Low distortion drivers for sub-bass in shallow sealed cabinets

[mcdn]

I'm having trouble finding shallow 10" sub drivers with distortion below 10% @ 20Hz for a sealed enclosure. In a thread from @suttondesign one interesting driver was posted by @Salt - the Redcatt SW10.4, with distortion measured in hobbyhifi.de as only 3% @ 20Hz. Their mounting depth is 115mm (4.5in), but they are very insensitive with only 8mm Xmax so I would need 4 per sub and more than 1kW per side.

Basically I have the same problem @suttondesign had - how to add sub-bass for movies to an otherwise excellent LX521.4 setup, but with space and aesthetic constraints. He ended up with dual opposed subs, but I don't have space for those. In fact I will have to mount mine on the walls, using dimensions ~h150w38d14cm (60x16x5in for our American friends).

The constraints are <130mm mounting depth, <10% distortion at 20Hz, <300mm total width, sealed enclosure. Any ideas? Oh, and they will be DSP managed, so no need to worry about cabinet volumes etc.

 

[ppataki]

What about the SB Acoustics SW26DBAC76 family?

 

[ppataki]

Or the Lavoce WAN102.50LD

 

[mcdn]

What about the SB Acoustics SW26DBAC76 family?

They are crazy expensive - USD400 per driver. Other than that a good choice!

 

[mcdn]

Or the Lavoce WAN102.50LD

Interesting - high Fs and low efficiency in the low bass, but low Q and good xMax . Are there any available distortion measurements?

 

[ppataki]

They are crazy expensive - USD400 per driver. Other than that a good choice!

Actually not that expensive:

This is from toutlehautparleur.com (I order all my drivers from them)

 

[ppataki]

Interesting - high Fs and low efficiency in the low bass, but low Q and good xMax . Are there any available distortion measurements?

Yes, typical PA woofer but I dared recommend it since you said you would use heavy DSP - and with that I guess it should work fine
Cost is similar, 227 EUR. The safe(r) bet would be the SB though

I am not aware of any distortion measurements for these drivers

 

[ai1]

In the thread mentioned in the original message they state that SB woofer is not really better than the Dayton.

Or the Lavoce WAN102.50LD

Lavoce "conventional" - inexpensive - range also looks interesting. Lavoce also has a shallow (83mm mounting depth) SSF102.40. There is also SSF102.50L (127mm), looking better with 11,5mm Xmax and max SPL of 100dB at 30Hz.

BTW, should thank ppataki for attracting attention to Lavoce woofers, I just got a pair of SSF102.50L to play with.

​

 

[ppataki]

BTW, should thank ppataki for attracting attention to Lavoce woofers, I just got a pair of SSF102.50L to play with.

You are welcome
I love this brand, for my last three sub projects I used their drivers and they are superb!

 

[mcdn]

Thanks both! After Linkwitz transforms,. 4 x RedCatt and 3 x SB model out pretty close. The redcatt's are half the price and lower distortion if we can believe the hifihobby.de measurements (3.5% @ 20Hz, vs a projected 10% @ 20Hz based on the audioxpress review of the SB, which had 3.5% @ 30Hz).

 

[ThatSoundsGood]

I've heard some seriously good things about this sub and I plan on building a sealed version of it soon. Seems to work really well in a small sealed enclosure and it has enough Xmax to be considered a weapon.

SHOP | css-audio

www.css-audio.com

 

[mcdn]

I've heard some seriously good things about this sub and I plan on building a sealed version of it soon. Seems to work really well in a small sealed enclosure and it has enough Xmax to be considered a weapon.

SHOP | css-audio

www.css-audio.com

Looks fantastic but I'd estimate 200mm mounting depth or more, where I need <130mm

 

[ai1]

Thanks both! After Linkwitz transforms,. 4 x RedCatt and 3 x SB model out pretty close. The redcatt's are half the price and lower distortion if we can believe the hifihobby.de measurements (3.5% @ 20Hz, vs a projected 10% @ 20Hz based on the audioxpress review of the SB, which had 3.5% @ 30Hz).

Interesting. What is the volume of the box with RedCatts? Is it the same as that of SB's?

 

[mcdn]

Interesting. What is the volume of the box with RedCatts? Is it the same as that of SB's?

Box volume is 54L (1.91ft^3) for both. The LT filter is obviously different but I’ve tuned both for an 18Hz F3 target

 

[ppataki]

Thanks both! After Linkwitz transforms,. 4 x RedCatt and 3 x SB model out pretty close. The redcatt's are half the price and lower distortion if we can believe the hifihobby.de measurements (3.5% @ 20Hz, vs a projected 10% @ 20Hz based on the audioxpress review of the SB, which had 3.5% @ 30Hz).

View attachment 392569View attachment 392571

I was trying to find the T/S parameters for the Redcatt SW10.4 PC but could not find them
Can you please share where you managed to find them?

While I was browsing their driver portfolio I noticed that they publish peak-to-peak xmax values - be careful with that, you actually have to divide that by two to get the real xmax value

 

[mcdn]

I was trying to find the T/S parameters for the Redcatt SW10.4 PC but could not find them
Can you please share where you managed to find them?

Their site is very short of specifics, but the page for the PC driver has most of what you want: https://redcatt.de/REDCATT-SW104-PC_1 . I used the measured numbers posted by @Salt from hobbyhifi.de for the SW10.4 driver, although I think that was for the aluminium coned version. The only real difference between the alu cone and paper cone versions seems to be Mms. I've contacted them for confirmation on the measured values and pointed them to this thread. 3.5% @ 20Hz is a spectacular result but I'd want the manufacturer to back it up with their measurements before buying.

 

[mcdn]

@Salt, is the technical data in hifihobby.de what they measured, or the manufacturer's spec?

 

[Salt]

They do all measurements on their own at Hobbyhifi.

 

[ppataki]

They do all measurements on their own at Hobbyhifi.

Can you please send some links to these measurements?
Thank you

 

[Salt]

There are no links that's why the 'screenshot'.