SEAS Announces Excel Graphene W22 8-Inch Woofer Launch

November 14 2019, 00:30
The new Excel Graphene line was initiated with the launch of the W16NX003 midbass driver in February 2019, and the new 8-inch woofer, the W22NX001, is now the fourth product in this new line from SEAS. The new W22NX001 (E0077-08) also represents a successor to the famous W22EX001 (E0022-08) from SEAS, and it's been upgraded like other products with the new graphene cone technology, as well as a new longer voice coil with a titanium former, magnet system with copper rings and caps, and a thicker ferrite magnet, designed and optimized for lower distortion and high power handling.
 

"Linearity, dynamic capability and clarity have our highest priority, for truthful reproduction of high-res audio. The W22NX001 (E0077-08) is a state-of-the-art High-Fidelity woofer, intended for bass reflex and closed box designs," Claus Futtrup, SEAS CTO states.

"Although 8-inch woofers are classically applied in 3-way systems, we have also seen the predecessor utilized in some ultra-high-end 2-way systems, where the woofer is crossed directly to a dome tweeter. This underlines the exceptional qualities of our woofers," he adds.

As with other designs in the Excel Graphene range, the precision cast, machined, and Graphene treated magnesium cone acts as a piston through the working frequency band without showing any sign of midrange resonance. High purity Graphene, which is a nano-material with special properties, is added to the surface treatment. The SEAS Excel magnesium cone itself is known for its low moving mass and its high stiffness and damping, unrivaled in the industry, and therefore capable of transmitting even the finest details from mechanical motion into the air, resulting in the cleanest and purest sound.

High damping magnesium is a superior material for woofer cones because of its damping properties and light weight, combined with the good sound speed which stems from the stiffness-to-weight ratio. For woofer cones, the damping is of highest priority, even if it compromises stiffness a bit, because the woofer cones have their early break-up modes inside the audible frequency range. The Graphene-coating technology used by SEAS was developed in cooperation with CIC nanoGUNE in Spain: www.nanogune.eu/ and Dr. Perez-Jimenez.

According to SEAS, the W22NX001 woofer is optimized in several ways over its predecessor, the W22EX001, both regarding the cone technology, with the graphene treatment, but also in the motor system, with a new (and in this case longer) voice coil. A titanium voice coil former with a long copper voice coil winding gives a very stiff connection to the cone and provides excellent force transfer, to achieve large linear excursion and the non-conductive former also doesn’t add any damping to the excursion to allow for a very precise and transient sound reproduction, without electromagnetic damping.

An FEA optimized magnet system with precisely fitted copper parts for excellent linearity and symmetry is designed for high power handling and low transient distortion. A heavy copper ring below the T-shaped pole piece reduces nonlinear and modulation distortion and an additional copper cap in the air gap of the magnet system reduces distortion and voice coil inductance, resulting in a sound without coloration. The exact geometry of the pole piece is optimized for completely linear inductance, independent on input power.

"The combination of low mechanical and electromagnetic damping ensure high quality reproduction and brings out even the finest micro details in music. The high-performance magnet system and titanium voice coil and its connection to the cone has very high power handling, suitable for modern amplifiers (e.g. Class-D). Therefore, the driver has exceptional high dynamic capability, which the light and stiff and well damped magnesium cone transfers into clean and undistorted sound, suitable for truthful High-Res audio reproduction," SEAS concludes.

When the original Excel line was launched in 1993, more than 25 years ago, it started a new era for SEAS and these drivers immediately became recognized for their excellent qualities, even by today’s standard. With the new design, every aspect of the speaker from input to output has been scrutinized and optimized. For distribution (DIY) these speakers are packaged in pairs.
www.seas.no
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