original earthquake drivers

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jump to Latest
M

mkmk4

Member
Joined 2011
#1
my dad used to run a after hours way back in the day and part of his setup were 2 original earthquakes all ive heard about them is there sheer ability to in his words "**** **** up" hahah but then eventually they got stolen along with other equipment etc 🙁. so basically we still have 2 original 189E drivers.(the ones used in the original earthquake). i was wondering if i placed both drivers in a yorkville elite sw1000 cabinet if they could get damaged or not perform in the way my father and other texts ive read described them. i understand that the cabinet makes a big difference in the way the sub will sound that being said im a lot more worried about damage to the driver than producing bass that will bring my house down to a pile of rocks 😛.

all that being said i am also interested in building the original cabinets. how much money would that take? how hard will that be im 18 and i have no experience in making a cabinet.

thanks for reading and let me know what you think 🙂

mkmk4
 
#4
I believe the original earthquake driver was the same as the car audio magma 15, and used a pair of 15" slaps passive radiators in a 19" cube.

The only place I ever got them reasonable price was direct from earthquake. Any other place selling it was way higher in price. A quick google turned up this:
Earthquake SLAPS-15 (Symmetrically loaded Audio Passive System) 15" Passive Radiator

They will also work in a 21" cube sealed, with a bash 500 plate amp, but won't have quite the oomph as with the slaps.
 
#5
i dont know if i misread your comment or not (i apologize if i did) but by earthquake i am talking about the Sensurround speakers used in the movie "earthquake"

ian posted a picture of the driver i am talking about on this topic
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/subwoofers/78716-sensurround-horns-any-information-please-2.html

it seems by looking at diagrams that the original earthquakes had a horn design and were fully enclosed while in the sw-1000 the cone is visible from the outside.

thanks for the reply
mkmk4
 
#6
All I could find in some old papers (probably based on restoration job but no idea when, where, how and from who) and I'm not sure about the accuracy of the numbers;

Cerwin Vega 189E
Power = 400Watt (max?)
Re = 4,87 Ohm
Fs = 32,7Hz
Qes = 0,27
Qms = 3,67
Qts = 0,25
Vas = 238,1 Litre
BL = 24,70
Mms = 165 gram
Sd = 1080cm^2
Xmax = approx. 5mm
 
Last edited:
#9
i dont understand why that would be necessary both drivers are 18'' i would like to put the cerwin vega 189E driver into the cabinet i don't understand why i would need the model number for the driver in the sw-1000 cabinet :S explain?
 
#10
mkmk4 said:
i dont understand why that would be necessary both drivers are 18'' i would like to put the cerwin vega 189E driver into the cabinet i don't understand why i would need the model number for the driver in the sw-1000 cabinet :S explain?
Click to expand...

because speakers are like car wheels,

you cant just throw a set of off road wheels on a race car.

you need to know what kind of car your wheels will work with.

or what kind of box your speaker will work in,

the numbers on the back of the speaker/s will help you/us know what box is best for your speakers, the speakers you have might not work, or may even be damaged in the Cerwin 189E box.
 
#11
And don't know about the Yorkville besides it is a basreflex cab but I do know it sims very well for a tapped horn. For example the response in the picture is based on the Xoc1 TH18 cab you can find here on DIY LINK.
It will give 5dB more output from a tapped horn compared to a basreflex with very similar excursion and the same power.
Maybe a silly idea or perhaps interesting enough to do some reading about the TH's.

Xoc1_TH18-2_CerwinVega_189E.jpg
 
#12
To answer your questions:

1. The drivers will not get damaged if you use them in the SW1000 cabinet, as long as you don't be silly with the volume control, and you don't drive them below the tuning frequency of the cabinet (a Google Search on the SW1000 specs may help to determine this, if you don't have a means of measuring it yourself).

2. Horn theory has come a bit of a way since the '70's. Now you have a nifty tool at your disposal (HornResp) to design horns, and there's also a few new players on the block, e.g. tapped horns. Instead of rebuilding old technology, I suggest designing something new for those drivers.
 
#13
thanks everyone for the information for the record the stock drivers in the sw1000's are RCF L18-851.

Brian if i placed the drivers in the sw1000 would it improve sound quality or make it able to play lower frequencies at a higher db
 
#15
I used to work for the company that did the original Earthquake movie installations! The subs were made by Cerwin Vega, and CV in fact STILL makes a version of it! EL-36C Earthquake | cerwinvega.com

Single 18 in a folded horn. what made them special is the very high efficiency of the drivers (for that time). we had the 4 original prototypes in our warehouse up until the time i quit. sadly i heard they chopped the cabs up and used the wood as shelving! they also did that to a couple 1951 altec A-4's very sad...
 
#16
mkmk4 said:
my dad used to run a after hours way back in the day and part of his setup were 2 original earthquakes all ive heard about them is there sheer ability to in his words "**** **** up" hahah but then eventually they got stolen along with other equipment etc 🙁. so basically we still have 2 original 189E drivers.(the ones used in the original earthquake). i was wondering if i placed both drivers in a yorkville elite sw1000 cabinet if they could get damaged or not perform in the way my father and other texts ive read described them. i understand that the cabinet makes a big difference in the way the sub will sound that being said im a lot more worried about damage to the driver than producing bass that will bring my house down to a pile of rocks 😛.

all that being said i am also interested in building the original cabinets. how much money would that take? how hard will that be im 18 and i have no experience in making a cabinet.

thanks for reading and let me know what you think 🙂

mkmk4
Click to expand...
The old Earthquake was a big folded horn (around 48 x 48 x 24 inch IIRC), if you want similar results, copy the original design.

The speakers will "work" in whatever you put them in, but won't deliver the output of an earthquake.

The Yorkville elite sw1000 cabinet used lightweight short excursion RCF speakers, not very similar to the 189E drivers.
 
#18
In case anyone likes to compare...

RCF 18/851:

Continue (Sine Wave) Power = 300Watt
Program Power = 600W
Max Power = 1000W
Sensitivity = 99dB (1w/1m)
Fs = 39Hz
Re = 5,7 Ohm
Qes = 0,38
Qms = 6
Qts = 0,36
Vas = 200 Litre
Bl = 21,7 Tm
Mms = 128gram
Cms = 0,00013
Sd = 1041cm^2
Xmax = 4,5 mm [based on (Hvc-Hg) : 2]

Cerwin Vega 189E:

Power = 400Watt (max?)
Re = 4,87 Ohm
Fs = 32,7Hz
Qes = 0,27
Qms = 3,67
Qts = 0,25
Vas = 238,1 Litre
BL = 24,70
Mms = 165 gram
Sd = 1080cm^2
Xmax = approx. 5mm
 
#20
mkmk4 said:
yes sir


i guess i would like to build the original then does anyone know if there has been a DIY for these speakers?

also if it would be possible to get the same quality out of a smaller desigjn I would definitely be interested

thanks
Click to expand...
The Cerwin Vega L-48-SE is a "W" bin type of horn.
I have not seen any DIY copies of that particular horn.
In the same size (48 x48 x 24inch) a spiral horn can have a longer path length, and play a bit lower.
Tapped horns can offer more output at a lower frequency in a smaller size than either.
The CV driver specs, if correct for your drivers, make it a decent candidate for a tapped horn.
My Keystone sub design is fairly tolerant of different drivers, simple to build, and the exit size can be easily "tuned" to take care of mismatches.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/subwoofers/185588-keystone-sub-using-18-15-12-inch-speakers.html

Art
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom