Sony aluminium subwoofer

[Sangthip]

Anyone know anything about this Sony subwoofer?
I got this subwoofer back in 2009 from a friend and i never used it, it just been stored away, last 2 years outside under roof in tropical Thailand. Insects build nest etc. So i gonna open it up and clean it, found disassembly instructions online. And if its not working, probably change the subwoofer. Any suggestions or recommendations if i need to change subwoofer? It’s made of aluminium and heavy. Just thought it could be a cool project.
Added some pics with info.

 

[Putter]

Anyone know anything about this Sony subwoofer?
I got this subwoofer back in 2009 from a friend and i never used it, it just been stored away, last 2 years outside under roof in tropical Thailand. Insects build nest etc. So i gonna open it up and clean it, found disassembly instructions online. And if its not working, probably change the subwoofer. Any suggestions or recommendations if i need to change subwoofer? It’s made of aluminium and heavy. Just thought it could be a cool project.
Added some pics with info.

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It doesn't appear to be a powered subwoofer which limits its usefulness. It probably came with a high end Sony mini system. If it doesn't work given that it's just a woofer, I'd toss it. It also appears to be a strange size which makes finding a replacement difficult. If it has speaker outputs you could try hooking it up although the 2 ohm rating makes me nervous. If it's a powered sub by all means try it. My experience although not shared by many here is most speakers benefit from a subwoofer.

 

[Sangthip]

Thanks for your advice @Putter. Correct, it came with a mini system and it’s not powered. Tried to find a new subwoofer on different shopping sites online that fits with no luck. Maybe buy a cheap 6,5” sub and add a wooden bracket plate. It’s just a fun little project to keep myself busy, while im waiting for my first mini speaker diy project to arrive.

 

[PEACER]

Anyone know anything about this Sony subwoofer?
I got this subwoofer back in 2009 from a friend and i never used it, it just been stored away, last 2 years outside under roof in tropical Thailand. Insects build nest etc. So i gonna open it up and clean it, found disassembly instructions online. And if its not working, probably change the subwoofer. Any suggestions or recommendations if i need to change subwoofer? It’s made of aluminium and heavy. Just thought it could be a cool project.
Added some pics with info.

View attachment 386585View attachment 386587View attachment 386588View attachment 386589

Hi there, can I ask could you open the aluminium tube to see how many ohms is written on the magnet of the subwoofer ? I know on the aluminium tube it is written 2ohms, but I wanna know how many ohms is written on the magnet of the main subwoofer speaker ?!

 

[Sangthip]

@PEACER, magnet had foam glued to it, took that away, but couldn't find anything written underneath. Or anywhere els on the sub, so its probably 2 ohm as it said on outside and in the manual.

 

[PEACER]

@PEACER, magnet had foam glued to it, took that away, but couldn't find anything written underneath. Or anywhere els on the sub, so its probably 2 ohm as it said on outside and in the manual.View attachment 408826View attachment 408827

Wow big magnet ! Thank you so much for your reply and pictures, I want to buy one of these Subwoofers and I wonder how is it’s performance ?

Can I also ask you to take a picture and show me the main front surface of the subwoofer aswell ?

 

[Penelinfi]

A multimeter could also tell you the DC impedance

 

[Sangthip]

@PEACER I never played it so have no clue how it sounds. And now its an hole in the sub & rubber is dry. But here's pic's of it.

 

[Hiten]

Wow big magnet !

I guess magnet could be small. What one sees is metal shield on magnet. At 2 ohms a good amplifier which can handle low impedance load will be needed. Isn't it ?

 

[Sangthip]

Yes, there's metal housing cover the magnet. But it still weight 2,3 kg, dont know if thats a lot for this sub size though?

 

[Penelinfi]

It's typical for this kind of htib subwoofers. They have relatively large/shielded magnets, stiff suspension, lower impedance, hard paper cones.

 

[PEACER]

@PEACER I never played it so have no clue how it sounds. And now its an hole in the sub & rubber is dry. But here's pic's of it.View attachment 409062View attachment 409063

Really cool, this sub reminds me of Sony FL subwoofers which were 8ohms and sounded amazing, I wonder how this one sounds in aluminium tube rather than wooden box. By the way, thank you so much for the pictures as well.

 

[PEACER]

I guess magnet could be small. What one sees is metal shield on magnet. At 2 ohms a good amplifier which can handle low impedance load will be needed. Isn't it ?

As far as I know yes. It’s only Sony subwoofer I’ve seen in 2 ohms.

 

[voodooless]

It should be relatively ready to find a replacement woofer. Just measure the inside volume and port size (length and cross section) (and don’t forget the flared part). That should give you all you need to simulate any prospect replacement and see how it will perform.

From the pics it looks like there isn’t very much of a port, so it might be tuned fairly high. You might be able to lengthen the port a bit and fit a more modern driver that can go lower.

 

[Sangthip]

I tried before to find a replacement woofer, but couldn't find any that fitted. I live in Thailand, so got no access to US/european markets, without paying a lot in shipping. As been pointed out in this thread before by @Putter it's apparently an strange size of woofer. Steelframe is about 18.5 cm/ 7.3 inches. It's about 17.3 cm/ 6.8 inches between screw holes. Was thinking of doing some bracket and buy an 6.5 inch sub, but there's some plastic parts that need to be attached thrue woofer frame. So I dont know what to do, probably just give up and use it as an flower pot stand.

 

[voodooless]

You may need to drill some new mounting holes in the new driver. Something like Dayton RS180-4 could be made to fit, though It may be hard to get in your country. What brands do you have access to?

 

[Sangthip]

Thanks @voodooless, I can get most brands here but at a price. The Dayton you mention is about 110 usd/3.700 baht here, and that's a bit to much for this project....So cheapest and easiest is Chinese or other asian brands woofers.

 

[voodooless]

What kind of budget are you looking for? 180cm (7”) woofers aren’t that common, but they are sort of a standard size nowadays.

 

[Sangthip]

Nothing to expensive. Something like this that I found for 25 usd on Aliexpress. So if it doesnt fit or i break it in process, its ok cos it was cheap. Probably Need to drill new holes in woofer rim to make it fit etc. And for resonans, frequency ohm, khz, hz, etc i have no clue how to pick correct woofer……..Gonna check for other options tomorrow as well.

 

[voodooless]

You may need a few more parameters to see if that works, at least the VAS, another Q (Qes or Qms), and the MMS. And for a sub, 4R impedance is probably preferable