autotuba quick review

[Scott Brochu]

Well I took a break from building the 4 autotuba's but just finished one for a sound check in the car and realized I didn't even buy my car amp and stereo......bummer.


So I took it in the house and took out my Sony sub on my HT surround.
I figured the head Sony unit has some kind of X over for the sub it came with so....what the heck.
With the same level of sound that went to my Sony sub I unplugged the jack and plugged it into my Autotuba..........
First of all Rich, clear, perfect bass sound. More sound output also on autotuba vs the sony.
My wife in the room couldn't believe it also. So to set in stone I quickly unplugged and swapped subs again and there was no bass (it seemed) coming out the the Sony.

I told my wife that isn't it.....Wait till I build a 3' wide HT sub and you'll see the kids toys rattle away on the floor.

But she liked the clean bass sound. I told her, thats what is going into your car honey

anyone that has not built one of these easy to build subs for the car, really should......summer is coming. Your going to want some be bop in the car when your cruising around.

[Gauss]

That's tempting. What does the Autotuba require amp-wise? Do the plans include passive crossover info? How possible is this for a hack like me?

Once I finish 'noobing' my DR200s together, summer may be over, but my fall commute will begin.

[AntonZ]

Mine has some 30W max going into it. Plenty for me, I doubt I ever use that.

As for cross-over: many car amps come with adjustable built in low pass filter (LP or LPF). If your head unit has no built-in cross-over, then connect the high input to either the left or right speaker wire and engage the low pass filter. Set up crossover frequency and adjust levels to taste.

[paul_ulrix]

I made the mistake to buy a car stereo that doesn't have a crossover built in. Check for this if you are buying a new one anyway, car amps have a crossover built in usually, but you still can't take bass away from the front speakers with a head unit that doesn't have a crossover built in.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

but you still can't take bass away from the front speakers with a head unit that doesn't have a crossover built in.

You don't need to, since the acoustic roll-off of the car speakers is pretty severe anyway. If the receiver has EQ turn the bass down and the treble up. All you need to be sure of is that the amp you get to drive the sub has a variable frequency low-pass filter to get the sub signal right.

[Sydney]

but you still can't take bass away from the front speakers with a head unit that doesn't have a crossover built in.

You can also put a simple passive crossover in line w the front speakers to block bass, you get a cleaner running front speaker having being relieved of bass duty. For the same reason you get a little bit more SPL out of them too.

[Scott Brochu]

OK today I went to work and at lunch me and a couple guys went out and tried the sub in a couple of cars. First was a Pathfinder he currently has 2x12" Pineer (?)watts, with 400 Kicker amp Pin..stereo head.
There is one 12" speaker blown so he was only coming out one. Well the little 8" kept up with the 12. I reduced the gain in the amp from 11 to 4. With the same level from head unit it was the same. I was inpressed.

The second car was a Neon and he had 2x12" Rockford Fosgate 300watt, with a 600 wat Rockford amp. with a power capacitor and a sony explode 200wx4

I heard that and didn't even bother hooking mine up.

All in all everyone was impressed with the sound that a good design and 8" speaker could produce.

I got to get this in my wifes car and set up properelly

[Gauss]

Sounds doable. I have a BP102 (4 ohm version) that I didn't use in my T39. Is this useable in the Autotuba? (I'm still daydreaming, but if I already had the driver, it'd be a lot closer to reality for me.)

[John H]

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/55-2421
http://www.usspeaker.com/legend%20bp102-1.htm
The Qts and Vas differences look, to this guys untrained eye, to be too different.

JH

[Scott Brochu]

Sounds doable. I have a BP102 (4 ohm version) that I didn't use in my T39. Is this useable in the Autotuba? (I'm still daydreaming, but if I already had the driver, it'd be a lot closer to reality for me.)

There is a 10" driver option :iitp: (always wanted to use that)
I plan on doing another with that option and wider so I can at least compete with these guys.
But it will have to wait or be a side project. I got to much on my plate.
I would look in the plans to see what driver but I am at work with no plans. If I think of it I will chme in later with info.

[Mikey]

Some 10s for the AT:

http://www.speakerhardware.com/hl10c-SPKProSerHL10c.php

http://manuals.harman.com/JBL/CAR/Boxes ... 014DTD.pdf

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdet ... er=295-550

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdet ... er=295-414