flirting with midbass mounting depth.. well for those of us using something deep like the sls 8 haha

Since the question came up I took a few moments to come up with a quick "what if" for a 8 inch sub or mid bass.  Motor height is pretty much on spec however the cone and spiders are just guestimates.  All spider, edge, and body components would be designed with FineCone.

 

Total Od would be 8.5 inches.  There are mounting flanges in the sketchup making it more than 8.5 however if I was to make a custom driver like this it would be a over sized Sd tabbed frame.  This unit's motor was designed with a 2 inch 8 layer coil.

 

The spiders would be inverted to make help make the suspension more linear.

 

Xmax 15mm one way

Xmech 24mm one way

Sd (after subtracting motor area) 41 In^2

total driver height  65 mm

mounting depth  50.5 mm

 

Edited March 7, 201312 yr by Quentin Jarrell

OKay, why aren't these done yet? 

OKay, why aren't these done yet?

To be honest with you I never really put much thought into the technology. I mean who really thinks of a shallow mount sub as something they really want to use. I knew about it (this is an Enrique Stilles / STEP patented technology) just never played around with it.

Until last week when the ole lady told me she wanted to add a bit more bottom end in her car (she's deaf although she has a cochlear implant) she likes a bit more bass than normal for normal listening. But she didn't want to lose any trunk space.

So I went back to the plethora of info I've gathered from Enrique and Pat. Started doing a little FEA modeling and found out holy shit I can get 30mm xmax under a truck seat.

I love my trunk space and the ability to lower my seats when needed, not to mention the weight savings.   

 

You're dealing with a niche market, that, IMO, even with what is available, is untapped.  Given the displacement potential advantage you could have over what drivers are available now, it should only take a bit of creative marketing to corner the market on the internet. 

 

Being a former rep for SI, I can tell you, as soon as Nick finished a batch of the shallow BMs, they were sold out in weeks.  The last gen of the Mag was the same way.  As Brad mentioned, they sell now used for more than they did when new.  You're offering more displacment with the need for a little extra space, but catering to a larger clientel.   If I had any idea about designing drivers, this would be the first place I would start.  Hell, if I had money to invest, I would send it your way to get the ball rolling on this.

In all seriousness if this is a STEP patented tech is there a reason it hasn't been brought to market sooner?  It seems to be a no-brainer product.  As Ryan said the market for this is huge as you can hit both the shallow niche market and the more mainstream subwoofer market with one product, and give the guys who were not necessarily looking at shallow drivers for depth reasons a ton of new enclosure design/placement options without loosing output on top of one of the only real high performance shallow mount drivers on the market for the shallow guys.

 

Like I said, I run IB and taking up literally zero trunk space without loosing output potential would be f'ing awesome since most high excursion subs are ~9" deep + baffle thickness.  And if it scales down a shallow mount, high excursion, linear BL midbass/midrange would fly off the shelves.

I can only assume their stuff isn't used in car audio is due to copyright fees. I'm like you it seems like a no brainer. Then again MMAG is a no brainer when it comes to high xmax linear motors. Besides the older Storkers I can't recall any car audio companies besides the UL that used it. It is used by a handfull of high end pro audio companies. Just like David Hyre's XBL, I guess the bean counters can't justify the fees or most engineers are just dubious to the technology.

Did you get any of these pieces in with your production order for the Ethos ?

no, this will be coming with the next order ~6 months.  It's a bit complicated due to the radial charging needed plus the end magnets being charged in opposite directions.  Therefore all magnets have to be charged before assembly.  I do know that it will not be an inexpensive driver.  It will be in the $600-$700 range (around the same retail as the JL shallow), but with 2.5 times more excursion.

 

Also, cones will need to be tooled before final production.  300 degree coil next to seat carpet ain't gonna turn out good

You're filling a niche and doing things other manufacturers aren't.

Any updates to this, or any of your SQ drivers really?

Waiting on sample for it. The initial Primo driver is being assembled now.

Primo primo!!!

woot woot