How Reliable Are McCauley Drivers?

kelticwizard · 6th December 2001, 12:00 AM

A DJ cyber-friend of mine just had two Eminence 15 inchers go on him during one gig. He is done with Eminence, even though up until recently he was their biggest booster.

He is looking for a new brand at a somewhat similar price, with reliability the number one issue.

I have heard good things about McCauley, but I thought that I would put it on the board to get some kind of feedback from people who have had extensive experience with pro sound.

Any other recommendations for pro sound drivers that are reliable? His amp is a 350 Watt BK Electronics amp, (made in Britain).

I appreciate any advice on this matter.

Ignite · 6th December 2001, 12:50 AM

Most good quality drivrers don't break during normal operation. I'd imagine he was running them beyond thier specifications. Many of the eminence drivers currently on the market do not have particularily high power ratings. I recall seeing one 15 inch driver with a RMS power rating of 50 watts. I would want to check the power rating of the drivers he was using before blaming the drivers for the failure.

kelticwizard · 6th December 2001, 01:03 AM

Ignite:

They were Eminence Kappa 15-400 Watts. He plays them virtually every night -that is his business. They used to be reliable, but lately they are not. He has not changed his amp or done anything different to account for the difference.

tiefbassuebertr · 16th August 2011, 10:28 PM

8 years ago I have realized some sub bass projects with the 6258 in the kind as to see on the attached pictures. Until now no problems were noted.
Here the data sheet of the transducer:
McCauley.com : Products: Components > 6258: Overview

CLS · 17th August 2011, 08:36 AM

Household usage is very different from PA.

2 pro sound 18" in a big box playing in an ordinary living room, I don't worry about any problem with the drivers. People in that house would have more 'problem' before the drivers.

ps. nice build.

Erik F · 17th August 2011, 08:33 PM

Uh your friends amp is under powered that is what most likely blew up is shazel. Clipping your amp is the quickest way to speaker cone death. Also if he blew both I have to call user error.

kevinkr · 17th August 2011, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erik F

Uh your friends amp is under powered that is what most likely blew up is shazel. Clipping your amp is the quickest way to speaker cone death. Also if he blew both I have to call user error.

This doesn't seem entirely unlikely, could a difference in music format - a change for example from classic rock to highly compressed rap/hip-hop or electronica be behind the issue?

The original post seems to imply that the particular eminence drivers were reliable but are no longer - this implies that there have been repeated instances of blown drivers starting with the original old "reliable" ones failing followed in quick succession by the new ones - this would point solidly at something other than the drivers themselves unless they were grossly under-rated for the task.

Next - what is the failure mode? Burned out VC, ripped spider or surround, shredded cone?

Is the box properly loading the woofer, is an HPF filter applied for below box/speaker cut off frequency in order to limit out of band excursion?

Amplifier verified to be OK, no DC on output, no oscillations, good clipping behavior - is this run full range or only woofers only? No problems with tweeters and are they powered by the same amp?

Keltic Wizard can you provide any further details?

It could be the Eminence Kappa drivers, but it would be shame to cook a pair of McCauleys for the same reason..

simon7000 · 17th August 2011, 09:03 PM

Or it could be a change to low volatile cements. I'd check with Eminence to see what they think. They are pretty sharp folks.

kevinkr · 17th August 2011, 09:12 PM

"Shazel" is a pretty obscure way of circumventing our censor, I like it..

Erik F · 17th August 2011, 10:52 PM

Ha. Also didn't realize this thread was form 2001. I've been out of the diy thing for a bit but have been getting the bug again.

17th August 2011, 09:12 PM	#9
kevinkr diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Blog Entries: 6	"Shazel" is a pretty obscure way of circumventing our censor, I like it.. __________________ www.kta-hifi.net

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6th December 2001, 12:00 AM	#1
kelticwizard diyAudio Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Connecticut, The Nutmeg State	A DJ cyber-friend of mine just had two Eminence 15 inchers go on him during one gig. He is done with Eminence, even though up until recently he was their biggest booster. He is looking for a new brand at a somewhat similar price, with reliability the number one issue. I have heard good things about McCauley, but I thought that I would put it on the board to get some kind of feedback from people who have had extensive experience with pro sound. Any other recommendations for pro sound drivers that are reliable? His amp is a 350 Watt BK Electronics amp, (made in Britain). I appreciate any advice on this matter.

6th December 2001, 12:50 AM	#2
Ignite diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Most good quality drivrers don't break during normal operation. I'd imagine he was running them beyond thier specifications. Many of the eminence drivers currently on the market do not have particularily high power ratings. I recall seeing one 15 inch driver with a RMS power rating of 50 watts. I would want to check the power rating of the drivers he was using before blaming the drivers for the failure.

6th December 2001, 01:03 AM	#3
kelticwizard diyAudio Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Connecticut, The Nutmeg State	Ignite: They were Eminence Kappa 15-400 Watts. He plays them virtually every night -that is his business. They used to be reliable, but lately they are not. He has not changed his amp or done anything different to account for the difference.

17th August 2011, 08:36 AM	#5
CLS diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Taiwan	Household usage is very different from PA. 2 pro sound 18" in a big box playing in an ordinary living room, I don't worry about any problem with the drivers. People in that house would have more 'problem' before the drivers. ps. nice build.

17th August 2011, 08:33 PM	#6
Erik F diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Blog Entries: 1	Uh your friends amp is under powered that is what most likely blew up is shazel. Clipping your amp is the quickest way to speaker cone death. Also if he blew both I have to call user error.

17th August 2011, 09:03 PM	#8
simon7000 diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Oakmont PA	Or it could be a change to low volatile cements. I'd check with Eminence to see what they think. They are pretty sharp folks.

17th August 2011, 10:52 PM	#10
Erik F diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Blog Entries: 1	Ha. Also didn't realize this thread was form 2001. I've been out of the diy thing for a bit but have been getting the bug again.

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