# SB Acoustics 17NRXC35-4 Klippel Data



## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thanks to Adam at Madisound for helping me out with this.


Alright, I just wrapped up testing on the SB Acoustics 17NRXC35-4, 6.5" midwoofer driver. 
SB Acoustics SB17NRXC35-4, 6.5" Woofer: Madisound Speaker Store

The data is attached in PDF form.

I ran this particular test 6 times total. The results were always the same.

*Displacement Limits (based on 82%Bl, 75%Cms, etc):*
X Bl @ Bl min=82% 4.4 mm
X C @ C min=75% 1.9 mm
X L @ Z max=10 % >4.5 mm
X d @ d2=10% 26.2 mm


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## GLN305 (Nov 2, 2007)

Thanks for the test. I have been looking into the 8'' version, this will give me an idea what to expect versus the data supplied with it.


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## cvjoint (Mar 10, 2006)

Thanks for the test!


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## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

Seems like a nice product


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

So... installed these today...  not looking back! lol


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Can see that full copper sleeve on the motor working well.

Those drivers have a world class motor attached to a half-assed cone.


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## madmaxz (Feb 11, 2009)

thehatedguy said:


> Can see that full copper sleeve on the motor working well.
> 
> Those drivers have a world class motor attached to a *half-assed cone*.


How so? Just wondering. :surprised:


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

You ever seen the FR measurements of the SB drivers?


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

If you guys thought the mag coned Seas Excel was a bastard to work with, the paper coned SBs are worse.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

thehatedguy said:


> If you guys thought the mag coned Seas Excel was a bastard to work with, the paper coned SBs are worse.


From Zaph data:
FR shows some bad breakup starting at 4khz. Real bad. 

Distortion wise it looks good above 100hz. When you get to 1.5k it gets rough. 

Bandpasing them between 60-2khz seems more nominal. As a pure midbass they'd probably be good. For $140/pair it's not bad to try.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

In a car, off axis and steep slopes would be a must given how rough those things get...and 2k is about all I would try to get out of it.

As a midbass only, they might be pretty good. Meniscus seems to like them...or they make huge profit on them one, cause every time I have asked about midbasses...we really like the SB 7 line.


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

I will say this... 3 of us were impressed by how smooth they were running with no crossover up top today. maybe my ears just can't hear it... what should I listen for in the break up?

we are running them out to 4k


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

shoutiness and heavy sibilance


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

We are going to spend a bunch of time today listening to them... Is this an acceptable place to give my $0.02 on how they sound?


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Being off axis will suppress the effects of the cone break up some.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Depending on use, it can help you out.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Thanks for the data on these woofers. I have a pair I'll be installing in my MS6 sometime soon.


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## SSSnake (Mar 8, 2007)

Another forward offset... This is beginning to bug me. Where is Dan Wiggins when you need him 

Erin are you running any break in on the drivers you are testing? While I have not been a big believer that break in makes a night and day difference I do believe that it makes a little difference (I know, very subjective - I believe the suspension loosens up a bit). I wonder if these drivers with a forward offset would show up centered after extended usage?

Why does it always seem to be an outward bias. If these were random assembly errors I would expect to see some inward variations as well. I don't know but I am beginning to have a hard time believing this is just an assembly error (and I darn sure dont want to admit Cajunner was right and this is an actual design feature  ).


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

All drivers are tested at near Xmax for 2 hours at Fs.


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## subwoofery (Nov 9, 2008)

Seeing the results, I'm wondering if they managed to make a MUCH better cone/suspension on the Satori... 

Kelvin


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## tnbubba (Mar 1, 2008)

not long enough for break in.. I had a pair of SB15's and it took over 12 hrs or running to get the unit to settle to final specs.. and yes I allowed a 30 min cool down and checked every 2 hrs! using the same wt2!! the qts dropped almost .1.. can't remember the whole spec change I was just wanting to see the driver parameters settle to design enclosure for 3 way home system


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thanks for that compelling revelation.


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## tnbubba (Mar 1, 2008)

spoke with Sb directly aobut soem of there other drivers I have tested and they recommend 20 hrs of breakin.. seems about right considering the experience I've had with more than a few of there drivers!


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

yeah, thanks for the Test. Not super impress with these even for the price point.


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## 454Casull (Nov 6, 2005)

Did you hear any self-noise (including chuffing) from the driver during this test? Mark at audioheuristics reported significant noise while doing his dipole tests.

7 inch driver test results


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Not that I recall.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

Oldie but a goodie. Dunno how I missed it during searches on SB17 discussion. 
I'm now anxious to get these in to try them.
Looks like a classic re-badging scenario. 
I suspect no actual driver changes, but possible. 
Certainly visually identical except for different wire connectors and a logo.. Oh and comes with grills. 

