Dayton Audio Reference Series High Excursion

[a4eaudio]

Man, I guess we know what the people at Dayton Audio were doing over the last year in isolation...coming up with a bunch of new products!

https://www.parts-express.com/promo/reference-he-series

(Now if they could just get those new Epique subs off the slow boat from China and onto my front step.)

[LOUT]

I thought higher excursion versions of the ReferenceSeries/RSS subs were what the Ultimax series were. Now I'm curious where these fit in.
EDIT: looks like they're higher efficiency, wattage, XMAX and price than the Ultimax, but don't reach quite as low with higher FS?

[Ray Tremblay]

Nice

[johnnyrichards]

Is there any data to back up the Xmax claim? Adding "1/3 of the top plate thickness" seems pretty arbitrary.

[Steve Lee]

SB Audio is using the same method of late - not sure what it means but it seems to be a recent trend . . .

[billfitzmaurice]

It's what you do when you don't use Klippel. Using the Klippel standard of xmax being where 10% THD is reached it's almost always longer than the traditional coil length top plate calc. Adding 1/3 the top plate thickness to that would seem an effort to get a number closer to the Klippel, but yes, it is arbitrary.

[fpitas]

Of course if you supercharge, Xmax doubles, at least.

[Ray Tremblay]

It will be interesting to see how the 18" model (assuming it materializes eventually) will compare to the Ultimax 18 which slightly out classes the RSS460HO.

[danmarx]

These drivers do look very interesting. I ran a few simulations and really like what I see. Smaller vented enclosures can get down below 20 Hz easily. Port size can be tricky though. But lots of options for sure. Would love to see a complimentary pair of these as passive radiators. That massive excursion would make them pair great with the regular RS series without needed to go up in size (ie, pair a 12 with a 12). For anyone interested, I noticed their spec sheet actually shows a cross section of the motor assembly, something they normally don't show, so I grabbed a screen shot and re-drew it to scale with some CAD software. With that I was able to take measurements of all of the more interesting parameters. Xmax comes in exactly at ±27mm just as specified with Xmech being around ±36mm. The vent is a whopping 35mm as well. So very nice. Accuracy of my drawing is probably about ±0.3mm, best I can guess. Other dimensions are shown as well. Anyway, these look like fun drivers, a great addition to the Dayton Audio line-up. Now I just need an excuse to build a sub. =)

[lamski]

Would these be suitable for a sealed enclosure with a lot of power and DSP/EQ to get it to dig down deeper? Or would these be better suited for ported designs?

[fpitas]

Would these be suitable for a sealed enclosure with a lot of power and DSP/EQ to get it to dig down deeper? Or would these be better suited for ported designs?

They'll work fine in sealed.

[lamski]

They'll work fine in sealed.

For the 15" HE, would the 3cf sealed enclosure PE offers be a good choice or would the 4cf sealed enclosure be better? I think I have the space for either one.

[fpitas]

For the 15" HE, would the 3cf sealed enclosure PE offers be a good choice or would the 4cf sealed enclosure be better? I think I have the space for either one.

Running a quick SIM in AJ Sealed, 3cf or 4cf should work fine. I'd use the 3cf and stuff it well to absorb harmonics. Not particularly crucial for a sub, but I like to do that.

[---k---]

Can anyone say whether 18" models are planned and a guess at the timeline. If they model nicely in a 4cuft sesled box and pe we're to open preorders, I'd have my credit card out.