New Drivers from Hawthorne Audio

**JCD** · **06-07-06, 07:09 PM**

I thought I'd give Darrell a chance to fill us in on the latest news regarding the 15" and 18" drivers he's been developing. I know he's been doing some beta testing over on the Cult, but I haven't been following up over there and was curious how things were going -- for not completely altruistic reasons as I will be building a IB at some point.

JCD

**Darrel Hawthorne** · **06-07-06, 10:08 PM**

Hey Jacen,
The 18"ers have been tested by Brady and he gave us a very favorable review.
He basically did a shoot out with a much more expensive and higher performance 18" driver by another manufacturer. We did well and held our own ground... I think we will be very competitive because of performance, longevity, customer service and an industry leading warranty.

All the 15" drivers were shipped out on Mon. and we should start seeing reports as early as next week.

Thanks for asking... Please visit our site or the cult forum for further updates.
Darrel

**Jack Gilvey** · **06-08-06, 10:41 PM**

Are these 15's IB-specific? Got any specs or a link?

**Darrel Hawthorne** · **06-08-06, 10:50 PM**

Hey Jack,
Yes, These were designed from the ground up to excel in an IB configuration.
Thanks
Darrel

http://ibsubwoofers.proboards51.com/index.cgi?board=talk&action=display&thread=1147896566

**Jack Gilvey** · **06-09-06, 06:26 AM**

Looks good, they model fairly similarly to the new Dayton RS HF series. What sets these apart, and why does the Le seem high at 6.31mH?

**Darrel Hawthorne** · **06-09-06, 07:24 AM**

Hey Jack,
Thanks.
I took a look at that High Fidelity Driver from Dayton and it sure looks like it should perform well, good price also.
I suspect that many guys will find success using them in IB configurations even though they don't promote them for this usage. Not sure why they couldn't work? I know Parts Express has a lot of their Design work and Manufacturing done by Eminence, as do we. Chances are good that some of the same people worked on the creation of both. I will ask the designer of that driver for any info he can give us on what they had in mind for it's intended use....
Darrel

**Jack Gilvey** · **06-09-06, 07:42 AM**

Yeah, those Daytons are what I had in mind as an upgrade for my IB, I was just wondering about specifics on yours (saw mention of accordion surround), and why the high-ish Le.

**Darrel Hawthorne** · **06-09-06, 08:11 AM**

Hey Jack,
The accordion surround is not the old accordion style cloth edge but rather a completely redesigned and proven edge that we selected for it's potential for longevity. This should have a service life of well over 30 years .

I understand that one of Eminence high end pro audio drivers (DEFINIMAX MAGNUM-) uses this edge with much success.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...=290-586&DID=7

One of the main considerations with the old style accordion surrounds was that they were noisy at higher excursion levels. This is no longer a problem.
Here is a quote from the beta tester:

Quote:

So I decided it was time to push things a little by dropping in WOTW. I pushed play and kept my finger on the stop button waiting for the Iris to make that horrible sound of the driver bottoming out. They didn't have any problems with it at all. I also went downstairs and put my ear next to the surround and heard no noise.

I will see what I can find out with regard to the highish Le... Many of these design Prams are admittedly well over my knowledge base. Think of my role in all this as a developer. I simply see things that need to be created and seek out the true experts in the field and get them all to work together. Hawthorne Audio is all about bringing together the talents and abilities of many, many Artists and Engineers in hopes of creating new and useful offerings.
The beta testers will soon give us some real world feedback on the performance of these drivers. If they confirm what we experienced here , then these drivers may see the light of day. I hope to make a lot of DIY very happy with these. Time will tell.
Darrel

**Jack Gilvey** · **06-09-06, 08:49 AM**

Cool, they sound promising.

I look forward to the beta-tester reports.
I'm really intrigued by your OB stuff,though...sweet. Best sub I've had was a dipole with Adire DPL12's.

**Darrel Hawthorne** · **06-11-06, 07:40 PM**

Hey Guys,
Beta test results are starting to come in......

http://ibsubwoofers.proboards51.com/...5135611&page=2
Darrel

**Darrel Hawthorne** · **06-12-06, 05:56 PM**

Hey Jack,

I asked my engineer your question regarding the reason behind the seemingly high-ish Le and this is his response.

Quote:

Your driver has a high Le because it has a 4 layer voice coil; I chose this for its added mass and to purposely roll off the high end. I am not convinced Le is a huge issue when you are crossing these things over very low (say below 90 Hz). I cross my two IB 15's over at 40 Hz with a 24 dB per octave slope and sit almost directly under them and I can only localize them when something in the ceiling squeaks or squawks.

I also asked about the Dayton driver and is seems that they did not get involved with the design of these drivers.... They refrained from comment on the Dayton drivers...

My speculation is that if they intended them to be used for IB, they would promote this in their sales and marketing of this driver. I have a good working relationship with Part express and I can only say nice things about their products and customer service. They have always done well by us.

Darrel

**Jack Gilvey** · **06-13-06, 01:53 PM**

Thanks for the follow-up, Darrel. Interesting idea, purposely rolling off the high end with inductance. I was always under the impression that high Le was a by-product of having to use lots of windings/multiple coils for high excursion or high thermal capacity, and not a design goal in and of itself. I can see what he means by using a very low crossover.

Quote:

My speculation is that if they intended them to be used for IB, they would promote this in their sales and marketing of this driver.

Perhaps, although few drivers we IB guys use are marketed as such. I tend to judge suitability based on the specs themselves, keeping in mind the "needs" of IB.

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