Test Bench: Eminence’s Tour Grade NSW4018-8 18” Woofer

Vance Dickason characterizes a very high power handling 18" woofer from Eminence’s recently announced Tour Grade pro sound product line, the NSW4018-8. The Tour Grade family consists of two 18" options, including the ferrite magnet FSW4018-8, the neodymium magnet NSW4018-8, and the massive neodymium magnet 21” NSW6021-6, and was developed over two years to support the undisputed growth of professional audio. Applications for the new Eminence NSW4018-8 include use as a bass driver in multiway systems, or as a dedicated subwoofer in bass reflex designs. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, May 2020.

In this Test Bench, Vance Dickason receives the latest 18NDXL Imperium, a very high power handling 18" low-frequency woofer from British brand Fane. Designed by this revitalized company with a rich history, the 18NDXL Imperium includes uses as a bass driver in multiway systems or as a dedicated woofer in bass reflex or horn loaded designs. The feature set for the 18NDXL is like most high-performance pro sound drivers, rather substantial. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, April 2020.

While many other OEM pro audio driver manufacturers have temporarily retreated and quarantined during the COVID-19 pandemic, others opted to stick to their original plans and albeit the cancellations of major trade-shows, maintained their product schedule. Benefiting from some additional time to refine designs, Beyma continued its search to break the limits of acoustic technology and now unveiled the latest QLEX woofer series, developed to offer the extra energy and performance that the latest generation of sound reinforcement systems demand.

In this very strong edition of Voice Coil, focused on up-to-date topics for loudspeaker professionals, we discuss the industry's Asian supply chain, how a new carbon composite dome compares with Beryllium and Titanium products, and James Croft reviews a recent electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL) patent. Vance Dickason focuses his attention on two innovations coming from Eminence, in two extreme product categories. The new Eminence NSW4018-8 18" Tour Grade Woofer, and the new N314X 1.4" compression driver, which is the first to use TeXtreme composite material for the diaphragm. Download your copy now!

As scheduled, Voice Coil April 2020 is now available in print and digital, connecting loudspeaker professionals in these challenging times. This month, Mike Klasco (Menlo Scientific) discusses Mobile Audio and Microspeakers, which is also the topic of this month's updated directory. James Croft reviews a patent from Harman, while Vance Dickason characterizes the new 18NDLX Imperium woofer from Fane and the CDX14-3040 compression driver from Celestion. Download now and start reading!

It was hardly a secret that Eminence was planning to shake up the pro audio industry with its new Tour Grade - American Muscle subwoofer series. After months of teasing the market and receiving a lot of market feedback, Eminence introduces the company's first pro audio high power woofer family since the 1999 release of the Eminence Kilomax series. But this time, the Tour Grade series woofers are a much more ambitious undertaking, representing an effort from the Kentucky company to define new standards in efficient low frequency reproduction.

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.

In this Test Bench, Vance Dickason characterizes the SEAS W16NX003 5.25” midbass driver, one of the new graphene-coated magnesium cone drivers from the brand's Excel Graphene range. This product line has been an ongoing project for more than two years, combining the already highly prized magnesium cone with the desirable acoustic properties of Graphene, which also works to provide corrosion protection to magnesium. This article was published in Voice Coil, August 2019.

In this article for Voice Coil, the authors explore the problem of designing vented enclosures, describing a backward concept they call LoVE BASS, which they found to save a substantial amount of engineering hours during the process of speaker box design. As opposed to taking a given driver and designing an enclosure, the authors define the system’s target performance in terms of physical volume, lower cut-off frequency, ripple and maximum achievable SPL, after which they look for candidate drivers that allow for such a design. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, July 2019.

SEAS Fabrikker continues to deliver on its promise to completely renew its product portfolio since the company revitalized its production, moving manufacturing from Taiwan to a new production line in Moss, Norway. Following the announcement in May 2019 of a completely new product-size of woofer in the Excel Graphene Woofer Series, named the 19-series, SEAS now launches the L19RNX1 (H1878-08) in the affordable Prestige Titan Series. The new L19RNX1 woofer was designed to respond to the challenges of high-res audio reproduction with improved clarity and dynamic capability.