Help me pick out a new 12" driver, please (1 Viewer)

[Sebastian]

DIY guys,
I presently have this enclosure using an SVS original driver.
16” sonotube 40” high (approx 44" overall). 1” MDF plugs laminated to ¾ Baltic Birch end caps. 2-1/8" stand-offs and ¾ BB base plate.
Effective volume=5.01 cu-ft, full-length 4" flared precision port from PE giving me an 18.3Hz tune. Pretty much an EBS alignment, It’s within a couple of liters, I believe.

I was thinking on upgrading to an AV-12, what do you guys think? any other options I can look at using with this sonotube enclosure.
Also, would it be worth while to upgrade? I mean what would I gain over the SVS driver?

Thanks

 

[AndersP]

You will have to modify the enclosure in one way or the other to fit the new driver. If you´re lucky you can get away with modifications only to the port.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

The driver works very well in that alignment, but I don't know much about that SVS driver so I don't know what you'd gain. Might need to mod the driver cutout.
FYI, an "EBS", or any alignment, is not determined by box volume and tuning alone, the final response shape (which the alignment names refer to) includes the driver. An EBS box for Shiva will not necessarily be one for another driver. When I model the AV12 in 5ft^3/18Hz, I don't see an "Extended Bass Shelf", even though Stryke calls it that.

 

[Sebastian]

Hmm, hopefully someone can chime in and let me know if its worth the extra cash/money to upgrade the driver. If all I am gaining is more head room I may not do it.
Thanks for the heads up on the EBS, all this time I was wrong on what an EBS really was.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

If all I am gaining is more head room I may not do it.

If anything, that's exactly what you'd gain. What else were you looking to improve? I wouldn't look for any night-and-day differences.

 

[Sebastian]

Sound quality, more bass that you can feel I guess. I assumed that since SVS offered an ISD for this old sub that there is something more than just head room there. So your thinking is, unless I am bottoming this driver out, no need to upgrade?

 

[Jack Gilvey]

So your thinking is, unless I am bottoming this driver out, no need to upgrade?

Didn't say that...see reasons above. I don't know enough about the driver you have now.

 

[Jason_Me]

The Adire Sadhara would work. It models virtually flat to 18 hz. That could be a problem with room gain though.

An XBL2 driver should offer a significant improvement.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

It should, but I wonder if it'd be worth it with the existing 4" port.

 

[Sebastian]

"sound quality" is concerned (never really know what people are referring to with that term),

Yes, little vague on that term. What I mean by sound quality is deeper fuller bass not a changed in freq response, just more of a sound that engulfs you.

As for my current driver being used and near its limits. I bought the driver off a friend and was used less than year maybe even

 

[Frank Carter]

Sebastian,
What is it that you feel your current sub is lacking?

 

[Sebastian]

What is it that you feel your current sub is lacking?

Not sure actually, I was in search mode the other day and found a few old threads on owners who upgraded their SVS drivers for the ISD and they were saying that the change wasn't huge but Significant. So I started to think maybe I should look into replacing the original driver too. I guess I got bit by the upgrade bug. They really need to come out with a cure for it.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Yes, little vague on that term. What I mean by sound quality is deeper fuller bass not a changed in freq response, just more of a sound that engulfs you.

Hmm...that's even more vague. One can look at FR, output, etc., but I'm not sure about the "engulf" parameter.

I guess I'd second Frank's question, which perhaps should have been my first: What are you finding lacking?

 

[Sebastian]

Jack, Sorry about confusing you more. Lets see here... um just more powerful bass, does that help? Kind of like the SVS animation Ron S has on his sig. The little squeaky box playing and comes along the SVS that goes BOOM! BOOM!. Something along those lines but not as drastic.

About the lacking question I should have quoted that question with my answer, see previous post.

In case you missed it......
SVS animation

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Jack, Sorry about confusing you more. Lets see here... um just more powerful bass, does that help?

Then more headroom/output is probably what you want. Maybe even a different frequency response. Again, the original SVS driver is pretty accomplished, so any possible difference probably won't be drastic, especially using the same amp.

 

[Sebastian]

Cool, unless all of sudden I need more head room I will save the cash for right now. Maybe I will invest in a BFD instead.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Frank Carter]

Eq'ing your sub will eat up head room as well. It is a very worth while investment(one of the best thing I ever did to my system) to add an eq to the bass, but after eq'ing you'll find you'll need to turn up the level more whether you reduce peaks or boosted some areas. The way to get around this is very simple though...spend more money. If you're already craving more headroom, you'll only want it more after you eq, so just spend more money and get higher excursion sub, higher output amp, and the BFD.

 

[DanWiggins]

Using the Sadhara driver (or even a Brahma 12, with the voice coils in series) should give you considerably lower distortion over the operating band, as well as a higher peak SPL level. Flat BL will greatly reduce THD, even if you don't increase the peak SPL. There's more to clean output than just absolute stroke ability - how you get to the stroke limit is critical, too.

And your 4" flared port should be good for ~500W of power to either driver in your system.

Dan Wiggins
Adire Audio