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Some
of the veterans of the car audio
industry remember when amps weren't
2' long and subs weren't 60+ pounds.
Over the years, amplifiers and
subwoofers got bigger and bigger.
Why? Because that is what the
market asked for. Nowadays, people
are asking for smaller products
that do not take up the whole
trunk. New technologies allow
us to do this and still retain
the quality of the monster sized
products.
Subwoofers
do not have to be massive to be
able to reproduce the bottom octave
frequencies. And with some of
the newer vehicles on the market,
there is little to no room for
subwoofers. For example, many
people drive full-size crew cab
trucks these days to pull their
toy haulers. While some of these
trucks may have some room under
the seat, some do not. The room
behind the seat will not accommodate
a typical subwoofer, not even
an 8” . Hence the reason for the
trendy shallow mount woofers…
Call me crazy, but I would rather
have a strong 8” sub than a week
10” or 12” sub. In some cases,
even an 8” will not fit. Shallow
mount woofers have been out for
a couple of years now and most
come in at about 3” -4” in depth.
The new STEALTH-13 is a 13” subwoofer
that is a mere 2” deep! When there
is only 3” -4” of space behind
a truck seat, no sub any deeper
than 2” will fit.
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But
the cool part is the way the driver
was engineered. Basically, there
are 3 design goals when engineering
a new subwoofer… Efficiency, low
frequency reproduction and low
required air space. You can focus
on any 2 of these and sacrifice
the 3rd , or you can sacrifice
a bit on all 3. Since this driver
is not intended for SPL competition,
we decided to sacrifice the efficiency
a little bit. How much of a difference
does this make? About 1-2dB as
compared to a typical driver,
which is basically inaudible.
We engineered this driver to play
VERY LOW in TINY BOXES! Obviously,
if we cannot fit a large subwoofer,
we do not have a ton of air to
play with. The STEALTH-13 13”
sub will play lower in enclosures
smaller than any other sub on
the market. Most 10” subs require
.5 -1 ft ^3 while most 12” require
1 -2 ft ^3. We suggest using this
sub in stuffed Acoustic-Suspension
(sealed) boxes. In ½ cubic
foot (1/2 the size of a typical
13” subwoofer) the driver will
yield an F3 (3dB downpoint) of
41.1Hz. In 1 cubic foot, the F3
is 33.05Hz. During testing, the
STEALTH-13 yielded smoother, lower
bass than average 12” drivers
in 2 cubic feet tuned to 22Hz!
The
skinny monster boasts a unique,
custom cast aluminum basket, solid
aluminum cone, NBR Rubber Surround,
and a 5” voice coil. Power rating
is specified at 200 watts so you
do not need a huge amplifier to
get great bass in minimal space.
In
a nut shell, we've come up with
another gem that yields phenomenal
sound quality, but this time,
in miniscule spaces. I have already
imagined how creative some of
you whacky installers are going
to get with this driver! “Up front”
bass in the floor board or kick
panel? Door subs? Send me pics
of your most creative install
with the STEALTH-13 and the best
ideas will earn a free T-shirt
or hat.
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