I was looking at many drivers for replacing some beat up speakers in an Ampeg SVT 810E, among them:
B&C 10NDL64 250W
B&C 10NW64 300W
Beyma 10MW/ND 350W
Eminence KappaLite 3010LF
Eminence KappaLite 3010HO
Eminence Basslite SC10-32
Celestion BN10-300X
The Eminence KappaLite 3010LF looks like it's really a reflex subwoofer that would work but for that sound I'd might as well use 15's or 18's. The 3010HO is another viable driver with a 3" voice coil.
But...I found the new Eminence Basslite SC10-32 which just became available about 2 weeks ago. It doesn't go as low, it has less xmax, 2" voice coil doesn't handle as much power. But it seems to be made for the application! It has the smooth extended midrange that bass players want from 10" speakers, a 4-string bass doesn't really go very low, and if I want deeper bass I have cabinets with 12's and 18's I can drive with a transistorized slave power amp. 8 of these new neo drivers will save nearly 50 pounds compared to heavy ceramics. And 8 2" voice coils will handle whatever my Aguilar FB359 with 4 6550's can make, about 200 watts. And because it's 32 ohm, it will drop right into an SVT cabinet with stock wiring. I think that's all parallel for 4 ohms?
Now I just need a bunch of tolex, new wheels, classic blue Ampeg grill cloth, new corners, new rubber feet, and I'll have a great cab. With the original drivers, it's not safe for me to try to load by myself.
Now I sure would like to come up with even better metal sliders so that one person can safely drag it up & down stairs, one stair at a time. And perhaps even side sliders for loading & shipping on its side in an SUV. I don't want to mess with a huge ATA case of padded live-in case, but I sure would like some kind of cover that's better than just 1-ply vinyl, and I want the aluminum sliders to come thru a slot in the cover too.
B&C 10NDL64 250W
B&C 10NW64 300W
Beyma 10MW/ND 350W
Eminence KappaLite 3010LF
Eminence KappaLite 3010HO
Eminence Basslite SC10-32
Celestion BN10-300X
The Eminence KappaLite 3010LF looks like it's really a reflex subwoofer that would work but for that sound I'd might as well use 15's or 18's. The 3010HO is another viable driver with a 3" voice coil.
But...I found the new Eminence Basslite SC10-32 which just became available about 2 weeks ago. It doesn't go as low, it has less xmax, 2" voice coil doesn't handle as much power. But it seems to be made for the application! It has the smooth extended midrange that bass players want from 10" speakers, a 4-string bass doesn't really go very low, and if I want deeper bass I have cabinets with 12's and 18's I can drive with a transistorized slave power amp. 8 of these new neo drivers will save nearly 50 pounds compared to heavy ceramics. And 8 2" voice coils will handle whatever my Aguilar FB359 with 4 6550's can make, about 200 watts. And because it's 32 ohm, it will drop right into an SVT cabinet with stock wiring. I think that's all parallel for 4 ohms?
Now I just need a bunch of tolex, new wheels, classic blue Ampeg grill cloth, new corners, new rubber feet, and I'll have a great cab. With the original drivers, it's not safe for me to try to load by myself.
Now I sure would like to come up with even better metal sliders so that one person can safely drag it up & down stairs, one stair at a time. And perhaps even side sliders for loading & shipping on its side in an SUV. I don't want to mess with a huge ATA case of padded live-in case, but I sure would like some kind of cover that's better than just 1-ply vinyl, and I want the aluminum sliders to come thru a slot in the cover too.
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Is this a question or just a statement?
You seem to already have made up your mind
Personally I find Eminences muddy, specially their modern "official" 10" SVT version, and absolutely unfaithful to the *original* 10" SVT speaker . (CTS?)
FWIW I have had excellent designs with the mid powered Faital Pro 10"speaker with aluminum voice coil, both the ceramic and the Neo versions, incredible definition and punch.
8 ohms so you need 2 in series in each cabinet "cell" , punchy Bass because you have 8 of them and also power handling (combined) way over what any Bass head can put out.
Have tried them side by side with modern SVT 810 cabinets, and after going back and forth, everybody says "please pull the pillow in front of that guy's mouth!!!" ... meaning the SVT of course.
No need for tweeters (an aberration) but plaint transparent response from 10" speakers themselves.
Just sayin'
You seem to already have made up your mind
Personally I find Eminences muddy, specially their modern "official" 10" SVT version, and absolutely unfaithful to the *original* 10" SVT speaker . (CTS?)
