Aren't sensitivity ratings for subwoofers usually of little value? They're usually taken at frequencies subwoofers would never be used at. In the description it says, "this driver is capable of 45.5 mm of excursion before any major loss in motor strength (Bl). In other words, this driver is capable of 90 mm (3.5") peak to peak excursion while still producing low distortion output." Now based on my research, I don't think I'll be able to achieve that kind of excursion but I'm hoping this means that this driver is significantly better engineered than what's out there, especially in this price range.
If I tune the enclosure to 16Hz, the excursion at 16Hz is 18mm at 3500W, peaking at 35mm at 22Hz. These seem like numbers I could live with.
But yes, it's relatively low in efficiency, but that's the tradeoff if you want low bass from a relatively small enclosure. It's either this driver in a 5.7 cu ft (160 L) enclosure (Peerless' own reference vented cabinet volume) or an Ultimax 18 in a 17 cu ft (480 L) enclosure. That's what I'm trying to decide between. But now that you mention other drivers, I'll have to look into them.
I'm very pleased to see someone here using large vented enclosures tuned to such low frequencies. Do you have a build thread on your subwoofers? I'd love to read about them. Is there anything you would change if you were to build them again?
I think the appeal of this subwoofer comes from how little space the finished product would occupy. It's either two full-size refrigerators or two relatively small cubes, and I'm willing to go with the refrigerators but maybe this will give me what I want. I just hope this Crown will drive it to a level I'm happy with. Sometimes I wonder if two SVS PB16-Ultras would satisfy my cravings for low bass.
This is quite an awkward driver IMHO as it has very low sensitivity and not a lot of X-max either. I imagine it bottoming out very rapidly at 16Hz. What cabinet will be used for this driver?
Edit: FWIW I did some simulation with this driver in WINISD and 5000W @16Hz would need close to 60mm excursion. With the 10.4mm Xmax maximum power @ 16Hz is limited to a measly 155W. The 3500 RMS is only possible from 70Hz and above.
As this amp is not very expensive at least I'd give it a try in bridged mode. I have one XLS2502 bridged on 2x B&C 21SW152-8 in separate 550L enclosures tuned at 11Hz and another one on 2x RCF LF18N405 in 500L boxes tuned at 15Hz and on both builds they perform admirably. Both systems were DIY builds for my home theatres and I still haven't seen the red clipping leds coming on.