# Aurasound AS3



## Patrick Bateman (Sep 11, 2006)

I've noticed a lot of interest on this board in small woofers. I've recently measured a few for a project that I'm doing. Here are the *actual measured specs* on the driver. You can rarely trust the published specs, so these may come in handy.

Driver Name: Aurasound AS3 (this is the paper cone Aurasound woofer on sale at partsexpress.com that has no thiele-small available online.)
FS: 149.4hz
QMS: 5.8
QES: 1.0
QTS: 0.87
RE: 7.1
VAS: 1 liter (due to the small size, I couldn't get a good read on this. This is the published spec.)

Here's where you can buy them: Seven bucks yo! 

Everyone loves the Tang Band and Hi Vi 3" woofers, but overlooks this model from Aura Sound. For seven bucks, I don't think you can do better.

Here are the pros and cons of this driver:

The Good:
- There's nothing for $7 that's better
- It has a higher efficiency than the NS3
- Supposedly it has a copper shorting ring, though I have a hard time believing that's possible at this price.
- The paper cone extends response well above 10khz
- It uses an underhung motor. The TB and the HiVi do not.

The Bad:
- sounds 'congested' at moderate volume.
- due to the low power handling and low xmax, it is completely useless unless you use a few of them.
- has a higher FS than the NS3 (which is why it's more efficient.)

:: PB ::


----------



## PlanetGranite (Apr 12, 2005)

Thanks for the great set of reviews Patrick. Not to take this particular review OT, but I seem to remember you saying that you have used the Aura NS4 before. Would you mind posting a review of that driver also?

Thanks again.


----------



## Patrick Bateman (Sep 11, 2006)

PlanetGranite said:


> Thanks for the great set of reviews Patrick. Not to take this particular review OT, but I seem to remember you saying that you have used the Aura NS4 before. Would you mind posting a review of that driver also?
> 
> Thanks again.


I do have a set of these! I've been working out-of-town quite a bit lately, but will do my best to burn them in and post the measurements.


----------

