Review: Audio Development W800NEO Drive Unit (car audio brand)

[hardisj]

Not sure how you guys feel about raw drive unit tests but since I am back doing those again with the Klippel I am going to share them until the consensus tells me to stop sharing them here.

This is from a car audio brand called Audio Development. $800 for this. By conventional standards it's nothing great but the very shallow mounting depth might be worth it to some.


I have more tools at my disposal than most people in the industry.


Full review here:
https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/driveunits/audio_development_w800neo/

 

[hardisj]

YouTube review of the AD W800NEO is now up.

 

[Wes]

wow - costs like a medium-high end Focal

(I just have the medium-rare Focals in my car)

 

[briskly]

BL droop will tend to dominate the increase in Qts with excursion rather than stiffness. This particular woofer had little change in Fs, which should be the telltale sign.
I'm inclined to think the ~90Hz bass dip is an acoustical or structural resonance coupling to the cone, one that isn't inherent to the driver.
As far as Klippel's inductance model shows, it looks like it could have used conductors beneath the gap to target induced flux at that frequency, rather than adjust just one ring.

 

[hardisj]

BL droop will tend to dominate the increase in Qts with excursion rather than stiffness. This particular woofer had little change in Fs, which should be the telltale sign.
I'm inclined to think the ~90Hz bass dip is an acoustical or structural resonance coupling to the cone, one that isn't inherent to the driver.
As far as Klippel's inductance model shows, it looks like it could have used conductors beneath the gap to target induced flux at that frequency, rather than adjust just one ring.

Re: the 90Hz dip. It shows up in impedance both on the Klippel pro stand (clamped down) as well as on my IB wall (driver affixed to a 14.5x16 inch baffle blank, which is then affixed to a 20-something x 10 foot wall.

 

[preload]

Will this outperform a jl w6 or w7?

 

[Hemi-Demon]

I appreciate the car audio reviews!!

 

[hardisj]

Will this outperform a jl w6 or w7?

nooooooo. It's not a subwoofer. Not intended to be used as one. It's purpose is to be used as a midbass.

 

[preload]

nooooooo. It's not a subwoofer. Not intended to be used as one. It's purpose is to be used as a midbass.

OH gotcha.

BTW if you're reviewing car audio, not sure if you considered it, but the stuff from Audio Frog you may know is developed by Andy W, who used to work at Harman (JBL). Might be of particular interest to folks here, given the # of Harman fans.

 

[hardisj]

OH gotcha.

BTW if you're reviewing car audio, not sure if you considered it, but the stuff from Audio Frog you may know is developed by Andy W, who used to work at Harman (JBL). Might be of particular interest to folks here, given the # of Harman fans.

Yep. I’ve known Andy for some time. I’ve already reviewed a few of his drivers.
And currently am writing up the review for the GB60 along with a few other drive units...

Left to Right: Purifi 6.5, AudioFrog GB60, Dyn Audio MW182

 

[AnalogSteph]

The n-Order Harmonic Distortion Components graphs in the article seem to be the wrong ones; they clearly say Dynaudio MW172 and a check of URL confirms this. Copypasta error, I presume.

 

[hardisj]

Yup. Copy/paste. I'll fix it later. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[preload]

Yep. I’ve known Andy for some time. I’ve already reviewed a few of his drivers.
And currently am writing up the review for the GB60 along with a few other drive units...

Left to Right: Purifi 6.5, AudioFrog GB60, Dyn Audio MW182

Fantastic, I'll check out your site. Very curious about Andy's stuff. I was able to achieve remarkable results by following his tuning guide (albeit not with Audio Frog speakers).