Test Bench: The BWX-6502 Midbass from MISCO’s Bold North Audio Line

In this article, Vance Dickason characterizes the Bold North Audio BWX-6502 Midbass, which comes from a series of exciting new drivers designed and manufactured in the US by MISCO (Minneapolis Speaker Company). The BWX-6502 is built on the same platform with a similar XBL2 "dual-gap" motor design structure to the BWX-6501 model but with a cone assembly consisting of an Abaca fiber (paper) cone and a 60mm (2.4") diameter Abaca fiber dust cap, with compliance provided by a wide high excursion NBR surround, and a 3.5" diameter flat cotton spider (damper). This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2021.

This Test Bench characterizes the very recent BWX-6501 Midbass driver from MISCO’s Bold North Audio Line. MISCO (Minneapolis Speaker Co.) is the oldest OEM driver manufacturer in the US, founded in 1949, and Bold North Audio is its new brand, launched in 2019. The Bold North lineup was recently expanded to include two new 6.5” XBL2 motor woofers. These new models, all designed and manufactured in MISCO’s own facility in St. Paul, Minnesota, feature dual inside-outside copper shorting rings in the motor to greatly reduce distortion. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2020.

The driver under test in this Test bench is the SDx10 home audio woofer from Creative Sound Solutions (CSS) Audio, using XBL^2 dual gap motor technology licensed from inventor Dan Wiggins. The CSS SDx10 also has a well-appointed feature set that includes a very stiff coated black paper/carbon fiber blended composite cone with a convex black hard paper dust cap, NBR surround, and semi-progressive cloth spider. All this is driven by a (2.4" six-layer voice coil with two 12mm thick ferrite magnets sandwiched between a thick XBL-configured front plate and black-plated thick T-yoke. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, November 2020.

Voice Coil December 2020 offers a diverse set of articles for loudspeaker professionals and anyone in the audio industry. Mike Klasco writes about MEMS Drivers and related hot technologies for 2021. Next up, James Croft discusses a new patent granted in October 2020 to inventor Eric Jay Alexander, and in Test Bench, Vance Dickason characterizes the recent BWX-6501 Midbass driver and the BDT-2901 Silk Dome Tweeter, both from MISCO’s Bold North Audio Line. Now Available in Print and Download!

Expanding its line of premium and performance-based drivers, designed and manufactured under the Bold North Audio brand, MISCO announced the introduction of the BWX-6501 & BWX-6502, two high performance 6.5" high excursion woofers with an XBL2 motor design and 10 mm linear Xmax. These new models add to a growing line of premium and performance-based drivers, all designed and manufactured in MISCO’s own facility in St. Paul, Minnesota.