Open baffle woofer choices

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 18158 times.

JohnR

Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #20 on: 12 Jul 2010, 11:39 am »
It sounds fine to me, and played up to several kHz in the sweep test.

panomaniac

Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #21 on: 12 Jul 2010, 07:38 pm »
Dear Pano, what do you think of this Celestion 15"  as OB woofer?

I'm sure the Celestion is a fine driver, they make a great product.  Is it right for OB?  All depends on how you want to use it.  How will you amplify it?  What driver do you want to run above it, ect.

FullRangeMan

  • Volunteer
  • Posts: 20883
  • To whom more was given more will be required.
    • Never go to a psychiatrist, adopt a straycat or dog. On the street they live only two years average.
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #22 on: 13 Jul 2010, 10:31 pm »
It sounds fine to me, and played up to several kHz in the sweep test.
If you was doing a Freq.Range plot, do you can show us the chart??

JohnR

Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #23 on: 14 Jul 2010, 06:48 am »
Hi Gustavo, we didn't capture the plot. You can see some measurements of some drivers in the same "family" here:

http://sites.google.com/site/drivervault/driver-measurements/tang-band-75-1558se/ae-speakers-td12m/frequency-response

and here:

http://sites.google.com/site/drivervault/driver-measurements/15/ae-speakers-td15x/frequency-response

However it is a different motor... so I'm not sure how relevant this is.


FullRangeMan

  • Volunteer
  • Posts: 20883
  • To whom more was given more will be required.
    • Never go to a psychiatrist, adopt a straycat or dog. On the street they live only two years average.
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #24 on: 14 Jul 2010, 07:00 am »
Thankyou for your kind.  The Phase and Rise Time looks very good response.
Regards, Gustavo

John_E_Janowitz

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 28
    • www.aespeakers.com
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #25 on: 23 Sep 2010, 04:43 am »
the Dipole15's BL/mms ratio seems rather low

Just saw this post regarding the Dipole15.  I always make it a point to try to get rid of this BL/Mms ratio issue that keeps popping up.    If you want to compare motor strength you need to take Bl^2/Re to compare one driver to another.  Bl without Re means nothing because they scale proportionally.  Quite simply, Bl/Mms tells nothing about the driver without respect to Re, and even with Re the relationship means nothing.

Take a look at the old lambda white paper that discusses the speed of a driver called "Bl/Mms = Nonsense" which explains where the "speed" of a driver really comes from.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010810141852/lambdacoustics.com/library/whitepapers/bl_mms.htm

John

Danny Richie

  • Industry Contributor
  • Posts: 14531
    • http://www.gr-research.com
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #26 on: 23 Sep 2010, 03:41 pm »
Hey John,

Your write up is 100% accurate. If the driver moved any "faster" it would be playing a different wavelength.

However, what I have found is that when someone listens to a pair of speakers and says, wow, that bass is really fast, or that bass sounds really slow, it has nothing to do with the acceleration of the driver.

What makes the bass sound fast or slow is all about how fast or slow it can return to rest. A driver that immediately stops sounds much cleaner and tighter. A heavy moving mass and a loose suspension tends to take a lot longer to dissipate stored energy, taking much longer to return to rest, and giving bass a sluggish or smeared sound with no clear start/stop points.

Nyal Mellor

  • Industry Participant
  • Posts: 250
  • Founder - Acoustic Frontiers.
    • Acoustic Frontiers
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #27 on: 23 Sep 2010, 04:32 pm »
Hey John,

Your write up is 100% accurate. If the driver moved any "faster" it would be playing a different wavelength.

However, what I have found is that when someone listens to a pair of speakers and says, wow, that bass is really fast, or that bass sounds really slow, it has nothing to do with the acceleration of the driver.

What makes the bass sound fast or slow is all about how fast or slow it can return to rest. A driver that immediately stops sounds much cleaner and tighter. A heavy moving mass and a loose suspension tends to take a lot longer to dissipate stored energy, taking much longer to return to rest, and giving bass a sluggish or smeared sound with no clear start/stop points.

And don't forget you are listening to the system (amp --> speaker cable --> speaker --> room) so isolating the contribution from the bass driver is going to be EXTREMELY difficult.

John_E_Janowitz

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 28
    • www.aespeakers.com
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #28 on: 23 Sep 2010, 04:51 pm »
What makes the bass sound fast or slow is all about how fast or slow it can return to rest. A driver that immediately stops sounds much cleaner and tighter. A heavy moving mass and a loose suspension tends to take a lot longer to dissipate stored energy, taking much longer to return to rest, and giving bass a sluggish or smeared sound with no clear start/stop points.

