Difference between Subwoofer and bass tube

faithless

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Hi, Jut need a clarification.
What is the difference between a subwoofer and a bass tube?
What would be a better choice for a sedan?
 
Most subwwofers are made in the shape of a cube with driver facing one direction depeding upon whether the sub is front firing or down firing.

A bass tube is in the shape of a tube where the driver faces one of the flat sides. The rest of the tube is used to enhance the bass sound. Usually the diameter of the tube is the same as the diameter of the driver. The length of the tube depends upon various design factors including space to enhnace the bass sound.

Bass tubes were made to fit easily in cars as a cube shape is uncomfortable for cars.

Most subwoofers have an inbuilt amplifiers and are called active subs. You have to ckeck whether bass tubes have amplifiers built in. Otherwise your HU unit should have enough power to drive the sub in addition to the other speakers.

In India Somuku (I am not sure about the spelling) is supposed to make good bass tubes. They are very reasonably priced also.

Cheers
 
Faithless,

In regards to which is better for sedan it depends on what you are looking for? If contour alignment is important then go with the bass tubes, if you are willing to sacrifice space and want more power in your sub (I am biased to say that most car owners prefer loudness over clarity when it comes to bass), then a box sub will provide you that effect. It is expensive but not by much. A good 12 inch or a pair of 8's should do the trick.
 
What about the differences in sound quality.

I heard bass tubes boost a particular frequency making it more suitable for spl not sq.
 
What about the differences in sound quality.
I heard bass tubes boost a particular frequency making it more suitable for spl not sq.

That depends a lot on the design of individual bass tubes. It will be unfair to write off bass tubes in total against box type subs. In addition, bass tubes are relatively new, and all us have a bias against anything that is new.

Box type subs are a bad design for the small space in a car. A tube, on the other hand can be hidden between the rear seat and boot area. They also be fitted at the back end of the boot, space that is generally unused.

I have also heard of tubes being used for subs in a 2.1 configuration for PCs that are supposed to be extremely good sounding.

Cheers
 
Faithless

Subwoofers in ICE can be incorporated in different types of enclosures
sealed,ported and bandpass ( a compination of sealed and ported where you cannot see the sub at all)

now a 12inch driver can either be put in a box that is sealed or a box that has a port ( basically a hole)

Sealed subs require more power(amp power) to be driven and give a tighter response.
Sealed box designs and single-reflex bandpasses are much better at controlling excursion at extremely low-frequencies (below 30Hz.) For this reason, they can usually handle more power in these frequency ranges than ported designs and dual-reflex bandpass designs which makes them less prone to low-frequency induced speaker damage. At frequencies below the tuning frequency of the port, a woofer in a ported box (or a dual-reflex bandpass) starts to de-couple
Sealed enclosures and single-reflex bandpass designs have a rather shallow low-frequency roll-off rate of around 12dB/octave, whereas ported enclosures and dual-reflex bandpasses typically exhibit 18- 24dB/octave roll-off

Ported subs are more efficient ,bass in these subs is slightly extended
A ported enclosure can also achieve good transient behavior but never as good as an optimized sealed enclosure. It is possible, however, for a well-designed ported enclosure to have better transient response characteristics than sealed enclosures with higher Qtc's (above 1.0.)
This low-frequency reinforcement is one of the big advantages of a well-designed ported system.
The other big advantage is that the interaction of the port, the enclosure and the speaker's resonant characteristics also reduces cone motion and, therefore, distortion at higher volume levels in the frequency range controlled by the port

Good sq may be found in both however it is difficult to build a ported box since it involves precise calculations to get the volume right.
Also the port design depends on port tuning frequencies which takes time an experience to master , hence a sealed sub is better if you are going to build the box yourself(or you are doing it from a roadside installer)
Also a ported box will be larger than a sealed one

HOwever if you are buying a ready made ported box from a manufactureer like JBL then you will find these to be more efficient

NOW A bass tube is nothing but a ported sub so expect all charecteristics of a ported box
JBL bass tubes are affordable and well built for 5-6k(grey)
the advantage of these tubes is the space they take in a car(sedan).
their form allows you to fit it in the boot against the angled back seat which is useless space anyway!
also these are easy to remove when you need more luggage space!

In car audio your choice of box depends on the music you hear and the amp power you will use
i have seen that most times people like toplay it loud and like that puonding bass ( its more important to them in a car) and hence they tend to go ported
general rules
if your amp is small - go ported
if you like house,hip hop and trance - go ported

Also note sumoku have an internal amp ( active subs ) but i would not recommend them at all for various reasons

Also note - though it is possible to connect a sub directly through the HU of a car i dont know anyone who has ever done this!! and i will be shocked to know if anyone has!:eek:

You should know that subs are genrally rated upwards of 200rms, now a car HU (pioneer/alpine) supplies only 22rms/channle ( all that 50rms you see is a load of bull) this is hardly enough to move your sub at all.
Please do buy an amp for ANY sub (even if its ported!)
 
Also note sumoku have an internal amp ( active subs ) but i would not recommend them at all for various reasons

I have no experience with subs from this company. But a couple of years ago, Sumoku had become quite popular with bass tubes. Do you any personal experience with them?

Cheers
 
somoko
experience- well not personal but a few of my car audio buds do(theyve installed it in their cars years ago)
hence ive heard these subs a while ago.
somoko is still popular only because they are the cheapest decently well distributed acive bass tubes for ICE-A quick fix for anyone wanting a cheap solution to a sub in ICE
yes for the money they may be considered VFM ( though i dont agree) but musically even an entry level 2 channel amp coupled with an entry level JBL bass tube should sound better

they never impressed me in any setp.(this is purely my opinion and anyone is welcome to disagree)
 
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Just to cut the long story short, i've heard that Subs (box) gives a thump effect (i.e dhup...dhup...dhup) :). Where as the tube gives an elongated bass effect (i.e Dhummm...dhummm...) :)
Hope u guys understand the eg.:D
 
Just to cut the long story short, i've heard that Subs (box) gives a thump effect (i.e dhup...dhup...dhup) :). Where as the tube gives an elongated bass effect (i.e Dhummm...dhummm...) :)
Hope u guys understand the eg.:D

...and whats your preference since you seem to have distinguished between the two after asking the question in the first place....
 
Sorry about this Question here, but pls can you tell me what the acronym HU and ICE stand for (i think that since both these ters are related to the audio console in the car, they could mean head unit and in car entertainment, but i could be wrong by miles)
pls enlighten.
Also, in one of the messages in this thread, there is a mention of house music, trance, hip hop and few others. At the cost of sounding stupid, can somebody open a new thread to explain various kinds of music and briefly tell us how to identify each genre and how to contrast it with other music genres
Warm regards
Murali
 
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
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