[drphoto]

I'm tempted to get a pair of their 12" kits, but I'd like to get some feedback. Looks good on specs, but who knows?

[warnerwh]

Well I know. If you want subs for music you'd be far better off using Dayton Reference Series drivers in a sealed enclosure. If you can build a box you can do it. Also one 15" is equivalent to almost 2 twelves and for the little bit of extra money is a good idea to use.

If this is mostly for HT and you don't care if your low/mid bass is a bit loose then those subs will be ok. If you want the best sound quality then the RS series are the way to go. They're super good for the money.

[Jon L]

I second Dayton 15" in a sealed box.  GREAT music subs!

[gitarretyp]

I'll third the reference series 15".

[Audiovista]

audioXpress magazine (12/2006) published a servo circuit for Part Express (Dayton) subwoofers Sub-100 and Sub-120 (#300-633 and 300-635) flattening the response down to  12Hz. They sell the modification kit which can be used to control two subwoofers

http://www.audioxpress.com/bksprods/products/kw-6.htm

I did not hear it, but it made sense to me......

Boris

[Musicalmaniac]

I built the Dayton Audio Sub "The Drake" which is a 10 inch Ref. Driver in a smallish sealed enclosure with their 1000 watt amplifier. I over built the enclosure doubling the MDF thickness to 1 1/2 inches thick so it is very solid especially with the spikes. The bottom line is it is a very musical sub if you are looking for a fast and accurate sub for rounding off the bottom end of some bookshelfs-etc. It is just super tight and fast. I had a Klipcsh dual reference 10 that retailed for well over $1200.00 and I prefer the Drake hands down. Not that the Klipch was a bad sub in any regard just that their is always something better.  I had to bullet proof my surroundings with this sub as it had a tendacy to find things to make vibrate and annoying. Well worth the investment in my opinion.  Jeff

[BobM]

I picked up a 12" sub about 3-4 years ago for only $100, when I was putting together a cheapo home theater system (6 discontinued AR speakers for $50/pair, and a Kenwood HT receiver for $300 plus this sub - less than $600 for the whole shebang). It was obviously not the reference series, but I was only using it for home theater bumps, humps, explosions and rattles. It does a great job there, shaking the house, but it is really not terribly good for music. It's a bit overpowering and thumpy compared to my Rel Strata III in the main rig - but then again this is a $1500 sub with a great reputation compared to a $100 sub. Can't beat it for the price.

Enjoy,
Bob

[drphoto]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I should have been more specific. Yes, I want sub(s) for music, to mate up w/ my Merlin TSM-M's. I was thinking of the Dayton sub kit, they call the "Titanic", which is sealed. If the Ref series is better, I could just get the parts. The Mirage I have just doesn't cut it.

[Musicalmaniac]

The Dayton "The Drake" was designed primarily for a music sub. The 10 inch reference driver is just super in the small sealed enclosure. I believe the plans are still available at Parts Express. I was very happy with it.  I think I had $500.00- $600.00 in it. If I was going to deviate from the plans on anything it would  be the amp. They spec the $300.00-$400.00 amp that does not have direct speaker connection options and I would rather have those connections available plus the fact I think the amp may be a bit of overkill for this application. One of the Bash amps with the speaker connectors goes for less than half the price and would put the overall cost of this sub at $300.00-$400.00 . I haven't heard any of the Rel subs and have heard from others they are probably the best musical sub  available however it just might be interesting to but the Drake up against a Rel of equal specs.  Price wise it's a no brainer if you have some time on your hands and basic box building skills. I believe the Titanic is the most popular sub Parts-Express sells however feel they are more suitable for Home Theater for the most part. A few mods could change this however. In any event all of their Subs offer a lot of bang for the buck.  Jeff

[Kevin Haskins]

I'm tempted to get a pair of their 12" kits, but I'd like to get some feedback. Looks good on specs, but who knows?

Their older DVC drivers where made by Eminence and a copy of the original Shiva/Tempest from Adire Audio.   Both are good units but the 15" probably should be in a larger box (it has a highish Q in a small sealed box).    For music I prefer a final Q of about 0.65.   The other aspects that are important are that the low-pass filter actually works as designed and its nice to add a couple band PEQ.   Pick up one of the cheaper pro-audio units. 

I don't know anything about the new Reference Series subs so I'll punt on them.   

[bwaslo]

Another option if you are into diy is to take one of the cheaper Dayton subs and mod it with a servo circuit and sealed cabinet.  I did an article in AudioXpress last year on how to do that.  It works extremely well with music, not bad for HT (though several really are needed for mid to larger size HT rigs, which want volume and brute shaking). 

But a servoed Dayton 12incher, surprising, does as well as I've heard for music.  I had planned to build a different box and try a longer excursion driver, but haven't really felt the need (though I'm not into live rock concert levels!).

[Audiovista]

Another option if you are into diy is to take one of the cheaper Dayton subs and mod it with a servo circuit and sealed cabinet.  I did an article in AudioXpress last year on how to do that.  It works extremely well with music, not bad for HT (though several really are needed for mid to larger size HT rigs, which want volume and brute shaking). 

But a servoed Dayton 12incher, surprising, does as well as I've heard for music.  I had planned to build a different box and try a longer excursion driver, but haven't really felt the need (though I'm not into live rock concert levels!).

Hi, I'm glad you chimed in - I thought that was an interesting article (see the fifth post in this thread). And with two inexpensive subs plus servo circuit I suspect the bass will be much more uniform and may reduce need for room treatment (WAF and all). For about $400 and some fun work.

Boris

[bwaslo]

>(see the fifth post in this thread).

Boris,

Thanks for pointing that out -- guess I should have read all the previous posts first before posting! Thanks for your comments, also.

About multiple subs, I think you're right, using multiple subs helped a lot to smooth out the very low frequencies and to broaden the seating area for good lows.  So much so that I would definitely recommend anyone to get two or three cheaper subs rather than one expensive one, no matter how good that one may be. A single sub is going to leave significant response suckouts due to the room and be more seating position dependent, which can't be fixed by improving that one sub.

On one of the other forums, there was a discussion about "Double Bass Arrays", an even more aggressive way to fix the low-frequency room modes problem.  I haven't tried it yet, but the idea seems to make a lot of sense, at least to me.  To do it, you put several mono subs on the front wall, spaced to prevent lateral variations, and drive them all in mono.  Then you put another matching set of subs on the back wall, but drive them in inverted phase and delayed by the time that it takes a sound wave to cross the room.  When the wave from the front subs reach the back of the room, the back subs eat up the wave so nothing bounces off or resonates.  The setup behaves as if the back of the room is completely open, the side walls don't exist, and the front wall is inifintely large -- the wave from the front speakers just passes through.  Takes a lot of subs, though, so that is definitely a diy effort.

I found the link again, if you want check out:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archive/index.php/t-837744.html

There was also a thread about it last year here on Audio Circle, it turns out:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=20532.0