FWIW I have had excellent designs with the mid powered Faital Pro 10"speaker with aluminum voice coil, both the ceramic and the Neo versions, incredible definition and punch.
8 ohms so you need 2 in series in each cabinet "cell" , punchy Bass because you have 8 of them and also power handling (combined) way over what any Bass head can put out.
Have tried them side by side with modern SVT 810 cabinets, and after going back and forth, everybody says "please pull the pillow in front of that guy's mouth!!!" ... meaning the SVT of course.
No need for tweeters (an aberration) but plaint transparent response from 10" speakers themselves.
Just sayin'
Hi again JMFahey! Helping the clueless (me) find the way...appreciate all your guidance over the years.
Yes, I kind of made up my mind and placed the order while I was typing the O.P. I hope they work out!
I haven't tried the Faital...maybe the aluminum VC is lighter too...
Yes, the early originals on the blue-grillecloth bottoms that went with the blue-line head looked like probably alnico with side covers on the magnetic structure over the magnet. And...I assume smaller voice coils, lighter moving mass, good midrange extension to higher frequencies. The originals only claimed a very poor power rating, but they wanted to sell a second 8X10 or 1X15 bottom so who knows... The next version handled more power, had a little less treble. The 3rd gen current ones make OK bass but lost the character of the originals. At least that's the folklore. There are some comparison videos on YouTube but I can't tell much thru my laptop speakers LOL.
The original SVT was originally sold with the 10's as a guitar amp, but bass players fell in love with it. I hauled three early SVTs (don't even remember how many 8X10 bottoms) for a cover band for a while in the early 1970's. Really loud for guitar, I only mic'd the vocals & drums. I wonder if those guys can still hear.
The Celestion is a 2.5" V.C. but not really suitable for sealed cab.
I suspect the specific model may matter more than the brand. These brand-new 2" V.C. are supposed to sound similar to the original but with even better treble and smoother mid response and a bit more efficient, good for sealed cab, much better highs than the current ones in new SVT. Some Neo woofers have a response curve with a top end that looks like a triangle wave falling over a cliff, these are smoother up there. And my older cab is plywood, not MDF, so it's still surprisingly sound for being so beat up on the road.
I think we're on the same page. And the 3" voice coils may be wonderful for subwoofers, but then I'd use bigger cones. The whole point of 10's (especially in a sealed box) is to have a lot of light cones and lots of light voice coils with better treble and more bandwidth. Even the low-end rolloff is gradual so you can EQ it up if you want. These new 32 ohm seem like they were specifically designed for sealed 6X10 and 8X10. And Eminence lowered the price by $10 and I found somebody with a franchise who lowered it by another $10 if I bought 8. So I'm paying $79 all-in, half what it would cost for their Kappalite drivers with 3" voice coils.
Speaker Detail | Eminence Speaker
A surprising number of people have been replacing the stock new speakers in the current SVT cabs with the current Italian Jensen MOD speakers, which are a guitar speaker with a small ceramic and a small v.c. and probably extended mids & treble, but not a great bass speaker. But it shows how that treble might be more important for the SVT character than earth-moving bass. Plus I have other speaker cabs for deeper bass.
Yes, I kind of made up my mind and placed the order while I was typing the O.P. I hope they work out!
I haven't tried the Faital...maybe the aluminum VC is lighter too...
Yes, the early originals on the blue-grillecloth bottoms that went with the blue-line head looked like probably alnico with side covers on the magnetic structure over the magnet. And...I assume smaller voice coils, lighter moving mass, good midrange extension to higher frequencies. The originals only claimed a very poor power rating, but they wanted to sell a second 8X10 or 1X15 bottom so who knows... The next version handled more power, had a little less treble. The 3rd gen current ones make OK bass but lost the character of the originals. At least that's the folklore. There are some comparison videos on YouTube but I can't tell much thru my laptop speakers LOL.
The original SVT was originally sold with the 10's as a guitar amp, but bass players fell in love with it. I hauled three early SVTs (don't even remember how many 8X10 bottoms) for a cover band for a while in the early 1970's. Really loud for guitar, I only mic'd the vocals & drums. I wonder if those guys can still hear.
The Celestion is a 2.5" V.C. but not really suitable for sealed cab.
I suspect the specific model may matter more than the brand. These brand-new 2" V.C. are supposed to sound similar to the original but with even better treble and smoother mid response and a bit more efficient, good for sealed cab, much better highs than the current ones in new SVT. Some Neo woofers have a response curve with a top end that looks like a triangle wave falling over a cliff, these are smoother up there. And my older cab is plywood, not MDF, so it's still surprisingly sound for being so beat up on the road.
