Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Finally Decided

KnuKonceptz,

I completely understand where you are coming from Spec wise. You will never (i should make that bold) find a speaker that matches the published specs perfectly and I strongly advise anyone with the right test equipment to test every speaker they buy before making a box for it. However, I can guarentee, that Adire, Lambda Acoustics, Stryke and others would not survive in the market they are competing in, if they didn't meet their claimed specs. If you check the DUMAX specs you will see that the sensitivity is very close to the mfg spec. There is another thing that causes confusion. Car audio companies, even respected ones, will sometimes post sensitivity numbers "in-car". I know JL is not one of them, based on their 84 dB (2.83v/1m) sensitivity rating. BTW, adire rates their speakers at 1w/1m which, in essence would be equivalent 2.83v/1m rating of 3dB higher.

The reason that mfgs don't make all their subs DVC is because it doesn't make any sense at all. Why make all DVC woofers?? you are going to do that, you should just make all subwoofers, 15" subs with cast baskets, and dual 4 ohm VC. Standardization doesn't make sense with all of the configurations necessary.

JL Audios response doesn't surprise me at all. Why would they recommend a confiuration that they have a better alternative for?

The only point that I think we are arguing is whether or not using one VC will damage the speaker. The simple answer is no, unless their is a design flaw, it should never cause any physical damage to the speaker.

This doesn't even begin to surprise me. Considering that consumers, in general, are not the sharpest people, it makes good business sense, how many people would realize that their speaker had a diminished power handling capability? Very few...so when they put 400 watts into the speaker, because their brother told them that more power was always safe, and it blows, JL doesn't want or deserve the responsibility or replacing that driver.

KnuKonceptz,

My 15" DVC drivers I bought 2 weeks ago have a 5 year warranty. How about I hook up just one coil, give it a good bit of power, and see what it does? Sure, it'll sound like crap, but after I re-connect the second coil, it should return back to the pleasent sounds I heard before.

Also, if one was planning to use just one coil of a DVC speaker, the T/S parameters would be very different that the published parameters since they are given with both coils driven, usually in parallel. That would make BassBox or other similar program useless for designed your box.

Aaron

[This message has been edited by APT CSVT (edited April 12, 2001).]

I agree about the specs, they will never be dead on, but when some are outside a tollerance of 5% it makes you wonder.

On the standardization of woofers, that does not seem relevant. In your view you can use a dvc as a svc speaker. So why make a svc, how can you have a configuration that does not work with a dvc driver if you can use only one coil if need be? A DVC woofer can fit every application a svc could in your perspective.

The good thing about your perspective is once the 1st coil goes on a dvc you can use the other.....lol . Dont you think the coil that is not powered will be added weight (thet was not designed to be there) and cause the woofer to fail prematurely?

I don't think i'm making myself as clear as I thought. The point I have been trying to stress is that it should not damage the speaker.

The reason why not every speaker is a DVC is $$$.

Yes, it would change the mechanical properties, but not the weight. You're just not using half of the magnet power and you'll be down on output about 3dB for that. Plus, you'll change the overall impedance so most likely you'll down another 3dB.

Imagine the profits if companies sold their products at those crazy prices and they were only SVC .

Bass Box adjusts to dvc coils and how they are wired. But wont allow for one coil unless you put the one coil parameters in, in that case it would still get you the appropriate box.

As for the 5 year warranty, try it. What brand are they, just to ask. Maybe you should contact them and see what they say about using one coil? I would like to know their response.

The coil will not raise the price that much, going from svc to dvc, it may raise the price $2.50 to a manufacture (depending on coil, just an average stated). The biggest cost is the motor stucture (back plate, pole peice, and magnet; magnet usually being the largest of those three as well) Also you have to pay for a warranty and the guys behind the counter are makig plenty too. JL's a large company with many employees to feed, thats the price of a woofer.

Exactly. This is why you've never heard of Adire Audio, Dan Wriggens, Shiva, Tempest or Dayton. As Dave said, their overhead is almost nothing. No advertising expenses, no people behind the counter, no counter! Therefore, the prices can be so low, less than half of competing comercial subs. And, for the extra $2.50 for DVC, it allows for multiple configurations and further reduces manufacturing complexity which reduced overall costs.