Erin's test subject:









NVX XSP65 mid:


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## bkjay (Jul 7, 2009)

The crazy thing is the Arc audio version didn't even come with spring terminals,and they are over 500 bucks for a set!


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## legend94 (Mar 15, 2006)

bkjay said:


> The crazy thing is the Arc audio version didn't even come with spring terminals,and they are over 500 bucks for a set!



I lost a bit of respect for them doing this.

Not that it's rebadged but the price they charged.


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## Orion525iT (Mar 6, 2011)

thehatedguy said:


> Can see that full copper sleeve on the motor working well.
> 
> Those drivers have a world class motor attached to a half-assed cone.


I wonder how the newer mineral filled PP-cone and the newest aluminum cone versions compare? Both seem better behaved, especially the pp.


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Following up to this, anybody running these drivers? I'm tempted to grab a set (NVX possibly), to replace the Silver Flutes in my doors which I don't like.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

While I praise to a fault the NVX tweets over the SB29's because of their price, grills, flanges etc, I'd say if you don't require grills for your mids, and they're gonna hide behind a door card, just go with the SB Acoustics driver and save a little bit. I hope to begin tear-down to swap these in after audits mid next week. STILL not in the car yet. sorry


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

Babs said:


> While I praise to a fault the NVX tweets over the SB29's because of their price, grills, flanges etc, I'd say if you don't require grills for your mids, and they're gonna hide behind a door card, just go with the SB Acoustics driver and save a little bit. I hope to begin tear-down to swap these in after audits mid next week. STILL not in the car yet. sorry


Yeah the tweets ARE amazing, here they are in my ST

















I had to build a spacer to get them to fit due to depth issues, but other than that it was a flawless upgrade from my Bravox CF tweets.

Including discount coupons and stuff from Sonic, I think the numbers equal each other compared with Madisound's price though.

I'm concerned about the low QTS on all the SB drivers though. I like the idea of the poly cone unit but its QTS is even lower. This usually spells fail in an IB door situation. Same issue the Flutes have now.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

^ Nicely done. Mine are far more or rather "VERY" on-axis by comparison and they belt it out. So if you're getting great results off-axis it says a lot of about these tweets.

















On Qts.. I'm seeing couple different numbers, on specs and as tested. I tend to wonder on that just how crucial it actually would be though, as doors are such weird environments and every one is different, and depending on the level of treatment, sealing, etc. Very leaky mess of an enclosure. 

Not remembering what the current "ideal" Qts is for a door install, I'd probably run the NVX's fine and claim ignorance is bliss. Probably no worse in TS specs than the Tang Band W6-789E's with rather odd low-power and high-efficiency specs but similar Qts listed, which I've been thrilled with for a couple years now. 

Makes me wonder if one should be more concerned with freq response, off-axis response, power-handling, xmax, and distortion (maybe not in that order) with a door mid, over and above just Qts.

ALL that said.. Check out Erin's new post on the killer SB Acoustics Satori model. Twice the money but oh my my!


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## Lanson (Jan 9, 2007)

That's some sweet on-axis setup right there. Yeah they seem really happy off-axis and the MS-8 processed them nicely to a crisp, clean output, and dead-nuts accurate imaging. The Flute mids also have amazing imaging but they've got this tone in the midrange which almost sounds like my dashboard is connected to a transducer and its reproducing the output. Which I mean to say, the imaging is center of the dash about gauge cluster level, but the darned thing sounds like plastic instead of music.

At twice the money I'd probably just go for SI's new shallow super-mids. These NVX tweets would have no issue with crossing at 2k (in fact I was playing with 1900hz @ 24dB/oct before settling with 2k at 24dB/oct, zero issues). But I was hoping for about a buck fifty for a set of something that would fill the bill. Viva la DIY and all that. 

Oh and if I recall, a "perfect" Qts for IB is .707, but in reality the leaky but sealed up and deadened door would probably match up with something in the .4-.5 range fairly well. I recall this "midbass crisis" happened to me with a Mazda Tribute back in 09 or so, and the cure was a pair of H-Audio mids with some serious thwack. A little dark and laid-back but was a treat to listen to regardless. 

I had half a mind to import some Alpine DDL mids if I could get my hands on their specs.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

I'd bet either the SB/NVX or the SI mid which is supposed to be a rather well performing midbass monster should do the trick. There's a review in here comparing the SI to an SB also on that. Don't have the link sorry. Unfortunately you'll be at the mercy a bit of the MS-8's ability to tune, with exception of your crossover points and slopes. I'd suggest also, you might do some measuring with your system as is though with room eq wizard. You might be able to eq tune the flutes a bit to address the issue as the MS-8 still allows post-tune EQ adjustment.


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