KA7Legend

Hi, is anyone here familiar with the Bazooka Bass Tubes? Are they any good? Circuit City is selling the amplified 8" tubes for $99. Is that good bang for the buck? Thanks in advance.

sirsomo

Bazooka tubes do not get very loud, if you just want a little more bass then it would help, but dont expect great things. An 8" sub with 75w-100w rms (im guessing) just isnt going to get very loud or deep. If you only have $100 to spend on a sub and amp its probably the best option, dont forget install and wiring costs. If it were me I would save up some cash and buy a seperate sub and amp.

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, if you don't have a lot of money to spend, they're not bad, decent bang for the buck, but don't expect anything huge in terms of earth-shaking bass, especially if you listen to rap and you want to pound the crap out of your car. I've had an older non-amplified Bazooka in my Supra for about 15 years. Really worked well in the hatchback, and easy to remove. But it's a bit of a one-note woofer, the enclosure is tuned for peak response in a narrow band of freqs, and with dual 8" (too small), you can only get so much.
I'd recommend building your own enclosure out of MDF if you're handy, and putting a decent pair of 10's or 12's in it that aren't too expensive - Crutchfield.com usually runs 2-for-1 sales on many brands.

KA7Legend

Thanks for the advice. I've heard nothing but bad reviews on them. I guess I'll just save up for a better system. About building your own enclosure, I heard there's a certain amount of volume needed in the box after the sub is in there in order for the sub to perform at optimum performance. It makes sense, but how do you calculate this?

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

The volume you're referring to is the overall volume of the box. This is usually given to you directly by the woofer manufacturer. If not, then it can be calculated from the various parameters of the woofer, which are almost always provided with the woofer. There are a few good speaker building books available, any of which will give you the formulas.

KA7Legend

Thanks, so when I buy the sub, it should tell me what size box I need, gotcha. What about porting the box? Do all boxes need to be ported?

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

There are 3 types of speaker enclosures - ported, sealed, and bandpass.
Ported will provide a reasonable output, but with a reinforced peak in the freq response where the port causes higher output. Useful for getting more output from a single woofer, or for bumping up the output level from a woofer pair, but causes the response to be less flat. Good for SPL.
Sealed box is just that - no port at all. Must be sized correctly for the given woofer. Has the flattest freq response, if done correctly. Good for SQ.
Bandpass has woofers that do not directly fire to the outside of the box, they are internal. The only output of the enclosure is via a tuned port or ports. Has a narrow frequency response with a high output. I am not a fan of this type for general listening, response not flat enough.
There is more to the story and there are many ways that the woofers themselves can be configured within the enclosure. The 'Loudspeaker Design Cookbook' by Vance Dickason is a good comprehensive reference if you should choose to experiment.

sirsomo

If your building your first box you should probably go sealed since its the easiest. Pick up some 3/4 Medium Density Fiberboard, some screws, liquid nails and silicone sealant. Probably about $35 total.

All of the information you need is online, go on some car audio forums, do a search or hit up some faqs sites such as this one Building enclosures isnt that bad, just make sure you have a good seal and bracing, unless were talking about an eighth order triple reflex bandpass or something, then you might need some help.

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, agreed. As an aside, not to be contrary or anything, but I've found over many applications that 100% silicone sealer does not stick well to flat surfaces over time, unless it is applied to glass or something similar. On wood, especially after being temperature cycled many times, its connection to the material tends to separate after about 6 mos to a year. I've been shocked and really pissed many times as I've found that complex work that I've done has had to be redone. Siliconized latex, or even pure latex caulk, seems to work much better on wood (or MDF) surfaces. The 100% silicone stuff definitely has its uses, but I think it has been overmarketed by GE.

Lvangundy

There are more than 3 types of speaker boxes.