Of course I'm needing a sub for the daily driver, and while I'd love a multisub setup, I think a single 12 is all I really need for my meager bass tastes. So with that said, which is the better sub for a SQ oriented car audio setup? I'm sure both sound awesome, and I'm very familiar with the Shiva, but I know nothing of the DPL12. First off, what is dipole? Secondly, what size sealed box and ported box would the DPL12 need? Should have about 300w on tap, and it's really between these two subs and the Creative Sound Solutions SX10, which is XBL2 motored and more info can be found here http://www.creativesound.ca/details.php?model=SX10 Really just wanting something that will have a good amount of punch and also hit the lows really well. Wanting relatively flat in car, but I'll probably pick the sub with the lowest F3 and shallowest roll off, I just dont have a box modeling program to find that out myself. The CSS SX10 appeals to me more than the other two simply because of XBL2, but it will also cost me $50 more than the DPL12 and $75 more than the Shiva, and while I think it has the most throw out of all the subs, I doubt its by much, and the extra cone area of a 12 appeals to me as well. Open for suggestions, would prefer to go sealed, but can go ported no problem, and have 300w on tap. Thanks for any help.
dipole......hm.... first, seth got me hooked on subwoofers.org a while back. You should look at it too. Secondly, dipole is a pair (or more) of drivers wired out of phase, facing opposite directions. Good for limited space applications, or when a wide soundstage is desired. Never used the DPL12 or the shiva, but I'd imagine that the shiva would be much more ideal for automotive use. Besides, with a large enclosure, it should still be plenty adequate with your coupe As far as I can tell, just like any other dipole driver, you really should have two DPL12's if you're planning on a true Dipole setup. Otherwise, it's just a single sub setup. Seth can expand, he's used pretty much all of them. Jeff
I always thought that dipole was just an open baffle, but the baffle was calculated to allow a certain amount of diffraction/cancellation.
Here is the DIYsubwoofers.org Jeff was talking about, linked directly to the dipole page. Dipole is an open baffel. The dipole is designed to eliminate excess turbulance to reduce unwanted noise (whiffing and chuffing as I hear it called) in a true dipole application. It sure is pretty, but I don't really feel there is much differance between the 2 in an automotive application. If you plan to invert, I suggest the Dipole. If not, go with the Shiva (between the 2 I mean). I've seen that CS driver. We both know what the motor is capable of. I just wonder what suspension they have coupled it with, and how well it compliments the XBL2 BL linearity. I certainly hope if you do choose to go the CS route, you will let us know how it does. I am interested in hearing how the XBL2 is being applied by other companies and what the results of their interpretation of how to use the design turns out to be!!!
Thats what i was gonna say. I did a lil reading up on the DPL12 a while back, as well as the whole story behind Dipole setups, and to sum it all up, its sorta like a mechanically silent shiva by design it seems to me. The woofer is pretty much left open, and it'd suck to have lead slap, "huffing and chuffing" and shit like that. For looks, i'd go with the DPL12 if i had to choose between the 2. Invert that sumbitch and the girls will like it..
We had to build a dipole speaker for some tests in the lab here... to get any decent output in the anechoic camber (because of losses from diffraction around the small baffle) we had to build a box for it to separate the front and back of the speaker... we ended up making something like a box with two opposite faces taken off, and the speaker set in the middle of it. Anyways, I doubt that a dipole sub would be of any use in the limited space of a car... and even in-room, there's a lot to designing it and positioning it correctly to take advantage of the 'rear-wave' from the sub...
ever noticed how many ways different terms can be described? sorta throws me off at times......... Jeff
hah... we should come up with a standard definition. rule out the ones that are ambiguous or else define them absolutely. or continue the way we're going now and have everyone confused all the time
That is why multiple woofers are used, to create a peak at resonance, where the dipole unit tends to fall off. but contrary to what was previously mentioned, you can put it in a sealed box and get it to work pretty well too. If I am not to badly mistaken, there is very little differance between the Shiva and DPL12 box.
