Dayton Audio SPA300-D Subwoofer Amp Review

[mhardy6647]

well, I misinterpreted @Billy Budapest 's post above (sorry about that!) -- but, since I'd taken a snapshot of the complete Dayton "250 watt" plate amp here anyway, I figured I'd share it for posterity.

Cf.

Dayton Audio SPA300-D Subwoofer Amp Review

What is it about plate amps and longevity (serious question)? Budget AVRs seem to keep on chugging but subs never last very long. Looking to replace the plate amp on JBL 550p for a budget garage build (box and speaker are great for the price) so this one looks like a no-go.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Grenadine]

It's for number one.

For playing, "the brown note"

 

[mhardy6647]

For playing, "the brown note"

I think two subwoofers are required - in phase.

 

[Billy Budapest]

well, I misinterpreted @Billy Budapest 's post above (sorry about that!) -- but, since I'd taken a snapshot of the complete Dayton "250 watt" plate amp here anyway, I figured I'd share it for posterity.

View attachment 546509


Cf.

View attachment 546510

Dayton Audio SPA300-D Subwoofer Amp Review

What is it about plate amps and longevity (serious question)? Budget AVRs seem to keep on chugging but subs never last very long. Looking to replace the plate amp on JBL 550p for a budget garage build (box and speaker are great for the price) so this one looks like a no-go.

www.audiosciencereview.com

Whatever you posted earlier seems to have disappeared from the thread (I didn’t see your post in any event), so it’s all good.

 

[Noricha]

I can live with poor distortion but that HPF kicks in way to fast for a sub.

Don't know what kind of "minor modification" Wilson done but secondhand crown DSI with 12v fan mod works way more reliably with DSP capabilities for me.

Problem is Crown also has mandatory HPF so search for the perfect budget sub amp continues...

Opting for a larger subwoofer allows for higher efficiency, thereby reducing amplification requirements. A 38cm (15-inch) driver with 95dB sensitivity needs only a few watts for home use.
For signal processing, a DSP unit that also functions as a DAC and volume controller works well.
My own setup consists of a B&C 15PS100, a Fosi V3, and a MiniDSP Flex.
I have tested (much) more powerful amplifiers, but they offered no benefit for this driver in my room.

 

[xaxxon]

The price is hard to beat but I LOOOOVE my Behringer NX6000D with swapped out Noctua fans (for nearly silent operation - and since I'm indoors, it doesn't have to deal with 90+F temps outdoors like it's presumably designed for). It's such a great amp. I would never build a passive AC-powered subwoofer with anything else.

I know it doesn't actually hit its rated wattage and whatever, but for what it actually does vs how much it costs, it's an amazing amplifier. Also, it got my electrical service to my house replaced when it was dimming my lights (the lines running from the road to my house were essentially burned through)

 

[xaxxon]

well, I misinterpreted @Billy Budapest 's post above (sorry about that!) -- but, since I'd taken a snapshot of the complete Dayton "250 watt" plate amp here anyway, I figured I'd share it for posterity.

View attachment 546509


Cf.

View attachment 546510

Dayton Audio SPA300-D Subwoofer Amp Review

What is it about plate amps and longevity (serious question)? Budget AVRs seem to keep on chugging but subs never last very long. Looking to replace the plate amp on JBL 550p for a budget garage build (box and speaker are great for the price) so this one looks like a no-go.

www.audiosciencereview.com

I'm actually *glad* that wilson isn't trying to build their own electronics. You're paying for enclosure build quality and the name. You're not looking for bang for the buck when you're buying wilsons. You don't want a passive speaker company getting into electronics. It's a recipe for disasters. And with most companies you run into problems replacing the gear when they move on after a short support window.

 

[mhardy6647]

Whatever you posted earlier seems to have disappeared from the thread (I didn’t see your post in any event), so it’s all good.

I -- ahem -- deleted it. It's good that it's gone. It wasn't inflammatory or anything, but it was dumb (even relative to my own, low standards!).

