Has anyone heard these? TC Sounds Epic 8" DVC Subwoofer.

I'm just curious, because they look WELL made.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=293-657

• Power handling: 500 watts

• Le: 3.3 mH

• Impedance: 2+2 ohms

• Re: 3.78 ohms

• Frequency range: 20 - 150 Hz

• Fs: 28 Hz

• SPL: 81.2 dB

• Vas: 0.42 cu. ft.

• Qms: 7.0

• Qes: 0.31

• Qts: 0.29

• Xmax: 22.9

• Dimensions: A: 8.43", B: 7.35", C: 6.06".

 

22.9 xmax. Linear? Really?

 

Even if they have the decimal place wrong and it is 2.29 that is still alot!

 

Well, it would explain why it is almost as tall as it is wide.

 

I'm so tempted to get it and fab a custom box for it. But without hearing it..... I've spent so much on car audio in the past this way just to be disappointed. More than likely a reason that Parts Express reduced the price

 

Looks pretty healthy....

The best 8 set up I've seen was a few months ago. A local installer had two set in 0.75 cu ft boxes. They were Sundown or Sundowner Audio, Sundown I think.

Anyways, they were loud! From my parking lot to my tint room, I'd swear someone was slamming 2 12's in a BIG ported box. Very impressive speakers, but I think the credit should go more towards the boxes he built. They were perfect for those drivers!

Good luck!

 

for what its worth, my subs were made by the same man, Thilo Stompler is the man behind TC sounds. ive met with him several times this guy has been building subs since he was 14 years old!
he has several patents on his design. make no mistake. if you want a sub that does what no other sub does. look no further!
TC has built subs that exceed 4" peak to peak cone travel and still linear!

 

That's great information,Thanks!

I wonder if one 8" would be enough in a sealed enclosure. Or if I should go with a 10 or 12 inch sub.

 

One 8? No way. I don't care how magic it is.

Run them dual. Or go with a 10 or 12.

 

i personally don't think a single 8 or 10 in a sealed enclosure would be enough for me. if you built a properly tuned enclosure for a single 8 would be marginal for me. i run a ported 10 in my tacoma and it sounds like a pair of 12's

a sealed enclosure is really for amatures, they don't play very low and you give up about 1/2 the subs potential.

also position is critical. all subs must face to the rear of the trunk or be placed as far to the back wall and facing forward. the reason is because youll get cancellation. this always happens when you have the subs right behind your head for example since the sound from the speaker goes out in all directions, a good portion of it will reflect off the back of the trunk then come back to the sub and cancel out some of the bass frequencies that are in the listening position (front seat) depending on how long the sound waves have to travel this distance will determin which frequencies will cancel out.
you want the sound waves to travel a path where they will all arrive in the same way they originated.
i am building a pair of ported 8" subs in the hatch of my C6Z they are in enclosures that sit at the far back of the hatch and point forward. since the hatch opens up to the front it acts like a horn and will amplify the sound as well as allow the wave to disperse evenly into the cockpit. you will typically get whats called cabin gain at a rate of about 12db per octive. this will amplify the lower bass frequencies significantly. i tune my boxes to around 37 hz depending on the car.
i computer model each box before i build it so i know exactly what the frequency responce will be.
i think if you want to go sealed a pair of 8's in this configeration would make most people happy. if you like a lot of bass i would go with a pair of 10's or a single 10 ported.
the cone area of 2 8" subs is more than a single 10. this means that they will play louder than a single 10. however the port in a ported enclosure effectivly increases the output by a good margin because it adds accustical output to the enclosure.

