Driver for sealed 10" bass module (1 Viewer)

[Brandon B]

OK, just one more question.
I am building a set of bass modules, preferably a sealed box with a 10" driver, to complement and act as stands for Joe D'Appolito designed Aria 5A's. These are MTM's with Focal 5K4211's and an Accuton C2-12 tweeter.
Driver needs to be 8 ohms, handle 150 watts or more. I'll be4 making these either fully active, or an active crossover to split between the bass module and MTM, using ORca's originnal XO for the MTM portion. So I think sensitivity isn't that important as it can be balanced in the active XO (Aria's are 90dB/1W/1m themselves).
I WAS planning on using the Stryke SB10, but saw some comments by Mark Seaton about the SB12 implying its distortion levels and linearity might not be up to the quality of my other drivers, and didn't knnow if this extended to the SB10.
My priorities here are for this bass unit to be as accurate as possible and extend flat to 30Hz. These primary purpose here is to make the main L and R speaker as perfect as possible in 2 channel music mode and extend the 60Hz bottom end of the MTM,. I will be adding a subwoofer for HT use. I will also be building a similar bass unit for the center channel to keep my L,C and R equivalent.
Thoughts?
Thanks very much.
BB

 

[Brandon B]

Hellooooooooooooo . . .

 

[John E Janowitz]

Hi Brandon,
I don't think you have to worry about any problems with the SB10 driver. This is made by Lambda Acoustics with their copper faraday motor. The design was now changed so it is identical to their PL drivers, but with the exception of a roundwire copper coil to get the Qts up for sealed box use. The Lambda drivers are regarded to be some of the lowest distortion drivers out there today. The only drivers I can think of that would be regarded as better for distortion would be the $800 Skaaning woofers, or the other Lambda drivers such as the TD woofers and new "Steroid" TD woofers, neither of which is available in a 10".
John

 

[Brandon B]

Sold!
BB

 

[Mark Seaton]

Brandon,
I think I know what comments you were reffering to now. Basically those comments were out of context with your system, and we need to consider this particular situation. What I was reffering to when I suggested to someone about possibly using the PL drivers in a PR or ported enclosure instead of the SB drivers in the sealed enclosure, my interest was with clean dynamic headroom. Within the very significant travel of the SB drivers, they are wonderfully clean, and with the copper faraday sleeve and extended pole piece, you should find them to match quite well to the Focal midbasses. More importantly, there aren't any other 10" or 12" options with more than a 1mm gain in Xmax, which is of little consequence when we are already talking about 14mm (which may in fact be longer). The point being, if you are looking for a single sealed 10" to get to 30Hz, and mate with your Aria 5s around their 60Hz cuttoff, the SB10 would undoubtedly be my first choice. If you are just looking to make a bass complement to get to 30Hz within a given enclosure size, and are bi-amping, I might suggest one of the SAL drivers from Stryke in a PR alignment which could give you more headroom and efficiency while reducing the driver excursion for a given output level. Of course this would cost a bit more too. In my mind, unless you are using one of the Lambda TD15 drivers, the ideal situation for a bass-midbass complement would be to use a pair of drivers. In this situation though, I don't believe it will be an issue as the limit to the midbass dynamics will be the FOCALs below about 150Hz. With the extended frequency response of the SB and SAL drivers, I would suggest experimenting with the active crossover point at 120Hz or higher, especially since the bass units will already be acting as stands for the Aria 5s. The benefits and compromises you see will depend on your listening prefferences, your room, and the power you have available for the different drivers.
Either way you have the potential of creating a great sounding system, it's just a matter of what will fit your desires and size restrictions best.
Keep us posted on your progress!
Mark Seaton

 

[Brandon B]

Thanks very much Mark.
I'll be ordering my SB10's today.
I probably won't really get going on this project until July as I am in Japan through this month, but my progress will likely be all too detailed by my frequent questions on this board.
BB