reek
New Member
Posts: 18
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Post by reek on Jan 2, 2007 9:55:44 GMT -7
Ok long time lurker on these great forums. I have a dedicated home theater measuring about 20'x10'. My dillema is, I am trying to decide which driver to purchase, and maybe someone can shed some light on what I am looking at.
On one hand we have the Ficaraudio 18 as taken from the Driver Comparison Chart:
Ficaraudio Q18 (dual 2ohm) 18" 6.7960 liters of displacement and $ 45.47 (per liter)
On the other hand we have the PE15 as follows:
PE/Dayton 15" DVC 15" 2.4402 liters of displacement $ 52.25 (per liter)
I was trying to stay at $240 which would land me 2x PE15's, but I might be able to save up some more if I wait, and buy the Ficaraudio Q18 for $309. Here is what I am wondering. Would I be better off with 2 PE15's at around 5 liters of displacement or getting the single Q18 with around 6.8 liters of dislacement?
In other words even tho the Q18 has more displacement would the PE15's sound better just because there is 2 speakers vs 1 in this instance or is the Q18 going to sound better because of the 1.8 more liters of displacement? Thans for advice!
Also, I am driving the speakrs with a Marantz MA500 mono block amplifier 180watts into 4 ohms.
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Post by PeterW on Jan 2, 2007 12:52:44 GMT -7
This IB will not have very good extension, as there is simply not enough dicplacement. The FI sub will extend lower and be capable of higher spl as its dicplacement is higher. You may not be able to get this driver to reach its full dicplacement at any frequencies above 16hz..
Definitely build the enclosure to take more drivers. You will definitely need a new amp if you want to add drivers.
The reason i am not reccomending a bigger amp for this small IB is that the small amp will probably limit the chances of overexcursion. There is a very good chance that you will need more drivers for the IB to keep up with the rest of your system.
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Post by ThomasW on Jan 2, 2007 14:22:48 GMT -7
My 'small' IB is in a room about that size. It has 4-12" and does OK for music.
There is a substancial build quality difference between the Fi drivers and the PE stamped frame unit's.
If you can budget the money for a pair of Fi 18" I highly recommend that option over the PE IB15"s.
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reek
New Member
Posts: 18
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Post by reek on Jan 2, 2007 21:10:51 GMT -7
Well I cant afford 620$ for 2x FI 18's unfortunatly. I need to stay at around 250-300$. I guess it will be 2 PE 15's. I hope they are enough for my room size. Thanks for your help.
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Post by ThomasW on Jan 2, 2007 21:41:23 GMT -7
The Fi SSD18"s are $480/pr that includes shipping. If you toast a voice coil of the Fi drivers they can be reconed.
PE will replace drivers if they're defective. If you toast one they don't offer reconing. So you have a big paperweight and need to buy a new driver.
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Post by auburnu007 on Jan 2, 2007 23:39:46 GMT -7
Why not look at the mach5 mj18s? They are priced at about $90 shipped to most of the US. You could do 4 for less than $400.
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reek
New Member
Posts: 18
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Post by reek on Jan 3, 2007 6:06:14 GMT -7
Now I am really confused and torn! Bear with me please and lets re-hash this one final time if you dont mind!
Ahh I always saw the FI Q's referenced. Yah the SSD's are a bit lower. The MJ18's are $240 a pair shipped to my zip, and 4 would cost me $428. Thomas also stated somewhere that the displacement is the same on the MJ18 vs PE.
Thomas, you recommend a pair of SSd18's at $480 a pair but if I were to spend that kind of money wouldn't I get better performance from 4 PE's at $40 cheaper? If what I am reading is correct it would be futile keeping my 250-200$ budget, and I need to find a $400 budget is what i think you all are saying.
Lets assume I now have a $400 budget (ebay time ;D ) Would I be better off with 4x PE15 ($440), 4x MJ18 ($428 plus longer shipping from canada), or somehow raising my budget even further to 2x SSD18 ($480), which would get me quality but I cant fathom the SSD's delivering nearly the performance as the other options.
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Post by ThomasW on Jan 3, 2007 8:30:06 GMT -7
Now I am really confused and torn! Bear with me please and lets re-hash this one final time if you dont mind! Ahh I always saw the FI Q's referenced. Yah the SSD's are a bit lower. The MJ18's are $240 a pair shipped to my zip, and 4 would cost me $428. Thomas also stated somewhere that the displacement is the same on the MJ18 vs PE. Thomas, you recommend a pair of SSd18's at $480 a pair but if I were to spend that kind of money wouldn't I get better performance from 4 PE's at $40 cheaper? If what I am reading is correct it would be futile keeping my 250-200$ budget, and I need to find a $400 budget is what i think you all are saying. Lets assume I now have a $400 budget (ebay time ;D ) Would I be better off with 4x PE15 ($440), 4x MJ18 ($428 plus longer shipping from canada), or somehow raising my budget even further to 2x SSD18 ($480), which would get me quality but I cant fathom the SSD's delivering nearly the performance as the other options. I'll make this really simple....  Compare the amount of air the drivers move. This is known as the 'swept volume' aka Vd. This is the amount of air displaced when the cone cycles in/out it's expressed in liters. It's calculated by taking the Sd and multiplying it times the Xmax doubled. When one does the math for these 3 drivers...... 4-PE15"s or 4-mj18" move the same amount of air as 2- Fi SSD18"s Our standard recommendation is to build a manifold where more drivers can be added at a later date if one desires. If you use a pair of SSD18"s you'll have room to add another pair of needed. With 4 of the other drivers you'd need to do major surgery on the manifold to expand it. |
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