My old 15 inch subwoofer died yesterday after one too many bass notes. So I have a delima of whether I buy a replacement driver or buy a complete new subwoofer. Replacement drivers seem very hard to find and inparticular one that suits the build dimensions of my sub box. There seems to be a large amount of car audio subs available and I found and Inifinity 15 inch sub that suits the dimensions of my box almost perfectly. The problem is that I am not sure whether this sub is going to be suitable for home theatre. This sub is 4 ohms as is my exisiting blown sub and the predicted frequency response can be seen below:
[img]http://manuals.harman.com/INF/CAR/Boxes%20and%20Parameters/BETA15X.pdf[/img]
Look at the response curve labelled 'VENTED
FREQUENCY RESPONSE @ 2.83 V'
Does anyone think this sub would be fine for home theatre? I am not sure how much power my existing amp puts out however the power consumption is 800 watts so I am guessing the output may be around 400 watts RMS.
My other options that I am lookin at are an SVS, Axiom or HSU all of which would be double the price of replacing my existing driver.

You need to get the specs of the driver and see if the volume of the box is right, or the port is right etc. (Cmax, Q, etc) If price is your concern, a new driver is the way to go. If performance is your goal, the subs you mention cure all the math and R&D issues you don't get by dropping a sub in a box made for another driver.

It's all ball-bearings these days.

There's a lot more to replacing a driver than just finding one that fits. Many times there are filters (for lack of a better word) in the sub to make it work with a particular driver. Unless you know the proprietary secrets of the sub, replacing the driver is a crap shoot.

Any of the mentioned brands make excellent subs. Which models were you looking at?

I would recommend a new sub. If looking for a new driver you could check with eD too.

Was this a commercial or DIY sub? What amp does it have? Sealed or ported?

There are lots of DIY drivers out there. Most of the Automotive subs are not all that good.

The best thing is to figure out the internal volume of the box and head on over to this forum to see if someone will help you find a suitable driver.

Edit: if your amp puts out 400w rms, that should be enough to power a decent 15" driver.

just get a new sub. imagine spending money on a driver and it doesn't sound good..just buy a new sub from Axiom. no headaches and if you don't like it send it back. in fact select 3 or 4 on your credit card and give them a listen and compare..keep the one you like and send the rest back.

trust me, you like one of them.

These eD speakers look pretty impressive. Do you know if they use the car audio drivers in their home theatre powered subs? Their 15 inch car audio driver would suit the volume of my box fine. I might just buy one and try it out. If it is not great then I can sell the sub box complete with this eD driver and buy an SVS, Axiom or HSU.

Give them a call, I'm sure they will help answer your questions.

ok ii have spoken to ed and i am told that the 160v.2 car sub is suitable for home theatre. they also sell enclosures for it but they are tuned for 30hz. Does this mean that I am unlikely to experience anything around 20 hz with this sub and enclosure?

You may get down to 20hz but it may be substantially lower than the rest of the spectrum.