W6520R-8 SLOB

PaulEbert

I'm considering designing a slot loaded open baffle for the upper bass (above CSS SDX12s) of my next design. The inspiration is the design found here:
https://diyaudio.com/community/threads/the-xsd-speaker.385717/

Since this will be a "high-end" design with mids covered by the Purifi PTT6.5 (also open baffle) and highs covered by the Bliesma T25B (perhaps in a waveguide), I've been looking to upgrade the woofers from the GRS drivers used in the XSD. Still, I need to keep the costs somewhat reasonable (especially needing 8 per side), so when I stumbled on the Eclipse W6520R-8 on clearance at Meniscus, I thought that it might be ideal. I know that the 4 ohm version of this driver has a good reputation and that a few have tried the 8 ohm version. I'd be interested in any thoughts about using the 8 ohm in this configuration. The range I'd be looking to cover would start at around 80hz and the upper cut off would be flexible depending on the dipole response of the PTT6.5.

So, would this work? If so, how well? Are there any other drivers I should consider. Price would have to be around $40 or less.

jhollander

With a slot loaded OB the slot resonance dominates the design. Changing the driver will have little effect. At the lower frequencies I can't imagine there would be a distortion difference, certainly nothing noticeable.

PaulEbert

Interesting. I guess I need to learn more and, perhaps, experiment. Is there a cut-off (on the high end), where this would be less the case? For example, if the SLOB covered up to several 100 Hz, might the distortion of the driver start to factor in?

jhollander

You become more sensitive to music/ sound above 500 Hz. The big assumption is that 8 Eclipse woofers would have lower distortion than 8 GRS woofers at 500 Hz. You can model SLOB in Horn Response. I would be interesting to see what that model and FR looks like. Did you ask over at diyaudio? I thought XRK was pretty responsive.