Hi All,
It has been a loong time. When I moved 6-years ago, I gave away my big ported subwoofer box and swore off ever carrying one of those down into a basement again. The plan was to finish out a basement with projector, wall, and IB. But, life got in the way and never got around to it. Most of my gear sat boxed up in basement. But, I recently got the Khans setup and paired it with a new 77" OLED and some nice recliners. The family is really enjoying it.
For subs, I'm using a pair of circa 2004 SoundSplinter RL-p15 D2 subs in sealed ~93L boxes. One on each side of the tv. I set them up / EQ using only Audyssey x32 on my old Onkyo receiver. I haven't run any tests or measurements, besides watching a bunch of Disney and Pixar movies. But, to my ears, they sound pretty good in my concrete basement. I'm confident that I'm getting pretty good gain down low.
But, upgrade-itist has gotten ahold of me. I think I just want someone new, because new has to be better, right??? Then, I saw that PE is selling the Ultimax 18 paired with a 4cuft box. It's basically the same size as I have now, which appeals to me. I'm getting old, lazy, and time limited. So the fast build of a pre-built has a lot of appeal. Looked perfect.
But, when I model it, I scratching my head thinking I must be doing something wrong. This is powered by my old Behringer EP-2500, which has 650W per channel (so each sub would get its own channel).
I expected a more gain going from a 15" to and 18"... it is about 2db between 20hz and 30hz. And this graph shows my current 15" out performing the Ultimax 18" from 50hz up.
So, it has me wondering if this would be an upgrade at all. But, I also wonder about tech and quality. Has things changed in the last 15 years that would make a current Ultimax better than a 15-year-old Sound Splinter RL-15? Looking around on the internet, there are various opinions of both the Ultimax. I've seen lots of rave reviews, but other say it isn't musical, lacks punch, it is poor for mid-bass being defined as above 50hz.
My Soundsplinters were designed with XBL way back when.
And then there are the crazies that recommend cheaper drivers in big ported or horns and swear they'll have less distortion, because they aren't driven hard. I don't know what to make of that. I have a hard time believing it. I'd like to be able to evaluate it, but I don't think I'm willing to build live with that big of boxes. Sonotube is the only ported option I'll consider again.
I'd really appreciate if someone can tell me if my model is wrong. Am I missing something? Will new Ultimax be better than my 15-year-old RL-P15? Any other good options for big subs. Mostly for movies. I cross to the Khans at 50 - 60hz .
Parameters I found on Google for my RL-P15
thanks.
It has been a loong time. When I moved 6-years ago, I gave away my big ported subwoofer box and swore off ever carrying one of those down into a basement again. The plan was to finish out a basement with projector, wall, and IB. But, life got in the way and never got around to it. Most of my gear sat boxed up in basement. But, I recently got the Khans setup and paired it with a new 77" OLED and some nice recliners. The family is really enjoying it.
For subs, I'm using a pair of circa 2004 SoundSplinter RL-p15 D2 subs in sealed ~93L boxes. One on each side of the tv. I set them up / EQ using only Audyssey x32 on my old Onkyo receiver. I haven't run any tests or measurements, besides watching a bunch of Disney and Pixar movies. But, to my ears, they sound pretty good in my concrete basement. I'm confident that I'm getting pretty good gain down low.
But, upgrade-itist has gotten ahold of me. I think I just want someone new, because new has to be better, right??? Then, I saw that PE is selling the Ultimax 18 paired with a 4cuft box. It's basically the same size as I have now, which appeals to me. I'm getting old, lazy, and time limited. So the fast build of a pre-built has a lot of appeal. Looked perfect.
But, when I model it, I scratching my head thinking I must be doing something wrong. This is powered by my old Behringer EP-2500, which has 650W per channel (so each sub would get its own channel).
I expected a more gain going from a 15" to and 18"... it is about 2db between 20hz and 30hz. And this graph shows my current 15" out performing the Ultimax 18" from 50hz up.
So, it has me wondering if this would be an upgrade at all. But, I also wonder about tech and quality. Has things changed in the last 15 years that would make a current Ultimax better than a 15-year-old Sound Splinter RL-15? Looking around on the internet, there are various opinions of both the Ultimax. I've seen lots of rave reviews, but other say it isn't musical, lacks punch, it is poor for mid-bass being defined as above 50hz.
My Soundsplinters were designed with XBL way back when.
And then there are the crazies that recommend cheaper drivers in big ported or horns and swear they'll have less distortion, because they aren't driven hard. I don't know what to make of that. I have a hard time believing it. I'd like to be able to evaluate it, but I don't think I'm willing to build live with that big of boxes. Sonotube is the only ported option I'll consider again.
I'd really appreciate if someone can tell me if my model is wrong. Am I missing something? Will new Ultimax be better than my 15-year-old RL-P15? Any other good options for big subs. Mostly for movies. I cross to the Khans at 50 - 60hz .
Parameters I found on Google for my RL-P15
Soundsplinter RL-p15 D2 | ||
Fs | 23.43 | Hz |
Re | 3.66 | Ohm |
Qms | 4.03 | |
Qes | 0.36 | |
Sd | 806.0 | cm2 |
Vas | 163.0 | l |
Xmax peak | 24.60 | mm |
(Le) | mH | |
(Le2) | mH | |
(Re2) | 0.00 | Ohm |
Nominal Power | 650.0 | W |
Dayton Ultimax 18-22 18" | ||
Fs | 19.50 | Hz |
Re | 4.40 | Ohm |
Qms | 3.82 | |
Qes | 0.62 | |
Sd | 1219.0 | cm2 |
Vas | 212.0 | l |
Xmax peak | 22.00 | mm |
(Le) | 2.22 | mH |
(Le2) | mH | |
(Re2) | 0.00 | Ohm |
Nominal Power | 650.0 | W |
thanks.
Comment