15” Dayton Titanic MKIII subwoofer kit review

[Sealed]

As my moniker implies, I am an aficionado of sealed baffle bass and acoustic suspension designs. IMO, the best way to make bass for music is by not using ports. I looked around for an affordable solution for my 1st DIY kit. I wanted the sub to be sealed, and capable of at least 100db at 20hz without audible distortion.

I was originally recommended an NHT-1259a or Dayton Titanic 12” kit. I had to interpolate my needs based upon the best 12” commercial designs I had listened to. None of them “quite” had the ease and scale of bass I was looking for. Two of the 12” kits might have done the trick, but exceeded the cost of a single 15” Dayton.

I ordered the Dayton Titanic MKIII kit from www.partsexpress.com.
This has a long x-max, I know there are bigger out there like the tumult, but for the money, this driver is far more powerful than almost any used in even the most expensive commerical subs. According to Vance Dickason, most commercial subs under $1k use a driver that costs between $40 and $60.

The kit included the following:
Large box made of ¾” mdf center cross braced
1024 watt x 4 ohm class G plate amplifier. This amp has 12 guage leads. There are settings for gain, parametric eq, frequency boost, low pass.
15” Dayton titanic MKIII driver/ 4 ohms.
Cone shaped heavy spike feet with removable tips
Egg crate foam
Hardware

Tools needed:
Philips screwdriver
Hex wrench set
Spray adhesive
x-acto knife or razor for cutting foam/stripping wire leads

This was a breeze to build!
1. Install spike feet
2. Install amp. I used a power driver and the amp was in in a minute.
3. Install foam. Piece of cake to cut foam to the size, and apply 3m spray adhesive
4. Strip leads of amp
5. connect amp leads to spring-post terminals on the driver
6. Install driver (hex-head screws provided, but no hex wrench)

I noticed a slight hum if I maxed out the gain. I can probably alleviate this with a power conditioner or better system grounding. Not a big factor.

I feel that this sub shines best when crossed over at 70hz or below. It can be tweaked to blend well. I set the EQ to boost the lowest frequencies, wideband.

I can tell you that this sub delivers clean, musical output in excess of 100db down below 20hz. It communicates a sense of ease, power and grace found in the most demanding recordings I could throw at it. It has exceptional flexibility. It can be fiddled with for “ht” type bass, but I leave it aligned for music. For the amount of time it took to assemble this kit, and money, it was WELL worth it. For $700 it competes with any commercial sub under $3,500. I am not saying that simply to make a broad, sweeping statement, but simply look up the figures. 107db @ 20hz is pretty stout. This sub has the output, and quality to make it a winner. Beginners will have no problem assembling this kit. It does not matter if you like techno, rock or the bass of a classical orchestra, this kit handles it all. I am glad I went with this sub.

There are other excellent sub kits out there, and I urge anyone considering a sub to do the following: get a sealed box sub kit. There are many available, most are under $1000, and a breeze to assemble. It's worth the time, and no commerical sub for the same price will have this grade of quality parts, and especially not the performance.