Today i just noticed my Alpine type R sub just made a weird sound as i crank the bass **** halfway to maybe 75% plus to max. i need help i dont know what can cause it. it seems normal below the 1/2 rangee bass **** setting.

is it blown? first i taught it was some kind of rattling and listened to the bass its the speaker??

 

IDK... I would prob start by taking the sub outta the box and make sure your voice coils have proper impedence... I know the type-r has dual voice coils, I've seen just one coil de-laminate from the motor, while the other coil is good. It makes weird noises when this happens.

 

Also, is your box ported? I've seen crap get inside of the box through the port before making stupid noises also...

 

could be distortion. he said it only happens when he cranks up the bass ****

 

That was my first thought, but I threw it out bc he said it just started happening, so Im guessing he was able to turn it up all the way before, and this is a new symptom... At the same time though, maybe he was distorting his sub previously, causing a f'd up voice coil, but never noticed the distortion?

 

turn it off and push on it, if it makes noise it's a messed up coil.

 

i have a sub right now, that both coils are still reading the correct ohm, but they seem to have expanded and rub, but you only hear the rubbing when you push on the sub or turn it up, nothing at low volume.

 

yes my box is ported, yesterday i removed the sub and seperated it from the box. nothing was inside. i noticed when i played the sub out of the box it sounded okay with no bad sound. but when i went and put it back the sound was weird again?

i checked the noise coming from the box seemed to be cracking a little if i push on or hit the box. so maybe the box??? my geuss is the box but just to make sure idk if my sub is the one?? goin bad??

how do i know if its the sub also how do i test it?

 

Have you tried what mhart said yet? pushing in on the cone of the sub, and listen for a scratching sound? (make sure your stereo is off.) If a seal on your box has broken loose, you can here strange sounds also. At this point, the easiest thing to do would be to see if you can borrow a known good sub, and put it in that box. If it still makes the noise, its your box. If not, then its prob a voice coil on your sub.

 

i found out the problem first i took the sub out, and it had no buzzing noise. i pressed it in straight up/down its good. but only made a weird sound if i press it in an angle position. i pressed or when i moved the sub box it made a noise i pressed it slightly and it seemed that the ported box is bad. i took it to a stereo shop and they checked everything again i wanted to make sure. the noise was really weird even they taught it was a blown speaker.

i bought a new speaker box that made to alpine type r specs. the box was the problem. the old speaker box was seperating/


i got another question what boxes are good for these single 12 inch type r subs??? are bandpass boxes good or what is the best for only one??

 

sealed box's are generally best....and built to the speaker manufacturers specs. i would stay clear of bandpass box's in any order

 

a lot of big time competitors use bandpass and when built right are very nice boxes, i always use ported, i tune it low and they work great.

 

Is the Alpine type R single sub box to specs the best way to go?? what would be a good amp to go with it?

 

I have seen some amazing bandpass boxes. They have to be built absolutely to spec to reproduce the sound you're looking for. Basially, the vents on the bandpass box are tuned to a certain frequency, and notes around that frequency SLAM! I don't like them bc the notes that aren't around that frequency aren't as impactful, so the sound reproductions is kind of uneven. Im more of a sound quality guy, vs SPL guy, so these boxes aren't for me.

I always use sealed boxes due to the simple fact that they are easy to build, have tolerance to handle if the airspace isn't exactly perfect, and provide even output along the subs musical reproduction range. The type R performs well in any enclosure. (that is built well).

As far as the amp is concerned, just choose one from a manufacturer that you trust, and that is in your price range. I believe that sub handles 400 watts RMS, so try to stay around that power output. I would highly consider a mono amp, vs a 2-channel, due to the fact that the type-r has dual voice coils. I'd wire it in parallel, and you'll have 2 ohms of impedence to the amp. a lot of two channels can't handle 2ohms when you are bridgeing the amplifier channels...

