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Will this 18” woofer work for bass cab?

The Juice

The Juice

Jul 18, 2010
95
123
37
Houston,Austin,Fort Worth
#1
Just snagged myself a Carvin Rl118 for a good deal, and was looking to upgrade the 18” speaker. Found a Celestion T8567A online and the specs that attracted me to the woofer are the Frequency response which goes from 40-3000 khz, which is higher than the stock speakers 2000 hz, and the Sensitivity which is 99db, which is also higher than the stock speakers 97db. Im not sure though as it is a woofer so it may not work, but considering the frequency response I think it may work ,which is why i’m asking the talk bass community. Here’s a link to the woofer. Invalid Link Removed. Btw I love the Rl118 as it match's very well with my Orange Terror Bass 500 head.
 
#2
You'll need to measure the internal height, width, and depth and multiply to determine if it comes close to the optimum internal volume that Parts Express thoughtfully provided using bass box pro. I did a quick and dirty semi wild *** calculation that with 3/4 inch ply, your cab is around 5.6 cubic ft, and Parts Express says optimum is 3.5 vented, so I'd guess it would fart out at much less power than what it's rated for. I wouldn't waste the money.
 
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#7
The Juice said:
Just snagged myself a Carvin Rl118 for a good deal, and was looking to upgrade the 18” speaker. Found a Celestion T8567A online and the specs that attracted me to the woofer are the Frequency response which goes from 40-3000 khz, which is higher than the stock speakers 2000 hz, and the Sensitivity which is 99db, which is also higher than the stock speakers 97db. Im not sure though as it is a woofer so it may not work, but considering the frequency response I think it may work ,which is why i’m asking the talk bass community. Here’s a link to the woofer. Invalid Link Removed. Btw I love the Rl118 as it match's very well with my Orange Terror Bass 500 head.
Click to expand...

So, this is a good example of WHY it's important to understand what the specs mean. The 99dB sensitivity spec is NOT the 1W spec but the 2.83V spec which is 2W into the rated 4 ohms. Normalizing this to 1W means that the real sensitivity spec is ~96dB/1W/1M.

Another area where specs need to be understood is power handling. The 600 watts "RMS" is a "must survive for 2 hour" number which doesn't really represent real world reliability because it doesn't have to meet spec. after the test. There is a 200 hour version of this test and most drivers survive this with a reduction of ~25-35% power.

Frequency response for this driver is on axis as well as -10dB points. Because this is a fairly deep cone with no obvious design enhancements to increase or expand the polar pattern, this driver will be very dark (especially off axis). This doesn't matter for subwoofer applications, or where the driver may be used with a dedicated mid driver, but as a full range driver it's a poor choice. Adding a tweeter won't help because the polar pattern is quite narrow well below where a tweeter would be useful and the response would require a very large horn/driver in any regards.
 
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#8
agedhorse said:
So, this is a good example of WHY it's important to understand what the specs mean. The 99dB sensitivity spec is NOT the 1W spec but the 2.83V spec which is 2W into the rated 4 ohms. Normalizing this to 1W means that the real sensitivity spec is ~96dB/1W/1M.

Another area where specs need to be understood is power handling. The 600 watts "RMS" is a "must survive for 2 hour" number which doesn't really represent real world reliability because it doesn't have to meet spec. after the test. There is a 200 hour version of this test and most drivers survive this with a reduction of ~25-35% power.

Frequency response for this driver is on axis as well as -10dB points. Because this is a fairly deep cone with no obvious design enhancements to increase or expand the polar pattern, this driver will be very dark (especially off axis). This doesn't matter for subwoofer applications, or where the driver may be used with a dedicated mid driver, but as a full range driver it's a poor choice. Adding a tweeter won't help because the polar pattern is quite narrow well below where a tweeter would be useful and the response would require a very large horn/driver in any regards.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. That’s a pretty tricky thing they pulled with the Speaker sensitivity there.
 
#9
The Juice said:
Thanks for the info. That’s a pretty tricky thing they pulled with the Speaker sensitivity there.
Click to expand...
It's misleading when you don't know what to look for. ANY time I see a 4 ohm low frequency oriented woofer like this with a 99dB sensitivity, I immediately become wary because that would equate to 102dB/1W/1M as an 8 ohm woofer which is pretty much impossible.
 
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#13
The Juice said:
So there’s a limit. What’s the maximum sensitive for a 4ohm or a 8 ohm driver on a 1w/1m basis?
Click to expand...
It depends based on the bandwidth, the moving mass, and the polar pattern, but for an 18" driver i8ntended for subwoofer applications 102dB/1W/1M equivalent certainly would cross that threshold in my book and warrant additional research.

Now for a subwoofer application, it might be a very good driver but that's not what you wanted to use it for.
 
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#14
I like to pair a 1x18 with a 2x10 cab

bass-amp.jpg
 
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#18
ProfFrink said:
I mean: The DMCSPD (don't mix bass cab sizes police department)
Click to expand...
I get a pass :)
I am bi-amping.
The David Eden CX110 with coaxial 1x10 gets the mid-bass to highs from about 400 up, depending on the mood.
The Aguilar GS 112 1x12 gets everything else down from 400.
Oh and, yes the tweeter is off on the Aguilar :)
The Black Widow 1x18 gets 250 and below.

Most of my gigs just get the 1x10, 1x12 though...
 
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#20
DJ Bebop said:
I get a pass :)
I am bi-amping.
The David Eden CX 1x10 gets the mid-bass to highs from about 400 up, depending on the mood.
The Aguilar GS 1x12 gets everything else down from 400.
The Black Widow 1x18 gets 250 and below.

Most of my gigs just get the 1x10, 1x12 though...
Click to expand...

A triamp setup? Awesome! :thumbsup:

I haven’t seen anything like that since the 80s when Prog was in its “twilight last gleaming” stages.

And here I though I was so rad biamping with my rack gear back then. :laugh:

DF1F43D4-D7D8-48F1-90BE-78D9FBC6EA9A.gif
 
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