Driver choices for 2-way with most bass extension

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percy

percy

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Joined 2004
#1
What are good choices to consider for a driver intended for a 2-way design that can deliver as much low end extension as possible. Dont care what size of enclosure - bookshelf or floorstanding - or size of driver as long as it lends itself to a 2-way design.
I would like to keep the cost under ~$75 per driver. some +/- on the price is ok but I dont want to consider exotic $200+ drivers. and no out-of-production drivers either.
 
#4
For a conventional 2-way you could look at these drivers as can be pushed to give reasonably low extension.

SB Acoustics SB17NRXC35-8
SEAS ER18RNX
Peerless 830875
Peerless 830884 (maybe the cheaper 830869 as well)

For a 2-way you don't want to push it too low in the bass as you pay a price in mid quality. Keep the F3 above 40Hz and they should work well.

For better performance you could use the 6.5" drivers in a 2.5 way which will help the bass, more flexibility in extension and reduce distortion particularly in the mids.

If you want bags of bass with very low extension then you have to go to a 3-way or a FR with a subwoofer type driver as has been suggested by others.
 
#5
Thanks. I will check those out.
I was shooting for an F3 ~45hz. I am not a bass head but I do appreciate an authoritive and a more complete bass response.

What do you guys think about the CA18RLY and CA22RNX ? Check out how they model in WinISD.
What about RS180 ?
 
#6
the CA22RNX is used in Tony Gee's 2 way system called Classic.

The Scanspeak 18W8531G00 has godly and authoratative bass in a 50L bass reflex bookshelf
.
It's a crazy project I built a year ago. F3 is 28Hz. I have yet to hear more articulate deep bass from another 6.5''.
 
#7
sb-acoustics
 

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#8
Try MCM 55-1465 12 inch dual voice coil woofer. Marshall Leach of Georgia Tech calls this a very high quality woofer for the price. The company is MCM Electronics, if you aren't familiar with "MCM".

As you probably know, strictly speaking using a 12 inch woofer in a two-way system is perhaps ill-advised due to beaming if the crossover frequency is 2 kHz. However I did that with this woofer and didn't get upset with the sound as long as I toed a pair of them into the center of the listening area.

My system is closed box, alpha = 3. With that size of box and connecting to only one of the coils of the woofer, I got a f3 of 40 Hz. The specified frequency range of this woofer is 25 Hz to 3 kHz, so it can be crossed over at 2 kHz with a second order low-pass filter.

Regards,
Pete
 
#9
just for the fun of it, and now that its called 2way with most bass extension, I tried to model the Eminence Legend BP102 bass guitar woofer I suggested

80 liter tuned to 30hz, 40hz/-3db and 30hz/-6db, 104db/20watt, and very smooth roll off

but higher frequency doesnt look so good, and why a small fullrange would be needed

I suppose its not an option
but its worth to consider that due to sensitivity relations BSC would be natural and easily dealt with
 
#14
as of now the SB17 seems to be the winner. However, I would certainly like to talk more about the idea of using a larger driver with a midtweeter. assuming that optimal crossover frequencies for both drivers is not an issue, are there any other cons to this approach ?

Thanks.
 
#15
Hello Tinitus

You are correct, you caught my typo, should be "A" not "R" for the Seas 10".

I have used this driver several ways and it is a winner. A bit expensive, but when you factor in money saved by the very simple 2 part crossover it requires, it ends up being a bargin!
 
#16
 
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