Difference btw bandpass and bassreflex subs?

[Caspar]

What's the difference between bandpass and bassreflex subwoofer design?

 

What is best for rock-kick and bass?

[Craig Vecchione]

 

What's the difference between bandpass and bassreflex subwoofer design? What is best for rock-kick and bass?

 

 

Bandpass designs trade off bandwidth for increased efficiency.

 

As always, what's best depends on a lot of factors....how much ampifier power is available, how large and heavy a box is too large and heavy, how accurate does the sound need to be?

[Caspar]

Thanks for the answer.

 

I have a RCF ART 905AS sub. I don't know what type it is but it sounds pretty darn good.

[Unalaska]

Nothing wrong with a good front loaded box. Yeah it's a sub but there don't always have to be tricks to getting good low end.

[abzurd]

 

Thanks for the answer. I have a RCF ART 905AS sub. I don't know what type it is but it sounds pretty darn good.

 

 

That's a 4th order band pass, which is the most common band pass design for pro audio. Most of the time they have a visible solid piece of wood in front of the driver with a slot cut out. They Yorkville LS700P uses a 6th order bandpass design, which is a bit more complex.

 

HERE some good information on various design types.

[philw44]

In a nutshell, there's no cutting corners for good bass cabs.

 

The most accurate and deepest are generally large heavy cabs with big weighty drivers.

 

Any trade off in size usually means a trade off in Frequency response. Depending on your application this may or may not be acceptable. Band pass is one of those trade off designs.

[abzurd]

All designs have their trade offs. If you're doing shows in large rooms or outdoors then horn loaded cabinets are likely the better choice.

 

You just have to look at all the trade offs and decide which you're happiest with.

 

Direct fired front ported designs need to be pretty big to get really low and are almost always larger than a bandpass design. Output generally lower than bandpass or bass horn, but the accuracy is generally better. Good for small to mid size rooms. Easily the most popular design for most small operations.

 

Band pass designs are about output more than accuracy. Box sizes are generally smaller than comparable front firing designs. Good choice for high output with small size boxes and fewer boxes overall. I'd rather have a front firing design, but use a quality band pass design due to the benefits of size and output.

 

Bass horns will get the lowest notes, highest SPL and use less power doing it. With those benefits come the fact they are generally large, heavy boxes and work much better in multiples (like 4 or more). They also can be finicky about room placement so they often aren't a practical choice for smaller venues.

[Mogwix]

 

Bass horns will get the lowest notes, highest SPL and use less power doing it.

 

Good sounding bass horns are a rarity, though, unless you like that WOMP WOMP kinda sound...

[abzurd]

 

Good sounding bass horns are a rarity, though, unless you like that WOMP WOMP kinda sound...

 

 

I don't really agree with that. They may have the ability to "womp", but whether they do or not is up to the FOH guy.

[tlbonehead]

I don't really agree with that. They may have the ability to "womp", but whether they do or not is up to the FOH guy.

I agree totally.

[Mogwix]

 

I don't really agree with that. They may have the ability to "womp", but whether they do or not is up to the FOH guy.

 

I'll agree with that. To be fair I've heard a lot of terrible front-loaded bins as well, so it depends on the driver.

 

To me, most bass horns make everything sound like it's mic'd with a D112.