https://martin-audio.com/downloads/datasheets/W8Cdatasheet.pdf

Also does anyone know the equivilant RCF model numbers? 

DLS 252 seems to be the L12P520, but does anyone know the others?

Also does anyone know the resistance if these are run in passive crossover mode? if the 1" and 6.5" are both 8ohm, should i assume these are wired in siries and are 150 + 60 = 210 @ 16ohm...somehow i get the feeling this is not quite correct...

Any help with these issues would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

if the different drivers sound good .. why not? 

As per the drivers, i have been in contact with Martin audio since and they still stock all of them. and they are as follows:

  I have blown a 12" in a W8C and am looking at options for repairing/replacing it.

I don't see a L12P520 on the RCF website but there are some re-cones available on bluearan and on ebay.

new drivers i'm afraid 

  I came close to getting someone to wind me new voice coils but it never worked out and PHL (THPL) do not want to get involved in spares or repairs.

  Really i want to upgrade to something with a higher power handling but apart form the PHL 1510 which s both v expensive and also does not have an inverted dust cap to help fit close to the phase bung the only other 6.5" drivers i can find with higher power handling are mid bass drivers. But do you think this could work, something like the B&C 6mbx44? After all i will be only using it between 794Hz and 3k24

  The PHL 1050 has the back of the chassis holes closed off with plastic shutters which are simply glued in place. If i replace with 1050's i only need 7 but if i replace all 6.5" drivers i will need 14x drivers so i don't really want to go crazy on price.

  I was just wondering if the W8C have a different impedance to the W8CT as the CT's have 3x 6.5" per cab and the W8 only 1x 6.5" per cab having 3x 16 ohm in parallel makes the mid channel around 5ohms per cab but should a W8 really have a 16ohm driver if you are say only using a few cabs rather than a load in parallel? 

  I am wondering what the OP had in his cabs and why they were 8ohm?

Any ideas or insights would be appreciated.

  I would like to see if there is a better more modern compression driver to keep up with the rest. I had to shorten the phase bung by around 1cm and cut almost 1cm out from the bracing behind to fit the slightly longer neodymium magnet. All the work was done with an angle grinder and cutting disc + a dremel tool.

  I'll be listening and comparing them over the next few days. 

one of the best sounding boxes by my ears - 

Agreed!

My only downfall with them is the compression runs out of steam before the rest of the box. Sound quality is fine just be nice if it were a bit louder :)

thing is, they sound so clean its hard to notice how lud the feckers are.

i've thought it was run quiet, and had my ears ringing the next day a few times 

i just hate stacking the buggers :) 

You miss stacking them!

Love stacking wavefront in a draped cow shed with a disco light spinning for some sort of light.

3 high? 

ratcheting them was always fun too 

but absolute fave is flying them on your own, when venue "forgot" to hire a genie

You just balance them on your head and use ya arms to attach. 

   I just summarised the work i have done so far and lost the entire message. I'll try again to make a brief summery as that took over an hour to put everything together. Hopefully someone will find some of the info interesting or useful. Sorry to all the purists.

  

  W8CT's I'm leaving them as standard but i found they each contain 4 great big dirty lead weights for balancing when flying, i have 4x boxes which i never fly so i may consider removing the 16x weights at some point in the future. They use:

Martin DLS 1050 = PHL 1050 (16 ohm, although in my cabs i had found a mixture of 8 and 16 ohm)

Martin DCD 016 = B&C DE 16-8 (8 ohm)

  The compression drivers had different sound levels to them, i removed the diaphragms and found they had aluminium oxide dust which was stuck in the air gap of the magnet. I removed the dust with some stiff cardboard and cleaned up the voice coils a bit and now they sound balanced. I broke one diaphragm as they can be quite tricky to remove, they can get a bit stuck down, take care and use a thin blade to get right under and ease up the thin metallic ring that is glued to the plastic ring by lifting both the metallic and plastic ring away from the magnet at the same time. separate the diaphragm carefully and evenly as you lift it from the magnet. 

  The W8CT also have crossovers in the form of a MKP 6uF 400V capacitor and a large 10 Ohm resistor in series with each compression driver. I had been expecting the drivers to be 16ohm but i'm guessing that 8 ohm drivers with the 10 Ohm resistors worked out to be a better balance for the system whilst maintaining the ability to put many in parallel without stressing the amplifiers. I was wondering if i might be able to remove the capacitors and run them fully active but for the 10 ohm resistors but for now i'm leaving them there.

I will also leave the W8CM standard for now but might consider using similar 12" drivers to the ones that i put in the W8C's

  The W8C's have now been fitted with RCF L12-750's (8ohm) and B&C 6MBX44-16 (16 ohm). The compression drivers are still the Martin DCD-025 = B&C DE25. There were some mods necessary to fit the new B&C 6.5" mids such as modifying the phase bung and removing a few cm of wood from the cab behind the magnet. Also i decided not to glue the plastic backs on them as they have a larger excursion if i so wish to play around a bit and see if it's worth extending the frequency down a bit lower on the DSP. For now they are just running with the standard settings. The newer mid bass drivers are more forgiving and have more headroom so you can get them thumping a little if you wish to push them a bit.

  I'll be listening to these a bit more over the coming weeks since i have them setup at home. I'm tempted to go fetch some bass bins but i'll probably leave the WSX in the lockup and fetch some old converted double 18" Peavey concert hall subs which now have some fane colossus drivers in them. I find these sound great in smaller venues, i usually put my Tannoy V 15's on top, but the W8C's could also sound nice atop the double 18 bass reflex cabs.

  The 4x WSX have also been modified with LF18X451. These are around twice the power handling than the originals with a much larger potential excursion. I had to flip the hatches as the backs of the handles were touching the magnets. I also removed around 3mm from the cutout with a fein saw as the membrane measured a few mm larger in diameter and with the extra excursion i didn't want to risk the membrane destroying itself on the cutout.

   If you have some old WSX  and some large amps i would highly recommend this mod. I'm using the Lab Fp6400's to drive them. One amp is probably enough to drive all 4 but i usually use one to drive 2x WSX with 1800W nominal per side. The idea is to get 8x WSX so i can stack 4 per side laying on their sides mouth to mouth, eventually.

  So far, listening to the W8C's with the new drivers i must say that i'm very happy with the sound + i love the WSX with the newer drivers.

  I would love to get the 15" Mid bass cabs that go with the wavefront system but space and transportation limit the options a little however i sometimes use a double 15" Void W bin as a centre mounted kick sub.

   Can't remember if i included everything from the message i lost earlier but if you have any questions feel free to ask. 

 

  

   

Nevertheless, here is the frequency response graph from the 2008 Catalogue...

Best Regards,