercedes Benz Vito van. This van had Rockford Fosgate speakers everywhere! We even put them in the sides and the back doors! The bass section was taken care by 2 Apline Type R sub woofers put into a ported custom enclosure tuned to about 34 hertz. Watch the video below for an insight into this beast!



www.sound-evolution.co.uk

Power Capacitors

Power Capacitors

What are they?

Power capacitors work by acting as a reserve power bank; they store the charge rather than being the source of power such as the battery. When you are listening to your music, and playing a heavy sub-bass note, the power will draw from the capacitor rather than from the battery so to ensure that the rest of the car will not be starved of power i.e. the headlights dimming. It will act as a buffer so that that the power being delivered to the amplifiers will not drop below the recommended voltages and be steady therefore reducing the risk of damage to the components.

So what power capacitor to choose?

After doing a bit of research, the general rule seems to be 1 farad per 1000 watts of power that your system is running at. So using that, a 1.5 farad power capacitor should be ideally suited to a 1500 watt system. There is a large selection of power capacitors available out there, for example, this power capacitor is a 2 farad power capacitor designed for smaller systems, this is not to say however that it will have a reduction in performance, however for those systems that require more power, a power capacitor with a higher farad will be able to deliver for longer and will usually be of a higher build quality. For a high quality power capacitor, I would recommend high quality car audio brands such as Rockford Fosgate. For example there is a selection of Rockford Fosgate series digital capacitors that are available in either 2 farad power capacitor or 10 farad power capacitor options that are well suited for highly demanding systems and as an added bonus, some might even say they look the business!

How to install the capacitor

Ideally the capacitor needs to be installed as close to the amplifiers as possible. The capacitor requires a 12 volt positive from the battery and a separate ground, to the amplifier; so that the 12 volt positive is 'inline' with the terminal from the battery and the amplifier. The amplifier 12 volt positive is then taken from the capacitor while the amplifier is usually grounded separately as it is important to use as short a ground cable as possible to reduce any potential ground interference.

When you need to consider other alternatives

Power capacitors will not always be of help when you are listening to music, if the lights for example dim down, and stay dim, this indicates there is a deficiency of power and there are other methods of solving the problem, it could potentially be that the battery is not able to generate a charge sufficient enough to meet the demands, so installing a higher cranking battery is usually the common solution however it is possible that upgrading "The Big Three" may also solve the issue(see below for more details). It is also important to check that the current alternator can produce a charge that will be sufficient with a larger battery.

'The Big Three'

The big three is a popular upgrade. It consists of upgrading three wires in the car to ones that are much thicker. As a result of using much thicker wire, more current is allowed to flow through; hence the overall effect seen will be that the voltage running through the car will be higher. The three wires that are upgraded are the wire from the alternator to the battery, the engine ground to the chassis and the battery ground to the chassis. It is common, but not always, that people will choose 0 gauge power wire when going about the big three upgrade. This is vital again to ensure that the voltage delivered to the amplifiers does not drop so low that the risk of damage is possible.

Conclusion

So in conclusion, there is no hard or fast answer to if a capacitor is necessary or not. However capacitors may have benefits if used appropriately. There are large selections of capacitors; some come with digital volt meters, distribution blocks etc, while others are purely chosen for aesthetic pleasure, I myself went for a 4 farad power capacitor with a built in digital volt meter with an LCD display so that it was something I was able to display and looks pretty damn cool.

Neil Patel

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