This article has two firsts in one

The loudest subwoofer in the world and The largest subwoofer ever built

And the winner is the MTX Thunder 1.000.000 designed by Richard Clark and David Navone with some help of Dr. Eugene Patronis of the Georgia Institute of Technology and sponsored by Concept Designs & MTX Audio . A huge 60" (1.5 meters) diameter and 54 inch (1.4 meters) cone designed to break the Db records. The calculated power output was a little more than 180 dBSPL , a 6 inch (1.5 cm) peakto-peak stroke, it created a one-way air displacement of 6,871 cubic inches (112,600 cm3) and let me tell you that this is a lot. It was built in 1997, driven by DC motors connected to a rotary crankshaft somewhat like in a piston engine. The subwoofer was installed in a delivery truck owned by Tim Maynor. At only half power, it literally blew the doors off and caused the sides to fluctuate several inches. The truck was designed to be an SPL truck by Tim Maynor and Dr. Eugene Patronis from Georgia Tech. They had underestimated the acoustical power of the 60 inch subwoofer and damaged the vehicle. MTX's Loyd Ivey helped underwrite the project and the driver was then called the MTX "Thunder 1000000" (one million).With the new found funds the subwoofer was installed in a bread truck. In 1997 with the vehicle still unfinished, they entered in an SPL competition. There was opposition to the use of a computer to control the energy fed to the subwoofer, so Richard Clark had to do it by touching two wires together with no way of knowing if it was at the right level, which it was not. The motor drove the cone assembly much too hard, breaking the drive shaft after one positive stroke , but that was enough to create a decibel reading of 162 in the bread truck winning the competition and at the same time creating a new world record for subwoofers . For obvious reasons, is not available on the consumer market, nor is it a production model, it was just a simple project to see if it's possible

Technical details Diameter: 60 inches total; 54 inch cone + 3 inches boarder (x2)

Cone excursion: 6 inches peak to peak Radiating surface area: 2,290 square inches

Magnet weight: 300 kg Maximum sound pressure level: in theory + 180 dB (This is very dangerously high as it can cause instant deafness) Motor: 6,000+ pounds (27 kN) of linear force Sine waves: 520 Hz ( at various DC motor speeds , not as a response to audio signal )

THE BIG QUESTION - CAN IT PLAY MUSIC? THE BIG ANSWER NO www.thisisthefirst.com
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