cerwin vega psw 15 d specifications

[bobdebouwer]

Hello

I can buy 2 of thoss subs for 50 dollar which seems a fair price to me.

The only problem is I can't find the specifications so I cannot make a decent box for it. I contacted cerwin vega but no reply, also can't find anything on the net. Buying measuring eq is a bit steep as this would cost more than the subs themselves.

Any other ideas?

Is there a comparable model i can use to calculate the box?

Thanks!

 

[troystg]

An engineer at Cerwin Vega once told me:

"We do it a little different. We build a box then design a woofer to work in it."


The Parts Express WT3 might pay for itself in this case...

 

[wg_ski]

Buying a woofer tester may be considered along the same lines as buying a skil saw. If you plan on building more than one speaker, bite the bullet and buy one now. If you only plan on building one speaker use somebody else's.

 

[bobdebouwer]

Thanks for the replies. I think 100 USD is a bit steep for a first time build, don't know how I will like it so don't want to do the investment just yet (also hard to sell to my wife...)

I came accross this link, not sure if anyone came accross it before, it contains a DIY home made woofer tester for under 20 USD:

How to test T/S easy and cheap - Car Audio Classifieds

Worst case I'll try this one out, even better though would be figuring out which box size Cerwin Vega advises to use for this type of sub!

 

[Brian Steele]

I can buy 2 of thoss subs for 50 dollar which seems a fair price to me.!

Are these the same drivers that are used in CV's "ProStax" series of pro audio cabinets?

 

[GM]

Cerwin Vega PSW 15 15 034 400 Watt Woofer 3 034 Voicecoil 8 OHM 1990 039 S Sounds Great | eBay


Cerwin-Vega Model ProStax PSW-15" Professional Woofer
This woofer was used in the late 1990's in C-V ProStax speakers. Can also be used as a replacement/up-grade for the W-15P or 153EV woofer.
This model was used in the following speakers: PS-15, PS-15SII, PS-215B, PS-152
Specs:
Cone size: 15"
Voice-Coil size: 3"
Power rating: 400 watts Continuous RMS 800 peak
Impedance: 8 ohms nominal D.C. resistance 7.3 ohms
Frequency Response: 30-2000 Hz
Sensititivy: 1 watt @ 1 meter 98db
Maximum output @ 400 watt input: 125db
Magnet structure weight: 9 lbs.
This woofer has a cloth surround and will last a lot longer then the foam type.
This would make a nice upgrade to any CV home speaker that uses a 8 ohm 15" driver.
This woofer has excellent tight mids and a deep and tight bottom. I am using a pair at home in some old 317P cabinets.
They sound a lot better overall than the old 152W woofers.
This woofer works well in a bass reflex cabinet of 4.5 cu. ft. net volume tuned to 32Hz.

GM

 

[Brian Steele]

If that's the same woofer from the ProStax PSX-153, you're not going to get anything below 70 Hz or so from it, and that's from a huge box vented low. The suggested 4.5 cu.ft. counds about right, but the PSX-153 boxes were vented at around 42 Hz, if my measurements are correct.

 

[GM]

Thanks for the info and this manual supports your measurements, so my SWAG is that the 32 Hz is a typo: http://www.cerwinvega.com/manuals/pro/prostax-manual.pdf

GM

 

[bobdebouwer]

Great information!

Good to know from which speakers it came from, but it seems like I won't get that much 'deep' from it? I was hoping to get close to 20 Hz when putting them together in a box?

Do you recommend buying these woofers? I am about to close the deal and would normally get them this weekend but I highly appreciate your comments.

As it's my first build, I'm completely baffled by all the options there are...Size of the box does not matter, I just want to get a really deep bass so I can hear every super deep note of a Busta Rhymes record and feel explosions from movies in my bones. I hoped two 15 inch woofers of a good brand would be capable of doing this?

Are these subs capable of this and what would be the best option? I think vented and putting them in parallel in one box, or should I open a new topic for this? Passive will be difficult I guess...

It's for home use, space of 36 square meters. I would like to use them first in a stereo setup as I have 2 good monitors to go with them, but it's totally not clear to me if it's best to make 2 subs to get the 'stereo' effect, but it should also be able to deliver the really low hard bass needed in action movies so putting them together in one box should give a deeper louder bass?

all those choices...

 

[Brian Steele]

If you want to get low for cheap, you're better off looking at the Infinity car audio drivers. In properly-sized vented boxes, they should get pretty low, certainly low enough for most people.

