Comments on: Episode 58: Shattering Subwoofer

By: Mircea

Mircea — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 16:10:18 +0000

Although the size was impressive,the manufacturing of the woofer was not.The only thing wrong with it,and the reason the myth was busted,is the irregular play of the membrane.On a normal speaker,the up-and-down of the membrane is controlled and very precise,because it’s a linear movementd.Obviously,it wasn’t the case or the worry for these guys.The membrane broke ONLY because of this movement.Try redoing it and controlling the movement,so that the mebrane goes up and down all around the diameter at the same time.However,the idea for the movement by shaft was impressive.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:07:34 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxScxOaAuzY&feature=related this is not even the loudest competitor and he broke his shield in seconds!!

By: Killshot

Killshot — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:06:28 +0000

lavender was correct to point out that the suspension test results were misinterpreted. To demonstrate the suspension gauge, Tory pushed down on the car to show how the needle reflected the movement of the car in relation to the body. The suspension is designed to force the wheels down to meet the road when the body of the car is coasting on a level plain. Large variances in the needle only mean that the suspension is working, it doesn’t explain why it’s working. As for the water test, it was shown that Grant had lost control of the vehicle at the faster speed and had water all over his pants. That’d clear be from side-to-side motion, not the up-and-down bumpy motion described in the myth.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:16:32 +0000

I remember this episode 58 about bass shattering all the windows in a car. The Mythbusters are correct. Low frequency bass cannot shatter all of the windows in a car, not even Ultra Low can. Sure, you can pop a seal, loosen up a fender, shake down a poorly secured rear view mirror, cause a minor nose bleed in some people, pop open a sun roof, cause a girls hair to fly around, and cause hearing damage, but it can’t shatter all of the windows. Why? Wrong resonance. Doesn’t anybody remember the goblet shattering experiment in high school?… You need a much higher tone (~800Hz+) at around 140db with a constant sweeping pitch to shatter glass. And the best part is you only need a 150 watt system to do it with a commercial loudspeaker horn sitting close to the glass. The thicker the glass, the more power you need to do it.

Car glass is pretty thick and reinforced to take the vibrations. It’s usually the window seals that fail first in a car, not the glass itself. Bad seals + ultra low bass = broken glass, but Only tuned resonant upper freqs can shatter glass directly. Using a sine wave generator would be the best way to do it.

See, those bass stereo heads have been going about it all the wrong way. If they want to shatter neighborhood glass ALL the time, then they should be looking for a 2500 watt midrange horn… ha ha ha.

By: mark

mark — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:42:54 +0000

every day I drive over a washboard road here in nebraska, I remember show about driving on all that angle iron, you couldn’t find a washboard road??? I’ve had a few scares of flipping over sideways, or loseing control in my pick-up, when I drove to fast. Granted faster maybe smoother, as long as your still upwright. Washboard roads are never even like your angle iron road.

By: phill

phill — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:45:47 +0000

Can you retry this myth with the MTX Jackhammer subwoofer…it is so powerfull that can will broke the windows of the car…

By: Faat Jointz

Faat Jointz — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:40:53 +0000

I think the speaker myth should be revisited. They should go to a bass competition and get an expert to design an actual sound system. What was that thing they had in the middle of the car anyway? Who listens to one of those? How can you “bust” a myth that states, “One can design an automobile sound system such that the bass can quickly shatter all the windows of the automobile” when you don’t even try to use a sound system? They could possibly place at least one of the most powerful subs behind each window to vibrate the glass and see what happens.

By: Nic

Nic — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:53:29 +0000

While a redo might yield different results, I doubt that it would “un-bust” the myth. Those claiming that the pressure level is not to blame and it’s the sound waves (ie: the frequency) should recheck their info. To shatter a glass object would require several seconds of high frequency sound perfectly matched to its natural resonant frequency. Couple the two facts that a cheap $6 glass cup has a resonant frequency of about 800hz (most subs don’t play above 200hz) and the fact that each window in the car would likely have different resonant frequencies do to being differing thicknesses and sizes, and you’d see that it’s not likely to work, even if it were the “sound waves” that were breaking the window.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:46:46 +0000

I think a redo on the “One can design an automobile sound system such that the bass can quickly shatter all the windows of the automobile.” should be done. Jamie and Adam should use multiple competition subs because I believe it can be done.

By: chris

chris — Sat, 09 May 2009 21:16:31 +0000

you guys chouls use a compathion styal suba and amps ans see what you get then you will have a diffrent resalt other that one you made your self