6.5in loudspeaker manufacturers

[Davey T]

Hey there,

I'm looking for a 6.5inch woofer/subwoofer driver at the moment for 3.6L sealed enclosure (with active eq). I have tried TB, Peerless/Tymphany, Wavecor, Monacor and a few others with nothing has fit the bill so far.

I was wondering if any of you can recommend a manufacturer I haven't tried yet? Looking for something in the $10-$20 price range (250-1000 of). Stamped steel basket, ferrite magnet, rubber surround, paper cone with fs around 40hz, 85-90db efficiency and decent xmax over 4mm. Nothing special really, just a solid simple driver. Oh, and in 4 ohms!

Let me know if you can help! Cheers

[Davey T]

Surely some of you must know of a manufacturer I haven't tried yet?

[sreten]

Aurasound NS6-255-4A 6" Paper Cone Woofer 4 ohm: Madisound Speaker Store

Hi,

Fs is irrelevant without specifying Qts and Vas.
Real bass sensitivity of the above seems 84dB/W.

In 3.6L : (optimum stuffing = 5L))
Q= ~ 1.0, 1 dB peak at 160Hz, F-3dB 100Hz.
Some low bass active EQ will definitely be needed.
Numbers are consistent with efficiency / box size.

It is a bass/mid rather than a sub/bass. Excursion
is good but with with a near equal coil / gap length
you'll get more distortion than long coil / short gap,
but you don't get the hard distortion characteristic
the latter has when its overdriven. It might suit.

$6.50 each for 90+, very good driver at that price.

rgds, sreten.

FWIW the 8" version which is a genuine subwoofer works
a lot better in the same box, Q= 0.75, - 3dB at 80Hz, with
good +/- 5mm linear excursion and a whopping overall
excursion capability of well over +/- 10mm.
Lower sensitivity though.

http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com...5-4a-8-woofer/

$15 each for 8+, again very good driver at that price.

[weltersys]

Originally Posted by Davey T

Surely some of you must know of a manufacturer I haven't tried yet?

You missed out on a Parts Express factory buyout 6.5" that fit your requirements pretty nicely (299-114), I used them in my travel trailer, sound quite good. Others have used them in a wide variety of cabinets.

PE has some other 6.5" speakers that may work for you, but at a higher price.

Woofer Selection Guide at Parts Express

Tang Band and Peerless would be the likely suspects, but you say those are not what you are looking for.

[Davey T]

sreten: Yes I've looked at that Aura driver, fs is too high. It sims with a Fsc of 143hz. almost 5db down at 60hz from my current favourite

weltersys: We saw those and bought 10.... however they turned out to be rubbish and distort as soon as you drive them with more than 15W. I think the xmax figure is wrong and it is actually 3mm. they are identical looking to a Dayton Audio sub driver with 3mm xmax.

I'm currently using the TB W6-1139SA... it does great sub and xmax but the price too high and efficiency too low.

Optimal driver I have so far looked at is something like this:
Qts: 0.4
Vas: ~18L
Fs 39Hz
bl 9.1
Sd 131cm2
however xmax is only 3.75mm which limits output.

Thanks for the replies!

[Davey T]

Sorry, the Aura driver wasn't 5db down... more like 2.5db. It might be worth trying. What is the xmax?

but yes, perhaps best to state that I'm hoping for an enclosure fs of around 90-100hz and a q of 0.8-1.0

[djk]

"efficiency too low"

Trying to break Hoffman's Iron Law?

Good luck.

A 2 cu ft 2nd order sealed box with an F3 of 30hz can only be 0.18% efficient (84.55dB).
A 2 cu ft 4th order vented box with an F3 of 30hz can only be 0.36% efficient (87.56dB).
A 2 cu ft 6th order vented box with an F3 of 30hz can only be 0.90% efficient (91.54dB).

By my calculations you could get -3dB at 120hz in 3.6L with 90dB/W/1M.

[Davey T]

Originally Posted by djk

"efficiency too low"

Trying to break Hoffman's Iron Law?

Good luck.

A 2 cu ft 2nd order sealed box with an F3 of 30hz can only be 0.18% efficient (84.55dB).
A 2 cu ft 4th order vented box with an F3 of 30hz can only be 0.36% efficient (87.56dB).
A 2 cu ft 6th order vented box with an F3 of 30hz can only be 0.90% efficient (91.54dB).

By my calculations you could get -3dB at 120hz in 3.6L with 90dB/W/1M.

Not trying to do anything special, just choosing the right driver to optimise the response and use the amplifier power most efficiently. This is a battery powered sub so the location of the impedance peak is important to minimise the current/power for a given voltage

[sreten]

Originally Posted by Davey T

Sorry, the Aura driver wasn't 5db down... more like 2.5db.
It might be worth trying. What is the xmax?

Hi,

That sort of driver doesn't have clearly defined Xmax. One of Klippels
papers compares a equal coil / gap to a long coil / short gap. The
short version is the former produces at lot more distortion up to the
latters Xmax, but then the latter is worse above above its Xmax,
producing nasty higher order harmonics the former doesn't.

FWIW I think it was KEF that showed / argued the area with the
most energy demands on the bass is 100Hz to 200Hz. So I think
a somewhat higher Fbox than 100Hz would probably help a little
regarding battery life. Arguably the less than clean bass, could
also be an advantage, I've noticed for valve amplifiers mild
distortion makes bass lines easier to follow, YMMV.

rgds, sreten.

[chris661]

Hi,

For a battery powered (portable) system, forget the bass below ~100Hz.
Go for a fairly high Q alignment (~1) so it sounds like there's some bass there, then add an active low cut filter at maybe the -6dB point.
Bump in bass response brings efficiency up a little, and the active highpass reduces amplifier demand.

Hoffman's Iron Law at work here: high efficiency, bass extension, small size - pick any two.

How much amplifier/battery will these be running with?

Chris