 

i currently got a TMA 500.1 mono block amp. with the Spec type R box. after a while i wanted a louder bass deep bumping hard. i feel like its not hard enough. what best amps to run with a single type R?
and what does it mean peak 15000 watts. to 500rms watts for the spec of the sub.
is it safe to run 1500 watts or below.

 

That amp is good for a single type R... Be careful when you look into the "Peak" power ratings... Those aren't regulated by the CEA 2006 compliance regulations. The peak power rating is what a sub could potentially handle for a single, quick burst. If we continuously gave that type R 1500 watts, I have a good feeling, that The voice coil would just get too hot to handle that juice, and break apart. If you've got that amp and sub combo, but still want more, we are on the border of necessitating a second sub, and a more powerful amp, or a second TMA 500.1.

 

whats the best way to tune it. im still new to the amp settings and idk what to set it at. my Tma amp has three settings. LEVEL, X-OVER, and bass boost. idk if i am doing it correctly but whats the best way to get more bass sound. i tried putting it all max but it didn't sound good.
how do i tune it?

 

As far as tuning the amp there are several schools of thought, the only real way to accurately tune it is using a meter with a sinewave display to insure a nonclipped signal through your preamps, then measuring for clipping on your speaker level outputs. There is a fairly simple, quick way to do it, however it is not as accurate. basically, your x-over setting, each notch is up 10 hz over the previous notch. There are more scientific ways to tune your cross over, but for you purpose, I would keep it fairly low, no more than 100hz, no less than prob 60 hz. If you have a HPF on your radio, match the LPF on your amp with the HPF on your radio. You can tune your x-over by ear to whatever you think sounds the best. I prefer to keep the sub x-over really low, personally on average around 65 HZ.

Your level ****, aka input sensitivity, or gain, is supposed to be matched to the preamp signal voltage going to it from your source unit. this is measured in volts, and the only way to tune it properly is with a meter. A quick, safe way to do it, without a meter, is to turn it all the way down, then turn your music all the way up, then back off a couple of notches on the volume ****. Once you do that, start turning the "level" up to a point that you're happy with. Once you achieve this level, turn your volume on your radio down slowly. Your sub should turn down evenly with the radio volume. If your sub stays loud, even with your radio volume is down, you've got the "level" up too much. If it turns down to where you can't hear the sub at a low volume with your radio low, you've got the "level" too low. Find a happy medium, where no matter what volume your radio is at, the sub volume is balanced with the rest of your music, and turns up and down with your radio volume ****. During all this, you should have the bass boost at zero. After you set up your x-over and level, then you can play with your bass boost. Thats done by ear, nothing scientific to it. Just whatever you think sounds best...

Hope this helps... Im sure someone will chime in and say im giving you the wrong advice, but I won't argue with them. Ill just say ive been doing this professionally for over a decade with nothing but success using this method. Have fun, and I hope you get it to sound better for you!

 

i can't recall what the factory enclosure specs are for the sub, but they are garbage compared to an ideally designed box using a program like winisd pro. sure, the sub will work in the alpine spec box, and it's the ideal compromise between size and performance, but it's far from optimum. it is just a matter of whether or not you want to take up some room to get the best response.

the box optimized for my type r 12, with a really flat curve, is about 2.5 cubic feet with a ton of port, 17" of 4" ID port.



i'm feeding it with two channels of a PDX 4.150...150 watts per channel. that's all. i have no need to give it more power as it would probably just shake my car apart.

 

Ive never used that program before... I know that Alpine has recommended measurements that their engineering team posts in their manual. So, the software that you're suggesting is saying, "toss that info out"? Im not being negative about this by any means, Im just curious as to how that software decides the recommendend enclosure specs. What info do you need from the sub to get your new specs? I've just never heard of someone saying, no, don't go by the manufacturer recomended specs for the best possible enclosure. Have you heard the same sub in an enclosure built to Alpine specs? What are you gaining by using this software?

As I said, my intentions are not to be negative, Im just curious...