I think we're on the same page. And the 3" voice coils may be wonderful for subwoofers, but then I'd use bigger cones. The whole point of 10's (especially in a sealed box) is to have a lot of light cones and lots of light voice coils with better treble and more bandwidth. Even the low-end rolloff is gradual so you can EQ it up if you want. These new 32 ohm seem like they were specifically designed for sealed 6X10 and 8X10. And Eminence lowered the price by $10 and I found somebody with a franchise who lowered it by another $10 if I bought 8. So I'm paying $79 all-in, half what it would cost for their Kappalite drivers with 3" voice coils.
Speaker Detail | Eminence Speaker
A surprising number of people have been replacing the stock new speakers in the current SVT cabs with the current Italian Jensen MOD speakers, which are a guitar speaker with a small ceramic and a small v.c. and probably extended mids & treble, but not a great bass speaker. But it shows how that treble might be more important for the SVT character than earth-moving bass. Plus I have other speaker cabs for deeper bass.
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Gee, Faital has 10 different models of 10" drivers.
I assume you mean the 10PR300 neodymium and 10 PR330 ?
I see they are OEM in several high-end enclosures, and offered as a upgrade option on others. GenzBenz mentioned a lot.
But a lot more expensive and that adds up fast when getting 8.
Here's the current stock SVT driver:
http://www.speakerrepair.com/page/product/86-032-01.html
essential specs are missing.
The ones I bought are rated for even less power than the originals...I didn't realize that before I purchased. But...they handle enough.
I assume you mean the 10PR300 neodymium and 10 PR330 ?
I see they are OEM in several high-end enclosures, and offered as a upgrade option on others. GenzBenz mentioned a lot.
But a lot more expensive and that adds up fast when getting 8.
Here's the current stock SVT driver:
http://www.speakerrepair.com/page/product/86-032-01.html
essential specs are missing.
The ones I bought are rated for even less power than the originals...I didn't realize that before I purchased. But...they handle enough.
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The Faital 10PR300 (neo) has an EBP of 125. That means it's really not suitable for a sealed enclosure. But...its VAS is also less, so maybe it will act more like an infinite baffle tuning instead of acoustic suspension, and its high Fs won't get pushed higher as a system in a relatively big enclosure.
The Basslite SC10-32 has a lower fs, much bigger Vas, and its resonance will rise more in the SVT box. But the EBP is only 80, so it's going to be better in a sealed box.
The Faital is rated to handle 3 times the power of the Basslite SC10-32. Xmax for the Faital is a bit better, and what they call Xdamage is 14mm, much more than what Eminence calls Xlim 9mm. The Faital lists for 3 times as much as I'm paying...but I don't know what street prices are.
I suspect what I bought with the little 2" voices coils will be OK for my 200 watt tube amp, even if their rating only (only??) adds up to 800w. If I was using one of my big PA amps, something with a 2.5" or 3" might give some advantage, where the Faital's 2400 watt rating could be advantageous.
The Basslite SC10-32 has a lower fs, much bigger Vas, and its resonance will rise more in the SVT box. But the EBP is only 80, so it's going to be better in a sealed box.
The Faital is rated to handle 3 times the power of the Basslite SC10-32. Xmax for the Faital is a bit better, and what they call Xdamage is 14mm, much more than what Eminence calls Xlim 9mm. The Faital lists for 3 times as much as I'm paying...but I don't know what street prices are.
I suspect what I bought with the little 2" voices coils will be OK for my 200 watt tube amp, even if their rating only (only??) adds up to 800w. If I was using one of my big PA amps, something with a 2.5" or 3" might give some advantage, where the Faital's 2400 watt rating could be advantageous.
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Faital net weight 5.1 pounds with a fancy finned cast aluminum basket. 9 pounds for their equivalent ceramic version.
Stock current SVT speakers are 8 pounds shipping weight, so a little bit less without the box.
The ones I got are only 3.1 pounds, with a cheaper stamped steel basket.
I used to paint enclosures with epoxy fiberglassing resin before putting on tolex, but that adds about 5 pounds for the inside and 5 for the outside.
Saves about 38 pounds compared to stock. I hoped to save more than that, but every bit helps.
Stock current SVT speakers are 8 pounds shipping weight, so a little bit less without the box.
The ones I got are only 3.1 pounds, with a cheaper stamped steel basket.
I used to paint enclosures with epoxy fiberglassing resin before putting on tolex, but that adds about 5 pounds for the inside and 5 for the outside.
Saves about 38 pounds compared to stock. I hoped to save more than that, but every bit helps.
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