10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

[cooper]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

Thanks Jethro!

[Jethro]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

I recently acquired a 2004 Lexus ES330 with the Mark Levinson sound system. Not overly impressed with SQ, but not so bad that I want to $hitcan the whole thing and do a complete install. The 8" sub in the rear deck was blown, and disconnected. Knowing that some OEM systems have some real oddball impednace, I put the meter on the leads of the sub and measured a RE of 12.2n. So, probably 16n nominal. Very weird for a sub. Anyway, the rear seat configuration begs for a free air install. My plan is to use a hi/lo converter, fed by the existing sub wires, to a 75x2 Aura amp (buyout a few years ago) to 2 x 10" on a baffle behind the rear seats. Was looking at the GRS 10's, but the Eminator line is now on sale and they also good. Specs suggest that they would work well in this application, and they seem to have a big motor and good efficiency. Thoughts?

Just doing some quick FR and excursion modeling in BassBox, I like the look of the GRS subs in an IB install better than the Eminator subs. The GRS subs will provide better low-end extension and are capable of displacing more air, although the Eminators would be adequate for in-car use. But 8.5 mm Xmax for the GRS vs. 5 mm for the Eminience is the biggest factor I see. The Eminence subs do have the 'efficiency' edge, but the better low-end of the GRS sub cancels that out, to some degree.

[cooper]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

I recently acquired a 2004 Lexus ES330 with the Mark Levinson sound system. Not overly impressed with SQ, but not so bad that I want to $hitcan the whole thing and do a complete install. The 8" sub in the rear deck was blown, and disconnected. Knowing that some OEM systems have some real oddball impednace, I put the meter on the leads of the sub and measured a RE of 12.2n. So, probably 16n nominal. Very weird for a sub. Anyway, the rear seat configuration begs for a free air install. My plan is to use a hi/lo converter, fed by the existing sub wires, to a 75x2 Aura amp (buyout a few years ago) to 2 x 10" on a baffle behind the rear seats. Was looking at the GRS 10's, but the Eminator line is now on sale and they also good. Specs suggest that they would work well in this application, and they seem to have a big motor and good efficiency. Thoughts?

[jhollander]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

Thanks for posting. I hope the 12 performs about the same, it looks definitely usable for a budget OB project.

[johnnyrichards]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

Did some measurements today. Essential test conditions:

I set SPL to 90db @1M using pink noise and my Extech SPL meter (Iowa and Dakota veterans know which one that is). Measurements are not otherwise spl accurate.

Nearfield were taken at 1", farfield were taken at 30"

Cabinet is about 12"W x 18"H x 15"D. ~1 cubic foot. I removed a plate amp from the back of it, so these measurements were taken with a 9" x 9" hole on the backside. There is about 8oz of fill behind the driver.

Mostly (set only the beginning of the impulse) ungated far-field to put perspective on stuff showing up in other pictures:


Near field plus far field. 10db dip centered around 1600 hz, otherwise looks good to 1000, or maybe a little higher.


Some distortion in the far-field:


Overall, pretty bread and butter motor but the cone is relatively well behaved and for the most part distortion doesn't look any worse than any other cheap drivers. In addition to the various subwoofer models I worked up earlier, I would not hesitate to use it in a compact, budget 3-way.

[johnnyrichards]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

All good, Craig. Look forward to seeing you a time or two this year

[PWR RYD]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

Looking forward to see what you come up with for the GRS drivers as well as the gems. Your writeups are always interesting, informative, and fun to read. Hope to hear them in InDIYana and/or DDIY.

Edit... I meant to post this in your "On the slab" thread :o

[johnnyrichards]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

Post away, like to see what two potentially different production runs result in.

[JasonP]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

I have one sitting here for tests as well, I might share in this thread if JR is cool with that.

[morris]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

Too cold to cut anything new right now, and even more too cold to make a baffle big enough to get the measurements that are desired. I have some cabinets out there that will fit these with some simple modifications, but it is not #1 priority at the moment. I just wanted to let people know that as a budget subwoofer, they bring a lot to the table. In fact, for not much more than the cost of a single RS265 you can buy ten of these and have a LOT of fun.

The nearfield will tell me everything I need to know about the driver. But just looking at the impedance curve, I would bet it to have a smooth enough roll-off to make for simple crossovers, and it is probably usable to 1K or so. The inductance curve doesn't start making its hockey stick shape until around then, and even then the impedance rise is better controlled than a lot of cheaper drivers.

In a few months, I may have weather and/or time and/or inclination to indulge in some "IEC" testing but it really isn't up my alley to do that kind of thing.

Updates?

[Pete Basel]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

FWIW the new ones are made by MISCO in minneapolis

Yes, that why I said previously made and this reminds me that the Eminence version
had an aluminum VC former while the new one from MISCO does not.

[michiganpat]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

Reminds me a lot of a 4 ohm version of the old Eclipse 10" - but it could just be looks:

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-10-woofers/eclipse-w1038r-10-poly-cone-woofer-8-ohm/

The Eclipse 10" was optimized by Mark at Meniscus and he says that they worked hard to
get a smooth upper end response and that they (the Eclipse woofers) are very similar
to the old woofers from Audio Concepts. The Eclipse 10" was previously made by
Eminence and Mark says that these are just as good - I have not tried them since I want
a 4 ohm version.

This GRS seems to have a weaker motor - too bad, I'd pay $10 more for more magnet.
I'd really like to see their frequency response. Price is certainly good.

FWIW the new ones are made by MISCO in minneapolis

[johnnyrichards]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

I respect the fact that Johnny doesn't want to do any more testing, that's fine it
was just a suggestion.

I might, but there is a patience factor that needs to be taken into consideration.

[Pete Basel]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

This driver could be used in other applications if it has a smooth clean response
at higher frequencies.
I'm not going to discuss the near field far field thing again, we've been through
this before.
I respect the fact that Johnny doesn't want to do any more testing, that's fine it
was just a suggestion.

[Pete Basel]

Re: 10" GRS subwoofers showed up today...

Baffles are cheap and so are the drivers

I will not be doing far field measurements due to their intended use well below the point where far field tells us anything useful, actually.

That being said, I do not post measurements of that sort, anyways. People always complain about the information, so I just avoid that headache altogether. Measurement gear is cheap.

I agree that if all you care about is subwoofer use then yes nearfield is probably
fine. I have lots of measurement tools, don't have any current use for this woofer
so I won't be buying one.