 

the program works by inputting the T/S parameters that the manufacturer usually provides. it then does all the math work for you that you would usually have to do by hand and displays over a graph. the graph shows how the the speakers output will change depending on the enclosure being used over your desired freq range.

this is really helpful in designing a ported or bandpass enclosure. the programs allows to play with box volume, port size, and port freq until you are happy with the curve or spl from the sub.

you should try it since the program and tells how the enclosure specs compare to the ones provide by manufaturer. btw the box i built using this program worked pretty good.

 

nah, winisd isn't necessarily trumping the factory recommendations. it's like a basemap on a flash tuner. it'll work for the widest array of people, but if any one person wants it to be maximized for their setup, they need to get it tuned on a dyno by a tuner. that is the equivalent here.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...inisd-pro.html

^ that explains winisd pro pretty thoroughly

factory specs are just a compromise. they design the driver to work in reasonable spaces. they make the driver as flexible as possible within a given frequency range. and then they figure out which reasonable space will yield the best sound across that frequency range. according to Alpine, for the 12" type r it's about 1 cube for sealed and 2 cubes for vented with a 12 x 1.25" port (or something to that effect).

with a program like winisd (there are similar professional programs that some installers buy), you can tune based on curve FIRST, and then the program will give you the box dimensions. so, out the window goes any compromises as you will get the formula for the box that will produce the exact response you want. some people want a narrow band but with an enhanced response, like a bandpass, some people want a SUPER FLAT response but don't want to kill efficiency, so it ends up being a big *** ported box.

the program is not hard to learn at all so that is why i suggest it. if you can figure out what kind of curve you want, it's best to try winisd and see how it compares to the factory specs. otherwise, you can just make life easy and settle for the factory spec, which will give you the best sound considering (generally) the smallest possible box for that driver.

you'll find some people on forums will hate on winisd like they hate on anything, but for most of the world, me included, it works like a charm. it gives you the chance to tailor the sound to what you like and what equipment you have.

 

That makes sense... I mean, Alpine would want their sub to play well in a large variety of enclosures to satisfy the majority of their customers, so I can get why they would post specs, but just have them kinda generic. It would take up waaaayyy too much time and paper to say, well if you want this frequency to sound good, build to this spec, but if you want this frequency to sound good, build to these specs...

So, you just give T/S, and what frequencies you are trying to make the sub work for, and the software does the magic? That sounds pretty straight forward, and makes absolute sense. I may build a demo of this. Build a simple sealed enclosure to factory specs, and build another using the software specs, and play the two and see what customers like best. (maybe I can charge a cpl more bucks for the "advanced" sub enclosure, lol!) Or does this really only have a greater benefit on a bandpass/vented enclosure vs sealed considering that the software gives air space based on a desired frequency range?

Thanks for that info guys, that's good stuff!

 

yep! you can actually visualize the curve too...and while you edit the curve, in real time the box/port dimensions will change. you can do all kinds of configurations, sealed, ported, whatever.

the only bummer is the database included with winisd pro is VERY dated. i swear someone somewhere had a file that included a bunch of new driver specs in the .wdr format that winisd pro uses, but i can't remember or find it. you end up just making your own in the custom driver setup and saving it for future use.

if you decide you don't like winisd for reason, no worries- it's free ; )

i'll tell you what, if i was an installer i'd DEF play around like you are suggesting with the demonstrations. if anything, it will give your customers a tangible reason why they should pay for a custom box over something else.

 

That's awesome stuff man, so this has benefit to an SPL guy, as well as an SQ guy, considering you can make your own curve... I can't believe I've been doing this stuff for a living for so long and never used this kind of software. This is the first forum I've ever been a part of, and its paying off like crazy. I love learning new stuff, bc the day you feel like you know it all, is prob the day you should retire! Once again, I really appreciate eveything you guys have posted! Im actually building a demo car for myself that I plan on having finished before the spring, so its gonna be tons of fun to play around with this software. Ill prob build a few diff enclosures before deciding on a final, finished product. I can't wait to try it out! Thanks!