I've done a bit of searching on this, but I have a couple of questions.
Everyone seems to be saying that the 10inch XLS drivers work best with a passive radiator type enclosure. I guess passive radiators are effective when using one sub enclosure and you want to move more air (correct?). My question is, If I have a bi amped set up and I want a stereo pair of subs, would a pair of sealed enclosure be fine?
Everyone seems to be saying that the 10inch XLS drivers work best with a passive radiator type enclosure. I guess passive radiators are effective when using one sub enclosure and you want to move more air (correct?). My question is, If I have a bi amped set up and I want a stereo pair of subs, would a pair of sealed enclosure be fine?
In the simplest terms adding a passive radiator is just another way of adding a port to an enclosure. The XLS series originally came with a passive radiator because the box designs required low tunings with wide diameter ports and very small cabinets. The net effect was that the port length needed to be very long such that it was pretty much impossible to fit inside the cabinet. The passive radiators were an obvious solution. The passives + XLS drivers resulted in an EBS alignment that goes very low in a very small box but isn't perfect, the goal was to make a sub that would reach 105dB at 20Hz for home theatre. When placed into a sealed enclosure however, the XLS reaches a low Q alignment in a very compact sealed box and generally requires EQ to give it optimal bass extension.
To your question, the answer would be if stereo sealed subs give you the extension and SPL that you require then go for them. If they don't then look to another solution.
Since the release of the original XLS, the 830452, Peerless have added many different drivers into the XLS and XXLS series that are better suited to unequalised sealed alignments and more standard idea of a ported box.
The good old XLS though can be had for a low amount of money in the UK from an ebay seller
Peerless XLS10 Subwoofer P830452 Loudspeaker - Speaker. | eBay
This is a very good deal.
A pair of 830452s in sealed enclosures with EQ and with lots of power wont hit 105dB at 20Hz for home theatre, but for music they should be more then enough.
To your question, the answer would be if stereo sealed subs give you the extension and SPL that you require then go for them. If they don't then look to another solution.
Since the release of the original XLS, the 830452, Peerless have added many different drivers into the XLS and XXLS series that are better suited to unequalised sealed alignments and more standard idea of a ported box.
The good old XLS though can be had for a low amount of money in the UK from an ebay seller
Peerless XLS10 Subwoofer P830452 Loudspeaker - Speaker. | eBay
This is a very good deal.
A pair of 830452s in sealed enclosures with EQ and with lots of power wont hit 105dB at 20Hz for home theatre, but for music they should be more then enough.
I intend to get an EQ into set up. However, I want to do this properly. Can I find any old pair of 10 inch drivers and convert them into passive radiators?
Can anyone recommend a driver or enclosure design that would suit this project?
Can anyone recommend a driver or enclosure design that would suit this project?
Providing the drivers are suitably designed then yes you can, but you're unlikely to find any that are for any reasonable price. The recommended practise for the 10" XLS drivers was to use two passives per real driver, this was to make sure that the passives had enough linear excursion to support the main driver properly. The passive radiators had something like 40mm of one way excursion too, so really the only proper way to do this would be with the PRs from peerless, or use some other passive radiators that are suited to high excursion sub applications. Scan speak have one, SEAS do too iirc and there are a few others also. The PRs are not cheap though, given the situation you could probably buy another pair of XLS drivers from the discount price on ebay for the same as a pair of PRs.
The ported/PRd version doesn't really need much EQ. The sealed versions however do. It's a shame that peerless stopped producing the PR. I guess most people preferred going sealed, or preferred to buy more drivers for their money, instead of getting the PRs.
Hmmmm. Maybe this sub is not for me. I want to stick to the bi-amped with an active crossover so as I can slowly build up a tri-amped system and swap out different boxes easily. This means that I want passive stereo pair of subs.
Peerless XLS10 10" Subwoofer (830452) and Passive Radiator (830481)
I was looking at making a passive pair of these with the speakers from ebay. If I was to just build a single active one (as in the link) I wouldn't have much change out of £200. I would rather have a passive stereo pair for not much more.
So I could spend £90 on each driver. I have materials sorted and planned on getting a second amp anyway. I'm going to check out a couple of the free software things and see what they come with. If someone can recommend some plans and drivers to build a fairly compact sub for about £100 (£200 for the pair) that would ideal but I still want to learn how to go about designing my own.
Peerless XLS10 10" Subwoofer (830452) and Passive Radiator (830481)
I was looking at making a passive pair of these with the speakers from ebay. If I was to just build a single active one (as in the link) I wouldn't have much change out of £200. I would rather have a passive stereo pair for not much more.
