So I can purchase a large jmlc horn off of eBay Germany, shipping is 65 bucks for a pair, yet if I order from Poland, auto tech, shipping is 600 bucks? Or is that the total price? I wouldn’t know because the guy at auto tech stopped replying and when I call he pretends to not speak English 😡😡
This thread is about drivers for Camplo's specific needs. A 15" that will do 30Hz at high SPL without compromising the midrange.
It turns out, because of these requirements the number of suitable candidates is drastically reduced.
If one releaxes one of these requirements a huge amount of alternatives emerge.
Many esoteric drivers meet the wide bandwith requirement > Vitavox, BD15, Supravox, GPA etc., but none of these would withstand the high SPL.
My remark regarding Faital-Pro is based on its reputation in the professional audio industry.
In this respect, I consider Acoustic Elegance a boutique manufacturer.
Just compare the production facilities of AE to those of Faital-Pro and you'll understand what I mean.
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JBL 1400nd / 1401nd. Those are really good woofers for 2 way, but only available as NOS or second hand. JBL S9500 and DMS-1 use them in WTW configuration.
1400 Nd
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Agreed, "JBL Professional" drivers are top notch and direct descendants of the golden Jim Lansing era. The fact that those are both very hard to come by and very expensive practically disqualifies them as feasible options.
Today, JBL is just a shadow of the leading brand it used to be (until the early 2000s).
Brands such as Faital Pro focus exclusively on the development of high-quality drivers for the professional industry. This gives them a competitive advantage over brands such as JBL that have to maintain a huge range of products for a large number of markets and segments.
In a world that revolves around cost savings and increasing (shareholder) value, it is clear why JBL is not the same company.
With the acquisition of Harman by Samsung, it remains to be seen what the future holds for JBL.
Today, JBL is just a shadow of the leading brand it used to be (until the early 2000s).
Brands such as Faital Pro focus exclusively on the development of high-quality drivers for the professional industry. This gives them a competitive advantage over brands such as JBL that have to maintain a huge range of products for a large number of markets and segments.
In a world that revolves around cost savings and increasing (shareholder) value, it is clear why JBL is not the same company.
With the acquisition of Harman by Samsung, it remains to be seen what the future holds for JBL.
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The drivers are waaay overpriced, a lot of them being in a bad or off-spec condition and just 'looking mint' doesn't help there either.
Today JBL is just doing what will make Harman and the shareholders happy. Samsung doesn't seem to change much at JBL so far.
The problem is, Harman fired a lot of engineers and while Harman isn't the worst that could have happened, they got no vision after that, it always felt like they thought 'keeping up is enough, we don't need to be the innovator in PA'. Sure, they make money with JBL but they mostly sell the name if you look at the consumer products.
Harman was practically completely focused on audio. I really wonder what Samsung will do. They are innovators themselves but in a completely different direction, I'm not sure if they got a vision for PA at all. On the other hand they got also AKG, Crown, dbx, Martin and Soundcraft with Harman too, all mainly focused on PA.
Well, 70 years ago there were only a few manfacturers which could be seen as concurrence, like Electro-Voice, GE and maybe Vitavox. Without much competition it was much easier to earn money, they just could get what they asked for. The PA market is a lot tighter nowadays and 'eh, good enough if it's cheap' rules the majority of the market. It is what it is, you can't turn back time. And honestly, I don't want to miss a lot of things which are absolute standard but were impossible then. Think about dsps or high power amps ie.
This is true for a lot, if not the majority of mass produced products.
I think there are still (or even more) manufacturers of high quality audio transducers today, both within the pro audio and consumer market.
However, due to changes in end products - the actual loudspeaker systems - specifications have changed as well.
One has to study the catalogues of many brands in order to know where to find suitable drivers for one's needs.
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The B(ert) D(oppenberg) 15 was developed (by the man that goes by that name) specifically for his own products.
I am not sure if these are still being produced.
The guy who built my cabinets also owns a pair.
Those drivers are not cheap but worth their money, much more than TAD woofers in my opinion.
Camplo, I don't think the BD-15 is suitable for your project.
This quote may enlighten you:
"A high efficiency speaker designer, Burt Doppenberg specified his own take on a high efficiency 15" woofer. It has a smooth curvilinear cone. The shape of a curvilinear cone tends to help the driver reproduce higher frequencies, which is desirable with a driver intended for wider bandwidth usage. More importantly it sports an underhung 16 Ohm motor with a modest 3.5mm Xmax and a ring neodymium magnet. This is not a pro woofer, nor a subwoofer. This is a hi-fi midwoofer, designed with the ability to operate higher in frequency and with a notable absence of breakup peaking and extremely low distortion. The underhung motor makes for extremely high fidelity within its limits, and the 16 Ohm impedance is a welcome characteristic, allowing this woofer to be used with OTLs, which often allow more power into higher impedances. Alternatively, a pair of them in parallel gives you a nominal 8 Ohm impedance characteristic with 102dB/W/m sensitivity."
I am not sure if these are still being produced.
The guy who built my cabinets also owns a pair.
Those drivers are not cheap but worth their money, much more than TAD woofers in my opinion.
Camplo, I don't think the BD-15 is suitable for your project.
This quote may enlighten you:
"A high efficiency speaker designer, Burt Doppenberg specified his own take on a high efficiency 15" woofer. It has a smooth curvilinear cone. The shape of a curvilinear cone tends to help the driver reproduce higher frequencies, which is desirable with a driver intended for wider bandwidth usage. More importantly it sports an underhung 16 Ohm motor with a modest 3.5mm Xmax and a ring neodymium magnet. This is not a pro woofer, nor a subwoofer. This is a hi-fi midwoofer, designed with the ability to operate higher in frequency and with a notable absence of breakup peaking and extremely low distortion. The underhung motor makes for extremely high fidelity within its limits, and the 16 Ohm impedance is a welcome characteristic, allowing this woofer to be used with OTLs, which often allow more power into higher impedances. Alternatively, a pair of them in parallel gives you a nominal 8 Ohm impedance characteristic with 102dB/W/m sensitivity."
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