Driver substitution advice

lowpoke · 15th April 2009, 06:31 AM

Hi guys, I've fallen in love with a very sexy conical midbass horn enclosure design that employs the use of an old school Electrovoice EVM 15L driver. I've contacted the designer of this cabinet but he's not responding. My quandary is that these drivers are not so easy to come by in my neck of the woods, so I'm wondering whether there are substitute drivers I could use that are more readily available.

I've got the Thiele-Small parameters for the EV as follows. Am I to assume that if I can find another driver with similar specs it will deliver similar performance?

Fs: 43Hz
Qes: .250
Qms: 4.96
Qts: .238
Vas: .245 m3
n0: 6.2%
Vd: 17.2 in3 (282.2 cm3)
Sd: 132.6 in2 (855.3 cm3)
Xmax: .13 in (3.3mm)
Pe: 200W
Re: 5.2 ohms

Brett · 15th April 2009, 07:47 PM

Email sent.

badman · 15th April 2009, 08:21 PM

Sounds like Brett may have you covered, BUT

If you can find something with fairly matched specs, it'll perform largely similarly, as the response is going to be dominated by the horn rather than the driver. The major concerns will be if you operate it high in frequency (breakup modes are very inconsistent across different drivers) or at high output where the EV's (likely) high output ability (I'm bettin' that 200 is conservative) would allow non-failure operation where some cheesy nonsense you shouldn't use anyway might fail.

In other words, you're probably fine for home use, as long as you're not trying to get 800Hz out of a basshorn.

lowpoke · 15th April 2009, 09:28 PM

Brett may have one only EVM 15L for me. It hadn't even occurred to me that other forum members may actually have some they're willing to part with. I might put a want ad in the marketplace section.

lowpoke · 15th April 2009, 11:57 PM

Thanks for your input badman, hopefully I'll be able to source the EV's.
But if not, I'm not necessarily looking to find a cheaper (poorer quality) alternative, just one that I can actually source.

Having said that, many of the vintage drivers seem to be expensive for nostalgic reasons. I'm sure there are plenty of newer, not so well known drivers that perform equally well, if not better (and not break the bank). I don't have broad enough knowledge to know of any off the top of my head though.

PeteMcK · 16th April 2009, 04:47 AM

Cannon in Syd have P-audio drivers, bound to be something similar to the EV:

http://www.cannonsound.com.au/

15th April 2009, 06:31 AM	#1
lowpoke diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Australia	Driver substitution advice Hi guys, I've fallen in love with a very sexy conical midbass horn enclosure design that employs the use of an old school Electrovoice EVM 15L driver. I've contacted the designer of this cabinet but he's not responding. My quandary is that these drivers are not so easy to come by in my neck of the woods, so I'm wondering whether there are substitute drivers I could use that are more readily available. I've got the Thiele-Small parameters for the EV as follows. Am I to assume that if I can find another driver with similar specs it will deliver similar performance? Fs: 43Hz Qes: .250 Qms: 4.96 Qts: .238 Vas: .245 m3 n0: 6.2% Vd: 17.2 in3 (282.2 cm3) Sd: 132.6 in2 (855.3 cm3) Xmax: .13 in (3.3mm) Pe: 200W Re: 5.2 ohms

15th April 2009, 08:21 PM	#3
badman Custom Title diyAudio Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Sunny Tustin, SoCal	Sounds like Brett may have you covered, BUT If you can find something with fairly matched specs, it'll perform largely similarly, as the response is going to be dominated by the horn rather than the driver. The major concerns will be if you operate it high in frequency (breakup modes are very inconsistent across different drivers) or at high output where the EV's (likely) high output ability (I'm bettin' that 200 is conservative) would allow non-failure operation where some cheesy nonsense you shouldn't use anyway might fail. In other words, you're probably fine for home use, as long as you're not trying to get 800Hz out of a basshorn. __________________ I write for www.enjoythemusic.com in the DIY section. You may find yourself getting a preview of a project in-progress. Be warned!

16th April 2009, 04:47 AM	#6
PeteMcK diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Sydney	Cannon in Syd have P-audio drivers, bound to be something similar to the EV: http://www.cannonsound.com.au/ __________________ ‘today… there lives alongside the twentieth century the tenth or thirteenth. A hundred million people use electricity and still believe in the magic power of signs and exorcisms” Trotsky

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15th April 2009, 07:47 PM	#2
Brett diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2002	Email sent.

15th April 2009, 09:28 PM	#4
lowpoke diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Australia	Brett may have one only EVM 15L for me. It hadn't even occurred to me that other forum members may actually have some they're willing to part with. I might put a want ad in the marketplace section.

15th April 2009, 11:57 PM	#5
lowpoke diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Australia	Thanks for your input badman, hopefully I'll be able to source the EV's. But if not, I'm not necessarily looking to find a cheaper (poorer quality) alternative, just one that I can actually source. Having said that, many of the vintage drivers seem to be expensive for nostalgic reasons. I'm sure there are plenty of newer, not so well known drivers that perform equally well, if not better (and not break the bank). I don't have broad enough knowledge to know of any off the top of my head though.

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