The pricing right now for the NE180W, and the NE149W are heavily discounted. The Tymphany website shows that both drivers are being discontinued, and does not show new replacements at those two sizes. The excellent Peerless 'NE' class product line now goes directly from the 4-inch NE123W to the 8-inch NE225W. Which is disappointing.
PA and "HiFi" woofers are just that: woofers. The differences are that most "PA" drivers tend to be efficient, light weight, and rugged (and sometimes easy to repair), whereas "HiFi" drivers are relatively inefficient (because they tend to go low in a small volume), and sometimes they are made to look good on the cover of a HiFi magazine 
. Other than that, they work the same and follow the same physics.
Given your 8" requirement, most PA bass drivers will be out since 8" is too small for the efficiencies required for the PA market.
. Other than that, they work the same and follow the same physics.Given your 8" requirement, most PA bass drivers will be out since 8" is too small for the efficiencies required for the PA market.
Think triangle... 14" base up to 4" top for the tweet.... (momie coffin)
I wish I had some woodworking skills! For now only square boxes!
mbrennwa, you are right, woofers designed to play music, faital looks great but it needs bigger baffle size than I can offer
tactical quote
Did you checked Audax offerings as well? Company is little forgotten nowadays, but the still make new models of drivers and their woofers are very fast and detailed. And price is in your bracket. If not, than check them definitely. Not every dealer have theme but they are not hard to find either. Great drivers and their.midrange performance is legendary.
Aurum Cantus and Tang Band may be bit beyond your budget.
I did not recommend the Faital 12PR, as it does not fit the one and only requirement that you seem to have (8" diameter).
Take a look at the list of 400+ 8" woofers from my earlier post instead. Which ones do you like, and why?
vassilis: I will try to formulate my conclusions on SB17 and SB23 woofers. Based on my experiences with them + based on experiences with other drivers + members opinions from the forums = some like them and some like them less. Once you have the comparison you notice the differences and overall balance.
Here are my recommendations for SB woofers:
- SB woofers seem to work fine in the net volumes smaller than one would normally use. Going with the BR alignment providing extension to lows in the sim does not sound good and results in very heavy sound.
- for the reason above, closed alignment can be actually good choice (I listened to 2x SB17CAC in closed box in MTM arrangement and this definitelly needs a sub)
- SB17 is probably very good when used as midrange, but not as a woofer.
People sharing the opinions on any drivers should always describe the application. SB17 in closed box augmented with sub is totaly different compared to SB17 in 2way BR.
Too often I see people give too much attention to distortion measurements and/or other details.
22W/8534 gets my vote. 50-60liters BR with ~30Hz tuning, this is significantly more than what is needed for SB23 (I recall something like 40liters or even less). I do not have experiences from listening to them, I just measured 4ohm version. But the more I look at Discovery woofers and midranges the more I think they are very underestimated. They do not measure as great as SB17 (distortion), but I bet they sound veeery good and different to SBxx.
Here are my recommendations for SB woofers:
- SB woofers seem to work fine in the net volumes smaller than one would normally use. Going with the BR alignment providing extension to lows in the sim does not sound good and results in very heavy sound.
- for the reason above, closed alignment can be actually good choice (I listened to 2x SB17CAC in closed box in MTM arrangement and this definitelly needs a sub)
- SB17 is probably very good when used as midrange, but not as a woofer.
People sharing the opinions on any drivers should always describe the application. SB17 in closed box augmented with sub is totaly different compared to SB17 in 2way BR.
Too often I see people give too much attention to distortion measurements and/or other details.
22W/8534 gets my vote. 50-60liters BR with ~30Hz tuning, this is significantly more than what is needed for SB23 (I recall something like 40liters or even less). I do not have experiences from listening to them, I just measured 4ohm version. But the more I look at Discovery woofers and midranges the more I think they are very underestimated. They do not measure as great as SB17 (distortion), but I bet they sound veeery good and different to SBxx.
Last edited:
Pida thanks for replying!.
Seems that troels also shares the same opinion with you at the discovery woofers. If I remember well, those were originally made by vifa, same as the xt25 tweeters and the d2608. In the case of the sb acoustics they were my less favoured, between my options, I have sb17cac and I know the bass can be slow and subwooferish (btw I will try smaller box)
Probably the discovery woofer will be my choice, higher mechanical Q is a big factor for me, since I dont always listening loud.
Seems that troels also shares the same opinion with you at the discovery woofers. If I remember well, those were originally made by vifa, same as the xt25 tweeters and the d2608. In the case of the sb acoustics they were my less favoured, between my options, I have sb17cac and I know the bass can be slow and subwooferish (btw I will try smaller box)
Probably the discovery woofer will be my choice, higher mechanical Q is a big factor for me, since I dont always listening loud.
And it has better punch and bass than the aerogels and paper series... but ask a liitle big load
.
i hesisateted between this one and the SB23NBAC... the last having lower Vas than the datasheet suggests.
I use the 15cm Discovery in my little 2-ways in the living room, and as a midrange they are very good. BUT, they hit their limits faster than others like SB15 or RS150. For that reason I wouldn't use them as dedicated woofers. If you are shying away from SB, I would be inclined to use the RS225 (metal versions). They have always been well behaved in the bass to lower midrange area compared to most others, certainly in the <$100 segment. The RS270 is very underappreciated also. Another nice feature is having both 8 and 4 ohm versions so you can really optimize for sensitivity vs impedance.
Thanks.
Reading some, I wish I could find easily a 12" horn for a 8" driver... best of two worlds, low Fs and controlled directivity with good midrange enough(well a unity horn a la Bawslo could do the trick as well...a pity that huge 3D printing costs a fortun, even the half side of such horn)
The sb23nrx datas can be found on Audioexcite site , unfornatully just a direct listening test vs the Dayton or the 23Nbac in the 200 600 hz area could tell us which has the subjective best midrange.... to be continued.
Reading some, I wish I could find easily a 12" horn for a 8" driver... best of two worlds, low Fs and controlled directivity with good midrange enough(well a unity horn a la Bawslo could do the trick as well...a pity that huge 3D printing costs a fortun, even the half side of such horn)
The sb23nrx datas can be found on Audioexcite site , unfornatully just a direct listening test vs the Dayton or the 23Nbac in the 200 600 hz area could tell us which has the subjective best midrange.... to be continued.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.