clean xmax sealed midwoofer for 80 - 2000hz

[mazurek]

I am trying to find a good midwoofer to play down to about 85 Hz with clean xmax. I do not want to double up on midwoofers, I already have clean 12" woofers supporting the low end.

I was looking at maybe the Seas W18NX. Drivers like it which roll of at 80Hz anyways in a sealed box means I can use less crossover stages to make it an LR4.

I would like to replace my old peerless hds 6.5 nomex midwoofers; although they still work, I've abused them with equalization induced overheated voice coil (rubbing for a while, then stopped) , testing electronics which make them violently excurse, etc.

Since I would like to replace the drivers, and will be upgrading the crossover soon anyways (mute relay, linkwitz transform), I thought now might be a good chance to upgrade.

Thanks,
Lee

[infinia]

Take a look see at Vifa PLO18-09-08 not sure if its a drop in fit for your design. They look pretty nice for a Midbass. I'm thinking of using them myself. see link below

http://www.partsexpress.com/pdf/297-324.pdf

[mazurek]

I think markK tested those and gave no mention of the performance.

Maybe I'll trade up with the seas L18 driver or a CA18, looks easy to use.

[lufbramatt]

id second the vifa pl18- ive used it in a 17liter vented enclosure and its great, crossed at 2.5khz to a vifa ring radiator.

Winisd indicates a -3db point of 80hz in an 8 liter sealed box, looks ideal for what you need

[mazurek]

Originally posted by lufbramatt
Winisd indicates a -3db point of 80hz in an 8 liter sealed box, looks ideal for what you need

Well I guess I'm not going to get any closer than that.

[cotdt]

I've been researching this too, for a 2-way with a subwoofer. I'm looking for an extremely detailed, clean midwoofer for 2000Hz and below, I will probably cross at 1600Hz with my tweeter. It will have to have clean bass so that it can meet the subwoofer, and while my Dayton RS180's can do this, it can't do 1kHz+ cleanly. It is clearly missing out on upper midrange detail compared to the other 7" midranges that I own: Vifa XG18 and Peerless Exclusive 7" (830883). I have also heard the W18NX which is also very good, and it has clean bass too. As of right now it would be my top choice. None of the Seas basic line (CA18, G18, L18) woofers even come close to these three midranges in terms of midrange clarity.

Vifa XG18 I would save for a 3-way, while the Peerless Exclusive's bass quality/output is not on par with the Dayton RS180 and midbass is not very warm either even if the FR and crossover point is similar. Both are very clean to 1.8kHz according to the measurements, and my ears agree though I can't tell the exact frequency it is good to by ear.

Anyone else have any other suggestions? I will only consider poly cones if good measurements back them up, due to bad experiences with them in the past.

[mazurek]

Thanks for the tip codt

For anyone else looking at this, the most useful info I've seen to answer this question is at:

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthr...hlight=testing

As of now, I feel my best bet is to cross to the woofers at 150Hz, and do an inverse linkwitz transform to raise the F3 cuttoff of one of these woofers, which will enable me to just search for a clean midwoofer, without the xmax requirement.

[mazurek]

Question for cotdt:

How about dealing with the peak in the w18nx frequency response? It seems tricky because it looks like the off axis response is flat, so equalizing the peak would actually leave a dip for practical listening.

[cotdt]

Originally posted by mazurek
Question for cotdt:

How about dealing with the peak in the w18nx frequency response? It seems tricky because it looks like the off axis response is flat, so equalizing the peak would actually leave a dip for practical listening.

You mean the breakup at 4.1kHz? It's not all that bad, not like the metal cone drivers. It can be ignored completely with even a slow crossover, and isn't worth notching. Just make sure you take care of the rising response above 1kHz. If you cross low (less than 2kHz), then off-axis response will correlate closely with on-axis and you have nothing to worry about in my experience.