15" - 150w Woofer - Speaker box project

[Auspis]

Hello, I've got this bad boy bellow it's a 15" Woofer 150w 8 OHM and the brand is Beckman model Disco 15.

I tested it with a multi-meter, it has 6.8 Ohms of resistance, the 1.5v battery test, the cone is moving fine. I tried the speaker on my amplifier that is 300w RMS, it's a cars 4 OHMs amplifier.

I plugged the 15" on my amplifier free air, no box and it works fine.. not much bass come out of it of course, the gain is very low on my amplifier and I haven't tried at high volume since the speaker is not inside of a box.

The goal is to replace my 10" sub with this 15" woofer to have a more musical low frequency speaker for jazz and progressive rock, tuned at 42hz with a 4" port. I've got dimensions for the box to have around 3.2 cubic feet of volume.

Now to really test it, It needs to be inside of a box and I wonder if it could reveal some troubles with a load, it's second hand speaker. id be disapointed to build a box for 10 hours just to discover that under load, it makes weird noises. Then I said to myself, no big deal, i'll just buy another 15" woofer for the box if this one has problems under load..

Problem is, all new 15" woofers seems to be 1000w or more which is pure non sense, this one is 150w.

I think this speaker could be a bass bottom speaker could this be why it's 150w?
(it's for a sound system, to listen to music)

 

[ajkula66]

I've been playing bass for 45+ years and have never even heard of Beckman loudspeakers.

Judging by the design, it's a very old unit and there's a good chance that it may not meet your sonic goals.

Good luck.

 

[Auspis]

I really don't know anything about it either, Beckman, there is nothing on the internet about it, it's possibly a very old speaker. I am in Quebec Canada, maybe it was a Canadian product.

I listened to it for 45 minutes free air, sitting on my desk and I enjoyed it's sound.

 

[Michedelic]

Hello, I've got this bad boy bellow it's a 15" Woofer 150w 8 OHM and the brand is Beckman model Disco 15.

I tested it with a multi-meter, it has 6.8 Ohms of resistance, the 1.5v battery test, the cone is moving fine. I tried the speaker on my amplifier that is 300w RMS, it's a cars 4 OHMs amplifier.

I plugged the 15" on my amplifier free air, no box and it works fine.. not much bass come out of it of course, the gain is very low on my amplifier and I haven't tried at high volume since the speaker is not inside of a box.

The goal is to replace my 10" sub with this 15" woofer to have a more musical low frequency speaker for jazz and progressive rock, tuned at 42hz with a 4" port. I've got dimensions for the box to have around 3.2 cubic feet of volume.

Now to really test it, It needs to be inside of a box and I wonder if it could reveal some troubles with a load, it's second hand speaker. id be disapointed to build a box for 10 hours just to discover that under load, it makes weird noises. Then I said to myself, no big deal, i'll just buy another 15" woofer for the box if this one has problems under load..

Problem is, all new 15" woofers seems to be 1000w or more which is pure non sense, this one is 150w.

I think this speaker could be a bass bottom speaker could this be why it's 150w?
(it's for a sound system, to listen to music)

With that “Disco” designation, I’d bet that, at best, it was from some budget sound system(not a proper PA enclosure)for 70’s wannabe DJ’s. With that meter reading, it’s probably 8 ohm. I wouldn’t hold my breath on it working well with an actual bass amp, for bass. But then, anything could happen.

I wouldn’t bother building a random cabinet…it would need to match specifications of the particular driver in use. Just find some old, beat up empty Traynor single 15 for cheap and hope for the best.

 

[Auspis]

Jesus, is it me of bass players are the pessimistic kind? Stop insulting my speaker.

 

[Auspis]

Making an enclosure never looked like rocket science to me.. I made enclosures for my voice speakers in front of me, I adjusted the back until the sound was ok using a variable volume box, they have no ports, I love the sound of these speakers.

My subwoofer is in a sealed box, I don't think it's perfect but it's not bad either. I find the speaker too stiff and lacking life, it needs too much power to move and its not good with low mids, it's basically only good at making loud boum boums.

It's not to my taste to listen to jazz and upright bass.

I asked the AI to give me dimension for a box, gave me 13"x20"x26" with a 4" port hole for 15" without specs, how bad could this be...it's a box. . I made a quick sketch of what could replace my subwoofer here. It's going to cost 100 bucks at most to have a 15 inch on my desk.

 

[braud357]

Looks like a clone of the old CTS speakers - which were used for OEM speakers for Peavey, Kustom, and many other manufacturers. Your cabinet design looks solid, and it should serve you well. Also - don't be rattled by modern speaker ratings - they convey the amount of power they can handle - not the amount of power it takes to drive them. Good luck !!

 

[Auspis]

Looks like a clone of the old CTS speakers - which were used for OEM speakers for Peavey, Kustom, and many other manufacturers. Your cabinet design looks solid, and it should serve you well. Also - don't be rattled by modern speaker ratings - they convey the amount of power they can handle - not the amount of power it takes to drive them. Good luck !!

Some sort of OEM i believe that too.

I decided to test the stability of the speaker this morning with a load, it's in a cheap box now and it's a real stable bad boy, that speaker is in perfect working order.

It's exactly like I imagined compared to the subwoofer. That woofer let's much more mid range out but the bass is much thicker richer and deeper, it's kicking far less then the sub which is what I wanted, smoother bass with a wider, better blending of the low and mid frequencies. It's just more natural to my ear. I listened to it for almost an hour and can't get enough it.

The gain of my amplifier is at around 1/3, bellow the normal level.. with a bit of bass boost, the amp can handle it easily.

--> I think it could be a solid performer in a 3/5 MDF box with a port. with maybe a generous low pass filter to cut the higher mids, maybe.

In this box it's already pretty strong, Craftsman make good boxes

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[Auspis]

I've won my bet on this project, the speaker is fabulous. I built a box for it and the sound is exactly as I imagined, the bass is just like I want it to be, the difference between that 15 woofer and my 10" subwoofer is major.

The gain of the amplifier is at minimum to match my voices speakers, it won't kick like the sub, I've got a nice smooth wide bass sound. It can produce much deeper notes because of the larger aperture, listening to music and bass on that is a real pleasure since this morning!

This is a salvaged car sound system with a 8 ohm woofer, I decided to make the box a bit higher to have 3.5 square feet of volume inside. I'll add minimal insulation inside later, but honestly I like the sound as it is with no insulation at all, the sound is very open.

here is a video of the setup playing some Johnny Winter.
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[Pilgrim]

I doubt that the speaker will perform as well as you think, but go ahead.

It's simply not designed to be a "more musical low frequency speaker for jazz and progressive rock..." It's designed to reproduce bass frequencies for musical performance. The two are not the same thing, nor do they require the same kind of amplification.

But have fun trying it; that will be an educational experience for you.

 

[Auspis]

I doubt that the speaker will perform as well as you think, but go ahead.

It's simply not designed to be a "more musical low frequency speaker for jazz and progressive rock..." It's designed to reproduce bass frequencies for musical performance. The two are not the same thing, nor do they require the same kind of amplification.

But have fun trying it; that will be an educational experience for you.

It already easily passes my sound comfort test for 85$ total. I usually am very picky with bad sound quality but I have nothing to complain.

I am going to trust my ears and just enjoy this.