These are now in stock so the pre-order is over.

These are now in stock so the pre-order is over.

3500's still going to be available? I should be ordering in the next 2 days.

Christmas with 4 teenage daughters = broke ass dad....LOL

We still have some of all models available.

"This is our upcoming 1250 RMS line being tested free air with nearly 3x their rated power level -- I took it up a bit too far just as an example =) This was taken with a bit newer camera than previously used -- Canon Powershot Elph 16.1MP. The excursion looks a little weird in this video compared to other videos so not sure which camera I'll keep using in the future -- but hope you all enjoy !"

From the video caption.

The 18" 6-spoke is an open tool and 100s of companies use them -- so yes it is.

We've tooled up an adapter to use the same spider size as our 15" frame on it, though.

The X-12s are out for magnetizing right now; haven't shipped the 10,15,18 yet so here are some pics of their depths :

* X-10

* X-15

* X-18

Looks freaking sick. I 18 looks like a 15 lol.

What about boxes? Are we still looking at smaller boxes compared to other high performance drivers?

Yes, our traditional box sizes are fine.

The containers with these should be in the port of Charleston around Dec 20th -- depending on holiday delays to get from there to us they may arrive before end of December so pre-order NOW if you want some at this price

The containers with these should be in the port of Charleston around Dec 20th -- depending on holiday delays to get from there to us they may arrive before end of December so pre-order NOW if you want some at this price

Originally posted by Greg Kashin :

http://www.caraudioc...ponent-set.html

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Ok, we got our comps in a few weeks ago, and were immidietly super impressed with the build quality and finish on these things - really a great set!

So the initial listening impression was from an SQL-type install in a Toyota Landcruiser

two sets on a Sundown SAX125.2 with a couple of SA10's sealed in the back for bass

testing material was comprised of some random rock, blues and vairous club track that the owner of the car normally listens to as well as an SQ competition CD from the AMT Russian Challenge format

the mid-range capabilities of the set inpressed us - well over 3khz with no distortion or harshnes

the highs are equally amazing playing with full detail into 17khz with a beutifull sound....great silk tweeter (we actually had a few people request the tweeters alone for use with really high end SQ components)

but the best part we feel is the mid-bass, being able to hit with authority from 62hz (even fresh out of the box with barely any play time) and deliverring terrific, detailed punch. The drum sections have so much detail to them on this set that we feel many hard-core SQ guys will love these

So, overall - rock, jazz, blues are not a problem for this set-up..... the defintion and high level on control on any music material clearly indicates that alot of work went into development and testing for these. Also, the cooling and whatever else magic that went into them is really working as we found nearly impossible to overload the speakers with the current power on tap (SAX125.2 @2ohm for 2 sets) and they do get quite loud when asked

this was more or less a short test, but I think many of you, who have had a chance to play with the SA-6.5SC can confirm similar experiences

:thumbsup:

Then a few days later we got to an actual studio test with proper boxes built

the boxes are just a bit over 1cf net and in this test power came from and old-school DLS amp

break-in time needed was 2hours with the overall testing lasting over 5 hours, this time we had one of the Head Judges from EMMA with us.... he confirmed our initiall amazement and in short gave the following summary

Sundown Audio manged to produce something near a miracle - a very strong, tactile mid-bass, amazingly detailed and firm punch coupled with a very pleasing mid-range

the highs have alot of air to them and are very detailed

so a perfect set for a wide range of music for someone who trully enjoys a refined, quality sound that can also be loud (when needed)

couple of vids

I am very excited about this line... a truly high excursion line at reasonable prices. I had a very particular vision with this line in mind -- I was not happy with simply making an evolutionary step from the SA line as our previous prototype from a few years back was. I wanted a fully new platform line to delivery truly GREAT performance. I think once the final specs are released and people see / hear these they will be a big hit.

Another cool thing about the X series motor is that it can be pretty easily re-coned with many popular 3" coils from custom sources such as FixMySpeaker in case someone tears one up and wants to go that route Many 8-layer flats will fit the gap.

I don't have any photos of the coils up -- they are 3" 4-layer CCAW and ~60mm long winding length.

This is what I am coming up with on pricing for these drivers :

X-10 : $329

X-12 : $349

X-15 : $389

X-18 : $409

This is MAP from any authorized dealers (which is a shipped price). We will also have pre-order specials as these are launched; they may not launch all at once for reference. The pre-order price is TBA but will follow suit roughly at the same type of % discount as past pre-orders.

It is based entirely on their cost to build and I have not figured in a single cent for the money spent on the new tooling or patent fees.

Once I get the final material in I can get a decent ETA; we are still tweaking the material of the surround.

Will the NS come with this new suspension setup?

I think 2 NS 18"s with this suspension on 12k would do some work.

Yes it will.

I will also have "stacking" spiders of the same type as the NS v.1 / v.2 available -- those are more SPL oriented and we can adjust the stiffness to much higher levels than any of our normal "pack" spiders.

