Peavey 18's input please.

[1Drop]

My band is trying to put together a nice system for when house sound is lacking subs. We just bought 2 peavey black widow 18 subs for a whopping $150 The cabs are in great shape but one woofer is on its way out. I'm looking at either a replacement black widow for $189 or possibly the peavey "lo rider" 18 for ten bucks more. its 800 watts rms vs 700 for the BW. we are pushing both with a crown 1400 amp. The lo rider goes down to 25hz vs 35 for the BW. Mainly do reggae shows so we need all the low end we can muster for this price range. We will run a wee bit of bass through them, kick drum, and any keys that need that kind of frequency.

Any experience with the longevity of either of these speakers? I like the price range, we cannot afford a 450 dollar EV at this point.
Any other woofers to look at in the $200 range?
Thanks for any input.

[KeithAlanK]

I've used cabs with both drivers mentioned and they were both about the same.
Flip a coin?

I prefer my drivers matched, so would go with the BW.

[Blasto]

Same here. Get as close as you can to the other "good" Driver. As far as longevity, the Lo-Rider hasn't been out long enough to judge. However, both are Peavey. And peavey + longevity, reliablity, etc. Grab up a field replaceable BW and go throw bass!

[KeithAlanK]

There's a lot to be said for having matched drivers--like spare parts compatibility and being able to hear distortion (warning!) from both sides of the stage.

[MNAirHead]

Look on ebay For 18" Widow Basket

They come up frequently and are not in high demand.

IF "on the way out" bring it to a speaker store .. they're the easiest speakers out there to repair.. chances are $10 may do it

[1Drop]

Thanks for the replies...Its interesting, when both subs are hooked up you can hear a fairly faint buzz coming from the one "bad" sub. Then I brought the bad sub home and stored it next to my bass rig. When I play through my bass rig you can really hear the 18 rattle around. its actually kind of a nice distortion effect, but I'm not going for that. I actually thought for a minute I might have accidently plugged the sub into my rig there was so much sound coming from it. Would this be a sign its past the point of being repaired or no? I never knew you could repair a speaker like that.

Thanks again!!

[BassieMike]

I've got a pair of Peavey SP-118's that have gotten a ton of use in a reggae setting. They are OK. As mentioned, try to keep them matched. Many of the peavey drivers have field replaceable "baskets" which are easy to swap out and cost about as much as having the speaker re-coned.

-mike

[MNAirHead]

I'd start by ensuring you don't have hardware that's rattled loose.

2nd step is to to bring your current speaker in .. you could have a minor issue that a quick glue up would correct... they can tell you in about 5 minutes if your voice coil is toast.