SoundSplinter

The Epic line of woofers is built upon the TC2+ standard, developed by TC Sounds, Inc. (aka Audiopulse) of San Diego California. It just so happens that these are the same people that build for my SoundSplinter brand, and the Epic and RL-i do indeed share many mechanical similarities and capabilities. As for the difference in advertised RMS, keep in mind there is little formal standard that companies follow when advertising their equipment's power handling capabilities. Using the same 2" diameter coils, the aggregate power handling of the Epic and RL-i Series drivers should be the same. I tend to be a little more conservative with my recommended power because there is a point where adding more power really only serves to add additional stress to the driver without producing a pronounced performance benefit. So rather than encouraging people to push their driver to the threshold of its limits for minimal gain, I like to suggest powering products with enough juice to get them performing efficiently, with a relatively low risk of driver failure should your other settings or usage be inappropriate (i.e. high gain or EQ). If however, someone comes to me expressing that they intend to compete for maximum SPL for example, I will explain the added risk and recommend increased power.

3 cu ft is kind of the happy medium. For a slightly flatter response (with a slightly quicker drop-off, Q of ~ 0.7), 2.1 cu ft net volume per RL-p15 is perfectly acceptable. I edge up the recommendation a bit in order to provide a bit of additional output and low-frequency extension. You can go even larger, but in the car audio environment its not necessary. For home audio, I prefer to aim for a Q of ~ 0.5, which would require around 4.6 cu ft net volume per RL-p15.

Alas, I have no recone kits available. You can most certainly hook up each seperate channel from your amplifier to each seperate coil, for 4 ohm stereo, resulting in 400 watts of total RMS power to the driver, which is definitely acceptable for the RL-p -- though you could also stand to use twice that much!

Yes, that list of available drivers is still current. Aloha!

The following links will help you better understand the enclosure building process, and provide shortcuts for your calculations, if you decide that you want to try your own hand at building a box. Might as well, as it will be much cheaper in the long-run once you have your own tools, and then you can tweak things to your liking without having to pay someone else to trial and error it for ya. General Enclosure Information JL's Ports Tutorial CarStereo's Vent Length calculator (bottom half of page) For port area, use a minimum of 20 in^2 per RL-p12 or 35 in^2 per RL-p15. Some free Generic Box Plans Good luck!

Thanks for the kind words Mike, looks like I got to your email before the forum, and as noted, most of the home theater projects tend to gravitate towards the Home Theater Shack, though SSA will always be the original home for SoundSplinter. =]

I think you may have just answered your own question... Of course, you won't know for sure 'til you try it!

That, my friend, is pretty damn sweet! So... What are the spec's on your enclosure?

Tis true that the sun will fade the cones over time, and also that there are slight variances between each production cycle - some cones have a slightly green tint, others slightly blue. To clean the woofer, the best way is to moisten a soft cloth with Armor-All and wipe in concentric circles from the outside edge of the cone towards the center logo. Repeat this process with a soft cloth dampened in regular water. Unfortunately, this is not going to help bring back any color that has faded from sun exposure.

I feel it is necessary to update this thread. As many already know, I have had some serious supply problems with our baskets on this product, and to compound that matter, my manufacturer is going to be closing down their current facility and relocating early in the new year. My most sincere apologies for these ongoing delays. Up until two weeks ago, I was not aware that my manufacturer would be going through such a major restructuring and had only been told that the delayed baskets were the bottleneck holding up the progress. Now that I understand the scope and intricity of the delay, I recognize that February will be the absolute earliest that these drivers will again be available, as that will be the earliest time to expect the new manufacturing facility to be up and running. It was not my intent to mislead as I wish to be as forthcoming as possible, but I do feel bad about having had to consistently revise and lengthen my availability estimate on this product. Unfortunately, I simply did not have access to the information necessary to make an accurate estimate. Nevertheless, if you would like to be kept on a waitlist for this product, just shoot me a PM with your email address and I'll be sure to drop you a line as soon as they are ready to roll out. Many thanks for your continued patience. For reference, the following products are currently available: RL-i10 S4 RL-i10 D4 RL-p12 D2 RL-p15 D2 RL-p15 D4 RL-p18 D2 RL-p18 D4 RL-s12 S4 My hopes for everyone to have a safe and happy holiday season!

Ya'll are too kind!.. as my lazy ass stumbles in a couple of weeks late! Well it has been a pretty crazy month for me. Between trippin' to Hawaii and visiting Myron (yama168 runnin' the RL-i8's) and Phil (runnin' an Fi 10), coming home to a destroyed primary hard disk, taking 5 days to recover data that I'd neglected to back up, having a chalazion (blocked oil gland) flarin' up in my right eye, seein' about 10 rock shows up and down the Californian coast, and spending 10 days in Oregon with my mother, sisters, nieces, and nephews who all live up there... to come home with a cold!.. it's been quite a whirlwind. Thanks go out to all of ya, and here's hoping the holiday season is bringing good times for you and yours. Now, to crack the whip on my suppliers and get those darn 8's cranked out ~ Sheesh!

I second that emotion.

The practical answer, is no. Any slight difference in the mounting cutout or depth will be negligible. The placement of the screw holes however, will be different from some older versions of the driver.

The two ported 12's will have the edge in output, but sealed 12's or 10's sharing 2000 watts in your proposed enclosures are no doubt going to provide more than ample "crisp and loud" bass reproduction even if you won't be setting any SPL records.

RL-p12 will displace ~ 0.15 cu ft of airspace.

Me too, thanks for the support guys!

Hehe, if only it was a bonus! Alas, my profit take is pretty much the same as its always been - with the exception of a small inventory of drivers that were purchased under a previous agreement. But I do mean small... like, less than 50!