So I could spend £90 on each driver. I have materials sorted and planned on getting a second amp anyway. I'm going to check out a couple of the free software things and see what they come with. If someone can recommend some plans and drivers to build a fairly compact sub for about £100 (£200 for the pair) that would ideal but I still want to learn how to go about designing my own.
For the money you really aren't going to get any better then the XLS on ebay. They work very well in a small box with a suitable PR, or two PRs if you really intend on throwing tons of really low stuff at them, but a single PR version is perfectly acceptable.
If you can't get the PRs then a single XLS in a sealed box with EQ is still going to give you a lot of bang/buck with those ebay prices. You might however be better going for the 830845 12 inch XXLS drivers that are on ebay because they will go deeper without EQ in a sealed box.
As said before though, the original XLS10s are pretty specific drivers in that they were made to work with the PR to give low bass in a small box. They do work in otheer configurations, such as sealed, or OB, but in those configurations do tend to require a properly configured LT to get the best out of them.
If you can't get the PRs then a single XLS in a sealed box with EQ is still going to give you a lot of bang/buck with those ebay prices. You might however be better going for the 830845 12 inch XXLS drivers that are on ebay because they will go deeper without EQ in a sealed box.
As said before though, the original XLS10s are pretty specific drivers in that they were made to work with the PR to give low bass in a small box. They do work in otheer configurations, such as sealed, or OB, but in those configurations do tend to require a properly configured LT to get the best out of them.
While stereo pair of thoes 12" drives is temping I reckon it's bit over kill! I'm still considering it though... ;P
Seeing as I'm using a stereo pair I could have thought that a couple of smaller,(cheaper?) drivers.
Seeing as I'm using a stereo pair I could have thought that a couple of smaller,(cheaper?) drivers.
Although I have just found these.
SD270-PR - Dayton Passive Radiator 10 inch - Europe Audio
Would these do the job?
What size enclosure would be suited to the original XLS if it was sealed?
LT? OB - open baffle?
SD270-PR - Dayton Passive Radiator 10 inch - Europe Audio
Would these do the job?
What size enclosure would be suited to the original XLS if it was sealed?
LT? OB - open baffle?
Last edited:
It entirely depends on what your goals are. The 10" XLS drivers are different from lots of other sub drivers because they don't work quite so well in typical boxes - you either go sealed with some EQ, or use a PR because a port wont fit inside the cabinet. You do have the option though of having the port sticking outside the cabinet, there's no reason why it has to be inside, but that isn't quite the norm.
Two of the 12" XXLS drivers would be overkill for normal music, so most likely would be two XLS10s with EQ. I use 4 EQd XLS10s in 4 individual small boxes and they sound great - overkill for music? Yeah, but great for movies too.
For the ebay price you're definitely not going to do better in terms of quality, you would however be able to get drivers that will give you better extension without needing EQ, but they most likely wouldn't be as good in terms of non linear distortion or absolute output level.
Peerless do however have their SLS range of sub drivers that fit into standard box configurations far better then the original XLS.
Europe Audio • Peerless • Subwoofer SLS
You can see the range there and the prices.
I'd find and play around with WinISD and simulate what the different drivers will do for you and what box sizes and configurations they require.
Two of the 12" XXLS drivers would be overkill for normal music, so most likely would be two XLS10s with EQ. I use 4 EQd XLS10s in 4 individual small boxes and they sound great - overkill for music? Yeah, but great for movies too.
For the ebay price you're definitely not going to do better in terms of quality, you would however be able to get drivers that will give you better extension without needing EQ, but they most likely wouldn't be as good in terms of non linear distortion or absolute output level.
Peerless do however have their SLS range of sub drivers that fit into standard box configurations far better then the original XLS.
Europe Audio • Peerless • Subwoofer SLS
You can see the range there and the prices.
I'd find and play around with WinISD and simulate what the different drivers will do for you and what box sizes and configurations they require.
It depends what you mean by do the job. With enough added mass they will give you the required tuning and work as peerless intended the XLS to work, but, because the Dayton passive radiator doesn't have much linear excursion it will end up limiting the output and quality of the bass as the level increases.
D1003 - SEAS 10 inch passive radiator - Europe Audio
Is more the type of PR you should be using with the XLS if you want it to be capable at higher levels.
The 10 inch SLS are the right price. Can they simply go into sealed enclosures? What sized enclosure can I build for these?
WinSID is confusing me. I don't really know what I'm looking at. I'm putting speaker specs from data sheets but not all them are there.
WinSID is confusing me. I don't really know what I'm looking at. I'm putting speaker specs from data sheets but not all them are there.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.