Does this 12" woofer exist?

[montana1]

Hi To All,
I have been searching about for an acceptable 12" woofer to use in my Classic 3way project. The cabinet size is 65 liters net volume and will be a ported design. The midrange driver is B&C 6NDL38 and tweeter will be SS D2604/83300 in a Monacor waveguide. The woofers is all that remains to be purchased. The problem I'm encountering is the woofers that interest me either require a very small enclosure around 30 liters or much larger then my 65 liter cabs. So, I have been experimenting in Unibox with T/S parameters of a hypothetical 12" woofer that appears to check all the boxes of what I'm looking for in a bass driver for this project. Has anyone encountered such a driver? Or one that is very close. I have even searched through loudspeaker database and still have not found the right one. Anyway, I have attached a couple screenshots from Unibox of this hypothetical driver.

Thanks in Advance,
Rich

 

[Riviera]

I believe it does

DIY SoundGroup Magnum 12 Woofer, is pretty darn close, and would work very well in that application.

 

[Lojzek]

You are seeking Focal Utopia 33 WX.

 

[Charles Darwin]

This one might come close enough:
Overview

However it does not do the stated 96dB. In real life and in the range you're after it is closer to 90 and I have no idea about the availability in North America.

 

[cspieker]

For some reason I had it in my head that you were planning on a sealed enclosure. Not to throw a wrench in things, but what I said about an undersized sealed alignment is also true of any ported alignment. I have never gotten a ported enclosure to do bass quality I was happy with. If you have nothing to immediately compare it with you probably won't notice, but there is a difference. I built my last set ported, then fitted sewer caps in the ports so I could do comparison of sealed vs ported with different eq applied to each to make the response the same. It didn't take much listening to decide that I would never use it ported again. I did verify that the tuning frequency was spot on and the ported alignment was as designed. Ported subs are for home theater rumbles, but hifi needs sealed.

This may be good news for you though. Maybe the cabinet size will align well with a sealed alignment for a woofer out there.

 

[montana1]

Thanks Guys,
I will take a close look at the suggestions that have been mentioned thus far.

@cspieker,
I'm not opposed to going with a sealed enclosure at all. These speakers will be used just for music only. Therefore, the lowest possible extension is not a must. Especially, for the music that appeals to me (classic rock, blues, and jazz).

Best,
Rich

 

[PeteMcK]

"the woofers that interest me either require a very small enclosure around 30 liters" - so use two of them....
consider the Peerless SDS 10" & 12" woofers, will work well in just about any sized box

 

[mbrennwa]

Faital 12PR320 seems to come close. We used this in the Open Source Monkey Coffin with a 69 L bass reflex box. Works very well!

Edit: this post might be useful.

 

[GringoAudio]

Peerless 830669 12" will work in this size enclosure sealed.

A comment on this driver in the Parts Express listing for it says a port of this dimension in a approx. 2 cu ft enclosure would work:3" port 12" long

 

[montana1]

Thanks Guys,
Those are all very good suggestions. The Faital 12PR320 is on my short list. The Magnum 12 woofer that Riviera mentioned in post #2 looks promising as well. I'm in no hurry decide since there is already a build in progress that is ahead of this one. What can I say. I caught the diy bug.

Best,
Rich

 

[Old'n'Cranky]

12" woofer in cab to small opinions

 

[mbrennwa]

The Faital 12PR320 is on my short list.

Here are some distortion measurements that may be interesting.

 

[YSDR]

It exist, the Eminence 3012LF:
Speaker Detail | Eminence Speaker

I don't think you'll find something that is more similar.

 

[jtgofish]

A Fostex FW305 would probably work fine.

 

[YSDR]

A Fostex FW305 would probably work fine.

Probably a fine woofer, but very expensive, xmax is on the low side, and T/S parameters is very different than what the OP asks.

 

[Disco-Pete]

The JBL 2203 is king.

 

[Charles Darwin]

Probably a fine woofer, but very expensive...

Have you seen the price of Lojzek's suggestion?

The price I found was about 2.5 x of the Fostex. Better xmax though...

 

[montana1]

Thanks everyone for some more excellent woofer suggestions.

@mbrennwa,
Thanks for posting those distortion measurements you took. I have been following the Monkey Box thread from the start and it has been very educational to observe the thought process in designing an outstanding speaker. Keep up the great work you are doing.

Best,
Rich

 

[YSDR]

Have you seen the price of Lojzek's suggestion?

The price I found was about 2.5 x of the Fostex. Better xmax though...

Wow, that's really an expensive driver.
But please compare this to an Eminence 3012LF and check which woofer is objectively "better" or closer to what the op ask. For 1/4 price of the Focal.

 

[montana1]

Hi denibeni,
The Eminence 3012 woofer was one of the first that caught my eye when parsing through loudspeaker database. I have not given up on it but the rapidly rising impedance response around 300 hz has me somewhat concerned. Is this something I should be concerned about if crossing over to the midrange in that region? Or is this more this driver intended more as a subwoofer to be used under 100 hz.?

Best Regards,
Rich