[INDIA] Good pro audio woofers available

[tcpip]

I am beginning to see a lot of pro audio woofers in the Indian market. Specifically, there are quite a few shops in Lamington Road in Bombay who are beginning to stock pro audio woofers and horn tweeters.

Till now, the only place where I'd seen such drivers was Narains on L.Road --- they stock Selenium, RCA and a couple of other good brands. Now I saw them in Dev Electronics, the place where I pick up my Peerless India drivers from.

They have 12", 15", and 18" woofers, made by P. Audio, Peavey (including the famous Peavey Black Widow), JBL, B&C Speakers, and one or two other brands. Dev Elec doesn't stock Selenium.

As you probably know, pro audio woofers have the following characteristics usually:

• Very rugged construction (3" and 4" kapton formers, cast aluminium basket, etc)
• Very high power handling (400W RMS continuous not unusual)
• Pleated cloth surrounds
• stiff paper cones, often uncoated or coated very lightly
• high sensitivity
• small Xmax (not by absolute standards, but by the standards of home audio HT subwoofers)

Apart from all these imported brands, which Dev Elec says they are steadily importing and selling, there was also an excellent Indian brand, called A-Plus. Like most Indian brands (eg. Hunter Audio's vapourware, Bolton, Philips India, Luxco, etc), A-Plus does not have a Website. They have excellent pro audio woofers in 12", 15", and 18" sizes. I saw one with a 4" voice coil diameter, 18" cone size, 11Kg weight, and 400W RMS rating. The other features were as listed above. Don't know anything about sensitivity or T/S parameters. Price was Rs.5000 or thereabouts. The 15" woofer with identical features and looks was selling for about Rs.4500 each. In comparison, a P.Audio 18" woofer was available for Rs.8000 or so each. If I had to choose, I'd take the A-Plus driver... it looked exactly as well-made, had a slightly less stiff surround, and was almost half the price.

So, guys, if you want to build that great 3-way system, I think you should catch hold of these drivers. Don't worry if the Fs is a bit too high... you need to go active for the woofer, and then add an LT circuit before it, in a sealed box, to get excellent bass.

If you don't want to go this far, there's always Peerless Audio 10" drivers. They are selling for a little less than Rs.2500 each, from the same Dev Electronics. They seem to have a fairly decent-sized magnet, stamped metal basket, rubber surrouinds and shiny black coated paper cones. They appear very decently made with a no-frills construction, much better than the Boltons and other Indian brands. I'd put two of these 10" woofers per side to get more than adequate bass for home audio.

Just FYI, for all those Indian DIYers who keep complaining about driver unavailability in India.

[tcpip]

I am pretty sure that the P.Audio 18" driver I saw at Dev Electronics is this one. That model number which I saw had one more letter after the "EL", but all other details seem to match. And this was being offered at Rs.7,500 each.

I had visited Narain's a year ago and they'd shown me their 15" Selenium WPU1505 series drivers. Those were Rs.11,000 each plus taxes. In comparison, these P.Audio drivers seem like inexpensive. I think Indian DIYers looking to build serious bass for home use will probably not have to import drivers again. Not only that, the high sensitivity of these drivers will allow them to be driven quite happily with an LM3886 chip amp (biamped/active, one amp/driver) without needing any monster amps.

[Ronnie22]

Hi tcpip,

Any idea about such driver availability in Chennai? Have asked in a lot of places and even in the "Lamington" road of Chennai(Ritchie street) but with no luck. IN fact someof the dealers tell me that if these drivers are made available to the "local market" then it will "spoil the market". Now go figure. That beats me!!!

BTW I built the speakers (The link that you gave me in my link.....Help for newbie with crossover). It came out great . I have posted some pics and the costing for the speaker in another forum. Plan on posting it here soon since I have been travelling extensively lately. Thanks for all the help

[tcpip]

Originally posted by Ronnie22
Any idea about such driver availability in Chennai? Have asked in a lot of places and even in the "Lamington" road of Chennai(Ritchie street) but with no luck.

Absolutely no idea. However, I feel that anyone who sets up discos and pubs will know where to get these drivers from, because that's the pro audio market. I'm cent per cent certain that there will be some shops in the L.Road-equivalent there which will be stocking at least some pro woofers. Don't ask by brand, just ask by size. Ask them whether they have any large 15" and 18" drivers. Once they begin to show you some, the real details will begin coming out. Most of the shopkeepers here themselves don't know what brands are available... only this one shop, Dev Electronics, seems to have one chap who knows these names. The reason is obvious: their customers don't ask for speakers by brand name... they ask by size!