There is some merit to this, however not for the reasons you believe.  Restoring force should not come from suspension.  The coil needs to be positioned at all times by the motor itself.  Any force put on in by the suspension only decreases the accuracy of the placement of the coil.  The suspension can never increase how fast the coil gets to where it should, it can only decrease the accuracy.  So in a perfect world the suspension will have no effect on the driver at all. 

Force = mass x acceleration.  Acceleration = B*l*i where B is the flux in the gap, L is length of wire in the gap and i is the current being applied.  Mass is a constant.  So the only way to change acceleration is to change current.   The lower the inductance of the driver, the lower the resistance as you go higher in frequency so the higher the current and higher the acceleration.   As current is removed there is no acceleration so the coil should stop immediately.   In many cases though that isn't the case.  Lets see why.

One of the most overlooked things in drivers is flux modulation.  If you have a permanent magnetic field that does not move at all, the coil will at all times be accelerated and stopped as it should.  Current is applied and it will instantly move.  Current is removed and the flux field will instantly stop the coil.   However, it is a rare case that the permanent field doesn't move.  If you have ever taken a magnet and waved it by a TV or computer monitor, you could see the effects of how the field is moving.  It is somewhat wavy and slow. 

You take a VC and energize it and it becomes a strong electromagnet.   Now you move this electromagnet back and forth through the permanent magnetic field many times a second.  Every time it moves through the gap it is pushing and moving the permanent magnetic field.  If the VC moves from rest to its full outward position, the permanent flux field is greatly distorted and no longer looks like it did when the coil was at rest.  People spend so much time trying use static FEA to get perfect symmetry in the flux field, but as soon as the coil moves it all changes anyway.  Now as the current is removed, the coil cannot be returned to the proper rest position until the flux field first returns.  THIS is one of the biggest issues with drivers.

99% of all drivers do nothing to address this issue.  The closer the flux field is to saturation, the harder it is to move so that helps.  The only way to totally fix the issue is to keep flux from moving.  The copper sleeve we put on the pole does this.  As the coil moves, huge eddy currents are created in the copper sleeve and will short out.  This keeps the flux field from moving and assures the the coil is positioned as it should be in both stopping and starting.

John

Danny Richie

  • Industry Contributor
  • Posts: 14531
    • http://www.gr-research.com
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #29 on: 23 Sep 2010, 05:40 pm »
And don't forget you are listening to the system (amp --> speaker cable --> speaker --> room) so isolating the contribution from the bass driver is going to be EXTREMELY difficult.

If you don't know the system, room, etc, then yes. If comparing in the same room then it is not too hard.

Quote
There is some merit to this, however not for the reasons you believe.  Restoring force should not come from suspension.  The coil needs to be positioned at all times by the motor itself.  Any force put on in by the suspension only decreases the accuracy of the placement of the coil.  The suspension can never increase how fast the coil gets to where it should, it can only decrease the accuracy.  So in a perfect world the suspension will have no effect on the driver at all. 


Yep, but it is never a perfect world. And the driver relies on both Qms and Qes to get Qts as you clearly know. How it is loaded in the box (if a box is used) will also have an effect. Often drivers with Qts of less than .7 are used in free air applications and that also has an effect. So this can be one of those cases that is exactly like what you just said. It can only decrease the accuracy.

Quote
Force = mass x acceleration.  Acceleration = B*l*i where B is the flux in the gap, L is length of wire in the gap and i is the current being applied.  Mass is a constant.  So the only way to change acceleration is to change current.   The lower the inductance of the driver, the lower the resistance as you go higher in frequency so the higher the current and higher the acceleration.   As current is removed there is no acceleration so the coil should stop immediately.   In many cases though that isn't the case.  Lets see why.

One of the most overlooked things in drivers is flux modulation.  If you have a permanent magnetic field that does not move at all, the coil will at all times be accelerated and stopped as it should.  Current is applied and it will instantly move.  Current is removed and the flux field will instantly stop the coil.   However, it is a rare case that the permanent field doesn't move.  If you have ever taken a magnet and waved it by a TV or computer monitor, you could see the effects of how the field is moving.  It is somewhat wavy and slow. 

