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martin W bin speaker replacement.


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hello everyone, . I have a set of the old martin W bins.

 

they are called 115 bass bin and are part of the "modular PA" martin stuff, they specs can be seen in the old archive section of the martin audio website.

 

http://www.martin-audio.com/specifications/oldproducts/DataSheet/ModularPAdatasheet.zip

 

That link is to the user manual I found, on the website.

 

My question is this: I have so many dead cones, I want to REPLACE the drivers not recone them. What driver will work well in this box? I prefer to use eminence, as I can get them at cost.

 

Kev.

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Wow. There's a blast from the past. I had 8 ea. of the 2X15 models.

 

Nothing delivers a kick drum shotgun blast to the chest like those.

 

The JBL E-140's are probably the thing to run, but... I loaded my 2 x 15's with 2226's years ago and was way impressed. I was running them with MA-3600's... which might have had something to do with the end result.

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thanks guys, .. I am looking specifically for a eminence piece though.

 

I know horn can be picky about what they are loaded with , so I am trying to avoid the "buy 1 of each and hope for the best" idealogy.

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Why not recone the original drivers?

 

 

well I could do that, but as I understand the recone are pusshing about 100$ each +/- . If I go that route, it will cost me about 600 (for 6 of them... we may have 2 working), but then I am reconeing a speaker that is 25 years old. Surely there have been enough advancments in technology in the last 25 years to warrent spending an extra 20-30 $ per driver, and getting new drivers.

 

Kinda like trasmition, ... I can fix it for 100, or put a brand new one in for 120$

 

Kev.

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well I could do that, but as I understand the recone are pusshing about 100$ each +/- . If I go that route, it will cost me about 600 (for 6 of them... we may have 2 working), but then I am reconeing a speaker that is 25 years old. Surely there have been enough advancments in technology in the last 25 years to warrent spending an extra 20-30 $ per driver, and getting new drivers.


Kinda like trasmition, ... I can fix it for 100, or put a brand new one in for 120$


Kev.

 

 

The question is, what are the drivers that you have now? A reconed driver will be 'like new' and, while there have been advancements in technology, if the speakers are of high quality then reconing them will be more cost effective for the same quality level. (low cost speakers haven't really changed much in 25 years except for the ratings written on them).

 

I recently bought new speakers for a couple of old 2x15 cabinets rather than reconing what was in there - because it was cheaper ($50 speakers) and the cabinets were only for rehearsals. I know for a fact that the replacement speakers will not take as much wattage and do not sound as good - but they work for the situation. I have kept the old drivers to recone when I need them (I use the same sort of speaker in several cabinets).

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Also, much of the improvement in drivers have been stuff like materials and construction techniques used in the cone, suspension, and VC. Often, the improvements seen over the years to a driver line can be incorporated into a recone kit.

 

Which drivers are they loaded with?

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Right now in them is a EV 15L I think it is called. I can check, unless someone can confirm that.


however, the list of martin "recomended" drivers is at the top of the thread.

 

Well, you can recone 15Ls pretty cheap. I've had lots of them done. Otherwise, The Omega Pro seems like a pretty good woofer for bass horns. I use the 18" model and it works pretty well.

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Look at the TS parameters, especially the BL product, which for many horn loaded drivers is rather high. Look compared to the E-140 though... IF that's really a recommended driverthen the 2225/6 would be a reasonable choice. I think Mark has a driver that's very similar.

 

The EVM-15B is probably a better choice for folded horn loaded cabinets, and was used in an early EV TL series with pretty good results. The metalwork is the same, so you can get all the 15L's reconed with 15B's at the same cost. Pro Line will be standard, and powered with a maximum of 400 watts per drive is plenty... I would suggest around 300 watts per driver myself.

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If the 3015LF meets your requirements is an excellent speaker. Cheap enough to try IMO and the weight savings are a REALLY nice bonus


Les

 

 

Thanks, I think your right...

 

This narrows our search down to 2 drivers....

 

http://www.eminence.com/pdf/kappapro-15lf-2.pdf

http://www.eminence.com/pdf/kappalite-3015lf.pdf

 

I think both would work okay. Both have high BL.

 

The kappa lite has MUCH higher sensitivity in the pass band I will be using it (upwards of 4 db!)

 

The kappa has much high BL though.

 

In the end what do you think would work best, or should I bite the bullet, buy one of each, and test them out (you can never have enough 15s kicking around your garage can you..).

 

 

And thanks for EVERYONES help.

 

Finial thoughts?

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I don't know what would be your limiting factor in this particular application. If xmax was your limiting parameter, go with the Kappalite. If Bl go with the Kappa. I could be wrong but I don't think that efficiency in the passband will equate the same in a w bin as it will in a BR.

 

If you have the money to get both and try them I would do it.

 

The Kappalite also models extremely well in BR boxes and can be built into a very lightweight and powerful single sub.

 

Les

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The point is that modeling with a folded horn of the type you intend to use it with may point to one over the other but I don't have any experience with either of the Eminence products in a folded horn cabinet, and I do not know what parameters would be the most important without knowing the design, chamber size, throat dimensions, flair rates etc. Without knowing all this and working out some math, it's just a wild assed guess other than the suggestions Martin gives. That's why I would consider something very similar to the E-140 like the 2225/6.

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