First video of the X-18 up.

I've noticed some confusion about these testing videos; all of the drivers we test exhibit a similar sound at very high travel -- bit of a "whopping" sound is the best way to describe it. It's a combination of BL distortion (as we always push drivers well past linearity) , some mechanical (as drivers are a little noisy at high throw when not in boxes) , and also the camera mic itself doesn't do so well when that close to a driver creating that amplitude of sound.

Is all that suspension really needed for a small motor like that?

The motor isn't so small ; it has a 66mm magnet stack and a bump-out for around 50mm of x-mech and is 190mm in diameter.

There is no good reason to use the triple joint or the surround as a brake when these parts are now available -- so yes, it is going to be quite advantageous in terms of reliability and extending usable throw past where previous frames and parts allowed either for dynamics or SPL competition usage.

Must just be the picture making the motor look small then. lol I certienly meant nothing negative with my question.

I am defeinity looking forward to getting my hands on some Zv4 18"s for the PT. I have about 6,000w per subs waiting for them.

Compared to the new massive frames they do look a bit small

Is all that suspension really needed for a small motor like that?

The motor isn't so small ; it has a 66mm magnet stack and a bump-out for around 50mm of x-mech and is 190mm in diameter.

There is no good reason to use the triple joint or the surround as a brake when these parts are now available -- so yes, it is going to be quite advantageous in terms of reliability and extending usable throw past where previous frames and parts allowed either for dynamics or SPL competition usage.

Just got them in and QC tested them all on the bench; very happy so far. Still need to get them fully charged then run preliminary specs (have to send them out to do so as our magnetizer isn't in yet) -- but we are still stiffening up the surrounds so those will only be ~80% accurate initially.

This is also the first look at our tooled 18" spider adapter piece !

On to the photos (video of the 18" is uploading) :

Once I get it in a box I will get some music videos -- our QC test track doesn't really reflect how it will actually sound. We just use it for this type of test as it has many varying frequencies and is pretty hard on any driver.

Our prior unit had extensive supplier issues to the point where we've just had to write off all of that work and tooling.

In any event... I decided to re-visit the X-8 idea and base it on our SA-8 v.2 frame tooling.

The first challenge was to make a GREAT spider for a 2.5" coil on an 8" woofer... which is difficult and we used extensive software optimization before tooling. Fortunately our basket allows a spider about 10mm wider than pretty much all other 8" frames out there.

Since the spider is the main challenger we had that tooled first and then built up a test bed to test with :

* Former was too tall / big in diameter for the SA-8 dust cap to work so I had to use an SA-12 dust cap; which came all the way out to glue onto the surround edge.

* SA-12 Motor

* We had an adapter machined to mount the motor; I decided to have some extras made for some brave DIY folks that may want to make a similar project.

* There is the beastly new spider tooling -- this thing worked great !

I was able to test the X-8 spider with an SA-12 motor / coil and SA-8 v.2 cone and surround. The X-8 will have it's own unique motor, cone, and surround for production. Those parts aren't done yet and I wanted to test the spider so we built it like this for now

I am very pleased with the spiders excursion capacity and linearity. I will get some Klippel measurements done on it soon as well to verify... my "push the cone Klippel" indicates that the spider has a very linear compliance to it for quite a bit of travel in both directions -- anxious to see the actual plots All of the computer optimization on this spider definitely paid off with the result.

The new frames use our tooled vent spacers -- which have less total open area, yes. This is not a mistake and is not less cooling

Just showed up today. Need a bit of tweaking still (they don't have the stiffer surround on them yet, etc) but at least we have the first looks at them and our new terminal blocks too :thumbsup:

* Z v.4 12 on the left and X-12 on the right.

* Z v.4 12 on the left and X-12 on the right.

* New terminal blocks !

* Z style spider -- these will feature one fewer layer than the Z models. Coil is also lighter on these but overall FS should be right at or slightly below the Z counterparts in stock format.

* Essentially looks like a "mini-Z" style motor... 190mm magnet vs. 220mm on the Z series / 66mm tall stack vs. 75mm tall stack / thinner steel / less expensive round wire coil vs. flat wire in the Z, etc, etc.

Ran some specs on this one too :

Re : 3.82 ohms

Fs : 25.32 Hz

Qes : 0.37

Qms : 5.31

Qts : 0.35

Le : 4.28 mH

Vas : 64.03 L

BL : 27.56 NA

Mms : 466 g

Cms : 84 uM/N

Sens : 86.19 dB

BL^2/RE : 198.68

Box Models :

3 cubes @ 30 Hz ported = F3 of 25 Hz fairly flat

4 cubes @ 35 Hz = F3 of 28 Hz / peak of ~5 dB around tuning

2 cubes sealed = F3 of 50 Hz / Qtc = 0.530

I may try one of these puppies sealed in my ride

Of course all subject to final production spec -- but this shouldn't be too far off by the time we use the stock black spider and stiffer surround.