 

[GM]

One ideally needs a driver Fs that's at, or below, the desired tuning; so no, the CVs do not appear to be a good choice for low bass as it appears to be optimized for mid-bass output, which is typical for most prosound woofers.

GM

 

[bobdebouwer]

Thanks so the vegas are not really worth it? Thought they would be ok as they came from the prostax line

 

[epa]

what are you plaaning to do with it?
your best bet wil be 150 lts with 2 pipe's 8 cm across.
then cut the pipe's later to length, to tune to whatever is desireable.

building a cabinet is not cheap thats something you have to concider.

 

[bobdebouwer]

i am planning to use it in a home environment for music and movies to complement my 2 monitors.

If i like the building process i would like to build also my other speakers.

I know building a cabinet is not easy that's why i liked the vega's as they are pretty cheap

Currently i have a sealed canton sub plus c which it should outperform

 

[GM]

Not for getting the kind of performance you’re wanting from them, especially in the relatively large size room you have unless they were loaded in a huge [small room size] back loaded bass horn [BLH] tuned to < 20 Hz and/or enough PSW-15s in a false wall infinite baffle [I.B.] to increase efficiency up to what the BLH can output.

About the closest you can come with what appears to be a prosound mid-bass woofer would be to make a large platform sealed sub under your listening position [LP] sofa/chairs or large credenza sealed sub located directly behind the LP, then either protect the drivers with the receiver’s or amp’s built-in low pass [‘rumble’] filter or use an outboard bass EQ module.

In short, this is a ‘you can pay me now or pay me later’ scenario where you trade saving $$$ on the driver and limited performance for spending it on limited placement options, generally increased net bulk Vs spreading smaller cabs around the room in more acoustically efficient locations along with potentially increased cab construction and increased electronics parts costs.

Bottom line for me is I wouldn’t do it for your stated intended app.

Now if you are willing to do this in stages, i.e. optimizing the CVs for what they’re best suited for [must measure both driver’s specs and use their average] and using some form of protection until you can add a true sub system…………….

All that said, I’ve no experience with this driver or its variants, only the decades older prosound woofers used in their ‘Earthquake’ ‘sub’ bass horns and their immediate replacements up to circa 1985, so curious if Brian or others more familiar with these later models agree with my suggestions.

GM

 

[bobdebouwer]

Got a reply from Cerwin Vega:

Thanks for your inquiry. However, we do not have any user manuals or engineering documents for the item you referenced - sorry.

After the purchase of Cerwin-Vega a few years ago, we discovered that some legacy documentation was not among our property.

Thanks again for contacting Gibson Customer Service, and best regards always.

I guess I will need to go looking for other drivers...Always thought Cerwin Vega produced the best bass speakers, good i'm proven wrong before buying them!

 

[Brian Steele]

If this is out of the ProStax range I would definitely not recommend it for subwoofer duty. Low Xmax.

 

[bobdebouwer]

ok, so vmax is quite important? I have another add for these RCF speakers, specs seem better, but if the 'tuning frequency' is 55 Hz, does this mean this is the best you will get from them? because if so, that's pretty poor.

this is the link:

RCF L15S800 - RCF Speakers - RCF 15" speaker - RCF L15S800 1500 watt 15" speaker. RCF L15S800 speakers available now.

3 of them for 100 USD

 

[conanski]

You need to completely forget about pro sound drivers for this application, you need high performance home/car audio subs like the Dayton UM-15.. Dayton Audio UM15-22 15" Ultimax DVC Subwoofer 2 ohms Per Coil

And if you build 2 separate boxes you can potentially get smoother response in the listening space by putting a sub in opposite corners. Some experimentation will be required.

 

[GM]

ok, so vmax is quite important? I have another add for these RCF speakers, specs seem better, but if the 'tuning frequency' is 55 Hz, does this mean this is the best you will get from them?

Correct, for every octave lower at a given SPL you want to reproduce requires a 4x increase of excursion [Xmax] and electrical power minus room/boundary gain, if any.

Last time! You want the driver Fs to be near/at the lowest frequency you want to reproduce, so for movies it needs to be at least 20 Hz and preferably lower and I don’t know of any current prosound ‘sub’ woofers that has an Fs below ~30 Hz and even then they have a low Qts, so generally only good down to 40 Hz unless corner and/or horn loaded.

There are some folks using car audio ‘sub’ woofers with 25-30 Hz Fs, but they have a very high Qts [> 0.7] that allows tuning down to <20 Hz, but they must have a very high Xmax, Pe capability to do so, ergo needs a very high power amp with a BW down to at least 10 Hz. That, or corner and/or horn load them.

GM