Acoustic Elegance - Worth the money?

[1audiohack]

Interesting. The TD18H+ drivers (not "AE18") are rated at 98 dB/1W, only 1 dB less than the 2242. Are you saying this sensitivity spec is completely bogus? Did you save any of the measurements, because this is pretty big news...?

I will diligently look for anything saved from that session. I never expected to share about this and my measurement rig has had an OS and hard drive upgrade since but I have the old drive so I'll check.

 

[1audiohack]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the AE drivers. Having extremely low inductance, besides the correlation with a really high quality motor design (people upgrade from TAD drivers to AE - and the AE cost far less than TAD) - allows the designer the flexibility to cross the woofers much higher without a loss in fidelity/resolution than other woofers.

I am fairly well aquanted with low inductance ultra low distortion drivers.

In regards to the JBL 2242 vs. AE TD18+, my only suspicion is that the AE has lower distortion, and the additional output of the JBL driver was the 2nd harmonic, which would have made it sound louder.

cheers,
-Tal

Really?!? Nearly 6dB at 2.83V? Nope, don't think so, sorry.

Barry.

 

[1audiohack]

I have to say I've yet to hear better bottom octave reproduction then horn loaded Jbl 2242"s. They have stopped all thirst I had for better low bass.

So share! What was it?

Barry

 

[taloyd]

Please kindly point me to an informational link that shows this comparison?

In regards to the JBL 2242 vs. AE TD18+, my only suspicion is that the AE has lower distortion, and the additional output of the JBL driver was the 2nd harmonic, which would have made it sound louder.,
-Tal

I don't have any objective data - only a suspicion. And I am not suggesting that JBL drivers are poorly engineered - they're not. Just that from the standpoint of motor design, I think AE exhibit more engineering towards the goal of reducing inductance (and also having exemplary thermal capacity, although this is an arena where the JBL are likely absolutely competitive).

One reason why I'm probably barking up the wrong tree is that (as Wayne Parham and others have hypothesized) motor design is more apparent in regards to higher frequency reproduction - if the context is <100 Hz. then I'm not sure how much of an issue it would be.

All the best,
-Tal

 

[gafhenderson]

digging this up again, how will an 18" driver blend with a large horn? the below has response up to the 1khz region and a low Le. Its not demodulated however.

PD.18BR40

£222.42 with free delivery in the UK.

specs are;

Fs - 29.359 Hz
Re - 5.280 Ω
Qts - 0.356
Qms - 7.372
Qes - 0.375
Vas - 345.620 Litres
Mms - 153.597 grams
Sd - 1134.11 cm2
Cms - 191.322 µm/N
BL - 19.984 T/m
Xmax - 10.5 mm
LE - 0.71 mH

as per https://www.solen.ca/documents/pdf/specs/PDV.pdf

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

 

[Studio Au]

Can you buy these direct or through a stockist?

 

[gafhenderson]

Can you buy these direct or through a stockist?

I just use bluearan for big drivers as the shipping costs are generally very good and they have sorted out order problems well in the past.