I am looking for some firsthand experience with 15" woofers. First the back story. At a CES, I fell deeply in love with the Tannoy Kingdom Royal speakers... sadly the $55k price tag is out of reach for me. So like we all do, I decided to try to build some speakers inspired by them (I hesitate to say clones). The 12" portion just took a little research, I am pretty happy with where I landed- I intend to use the incredible Radian 5312BeNeo with dust cap factory removed from 120 hz and up. The question is the 15" low woofer- it is only needed from 120hz down to the bottom, but I have limited experience with drivers like that.
I can read data sheets until I am blue in the face, but they don't tell the whole story. Would any of you like to share some insight and personal experience in a really tight, clean, low woofer that could take me down from 120Hz down to the mid 20s with a sensitivity of around 96dB/1 watt? I can live with ported, sealed, or t-Line, although the t-line would be quite large.
Any thoughts?
I can read data sheets until I am blue in the face, but they don't tell the whole story. Would any of you like to share some insight and personal experience in a really tight, clean, low woofer that could take me down from 120Hz down to the mid 20s with a sensitivity of around 96dB/1 watt? I can live with ported, sealed, or t-Line, although the t-line would be quite large.
Any thoughts?
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No, that won't be possible with any cabinet unless in a wall where
you won't lose spl due baffle step. I'd be considering this fine
piece of a product. Would be a waste to not use its midrange band.
Acoustic Elegance TD15X - Sealed or Vented Box Applications
The TD series H,S and X versions have different Qts and sensitivity
so one can accomodate to personal preferences. Still, Tannoy specs
are definitely optimistic, 26Hz/-6dB at 96 dB. No way.
you won't lose spl due baffle step. I'd be considering this fine
piece of a product. Would be a waste to not use its midrange band.
Acoustic Elegance TD15X - Sealed or Vented Box Applications
The TD series H,S and X versions have different Qts and sensitivity
so one can accomodate to personal preferences. Still, Tannoy specs
are definitely optimistic, 26Hz/-6dB at 96 dB. No way.
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I was about to suggest that driver.
Other options are bi-amping and using a subwoofer: Dayton Audio RSS460HO-4 18" Reference HO Subwoofer 4 ohm
Or step up to an 18: Acoustic Elegance TD18H+ high efficiency bass woofer
I run the AE TD15X and think it is the best woof I've had. I've had TAD, JBL, Altec and many more but the TD15X is by far the best.
Hmmm A kingdom royal is an odd Tannoy.
Best Tannoys were the Alnico powered dual concentric drivers... period.
Tannoys ARE the drivers..There be the origin of the magic.
All else is essentially decorator boxes
Find a pair of decent used Tannoy Dual conentric Alnico drivers (these can be found for ~1000/2000$ a pair)
And fit them into sawn in half barrels even and you will 'at least' equal the Kingdoms' sound qualities.
Don't believe? Try it
Without question of a doubt trying to DIY a DC driver is 'challenging' .
A few makers have tried. Even KEF did with their Uni-Q efforts, which were in a word;
Horrid.
Although, I may be misreading in thinking that sounds are your goal.
Rather that what may just be a Wannabee 'kingdom' look alike speaker lust.
In any event; Good luck with that.
Best Tannoys were the Alnico powered dual concentric drivers... period.
Tannoys ARE the drivers..There be the origin of the magic.
All else is essentially decorator boxes
Find a pair of decent used Tannoy Dual conentric Alnico drivers (these can be found for ~1000/2000$ a pair)
And fit them into sawn in half barrels even and you will 'at least' equal the Kingdoms' sound qualities.
Don't believe? Try it
Without question of a doubt trying to DIY a DC driver is 'challenging' .
A few makers have tried. Even KEF did with their Uni-Q efforts, which were in a word;
Horrid.
Although, I may be misreading in thinking that sounds are your goal.
Rather that what may just be a Wannabee 'kingdom' look alike speaker lust.
In any event; Good luck with that.
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Being a Tannoy fan, I can understand not being a fan of KEF's voicing, but you are certainly in the minority if you find KEF's newest DCs horrid.
I love a nice coaxial system as well. This should keep you happy for a long time once optimized. I've experimented with removing the dust cap but it doesn't make a bit of difference in measurements or subjective clarity.
RE; System Sensitivity of 96db
AE's TD15X-4 will give a few db of wiggle room ( for BSC ) due to it's 4 ohm impedance.
🙂
AE's TD15X-4 will give a few db of wiggle room ( for BSC ) due to it's 4 ohm impedance.
🙂
I'm also a fan of AE. I've got two TD15Hs on each side in my system. It would be a crime only to use them from 120 Hz down. The AE TD15s can play cleanly well higher. It probably would help to take the load off your coaxes from 200 or so on down, if its cone is being used as a waveguide for the tweeter.
The quality would be coming mostly from a well engineered XO filter
and not from a magnet type. Once had a chance to test a T12 (3142 unit)
product so I've played with different XO filters and the original didn't seem
anything like clarity, nowhere near that actually. So, one could think that driver
might be the cause of it.
Attachments
From what I can tell just by looking at the AE product pictures and
specs, these folks really understand what a true DIYer audiophile
needs for all of his high sensitivity projects. Imagine your
application and you'll find your driver among these for sure.
I appreciate everyone's comments, and the point of the very high quality of the AE woofers is well taken. As part of the design process I put the finished, but crossoverless, speaker on my active crossover (Behringer DCX 2496) and let the drivers speak to me. They tell me the slope and crossover frequency that they want. I won't be surprised if I wind up running the AE woofers up higher than expected. No problem.
Thanks again for the input. I will post when the actual build gets going...
Thanks again for the input. I will post when the actual build gets going...
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