Subwoofers work by moving air with the cone creating waves that move around in the box and create bass. But what really makes one subwoofer better than the other?

Two different twelves for example. One low end one high end. Both have same cone area, both hit the same frequencies(lets assume). From my understanding all that really makes one better than the other is how much excursion it has. But that really can't be all can it?

Sorry if this is a dumb question... I haven't been able to sleep lately:p

This is super vague.

T/S parameters are used to compare differences in woofers.

What sepatates a Ford from a Chevy or a Dodge ??

What sepatates a Ford from a Chevy or a Dodge ??

Ford = WIIIIIIINN

Chevy = eh.

Dodge = nice i suppose.

Like what makes one subwoofer louder than another one? (Same size)

You have to look at alot more than xmax. What size voice coil does is have, how many windings does the coil have, what size spiders and how many, qms, qts, qes, vas, bl, fs after break in. there are many different things. many

Displacement will differ, normally, even if they have the same cone area one may displace more than the other. Cone speed differs with motor force, moving mass, etc. All of that is revealed in T/S parameters

Like what makes one subwoofer louder than another one? (Same size)

In it's most basic form a subwoofer is nothing but an air pump. The more air that it moves, the more pressure is produced, the louder it will be. If one moves more air than the other, the one moving the most air will be loudest.

It's more complicated than that, but if you are asking simply in terms of output then yes, if two speakers have the same cone area and are playing the same frequency (and are in the same enclosure alignment) but one speaker is louder than the other......then the louder speaker would necessarily have more excursion (which is why it's louder).

Now the question of why one may have more excursion at a given frequency in a given enclosure than another speaker is a lot more complicated to actually answer.

There are a lot of things that make two subwoofers different and why they behave the way they do. There are literally entire books written on the topic, so trying to narrow it down to a single post or thread would be difficult. If you can narrow down your question some we might be able to answer it more directly.

imo, quality of parts used.

Edited October 27, 201113 yr by jj1479

imo, quality of parts used.

I'd much rather have a good design with cheap parts than a crappy design with great parts.

imo, quality of parts used.

I'd much rather have a good design with cheap parts than a crappy design with great parts.

Are you speaking of the funky pup?

imo, quality of parts used.

I'd much rather have a good design with cheap parts than a crappy design with great parts.

Are you speaking of the funky pup?

He musn't be... You can't speak so freely about the Funky Pup...

Even to this day, we still don't know the true make up of the Funky Pup. 3 mechanical engineers have tried over the years. Oppenheimer was the last to attempt to disassemble to the Funky Pup to begin the reverse engineer process and duplicate the design. Well that back fired to an extent, but it did give him an earth shattering and history making idea. And so the Atomic age began.

Even to this day, we still don't know the true make up of the Funky Pup. 3 mechanical engineers have tried over the years. Oppenheimer was the last to attempt to disassemble to the Funky Pup to begin the reverse engineer process and duplicate the design. Well that back fired to an extent, but it did give him an earth shattering and history making idea. And so the Atomic age began.

Indeed, it's rumored that both Fat Man, and Little Boy were filled with Funky Pup motors, they were truly devastating.