Celestion Pulse xl drivers

[kringle77]

I’m not currently building cabs but, the new celestion pulse xl drivers look good in sealed cabs. A pair of the 12’s would likely be great in the Ampeg svt212av with the ports plugged. About 3.5 cuft internal volume.

 

[5StringPocket]

That Pulse XL-12.20 certainly does. It has over twice the X-max and power handling of the Pulse 12, a resonant frequency 10 Hz lower at 35 Hz, and a high Qts. A speaker in a sealed enclosure needs to have a high displacement and low Fs in order to handle power at lower frequencies without farting out. This one looks like it's designed to do so. It’s not very efficient at 94dB/watt but that’s the trade off for low Fs and high Xmax. 800 watts into a sealed 212 looks like it would put out 126 dB at 1m. It doesn't top out very high so I think I'd add a 5" mid to extend the treble.

PULSE XL 12.20 - Celestion

 

[kringle77]

I ordered a pair of these to try in my Ampeg svt212av cab, sealed. It’s roughly 3cuft internal volume.

 

[kringle77]

I just got the drivers and loaded them into the Ampeg cab. Ports are plugged. Out of the gate they go lower than the stock drivers, but aren’t as bright, as expected. But, if you turn up treble on the amp you are rewarded with a more pleasing, rounded treble than the stock drivers flat, which have a natural peak around 3khz. That spike can cause some clack with aggressive playing and I dial it out anyway. I had to turn up the treble with the barefaced two10 cabs with the same result. The drivers are new and tight so, they had some expected buildup in the 130hz region. After playing loud for awhile that started going away. I’m going to put some 30hz and let the drivers loosen up and try again later. My impression is that they sound like an eminence driver without the inherent upper mid spike, which is good. I think in the end, I’ll like them as much as the stock Ampeg drivers meaning, there are things that I like about each driver but, neither has everything. I’ll post more after these are broken in a bit.

 

[kringle77]

After some more break in time the 130hz hump is starting to go away. One thing to consider is that this cab is dampened for a ported design and twice as much fill would likely clean up a remaining hump in this low mid region. Also, when I turn the bass down on my genzler magellan the mids came through better. The cab is roughly 3.5 cuft internally. I’m thinking that a 2 to 2.5cuft cab with better dampening would help these drivers shine. There are some deep lows present in this larger cab. The tone sort of reminds me of the Ampeg 115 portaflex sealed cab. I’ll likely stick with the stock drivers because I don’t want to alter the cab and don’t have the time to build a smaller one for these drivers.

 

[Doug Parent]

After some more break in time the 130hz hump is starting to go away. One thing to consider is that this cab is dampened for a ported design and twice as much fill would likely clean up a remaining hump in this low mid region. Also, when I turn the bass down on my genzler magellan the mids came through better. The cab is roughly 3.5 cuft internally. I’m thinking that a 2 to 2.5cuft cab with better dampening would help these drivers shine. There are some deep lows present in this larger cab. The tone sort of reminds me of the Ampeg 115 portaflex sealed cab. I’ll likely stick with the stock drivers because I don’t want to alter the cab and don’t have the time to build a smaller one for these drivers.

Hey Kris do you think a pair of these would hold up in a 5 cuft SWR Bigfoot cabinet? They are pretty big cabs.

 

[kringle77]

Hey Doug. I don’t have a computer that can use my eminence software disk anymore. I seem to remember preferring the stock Ampeg driver though.

 

[Doug Parent]

Hey Doug. I don’t have a computer that can use my eminence software disk anymore. I seem to remember preferring the stock Ampeg driver though.

thank you!