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OEM EV15L…was the 400 watt version really 400 watts?

Michedelic

Michedelic

MId-Century Modern
Jun 18, 2013
29,442
72,205
Yucca Valley/Joshua Tree
#1
Yes, I used the search function.

This pertains to what is found in Mesa Diesel 2x15 cabs…there were some drivers rated at 200 watts, and some rated at 400 per. If my foggy memory is correct, there was some "discussion" as to whether the 400 watt listing was true, or just creative. Is it the difference between Series I and Series II? Please enlighten me, thanks.
 
#4
You are right Bill, a 2.5" dia. VC, aluminum coil and a 1/2" winding height is going to struggle at 400 watts rms.

The Xmax is quite low also. The winding height is only 1/2" (iirc) with a 1/4" or 5/16" return plate.
 
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#5
agedhorse said:
You are right Bill, a 2.5" dia. VC, aluminum coil and a 1/2" winding height is going to struggle at 400 watts rms.

The Xmax is quite low also. The winding height is only 1/2" (iirc) with a 1/4" or 5/16" return plate.
Click to expand...
So, am I to assume that the declaration of 400 watts is classic amp/speaker company fudging, that it really means 'peak power', or any of those vague terms that used to be employed in brochures, ads, and model names?
 
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#7
Yes, and with a high pass filter or/or band-limited noise,

I used to recone a lot of these, great speaker for a 200-250 watt at 8 ohm (400-500W at 4 ohm) amp. The speaker had a unique mid tone and character, but the LF performance was somewhat limited.
 
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#12
The short answer is yes
and no.

Due to materials upgrades the VC probably won't go up in smoke with less than 400 watts.
However the limited cone travel means it would be already dead by that point anyway.

The reason so many lasted so long at so much volume is the sensitivity.
They are very good at turning fewer watts into LOTS of sound, mostly strong mids.
If it's already as loud as you can take, you tend to not try to put more power into it. :thumbsup:
 
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#13
Bill Whitehurst said:
The short answer is yes
and no.

Due to materials upgrades the VC probably won't go up in smoke with less than 400 watts.
However the limited cone travel means it would be already dead by that point anyway.

The reason so many lasted so long at so much volume is the sensitivity.
They are very good at turning fewer watts into LOTS of sound, mostly strong mids.
If it's already as loud as you can take, you tend to not try to put more power into it. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
The only difference between the series 2 and PL voice coils was a consolidation adhesive coating which helped keep the voice coil from coming apart as it got hot, but IMO and IME the voice coil could not (reliably) handle 400 watts even thermally.

There were 2 failure modes, the first being an opening of the voice coil (usually where it bonded with the termination at the lead wires) and the second was a failure of the wire where it made a 90 degree bend on the top of the coil right before the bond.

The series 2 were fine most of the time with unclipped 200 watts RMS based program material but as distortion and compression became common with MI amps, the slightly improved thermal advantage of the PL improved the reliability.
 

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