Replacement 8" Drivers EA VL208

[Uncletoad]

I love my EA VL 208 cabs. I've used for long enough to burn up many 8" drivers. I bought the remaining stock of drivers from EA and there are no more. Over the years I've now gone through them all. Eminence doesn't make anything like it anymore. They don't have recone kits. Neither company had any useful replacement ideas for me. I don't mind them sounding a bit different or behaving differently. I just don't know how to choose a functional replacement without wasting a ton of bread in trial and error.

Any thoughts?

 

[will33]

Well, they're expensive, but FaitalPro makes an 8FE200, I think it is that's one of the best out there for bass, has enough excursion and handling to get as loud as some 210's and smooth topend. That's about top of the heap. I haven't checked the spec differences on the 4ohm model if you want an 8ohm cab. The 8ohm models want a little bit of a high tuning to fill in the lows, but I think it'd be safer to use a more common 50-ish hz tuning. Would help prevent unloading and they have the xmax to handle adding more bass with eq. That's what I remember from helping a guy with a 6x8 loaded with those things.

Wouldn't hurt to do a "rice test" or "salt test" ( can search those terms here ) to see what your box is tuned to. That'd help in picking replacements. You'd have a wider selection in 8ohm drivers, meaning you'd end up with a 4 or 16ohm cab.

 

[will33]

For a more budget option, Eminences Beta 8 isn't too bad, not the performance of the Faital though.

 

[Uncletoad]

Faital's seem compelling, they are under $50 each, that's not bad at all. Thanks for the recommendation.

The drivers in the cabinets are 16ohm. So I'd have to run the 4ohm in series or the 8ohm in paralell and make them 4 ohm boxes. I'm fine with that if that's not an issue. I don't know enough about speakers and crossovers to know if that matters.

 

[will33]

I must be getting model numbers confused then. The 8" Faital I'm thinking of is used in Greenboy's Crazy 8 cabs and runs something around $200 a pop.

I probably confused it with their 10FE200 I think it is, which is a pretty good looking 10" for around $50-$55, though I haven't looked at the 8" version of that model, so, all my cab tuning writings there are probably meaningless.

 

[will33]

Re: the crossover.....it depends.

If it isn't a full crossover, meaning the woofers play the full signal and there is just one filter to block the lows from the tweeter, then changing the woofer impedance doesn't really matter.

If it does have a full crossover, meaning there is another filter to block the treble from the woofers, tuen you'd have to use the same woofer impedance to even have a chance of it sounding right, meaning two 4ohms in series or two 16ohms in parallel.

If there is an inductor coil in line with the woofers, it is a full crossover. If there is only one inductor coil that goes across the + and - lines that feed the tweeter, it isn't.

 

[Uncletoad]

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Looks like they have a half dozen 8" drivers.

I can't tell by looking at the wiring how the 8" drivers are hooked up, either independent of the crossover or after a low pass circuit.

Perhaps the EA folks could enlighten me on some of that. Thanks for taking the time to answer.

 

[will33]

The 8PR200 is the expensive, high xmax model. Actually, the more affordable 8FE200 may give a fuller tone on bass with its lower Fs and frequency range, but I have to dig into it more to really know. Also, the more detailed specs can vary quite a bit between 4ohm and 8ohm models of the same speaker.

 

[chadds]

Call LDS. See if their long throw 8"s would be appropriate.

 

[Mike Arnopol]

I'm very aware of the 8's out there.

Here's the problem. All of them have fs's that are too high.
I use the 8pr200 a lot. Great driver but not great extension. Forget the 8fe---very high fs. You'll be fine on upright with the 8pr---no 5 strings, though.

As far as the crossover---that's your bigger hurdle. That speaker is a 3 way, right? That means that the woofer is functioning on a low pass filter. Specifically designed for their woof. You could get lucky just popping a few drivers in there but I doubt it. The VL's used much more sophisticated xovers. If there was nothing on the woofer and the mids were just high passed---maybe. And the likely difference in sensitivity. Was the 208 an 8 or 4 ohm cab? If 8, then the drivers were 4 or 16 ohm drivers. If the cab is 4 ohms then you could use two 8 ohm drivers.

The VL's were ambitious cabs that a lot of design went into. Trying to drop another woofer in might be ok---but it won't sound like the 208. Hell---it might be better--I don't know.

For my cabs I had to go with custom 8's from Eminence. There were no stock 8's that went low or loud enough for me. My custom ones go very low and loud. Don't really know why they don't make a similar stock woofer. Mine have an fs of 35hz and excursion of nearly 9mm. Nothing close to that on the market.