see the size of the speaker makes no difference what so ever as to how low it will play. it.s all about cone area. if you like bass that drops low you need a large amount of cone area. what a ported box can do for you is at the tuned frequency, the air in the port is obviously moving in and out of the box. it just so happens that this air is moving in phase with the sub at that tuned frequency.
because the air in the port has mass and because that mass is interacting upon the air inside the box as a spring, set in motion by the sub it will resonate at that frequency. this effectivly creates another sub if you will, that takes otherwise wasted accustical energy and converts it to usable output. this is why ported enclosures are so much more efficient.
some people say ported boxes make sloppy bass. that is actually not true. because the air in the port is moving in and out it is also adding and subtracting air from the enclosure which limits the sub's excursion. this makes the sub work in it's most efficient way because it keeps the subs voice coil within it's magnetic gap plate. it will be much more linear in this region.
compare with a sealed box where the air volume or (spring) is constant. with the same power applied any sub will have more cone excursion, will operate outside of it's linear range, is subject to over extention and will generally take less power before it reaches it's mechanical limit.

 

I don't agree with this statement, although much of the rest of your description is fairly accurate.

Ported boxes have a frequency that they are tuned to, and generally fall on their face below that frequency. The lower the tuning, the larger the box, or more intricate the box design. Ported boxes are far more peaked in their response that a sealed box is. This assumes that both boxes are of the correct air space for their individual design criteria based on the sub's specifications. A very large number of championship winning sound systems have used sealed "amateur" enclosures, from people far more dedicated to the hobby than I have ever been (in 20+ years).

This is a topic that can be debated to death, I am of the opinion that each enclosure type has its merits and applications, and a well designed ported enclosure that takes into account the vehicles natural peak frequency can absolutely hammer, but sealed is generally more controlled and IMO accurate in it's playback of the sub range.

Fej

 

I would have to agree with you, a ported box that is fed a signal below its frequency will "fall on its face". As stated earlier the port, whether it be a round or slot port, channels the air in and out of the box causing resistance. When a ported box goes too low the slower air movement looses all resistance from the port and the speaker essentially goes to a free air scenario. When this happens, it is like throwing a sub in your back seat with no box and horrible sounds are produced. BUT when a ported box is built right it will outperform a sealed enclosure for a given amount of power due to its greater efficacy.

Example: 12” sub with 400 amps in an ideal ported box might lose 20 DB on the bottom end while gaining 20 DB on the higher end compared to a sealed enclosure with the same power. While losing the 20 DB on the bottom end might sound bad to you, in actuality 99% of music will not have any audible sound in this range anyway and the gain on the top end will defiantly be noticeable.
But the sealed enclosure you might be able to run a 600 or 800 W amp on the sub and still have good fidelity and outperform the ported box, while that power might be too much for the ported one.

Both have their place and both have advantages and disadvantages. Ported boxes take up more room than sealed, and can be much less forgiving of “compromises in shape and air space, while a sealed can be tiny and still sound good. Also a sealed enclosure can usually handle more power.

All in all, I prefer a ported box when it is feasible. But it just depends on the car, your equipment, and your skill level.

LionelC

 

Get the 18's and you can do this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7wVhaWtDdA

 

I will say that the favorite box I've ever had my idmax in was tuned to 28hz... That box was 2.4 cubic feet and the port length was insane. It would impossible to replicate in a c5.

 

I had a system that had two Earthquake audio Magma 15 and it would go low. I thought my system had major cone travel (xmax)

 

i understnad i am a little late to the party here, but i just joined and am an audio person.
TC souunds epic 8 are an insane little sub. i have a pair in a jeep wrangler downfiring in a 1.75 cf ported box tuned to 37hz.
if you are familiar with good small subs, these are as good as sundown audio, dc sounds and digital designs 1508. they will go low, displace a ton of air and maintain a great sounds all through their range. anyone that has any fear about their quality at 140 dollar price range will be blown away if they take the chance. the xmax is in fact, insane.

 

I keep going back and forth on my next sub. Cant decide between a TC sounds 10, sundown 10, ssa 10, or idq 10.

 

I think I'm going to go with their 10 or 12 but I'm still in the research phase. I need to figure out how big the box will be because it will more than likely be a corner sub in my C5 Z06.

 

the TC subs will generally have a lower vas than most, they also have a very low free air resonant frequency. therefore they work really well in small sealed boxes. usually just enough to hold the sub in most cases.