MartinLogan Descent Clone: What subs?

[Rarkov]

Hi,
I fancy building a MartinLogan Descent clone. I love it's shape and dark grey matt finish. I want high excersion drivers which are cheap.

It certainly won't be identical but I do want something similar. For an amp, I will be using one of two Tripath amplifier modules. The rest of the circuit should be fairly simple thanks to Randy Slone's Audiophile Source book...

The woodwork will be fun! It will be layered 18mm MDF, with a high quality finish...and some veneer for the top.

So the drivers must be cheap and have a high Xmax and be 10" drivers...

Any ideas?!

Thanks,
Gaz

P.S. I'm in the UK so partsexpress isn't too helpful for me! (Sorry!)

 

[planet10]

So the drivers must be cheap and have a high Xmax and be 10" drivers...

No personal experience with this exact woofer -- i have some standout 8" thou -- but they get good press from their users. The 12" is used in the Vacuum State Critical-Q Subwoofer.

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

Peerless SWR 269 (830452)

Don't know the price, but at least it is from a European manufacturer.

dave

 

[Rarkov]

Hi Dave,

What's the performance like on the 8" version? I'm going to be lazy and ask you about it's frequency response and your opinion (because I have to go to work in 2 mins!). I want this to be able to provide ground shaking bass...I will be using 2 or possibly 3 drivers.

Thanks,
Gaz

 

[planet10]

What's the performance like on the 8" version? I'm going to be lazy and ask you about it's frequency response and your opinion (because I have to go to work in 2 mins!). I want this to be able to provide ground shaking bass...I will be using 2 or possibly 3 drivers.

The performance on the 8s is very good, i expect i'm getting 25-30 Hz in room, pretty good for 8s (a pr/side), but they don't do ground shaking bass like the Shiva in my HT (heavily room loaded). But the extended range of the 8s makes integration with my FRs really easy. The quality of the 8s in their upper range is MUCH better.

I plan on merging the HT & the hifi and will use a pr of Stryke/Lamba 12" for the real low stuff.

If you are doing a set of descent clones don't you need 6 woofers? I actually think that the 3/box is as much a marketing thing as anything else. I've seen a picture of the inside and they don't even attempt to couple the drivers. I'd think a pr or 2 in a push-push config with tight coupling would perform better.

If you want to do the experiment on a budget, and given you are in the UK, you might want to go scrounge yourself a whole whack of 2nd hand KEF B200s. If you uses 6 per side you could achieve push-push, an enclosure that looked like the decents, and move a lot of air. You'd need a linkwitz transform to go REALLY low, but it would allow you a small box and some ability to tune the woofers to the room lift.

You could actually take that concept and use it with anything over there that is decent and selling cheap -- i know the 12" in the Goodmans Magnuns is quite nice, i'm sure you could find a model that has a suitable driver and then just apply brute force -- let's see 6 8 ohm drivers is best wired to 5.3 ohms...

dave

 

[Rarkov]

I was looking at the price of subs, and suddenly a single 12" down firing driver is looking quite attractive! I will keep the Descent shape and I will try and get hold of some Flouresant paint (not glow in the dark...lights up when electricity is applied). That'd make a nice logo!

What is the dark grey paint that feels almost like rubber?! Any ideas? Thanks!

Gaz