Test Bench: The L26ROY 10” Subwoofer from SEAS

This month I characterized the 10” L26ROY subwoofer from SEAS’ new Extreme line. The SEAS L26 series from SEAS was popularized by several of Siegfried Linkwitz designs (sold by Madisound as kits), including his "pièce de résistance," the LX521.4, which utilized four L26RO4Y subwoofers (the four-layer version). These 10” woofers were built in Taiwan for SEAS, but that production has now been brought home to Norway and reintroduced as the Extreme subwoofer line. The new L26ROY has a well-appointed feature set. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, April 2019.

In this Test Bench we will be looking at the 29 mm TW29DN-B cloth dome tweeter from the SB Acoustics Satori line of high-end devices. This new TW29DN-B-8 SB Satori tweeter is a wide surround format-type similar to the original Vifa DX tweeter, or the current Scan-Speak D2604 or D2607. However, all of these are 26 mm diaphragm tweeters, and the new Satori ST29DN-B-8 is a 29 mm diaphragm type. This article was published in Voice Coil, March 2019.

This month I am characterizing the SB29BNC beryllium 29 mm dome tweeter from SB Acoustics. This is the second high-end 29 mm beryllium diaphragm neodymium dome sent by SB Acoustics for Test Bench. Features for this transducer include a small format 72 mm diameter injection-molded plastic faceplate, and an 8 mm wide coated cloth surround. This article was published in Voice Coil, March 2019.

This Test Bench characterizes the T34B-4 34mm beryllium dome tweeter from BlieSMa, a German company founded in 2018 by Stas Malikov. BlieSMa’s first tweeter offering, the T34A-4 34 mm aluminum/magnesium alloy dome, appeared in Voice Coil’s June 2018 Test Bench. This month, I received the company’s second offering, and it seems logical that this driver, the T34B-4, is a 34 mm beryllium dome tweeter. This article was published in Voice Coil, March 2019.

For this Test Bench, Vance Dickason actually had lots of fun characterizing a new version of a legendary 6.5” woofer recently announced by MISCO (Minneapolis Speaker Company). The new MS-10W, will be marketed under the new MISCO brand, Bold North Audio, and it is effectively a direct replacement for the famous white driver on Yamaha’s NS10 studio monitors! This article was originally published in Voice Coil, February 2019.

Being primarily known as a pro sound driver OEM, with a great reputation for both guitar speakers and PA drivers, it may come as a surprise that this Eminence driver, the SD28, is a 1” soft dome tweeter — a staple of the home and car audio businesses. I should note however, that while Eminence has a rather large catalog of pro audio transducers, the company also produces drivers for home and car audio companies. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2019

In this Test Bench I characterized the 475PB, a 1" compression driver from Radian Audio Engineering. The 475PB has a similar set of features as Radian’s 745PB. This includes a 1” throat diameter, a 134 mm × 19 mm ferrite magnet motor, and the most important feature—a proprietary processed and hardened aerospace-grade aluminum alloy diaphragm over a three-slit phase plug. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2019.

In this Test Bench I characterized the 745PB 1.4” compression driver from Radian Audio Engineering. Based in Orange, CA, Radian is a serious player in the OEM loudspeaker component business, the sound contractor/fixed installation market, and the portable/tour sound industry. The 745PB has the expected rich feature set of other Radian compression drivers. Subjectively, this speaker is incredibly musical, detailed, and extremely easy to listen to — certainly a goal for all monitors. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2018.

In this Test Bench I characterized the CDX14-2420 1.4” compression driver from UK Pro Sound OEM manufacturer Celestion. Designed for use with 1.4” throat horns, the CDX14-2420 has a 35.6 mm (1.4”) throat diameter driven by a 60 mm (2.4”) diameter voice coil wound with edgewound copper-clad aluminum wire (CCAW) on a high-temperature fiberglass non-conducting former, which drives a deep-drawn titanium diaphragm and polyimide surround. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2018.

This Test Bench examines Eighteen Sound's ND4015BE beryllium compression driver, which was mated to an Eighteen Sound XR2064 60° × 40° horn. This compression driver is available in two versions, a 1.5" throat and a 2" throat. This review focuses on the 2" throat model. The ND4015BE has a 4”-diameter edge-wound aluminum voice coil on a nonconducting Nomex former, a 4" pure beryllium diaphragm with a polymer surround. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, February 2014.