Though not as large as the T48, at 39 inches the T39 still stands tall. But
unlike overweight commercial subs, it's a lean machine. In weight, that is,
not performace. This 2.83 volt/1m SPL chart compares a 20 inch wide 19.5 inch
deep 60 pound 1x10 Titan 39 to the 112 pound/$1100 2x15 EAW SB250zR:
If you need more sensitivity you can go to a 30 inch wide version, load it
with a twelve, and crush the over-sized opposition, as shown in this comparison with the 42x42x22.5 inch BassMaxx Z5:
Charts are one thing, real world results are another. This is user biggerrigger's
experience with his T39 stack:
Friday night I had a local gig close to my house. I was running 4 lab12 loaded
25 inch wide T39's V-plated facing the crowd with no boundary reinforcement.
Setup was in the middle of a very large yard.
At just after 1AM a call was placed to the county sheriffs office for a noise
complaint from a neighbor. Sheriff arrived at the complainant's house to check
with them to see what the fuss was about and to get an idea of where the music
was coming from. The Sheriff said that he could hear the music plain as day and
figured that it was coming from just up the road and he set off to find it. It
took him fifteen minutes to find the source of the music because we were 1.3
miles away from the complainant's house.
The Sheriff finally found us and asked nicely that I turn it down to reasonable
level for the remainder of the party, which I did. He gave me a very nice review
of my system's SQ and stated that he has ran on hundreds of noise complaints
in his 13 years on the department and has never heard a more powerful or clear
system in all of the years, especially one that he could hear for over a mile
away.
If you get the impression that the Titan 39 is inch-for-inch, pound-for-pound
the best sub available, you're right. But don't forget dollar-for-dollar. The
least expensive commercial sub you'll find that can match a 30-inch wide T39
in output will cost you at least $1500. You can build one for as little as
$250. Use what you save to buy a membership in a health club, and build
yourself up lifting weights, not subwoofers.
Construction Degree of Difficulty: 5
Performance Quotient: 10
Suggested Audience Size in PA Applications:
2 cabs to 300; 4 cabs 250-600; 6 cabs 500-1,000; 8 cabs 800-1,500
Equivalent Retail Value: $1299 to $2999, depending on cabinet width and driver
Recommended Tops: DR200, DR250, OmniTop 12, SLA Pro, TLAH Pro
Plans are $19.95, delivered within 24 hours as email attachment in MS Word format. 24 Pages, 26 Photos, 11 diagrams. PDF available on request.