HD15 Driver FAQ

Used a skytec driver in 4 HDs that went into a club for a few months, they survived on a berry 1500 2 per side, and are still working today, so it can be done.  Im not a big fan of the PD154, sounds brutal and aggressive, puts a hard edge on everything, the kappa 15 sounds great but wont take much power. 

T/S paramiters i would say a reasonable BL is essential, other than that use your ears, its def worth trying different drivers, ive had quite loose drivers sound good in the HDs, but im not into this mega tight hard "bang" sound.

I pritty much always cross them at 50Hz and normall on berry 2500s, i prefer to used them as all round bass bins rarther than upper bass cabs, 2 cabs will get fairly low but its not tons of sub, its a sound i like though, makes the music more dynamic, tons of sub tends to overpower everything else IMO and you loose the groove of the tune.  HDs arnt really horns in the lower regions so you dont really get that much more extension by adding more cabs, they do what they do with 2,3,4,5,6 etc cabs, you get a little more sub with big stacks and the upper range can beam a bit with wide stacks.

Ive not tryed the kappa pros or the fanes so cant comment, the new neo fane that was put on there site the other day looks like a possibility though.  One thing i will say is borrow some drivers and do some A/B testing, dont just rely on sims and specs, they dont tell the whole story. 

sounds brutal and aggressive, puts a hard edge on everything,

You write as if this is an issue

Ive run kappa LFs 2 in a stack with high pass at 50HZ 24dB/octave many many times and never blown a driver, that on EP2500s though so there only getting 375W each, itas enough for the kappas though.

below about 75Hz there not really a horn, more a band pass cab, so you dont need to do big stacks like with proper front loaded horns 

I cant say ive noticed a difference in throw with regards to upper bass / lower bass traveling different distances.  I was more on about that they only have a short path length, about 75Hz path, and 2 or 3 HDs is enough mouth area to load down to 75Hz, so they can be used in small stcaks.  Below that the work more like a bandpass cab with a front chamber and a port, though its a big port, much bigger than most bandpass cabs so it will throw better than most bandpass cabs.

As i understand it throw has a lot to do with radiating area / dispertion.

Edit,  i really think your best off trying some different drivers and deciding for yourself what suits you, i know you wouldn't choose a scoop driver or a bass amp based on specs and computer predictions, the proof is in the pudding....

 

Edited by Timebomb - 29 April 2010 at 11:55pm

Timebomb wrote: Edit,  i really think your best off trying some different drivers and deciding for yourself what suits you, i know you wouldn't choose a scoop driver or a bass amp based on specs and computer predictions, the proof is in the pudding....

True... 

Dom wrote: Why not just stick PD154 in them and do it properly.

No reasonable priced used PD154's around, and not enough gigs at the mo' to justify buying 4x of them.

Also, they will "only" be used above scoops, so only need drivers that can handle approx 400W @ 70hz in HD15.

But even finding these on cheap is tricky, as it seems to require approx 6mm Xmax, depending on BL/Vas.