Driver 15" for Standalone Sealed Cabinet

[ViVi]

Hi all,
I am reconstructing my “old vintage cabinet” (nice piece of furniture) and would like to replace the driver. I went through this forum and the best option seems to be Eminence KAPPALITE 3015 or Celestion BL15-300X/BL15-400X.
The cabinet is sealed, approx 160 litres and the intention is to use it standalone. I run it through WinISD and it seems that the Kappalite has more midrange response. Will it lead to more clarity?
The Celestion BL15-300X seems to be half price of the Kappalite. Will the difference in sound be important or negligible?
Many thanks for opinions
ViVi

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='ViVi' post='719226' date='Jan 20 2010, 11:37 AM']Hi all,
I am reconstructing my “old vintage cabinet” (nice piece of furniture) and would like to replace the driver. I went through this forum and the best option seems to be Eminence KAPPALITE 3015 or Celestion BL15-300X/BL15-400X.
The cabinet is sealed, approx 160 litres and the intention is to use it standalone. I run it through WinISD and it seems that the Kappalite has more midrange response. Will it lead to more clarity?
The Celestion BL15-300X seems to be half price of the Kappalite. Will the difference in sound be important or negligible?
Many thanks for opinions
ViVi[/quote]
Neither are well suited to sealed alignments, which typically require a driver Qts higher than .50 and EBP less than 75. WinISD does not predict midrange, it's only accurate up to roughly 200 Hz.

[Mr. Foxen]

Is there a spreadsheet or a way of extracting all the T/S characteristic from WinISD into a spreadsheet, so you can sort by the characteristics you are looking for? Cause once you know stuff like Bill says, you still have to look at every driver to spot them.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='719431' date='Jan 20 2010, 01:50 PM']Is there a spreadsheet or a way of extracting all the T/S characteristic from WinISD into a spreadsheet, so you can sort by the characteristics you are looking for? Cause once you know stuff like Bill says, you still have to look at every driver to spot them.[/quote]
There's none I'm aware of. But if you know how to design speakers you also know how to check driver data sheets and wean out unsuitable drivers literally at a glance.

[ViVi]

Thanks for clarification.
I see the option
- to find suitable driver (any reccommendation?)
- vent the box, play with WinISD and experiment

Assuming venting the box, will there be any significant difference betwen the Kappalite and BL15-400X?

[Mr. Foxen]

If you can vent it, 160l is plenty to be working with, the Kappalite should be pretty happy in it. You will have to subtract the volume of the port tube or whatever from that volume though. Best plan is to download WinISD, add in the data for the kappalite from [url="http://lowdownlowdown.com/greenboy/DL/WinISD"]here[/url] and figure your tuning.

[ViVi]

I am playing with it the whole night ... Kappalite seems realy more suitable for vented box.
Thanks again for directing me ...

[Musky]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='719431' date='Jan 20 2010, 06:50 PM']Is there a spreadsheet or a way of extracting all the T/S characteristic from WinISD into a spreadsheet, so you can sort by the characteristics you are looking for? Cause once you know stuff like Bill says, you still have to look at every driver to spot them.[/quote]

Haven't used it myself, but there's a speaker design programme based on excel [url="http://personalpages.tds.net/~fdeck/bass/speaker.xls"]here[/url]. I'm sure you could sort something out from there.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='ViVi' post='719671' date='Jan 20 2010, 06:24 PM']Assuming venting the box, will there be any significant difference betwen the Kappalite and BL15-400X?[/quote]The BL-15 400X has specs close enough to use it sealed, but a 3015 vented will have a lot more low frequency capability than the BL-15 400X either sealed or vented. 40 to 45 Hz tuning will give the best result.

[ViVi]

What about the vent placement. Does it have to be on on the front/rear side? Is it possible to place it on the side wall of the box? Is there any other problem than to be carefull with potentiall blocking of the vent on the sidewall. What about two wents on each sidewall?

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='ViVi' post='719790' date='Jan 21 2010, 08:38 AM']What about the vent placement. Does it have to be on on the front/rear side? Is it possible to place it on the side wall of the box? Is there any other problem than to be carefull with potentiall blocking of the vent on the sidewall. What about two wents on each sidewall?[/quote]

In theory, anywhere is good, but got to give some practical thought to it, and put them somewhere that you won't see the back of the cone, because you lose mids that way or something. Also, try and go for somewhere that won't weaken the panel they are going into.

[geoffbyrne]

I think BFM said recently, that you shouldn't be able to see the back of the speaker if you look through the port(?)!!

G.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='720101' date='Jan 21 2010, 08:40 AM']I think BFM said recently, that you shouldn't be able to see the back of the speaker if you look through the port(?)!!

G.[/quote]Correct. If you can see the cone then midrange waves can exit the port, which you don't want. Aside from that caveat the port can go anywhere.