You take a VC and energize it and it becomes a strong electromagnet.   Now you move this electromagnet back and forth through the permanent magnetic field many times a second.  Every time it moves through the gap it is pushing and moving the permanent magnetic field.  If the VC moves from rest to its full outward position, the permanent flux field is greatly distorted and no longer looks like it did when the coil was at rest.  People spend so much time trying use static FEA to get perfect symmetry in the flux field, but as soon as the coil moves it all changes anyway.  Now as the current is removed, the coil cannot be returned to the proper rest position until the flux field first returns.  THIS is one of the biggest issues with drivers.

99% of all drivers do nothing to address this issue.  The closer the flux field is to saturation, the harder it is to move so that helps.  The only way to totally fix the issue is to keep flux from moving.  The copper sleeve we put on the pole does this.  As the coil moves, huge eddy currents are created in the copper sleeve and will short out.  This keeps the flux field from moving and assures the the coil is positioned as it should be in both stopping and starting.

I have always thought of you as one of the leaders in this area and have been surprised others have not picked up on what you just said.

I think many look at the lower inductance and dismiss it as the inductive reactance or inductive rise is above the range that the sub woofer is being used in. I once thought that as well. You actually explained it to me on the phone many years ago and I had not thought about it in a while. Stabilizing the field strength is a big deal.

I have come to conclude two other big deals that to me have taken bass response to another level in regards to being fast.

The first was the use of many small drivers verses a single or few larger ones. Line sources like the LS-9 use many (twelve 6.5" woofers) woofers per speaker. Moving mass is low and exertions are much smaller as many moving a little still moves a lot of air. A good motor design doesn't hurt either. On the little 6.5" woofers in the LS-9 there is an XBL^ motor with a Copper shorting ring between the gaps.

I once design a line of line source models for Epiphany Audio many years ago that used 4" woofers. The larger design was capable of playing down into the mid to low 30's. Those things had really tight or "fast" bass.

The second big deal to me has been hooking up with Brian Ding and using his servo control systems. For me this has been a paradigm shift in detail and resolution levels in low frequency ranges that I had not heard before. It actively applies an electrical force to re-center the woofer. Even pushing on it with you hand can often get a response back from the woofer as it pushes back (quick enough to scare you) to re-center it.

chlorofille

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 173
  • 8'' MTM with scanspeak 21w8554 & D2904 7100
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #30 on: 23 Sep 2010, 06:09 pm »


Force = mass x acceleration.  Acceleration = B*l*i  The lower the inductance of the driver, the lower the resistance as you go higher in frequency so the higher the current and higher the acceleration.   
 

Believe it or not, I used that approach to select my 8'' midwoofer which is the Scanspeak 21W8554-
0.2mH inductance and has a copper pole piece (Symmetric drive - SD)

The bass is pitch perfect with minimal overhang and midrange is as transparent as can be   :green:

Rick Craig

  • Industry Participant
  • Posts: 3680
  • Selah Audio
    • http://www.selahaudio.com
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #31 on: 24 Sep 2010, 07:31 pm »
I have a large lot of Scan-Speak 10" woofers designed for dipole / open baffle systems. Please email or PM if interested. $75 each plus shipping. Discounts available for larger quantities.

Danny Richie

  • Industry Contributor
  • Posts: 14531
    • http://www.gr-research.com
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #32 on: 24 Sep 2010, 08:12 pm »
If you are not contributing to the discussion and only advertising something for sale then shouldn't you do that in your own circle of industry ads?

Rick Craig

  • Industry Participant
  • Posts: 3680
  • Selah Audio
    • http://www.selahaudio.com
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #33 on: 24 Sep 2010, 08:25 pm »
If you are not contributing to the discussion and only advertising something for sale then shouldn't you do that in your own circle of industry ads?

Sure I would be glad to contribute to the discussion but I don't think this section should be over-commercialized with manufacturers. I'm not making one penny on these drivers - just helping a friend sell them and think it's a great buy for a DIY builder.

bombadil111

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 30
  • Hawthorne Audio, MiniWatt N3, Music Hall DAC 25.3
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #34 on: 29 Sep 2010, 10:59 am »
You might be interested in these; made by Eminence and a cut above the Alphas' from what I understand.

http://www.hawthorneaudio.com/catalogs/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=19

Cliff


John_E_Janowitz

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 28
    • www.aespeakers.com
Re: Open baffle woofer choices
« Reply #35 on: 29 Sep 2010, 04:13 pm »
There was some discussion on the IB15/Dipole15 vs the hawthorne Augie before on audiocircle.  Here's a link to the posting.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=62242.msg564684#msg564684

and this is some discussion on the Dipole15/IB15 vs the Alpha15 also. 

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=59619.msg532468#msg532468

There is a lot of good information in the discussion on those 2 threads.

John