BTW I built the speakers (The link that you gave me in my link.....Help for newbie with crossover). It came out great

This is really great news. I'd love to see some pics. I was in fact wondering what happened to your project.

Personally, I feel this project is an excellent one for any Indian DIYer who can afford the drivers.

[ashok]

Most Indian speaker manufacturers don't have a web site or any specifications of their drivers . Strange isn't it ?

However there is one manufacturer who has a web site and has specifications and response curves too..............
www.iwaispeakers.com
Check it out. They have a distributor in Chennai .. Torvin in Ritchie street . In Mumbai it might be possible to get it direct from the factory. Local courier must be inexpensive.

The drivers look very well finished. I've seen them displayed at an exhibition. Prices are also very good. I have some pricing from two years ago.
Cheers.

[tcpip]

Originally posted by ashok
Most Indian speaker manufacturers don't have a web site or any specifications of their drivers . Strange isn't it ?

At one time, I too used to find it strange. Now it makes sense. If your customer is willing to do business with you, year after year, and you can reach all your business targets, all without a Website, why will you have a Website?

Bolton doesn't have even an email address. They don't even have a fax machine. (No, I'm not joking. And yes, I've ordered speakers direct from Bolton's office, straight from their Delhi-Mathura Road factory.) If you want to send them an order you have to do the following dance:

• You write to them, giving them your requirements and ship-to address. You send this by post. Maybe by courier, if you're in a (no doubt most undignified) hurry.
• They write back, by registered post, giving you precise amount payable.
• You send them a DD/cheque, by post again.
• They make and ship the goods by road, and send you a dispatch advice, by post.
• You wait and wait for the goods to arrive.

Once you accept that this is their way of working, they are quite professional. They ship the right goods, and ship them well packed, and make no mistakes in payment amounts, and so on.

Tell me, why should Bolton have a Website if this style of doing business allows them steady nation-wide sales? Would you still say it's strange they don't have a Website?

However there is one manufacturer who has a web site and has specifications and response curves too..............
www.iwaispeakers.com

Any idea of prices? Can you let us know what prices you'd got when you'd inquired?

[ashok]

I called Torvin . They say they will not sell the drivers alone. They sell it only with a finished cabinet.

However the pricing I have is as follows : ( must have changed by now ) . Price per piece.

10 inch subwoofer Rs 985/-
8 inch subwoofer Rs 750/-
6 inch subwoofer Rs 550/-
25mm dome Rs300/-
6 inch bass mid Rs205/-
I don't have the model numbers.

I think these are for bulk packing. I'm not sure how many to a box. Woofers might be 4 to a box.
Check with Iwai directly.
Cheers.

[tcpip]

Originally posted by ashok
I called Torvin . They say they will not sell the drivers alone. They sell it only with a finished cabinet.

There you go. It's the same story as with Peerless India. If you want to buy bulk, I presume Peerless too would be very attentive. Sigh...

However the pricing I have is as follows : ( must have changed by now ) . Price per piece.

Attractive pricing... much less expensive than Peerless India stuff.

Thanks.

[ajju]

However there is one manufacturer who has a web site and has specifications and response curves too..............

Torwin, I heard have quit using peerless and reselling any of their drivers aswell.. Apparently they have completely shifted to these drivers...but have also stopped the business of reselling the drivers..
I happened to bump into another of them...Berjis audio...(or something like that). Apparenlty they are into making line arrays...( they said they hold a patent in line array technology..well i dont know if that is possible) and they get all their drivers from china.. Off what we spoke, these guys are planning to bring B&O's ice power into Indain Pro market, as active speaker units. I did see couple of IcePower modules, there are some pro drivers as well, including a 22" sub ...!! wll try to get more details...I dont think they are very willing to give off the specifications,...On repeated queriesm, they said the drivers have been custom built by some chinese company for Use with ICE power...!! (that part seems to be true atleast) Anyways will keep e'one posted...

ajju.

[arunram_2003]

Hai guys,
In chennai very good qulaity woofers (LUXCO make) are avilable in Precious electronics in rich street.

The bass response is very good and the woofers are very sturdy.