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Thread: Best 15 inch JBL Subwoofer?

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    Senior Member stevem's Avatar
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    Best 15 inch JBL Subwoofer?

    I'm currently using a pair of 2235 woofers as subs, each in their own ported 5 cu ft box. Are any of the newer JBL 15 inch woofers considered better as subs? Which ones? Thanks.

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    Senior Member oznob's Avatar
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    SUB1500?

    http://cgi.ebay.com/JBL-SUB1500-15in...QQcmdZViewItem

    IMHO, it is hard to beat the 2235H! I have heard good things about the SUB1500 however. There is a nice looking pair on ebay currently.
    Past practice indicates future behavior.

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    Senior Member stevem's Avatar
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    Thanks for the info. I remember these woofers from when Parts Express was selling out some old stock. Do you know where I can get the Thiel-Small parameters for these? Also, do you have any idea how these compare to the JBL W1500H?

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    Senior Member grumpy's Avatar
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    There was a different post w/ Revel notes, but this might get you going:

    http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/s...&postcount=439

    W1500H? ... evolution of SUB1500 ... more Xmax from what others have said...

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    Quote Originally Posted by stevem View Post
    I'm currently using a pair of 2235 woofers as subs, each in their own ported 5 cu ft box. Are any of the newer JBL 15 inch woofers considered better as subs? Which ones? Thanks.

    I tested a 2205 reconed as 2235 and W15GTI in identical chambers of the same cabinet and the W15GTI was better below 40 Hz and blew the 2235 away below 30 Hz. It was actually more linear across the frequency band to 1KHz too. But they need lots of power. I push about 800 WRMS into it.




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    Administrator Robh3606's Avatar
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    I'm currently using a pair of 2235 woofers as subs, each in their own ported 5 cu ft box. Are any of the newer JBL 15 inch woofers considered better as subs? Which ones? Thanks.
    I would stick with what you have. The newer 15's are rare as hens teeth. You doing these for music HT or both?? If you want to bring the house down you might want to look at an 18" 2242 or 2245's. Gonna need some big boxes though.

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    parallel 2234 goin to beat it in no time


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    Administrator Robh3606's Avatar
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    parallel 2234 goin to beat it in no time
    In that volume I would be looking at a 2242.

    Rob

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    Senior Member stevem's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robh3606 View Post
    I would stick with what you have. The newer 15's are rare as hens teeth. You doing these for music HT or both?? If you want to bring the house down you might want to look at an 18" 2242 or 2245's. Gonna need some big boxes though.
    These will be for music and HT. My room isn't that big, so 18 inch woofers are going to be overkill. I've got a thing about stereo subs for some reason. I was just trying to find out if there would be anything better to hand off to my 1401Nd mid bass drivers.

    Finding and acquiring the rare drivers are part of the fun of this hobby for me.

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    Administrator Mr. Widget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by stevem View Post
    I was just trying to find out if there would be anything better to hand off to my 1401Nd mid bass drivers.
    How low will you be running your 1401Nd drivers?

    The 2235H is a nice woofer, for most music it plays about as low as most people would want, however for HT duty, it's limited Xmax will cause it to run out of steam on many soundtracks.

    If your crossover is at 80Hz or below, I would strongly suggest the JBL Sub1500 or the newer W1500H. These can be used in small sealed or vented cabinets and will produce amazingly good deep bass for music or movies. I would also recommend that you give them a bit of electrical encouragement. The most bang for the buck in that department comes from using the Velodyne SMS-1. By bang for the buck, I mean SOTA performance at an affordable price. I'd recommend the Velodyne with any sub... at least any sub that is seriously robust. A 2235H used as a sub can easily be overdriven and destroyed.

    Widget

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    Senior Member Don Mascali's Avatar
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    [quote=stevem;206771]My room isn't that big, so 18 inch woofers are going to be overkill. /quote]


    Naaa... Too Much is just right.
    4406, 4412A, L100, L100t3 (3 pair), L1, L7, 4645C, 4660A, 4695B, SR4735 and various DIY JBL Pro loaded systems.

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    Administrator Robh3606's Avatar
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    A 2235H used as a sub can easily be overdriven and destroyed.
    ?????

    Rob

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    Moderator hjames's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    A 2235H used as a sub can easily be overdriven and destroyed.

    Widget
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Widget View Post
    A 2235H used as a sub can easily be overdriven and destroyed.
    Quote Originally Posted by Robh3606 View Post
    ?????
    The mass controlling ring as used in the 2235H has fallen out of favor due to the limiting of xMax (This doesn't mean that people with a B380 and BX63 or BX63A should immediately start modifying that particular system design). Current thought is that the 2234H along with a few dB of EQ to fill in the resulting loss of VLF extension is a better solution. The Velodyne SMS-1 Mr. Widget recommends fills the bill. However, the Velodyne SMS-1 probably warrants a more modern transducer design such as the 1500 SUB or W1500H as Mr. Widget also states. Both of these transducers are significantly more robust and designed to handle the stress of small sealed enclosures. They are designed to handle EQ on the bottom end. Very small sealed box plus EQ. JBL has also used them in slightly larger vented boxes as well.

    If one doesn't have the kind of funds required to run these modern subs one can go with something like the W15GTi mentioned by toddalin above. This driver has a higher Q and shouldn't require any EQ. It will dump a ton of bass tones into a room. It is specifically designed to sweep the field of competition in automotive applications but everyone is allowed to use any transducer any way they want regardless of design or intended application.

    Here is the voltage drive for a W1500H in the 1500 Array, ~ 4 dB of boost at ~ 26 Hz. Compare with the voltage drive of the BX63 or BX-63A which I have posted numerous times on the forums over the years. I've also posted the voltage drive of the B212 several times over the years which uses no boost at the bottom of the curve, but rather a staggered two-pole cut at the top of the curve. Instead of fretting about all this though just use the Velodyne SMS-1
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    As an aside - we used to use the 2235H in large sixth order vented alignments way back when there wasn't a whole lot of VLF content on the media available at the time. They were "good" down to 20 Hz with the bump filter set at 20 Hz in the old 5234A. Modern media obsoletes such systems unless the power input is carefully monitored and controlled.

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