Ultimate bass driver . . . no, really . . .

[Mr. Headless]

I just can't figure out why I had to find out about this on some car stereo site instead of here on TalkBass, but be that as it may:

I give you the JackHammer SuperWoofer:
--> Costs less than $10,000 (barely)!
--> At 24", possibly the biggest bass driver in production (although outdone by the old 30" E-V driver of days gone by).
--> 56.25 pound magnet!
--> Total weight 400 POUNDS!! (yeah, that was worth two exclamation points)

Of course, this being TalkBass, I fully expect to be told that this is old news, been there done that, my Phil Jones 4" drivers are LOTS better, etc.

I'm braced, let me have it.

 

[agedhorse]

What is the frequency response over say 100Hz?

What is its sensitivity?

 

[basscooker]

Yeah I'm using four of them with a bank of 20 piezo tweeters in a Fieldy inspired cab design.

 

[ddnidd1]

What is the frequency response over say 100Hz?

What is its sensitivity?

The only specs I could find out of curiosity.

Frequency Response 20Hz - 150Hz
Sensitivity 92.0dB

 

[BassmanPaul]

The problem is you won't get any round tones out of the brute!

 

[agedhorse]

The only specs I could find out of curiosity.

Frequency Response 20Hz - 150Hz
Sensitivity 92.0dB

My (educated) guess is that the sensitivity is optimistically stated by at least 3dB.

Dark (to virtually black) is how I would expect the tonal profile to be.

 

[Redbrangus]

I just can't figure out why I had to find out about this on some car stereo site instead of here on TalkBass

Because the manufacturer, MTX, is a purveyor of car stereo equipment, not actual professional audio gear. They claim this driver has power handling of 4000 watts RMS/8000 watts peak and an Xmax of 2.5 inches, of which I feel both claims are highly dubious. It looks like this product is just designed for dealers to take to car-stereo shows for the yokels to drool over; at $10K per unit I doubt there have been too many actual sales. I mean, you can get a damn fine air-brushed mural of Eddie Van Halen done on your Monte Carlo for that much dinero.

Edit: I edited the last part in an attempt to make it less offensive...apologies to all for that.

 

[Bob_Ross]

At 24", possibly the biggest bass driver in production

Hold my beer:
Back To The Future

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Too muddy.

 

[AlexanderB]

Because the manufacturer, MTX, is a purveyor of car stereo equipment, not actual professional audio gear. They claim this driver has power handling of 4000 watts RMS/8000 watts peak and an Xmax of 2.5 inches, of which I feel both claims are highly dubious. It looks like this product is just designed for dealers to take to car-stereo shows for the yokels to drool over; at $10K per unit I doubt there have been too many actual sales. I mean, you can get a damn fine air-brushed mural of Eddie Van Halen done on your Monte Carlo for that much dinero.

Edit: I edited the last part in an attempt to make it less offensive...apologies to all for that.

Check out the motion of the cone in this clip around 1 minute. Xmax of 2.5 inches (at least peak to peak...) seems completely possible. Remember it is a TWENTYFOUR inch woofer!

Edit: I actually says Xmax 1.35", Xmech 2.5" one way in the support files...

 

[Pings Bass]

I stopped using mine because for some reason when I set my HPF to 150 Hz I couldn't hear anything coming out of it

 

[BasturdBlaster]

I stopped using mine because for some reason when I set my HPF to 150 Hz I couldn't hear anything coming out of it

 

[Element Zero]

Competition car audio is a very different animal.

 

[brianrost]

My car isn't big enough to use that speaker.

 

[Redbrangus]

It weighs in at 400 lbs. too...that's gonna have a negative effect on gas mileage. Not to mention that 4000-watt amp...luckily, those can be had for $200 or so.

 

[getBAK]

I'm sure it's great at rattling the license plate of a Toyota mini truck.

Car stereo guys of this sort are more interested gross DB levels than any actual sound quality

 

[pie_man_25]

I mean, it's a nice coffeeshop rig to be sure, but it's not how a man amplifies bass

But really though, can't lug it many places on your own, the cab is bound to be massive, probably power hungry, and almost definitely very little response over maybe 100-200hz. I'm sure it's a great speaker, but you'd basically be trying to shave with a hatchet. Sure, you can do it, but it would mostly be for cool points. Which, granted, you'd definitely get those of you lugged one of those up some stairs to a gig.

 

[birminghambass]

I just bought 4 of them. I'm going to build 4 separate cabs (to be modular of course) to go with my Trace Elliot Elf.

 

[Jazz Ad]

Why would they make them square ? to handle so much lows they probably move a lot, making the corners resistant enough probably was hard.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

I see drivers in pawn shops that have a cone that looks more like a the sole of a boot or the doormat at the local hardware store. The magnets look like the wheel on a monster truck. I always have that brief thought of buying one and building a sub, but then I suddenly remember, you never see anything like this in the best bass rigs money can buy. The reason? They are not designed for bass guitar at all. They require extreme power to get close to their performance specs if they will achieve it at all. So, maybe they would be good for a stationary under-stage sub in a theater or techno-thump dance club (with a lot of other speakers to fill out the rest of the audio spectrum), but they don’t work for bass guitar.