 

[levimax]

Opting for a larger subwoofer allows for higher efficiency, thereby reducing amplification requirements. A 38cm (15-inch) driver with 95dB sensitivity needs only a few watts for home use.
For signal processing, a DSP unit that also functions as a DAC and volume controller works well.
My own setup consists of a B&C 15PS100, a Fosi V3, and a MiniDSP Flex.
I have tested (much) more powerful amplifiers, but they offered no benefit for this driver in my room.

Looking at the specs for that driver is starts to roll off at 100 Hz and is down ~30dB at 20 Hz. Assuming it is actually able to produce 95 dB with 1 watt at 100 Hz it would require 1,000 watts to produce 95 dB at 20 Hz. That driver is not really designed for subwoofer duty so I don't think you can generalize about LF power requirements based on it.

 

[kemmler3D]

"These units have a 98% reliability rate,"

Speaking from experience a 2% defect/failure rate inside even a 2-year window is not atrocious, but not good. A really good product comes in well under 1%, 0.1% is considered very good and also achievable, sometimes, on a mature assembly line for a carefully designed and optimized product.

Our products actually failed a lot more often than that, but it wasn't the audio parts, it was the battery.

Poor little guy. Sad to this performance. The tested amp powered a 10" in-ceiling subwoofer in our bathroom. Really, no complaints, and with the shower going, I never heard anything but clean bass. This was before the red paint job, which was done to match some other red furniture. Then it got moved to a media closet for the "bathroom sub" LOL! I like the wood.View attachment 546366

View attachment 546367

View attachment 546368

What a dream house, to have enough systems that "bathroom sub" is a thing.

As for this amp... maybe ignorance is bliss. I would have guessed at much better performance.

 

[Noricha]

Looking at the specs for that driver is starts to roll off at 100 Hz and is down ~30dB at 20 Hz. Assuming it is actually able to produce 95 dB with 1 watt at 100 Hz it would require 1,000 watts to produce 95 dB at 20 Hz. That driver is not really designed for subwoofer duty so I don't think you can generalize about LF power requirements based on it.

As you say, reading the specifications isn't enough; you need to run a simulation using dedicated software with the Thiele-Small parameters in a bass-reflex enclosure—aiming for a volume of around 130 liters—to achieve 40 Hz at 0 dB.
The manufacturer shows a measurement taken in free air.
Here you can observe the behavior in a bass-reflex enclosure tuned to 37 Hz with a volume of 130 liters:

 

[Count Dacula]

It's for number one.

You only need one.

 

[whazzup]

Poor little guy. Sad to this performance. The tested amp powered a 10" in-ceiling subwoofer in our bathroom. Really, no complaints, and with the shower going, I never heard anything but clean bass. This was before the red paint job, which was done to match some other red furniture. Then it got moved to a media closet for the "bathroom sub" LOL! I like the wood.

Singing in the shower is serious business!

 

[levimax]

As you say, reading the specifications isn't enough; you need to run a simulation using dedicated software with the Thiele-Small parameters in a bass-reflex enclosure—aiming for a volume of around 130 liters—to achieve 40 Hz at 0 dB.
The manufacturer shows a measurement taken in free air.
Here you can observe the behavior in a bass-reflex enclosure tuned to 37 Hz with a volume of 130 liters:

View attachment 546598

It is still down over 20 dB at 20 Hz so getting it to play 95 dB at 20 Hz would still take a considerable amount of power. My point is that subwoofers do require a lot of power if they are going to play to 20 Hz with meaningful output. This is more of a mid bass module rather than a subwoofer which is actually a good choice for most music and most use cases.

 

[CDMC]

It is still down over 20 dB at 20 Hz so getting it to play 95 dB at 20 Hz would still take a considerable amount of power. My point is that subwoofers do require a lot of power if they are going to play to 20 Hz with meaningful output. This is more of a mid bass module rather than a subwoofer which is actually a good choice for most music and most use cases.

