Good performance at an outstanding price
Written: Nov 19 '03 (Updated Nov 19 '03)
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Pros: Excellant performance for the price, nothing will beat it there.
Cons: Recommended ported box size is far too small.
Old style male slide connectors.
The Bottom Line: Great sub, nothing in it's price range can touch it. Well built and a good performer.
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| adam728's Full Review: Pioneer TS-W255C Car Subwoofer |
I purchased this sub at Sound Domain for a puny $40 on sale. The specs looked good, and I wanted something new to play with. When the sub came I was pleasantly surprised at it's sound construction and overall good looks. Sure it's not full of flash and chrome like some companies stuff, but to me that's a good thing. It means money went towards actual testing and making a functional product, not just something with hype.
Anyway, after reading the tech sheets I found that Pioneer suggests a ported box hardly any larger than the sealed box, which got me thinking. As an experiment I built a ported box to Pioneer's specs, but tuned much lower (33 Hz compared to Pioneer's suggested ~40 Hz). I used 3 inch PVC slightly flared at either end for the port. I also purchased a mechanical test plug for PVC pipe so that I could try out the characteristics between sealed and ported with this sub. Simply push the plug in place and tightened down the center bolt, causing to steel plates to expand a rubber seal very VERY tightly against the port walls. It does not leak at all.
Back to the sub. To power it I have an old Rockford Fosgate DSM 200ix, which is capable of roughly 600 rms bridged, enough to push this sub to it's limits and then some.
Ported (~1.05 ft^3, 33 hz tune)
The sub plays very well at lower volumes. Lows are deep and clear, and it has a nice full sound to it. Seems to have a peak around 70-80 Hz, so it sounds best with the crossover at 50 Hz and the gain turned up a little extra. When you really poor it on this box does not do well. It suffers from too much power compression. Once it reaches a certain volume the output just will not increase anymore, although audible distortion still does not set in for a long was past that. This leads me to guess that a larger box (1.25-1.5 ft^3) would be much better suited to this sub, allowing it to reach it's full potential.
Sealed (1.1 ft^3)
Again, the sub sounds nice, this time with no peaks standing out anywhere in the bass range. I find it best suited to being crossed over at 80 Hz. Lower bass from the sealed box doesn't compare to the ported, it's just not as powerful. That's just one of the drawback's to running a sealed enclosure. However, when cranked up the sealed box will surpass the ported box's output, which isn't right. This is why I believe Pioneer's ported recommendation is very optimisticlly on the small side.
Conclusion:
For $40 I don't think there is a sub out there that can touch this one. It's much better build quality that the stuff you find in JC Whitney or 2/3's of what's on Ebay. If I had the room (reg cab S-10) I would have ordered a pair of DVC's to run, but it's just not possible. This sub isn't extreme by any means, but it's more bass than any daily driver should need. It impressed me for the money it cost, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40
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Epinions.com ID:
adam728
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Location: Tucson, Arizona
Reviews written: 68
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
27 yr old engineer at a fuel system company.
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