Eleganza Godfather cabinets good for SUB1500 drivers? we're gonna find out!

[Aaron]

Hi all,
This stay home, I got pretty motivated to get the gear together to do some proper subwoofing.

You see before you the tip of the iceberg: Aura NS15, SUB1500 and LE14H-3.:bouncy:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/thehabit.jpg

The LE14s already have a home and of course sound wonderful. I won't bore you with the details.
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/thestack.jpg

Alright, enough show & tell.
I'd like to use the SUB1500s in 3.5cuft boxes with AE speakers 18" PR tuned somewhere in the 18~16Hz range.
Now I'm lazy and cheap, so I'd rather not build anything if I can get someone else to...and just at what the good folks at MosterCable made for me!
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/box1.jpg

It's huge and as you see it now it's a huge waste of real estate: It's 24" high, 32" to a side (44" along the diagonal) and by my best guess, the internal volume can't be more than 2.5cuft.
Here's an idea of the layout inside:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/drawing.jpg
I don't have any use for the amp cavity or the huge slot port, so I guess I should just cut my way through the port walls and lastly seal up the hole where the plate amp was.

What has me stumped at the moment is how to carry out what amounts to a confined space demolition project. All I have for tools that might fit through the woofer hole is a sawzall and a drill...If I could find a wood cutting disc for a 4.5" angle grinder, that might work if I feel like living dangerously.

Any thoughts on tools and/or techniques for this kind of thing?

[macaroonie]

Jiggy get in there ? Also yes you can get 115mm blades for angle grinders that will saw wood. Quick and rough , just the way we like it.

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/221207114034?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla&crdt=0

[rdgrimes]

An excellent use of the LE14s. Makes me want to perch my L96s on top of some PS1400s and run them on a 80Hz filter. :bouncy:

[Aaron]

Wow, a wood blade for the angle grinder, thanks for the link. If I get one I'll have hang on with both hands!

The LE14s measure nearly flat to 20Hz in my listening room. I've got them in 2.5cuft boxes with 15" AE PRs on the back tuned to 18Hz.
In winISD it looks lame, but I guess room gain saves the day.

[NickH]

Jiggy get in there ? Also yes you can get 115mm blades for angle grinders that will saw wood. Quick and rough , just the way we like it.

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/221207114034?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla&crdt=0



Oh geez. I see a future law suit in the making, LOL. Hope theres no finger on the floor.


Thats just as bad as one of those chain saw blades for an sidewinder.

[1audiohack]

Why do I get the feeling there is going to be another, "Help I blew up my SUB 1500's!" thread? :)

i don't know if you have read some of the broken SUB1500 threads but be aware that they have more motor than suspension and can be driven to destruction if the box doesn't offer some real control.

They are really nice subs, but like any purpose built high performance device, they have their limitations.

[Aaron]

I ran a simulation for this driver in a 3.5cuft box with a PR tuned to 17.5Hz and ran out of driver Xmax at 14.5Hz...at 800W.
I don't even have half of that power, so I was hoping I'd be safe.

...Now if I'm missing something, I'd be mighty grateful for the input before I kill my fancy new woofers.:)

[Lee in Montreal]

...Now if I'm missing something, I'd be mighty grateful for the input before I kill my fancy new woofers.:)

I am not 100% sure what was meant, but I think that what was implied is perhaps to tune the cab a bit higher for better excursion control and electronically push the very bottom octave with a small bump. I think that the Sub1500 is the driver with a bad history of ungluing spiders...

[Aaron]

I understand the problem a bit better now and still think I'll be alright.
I'll just have to watch the woofers excursion (half the fun if you ask me).
Of course if anything goes wrong, I've been warned...and thanks for that.

Anyway, I cut away the offending parts and now must seal up the port and plate amp hole.
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/boxcutting.jpg

I used this tool to do the cutting:
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/cordless/2426-20

[Aaron]

The weather perked up a bit today and I made pretty good use of the time:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/plateblock.jpg (http://s278.photobucket.com/user/666csi/media/plateblock.jpg.html)

Here is good shot of how I'm blocking off the slot port.
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/portblock.jpg (http://s278.photobucket.com/user/666csi/media/portblock.jpg.html)

The plate amp block off turned out better than expected:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/plateblockfit.jpg (http://s278.photobucket.com/user/666csi/media/plateblockfit.jpg.html)

[Aaron]

It is done!
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/room.jpg (http://s278.photobucket.com/user/666csi/media/room.jpg.html)

I machined the heads down on the original screws to make for a perfect fit.
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/bolts2.jpg (http://s278.photobucket.com/user/666csi/media/bolts2.jpg.html)
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk87/666csi/subperffit.jpg (http://s278.photobucket.com/user/666csi/media/subperffit.jpg.html)

It sounds great and looks too good for my house.
I have also learned that: You're right, I'm wrong & I'm sorry:p...these things really do need a smaller box.
I'm thinking 2.3cuft tuned to 20Hz with a PR...any thoughts?

P.S. No, I didn't kill my subs, though I'm pretty sure I came close.

[maxserg]

Very nice!

And what do you do with your Aura?:bouncy:

[Aaron]

I really like JBL designs, but those NS15s show too much promise to kick to the curb just yet.
"Under hung coil" and "subwoofer" in the same sentence, just...wow.:eek:
I dunno what I'll do with them, but I'll do something.

[DS-21]

Wow, that's crazy. Not sure what you thought you'd gain, given that the NS15 has a longer throw and a magnetic brake to keep it in one piece. The Godfather cabinet would've been better-served with a sealed NS18, though, IMO. (At one point, my multisub system was one Eleganza Godfather, and two Eleganza Bellas.)

I have two SUB1500's, but still haven't figured out what to do with them. They're sitting (vertically, of course) Problem is, I also have a bunch of Aurasound woofers, and only two systems. I keep the SUB1500s basically in the hope that I'll need to set up a third system. :)

[Aaron]

I didn't know the NS drivers had a magnetic brake feature, thanks for that info.

I'm still very keen on a SUB1500 project.
Pretty much all the really good modern JBL speakers are floorstanders and I don't have the space for them and the eleganzas, so four tiny sealed cabs that hug the walls sounds like a job for the JBL drivers.

[DS-21]

I didn't know the NS drivers had a magnetic brake feature, thanks for that info.

It's different from the braking offered by JBL's differential drive motor. The NS's do it two ways.
First, the magnets don't go all the way down to the bottom of the cap. Since the length of the magnets are the length of the gap and it's an underhung motor, BL falls off significantly when the coil leaves the gap.
Second, there's a shorting ring underneath.

TC Sounds has a knockoff of the Aura NRT motor in their Pro 5100 driver. It has the magnets going all the way down. That results in longer linear throw, at the cost of potential coil-crunch.


Pretty much all the really good modern JBL speakers are floorstanders and I don't have the space for them and the eleganzas, so four tiny sealed cabs that hug the walls sounds like a job for the JBL drivers.

Oh, I get that. (That's one reason I'm harvesting my NS15 from my Godfather as soon as its new cabinet is done. The pie-wedge is too big, and I prefer closed boxes anyway.) I just don't get this particular swap.

[maxwedge]

I like those curved cabinets, really modern looking.:thmbsup:
Like others have suggested, get the volume right for those Sub1500s because it is very easy to blow the spiders off of the frame or cone. I learned the hard way! I was stupid and put one in a 4cf sealed box and blew the spider completely off of the frame in 5 minutes. Now I run them in 1.5 cf sealed and if you port or use passive radiator I think 3-4 cf should be okay.