Nope. Thiel Small parameters apply to all woofers. Efficiency is a function of the driver, enclosure size, and extension. Small boxes take inefficient drivers and power. At the other end, a big enclosure and the right driver can get you 100db/w sensitivity at 20hz.

https://www.danleysoundlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DTS-10-spec-sheet.pdf

 

[Bghead8che]

From StereoPile:

“It's an outlier in another way as well. In designing the LōKē, Wilson was able to make only certain modifications to its outsourced amplifier. "We were able to make some changes to the amplifier, but change requests were limited by the manufacturer," Blake said. "We didn't have the ability to do everything we may have wanted. We could have spent a couple of hundred thousand dollars developing an amplifier that was customized just for Wilson Audio, but that didn't make sense when we were able to find an amplifier that checked all the boxes ... after some relatively minor modifications." That said amplifier is built by a US company—Dayton Audio—that builds its products in Taiwan was an additional enticement.

Wilson also chose to work with Dayton because their amplifier, according to Daryl, is "virtually bulletproof." "These units have a 98% reliability rate," Blake noted. And if an amplifier were to fail, Daryl noted, the electronics are easily serviceable.”



So Wilson is using a $364 retail priced Dayton amplifier in a $10,000 10” sub.

Dayton Audio SPA500DSP 500W Subwoofer Plate Amplifier with DSP

Dayton Audio SPA500DSP 500W Subwoofer Plate Amplifier with DSPDayton Audio SPA500DSP Subwoofer Plate AmplifierElite Control with DSPDayton Audio's SPA500DSP true 500 watt digital switching plate amplifier features advanced signal processing control that every audio enthusiast wants. With Class D...

www.parts-express.com

I bet the driver cost them $200 or less and the cabinet, even with their “special” finishes less than $500, so total cost about $1,000. That is some amazing markup.

Wait. Is this confirmed!? Wilson audio really uses this amp in the Loke sub? Sounds line neither Dayton nor Wilson tested the amp.

 

[somebodyelse]

Wait. Is this confirmed!? Wilson audio really uses this amp in the Loke sub? Sounds line neither Dayton nor Wilson tested the amp.

The quote says they use the SPA500DSP not the SPA300-D measured here. We've not seen that one measured yet.

 

[levimax]

Nope. Thiel Small parameters apply to all woofers. Efficiency is a function of the driver, enclosure size, and extension. Small boxes take inefficient drivers and power. At the other end, a big enclosure and the right driver can get you 100db/w sensitivity at 20hz.

https://www.danleysoundlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DTS-10-spec-sheet.pdf

? The simulation shows that the output at 20 Hz is down 20 dB. The way I define a subwoofer is that it should be able to make audible amounts of 20 Hz output and preferably be flat or close to it at 20 Hz. Most commercial subs, even small sealed ones, accomplish this. In this case the current configuration is acting like a Mid Bass Module with lots of clean and high SPL output at 37 Hz and above and then rapidly then rolls off. You could add a -20dB shelf filter and flatten the response but you would give up a huge amount of headroom. The point of my comments was I was responding to a post that said that high power was not needed for a subwoofer and then showed an example of a Mid Bass Module to make his point. I would contend that you do not necessarily need high power for a Mid Bass Module but to get meaningful (100 dB+) output at 20 Hz a fair amount of power is going to be required even using large high efficiency pro drivers.

 

[CDMC]

I would contend that you do not necessarily need high power for a Mid Bass Module but to get meaningful (100 dB+) output at 20 Hz a fair amount of power is going to be required even using large high efficiency pro drivers.

And I explained why you are incorrect, explaining why Thiel Small parameters don't require high power for meaningful output at 20hz and provided a link to the Danley DTS-10 a production subwoofer that is 101db/watt efficient at 20hz. So unless you are arguing that a fair amount power means more than 1 watt, I have just provided you with a real word example that, 20hz at 100db is achievable without a fair amount of power.

 

[CDMC]

Wait. Is this confirmed!? Wilson audio really uses this amp in the Loke sub? Sounds line neither Dayton nor Wilson tested the amp.

That was from Sterephiles article and was quoting what Wilson said. It is a different model Dayton then tested here, but appears to be pulled directly from catalog with no changes.