looking for 5 1/4" drivers that handle deep bass

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Oh, goodness. I had a D-130, as well. I dumped an overdriven Dyna MKIII into it for years, so I don't think they had a problem handling power or distortion.

Ted, you might consider something like the Eminence Alpha 8A. They will go low enough in the right box, but they won't have much excursion (Eminence calls it "power handling"). However, with the number of drivers you're considering, you might get away with it. Not quite as clean as JBLs, but as PA speakers they're not in the "distortion is beautiful" camp. Jazz guitar players like them a lot, and I've used them in several amps.
 
I'm thinking with the nice tube pre (one gain knob, 12AU7, that's it) and the lovely if unflattering tube power amp (this thing is brutally honest as a studio monitor amp- not much sounds very good through it, but when the recording's good it's quite pleasurable!) I've got enough harmonics I don't need to add any, but then again that's all like 1% THD and the speaker will be providing lots more, so I see how it would be best for it to be the euphonic kind.

I've tried all this (including the D-130 :eek::( with the tube pre and a beautiful modded Phase Linear power amp, and it's got it's points but something about the tube amp really gives the notes the kind of body and envelope- heck, the way they look hanging there in the air- that feels acoustic and musical to me.

Thanks for the recommendation of the Alpha 8A- I'm not ready to go that big a piston diameter quite yet, but I sure appreciate the thought. I may cave in and add a few woofers to this array at some point...
 
Tapehead Ted,
That is the difference of 2nd harmonic distortion vs 3rd and higher on a solid state amplifier. The tubes in distortion still sound musical and a solid state into distortion just sounds like s..t. I have about 50 Aura 6" drivers in storage, If I get to then soon you could play with those. They have long gap length and short coils and I have some with custom cones on them and some that I think are still stock. Might be worth a try.

Steven
 
Wow, that sounds thrilling! I think 6" is about as big as I can go and still have the off axis response that covers all the significant harmonics of the bass most of the way up the neck.

I'm confident I'm not pushing those Phase Linears into distortion- they put out something like 17,000 watts RMS... Without the tube pre, the tone was very blah through that solid state amp. No harmonics to speak of, even through the D-130. It was muddy while having no distortion and solid deep bass like the tube amp only dreams about, flat to 10 hz as it is. The tube amp and this wonderful pre- actually a Manley Purist 5-1 mono mixer- provide harmonics in the vocal range that make it musical. Maybe not what everyone appreciates on a noisy stage, but I'm looking at this more like a solo rig or to accompany acoustic instruments.

On the other hand, with 16 5-1/4" speakers at 8 ohms the speakers were breaking up right along with the tube power amp, and it was both entertaining and instructive. Quite musical really. I don't know why but these little speakers like to be pushed a bit. That's when they bloom.

So maybe it's not so far from electric guitar land at that extreme. Everything goes off together, ah yes. Although I wasn't looking for that in a bass rig, I was happy enough when I found it.

Nice talking about it all, too!
 
Tinitus,
I'll do that. They aren't something I have any real use for anymore. Bought them in bulk at the time. I installed alternative cones in a bunch so he may not want to try that though they sound much better than the original paper cones. My own proprietary cone material. Just cut out the original cone without removing the voice coil or the spider and surround. Much improved sound. I just have to drive about a 100 miles to Palm Springs area to retrieve them from storage, but I have a bunch of transformers and other things I want anyway.

Steven
 
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