Greetings loyal customers, fans, strangers, veterans and nooblets alike. It is with some dismay that I am here to announce an increase in our direct sales pricing that will affect all SoundSplinter products. As many informed online audio enthusiasts are already aware, our producer (original equipment manufacturer) has recently decided to move towards full scale retail distribution in conjunction with some incredible markups along the order of 100% - 200% per unit. Though initially hoping that these markups would not affect our OEM pricing schedule, it turns out that indeed they will. As a result, future production costs for the SoundSplinter brand are increasing substantially. Given my extremely thin margins and relatively low production volume conjoined with a value oriented customer base, this puts me in quite an awkward position as my production costs have suddenly eclipsed my asking price! Fortunately I have been able to secure two additional contracts for product delivery through the end of the year. Rather than throwing in the towel, I'm going to try to make this work for both myself and my customers. However as I refuse to compromise the quality of the products offered, the prices on both the Ignition and Premium Series line of drivers will have to increase along the order of 17 - 22% per unit. While this is unfortunate, I still firmly believe that these rates will prove to offer a very fair value for DIY enthusiasts (and a downright exceptional value when compared to similar drivers that will debut in brick and mortar retail outlets come 2008!). So without further ado, the new rates... RL-i8: $199 single, $185 each for multiple units RL-i10: $215 single, $200 each for multiple units RL-p12: $295 single, $280 each for multiple units RL-p15: $335 single, $310 each for multiple units RL-p18: $420 single, $390 each for multiple units RL-s12: $450 single, $410 each for multiple units RL-s15: $580 single, $535 each for multiple units For forum members that have been on the fence about a purchase and are experiencing some shell shock by this rate increase, I am happy to honor my original pricing through the 31st of this month. That gives you more than two weeks to pick up a fantastic product at an increasingly scarce and awesome value. All you have to do is PM me through the bulletin board stating your intended order along with your complete shipping address, email address and phone number. You guys rock more than you know, and I would like to express my most sincere thanks to those of you who have offered your support and friendship over the past several years with not only your purchases but especially the kind words you have shared about myself and my business, and I hope that you will bear with me during the coming year as I plan my next steps. I will be the first to admit that the extended future production on the current lineup of SoundSplinter products lies in the balance. Nevertheless, I want you to rest assured that should SoundSplinter ultimately become a legacy brand, I will keep a small inventory of drivers on hand for any warranty service that may need to be addressed, or will refund the original purchase price of the driver should no replacement be available at that time. In other words, though production may ebb and flow, customer service will continue to remain a priority as long as there are customers to serve! So here's to the future... Unknown and exciting!

Hey Brian - one 4" round port provides about 12.5 square inches of cross-sectional area, and is definitely not enough for a ported RL-p12. Your proposed slot port is a much better idea, and it would serve you well to round off any sharp edges inside the port in order to avoid any whistling that may occur as the air rushes over those edges.

As it turns out, we've been experiencing some terrible delays on these 8's. We had to a get a new gasket tooled since we are using a slightly different basket than we used to, and the first basket we received was not even to spec. The final gasket and basket will be on a boat to the US hopefully this week... but that means we're still about six weeks out from the whole assembly shabang and having the final product in hand. I have been maintaining a waitlist, so anyone who is interested in hopping on 'em as soon as they arrive, just send me over your email addy and I'll be sure to notify you the minute they are ready to roll. My apologies for the unruly delay!

It's like the people have said... the RL-s is not really for someone looking for a loud vented box system. If your emphasis was on sound quality, these drivers would give ya what you need and then some in a sealed or IB alignment... but the high Q is just not very conducive to porting, and there are other options that would suit your application much better - like the RL-p for one!

Glad you're digging the woofer my man, thanks again so much for the superbly tasty Kona coffee you sent my way :morning: Only problem is, I don't know if I'll be able to drink the local grinds anymore! As for your DD M2 amplifier, with a dual 4 RL-i8 wired in parallel it should feed around 850 watts to the driver. While more than I would ever comfortably recommend, people have used up to 1000 watts per RL-i8 sucessfully. Then again, people have used up to 1000 watts and killed their drivers as well! So be very cautious if you do, and if you really do decide to juice it, make sure you only do so for a very limited time!

I would fire directly upwards and not worry about matching the angle of your hatch. In practice, a box placed in different locations within a single environment or the same box placed in a different environment can affect your realized frequency response. Therefore, using different dimentions for your enclosure even if keeping the same net volume and tuning (where applicable), can have an affect on your output. In most cases it will be difficult to estimate exactly how your enclosure will respond within its environment without actually trying it to experience the response first hand.

I know I already got to you on email.. but just so the rest of ya'll don't think I'm ignoring this guy, here's what I had to say... That is one sexy looking enclosure there Michel, I am sorry to hear that the sound is not what you had expected. 1000 watts RMS per RL-p driver, when used appropriately (meaning, your amplifier gain is not set too high), will be no problem for these drivers. There is going to be an inherent disadvantage in terms of output, when switching from a ported to sealed enclosure. Fortunately, you will be compensating for this by doubling your power, which in theory will cause no net change in your output, however due to power compression (http://www.s10forum.com/all_about_power_compression) you may indeed experience a very small reduction in output. On the upside, placing these woofers in a sealed enclosure should definitely help to tighten up your response. And if you have a full 1000 watts per driver, you may as well try powering them accordingly in a ported box as well, just to hear the difference that some extra power can make. With sealed boxes, I would suggest providing around 1.25 cu ft net volume PER driver, after having accounted for all displacements.

Just fire on over your address and I'll have a few of them stickies dispatched prontissimo!