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  DS1500 series (DS1502/DS1510)
15" subwoofer drivers
 

New range of 15" drivers

We now have three new 15" drivers. DS1502 replaces our previous DS1501 and features a black spun aluminium cone with an inverted dustcap. DS1510 adds a 3" voice coil and two oversize magnets for higher power handling to suit our 600w plate amps. DS1505 has been discontinued as its spec is not too different from DS1502 and DS1510.

3 new 15" drivers

Designed for accuracy

Our new range of 15" drivers represents the fourth generation of our servo driver. While designed specifically for our Direct Servo subwoofers, all our drivers are also suitable for conventional use. While many drivers are designed to look good and appear impressive on paper, we design our drivers with a music first philosophy. To be included in our range, they must be capable of accurate reproduction and not simply noise making power tools.

Our approach to driver design

All of our products are designed for uncompromising musical performance. We won't compromise this aspect to make our drivers look better on paper. Most drivers on the market add extra voice coil layers to create more attractive specs. The result is higher mass and inductance as well as reduced magnet strength. Typically this degrades performance above 40 Hz and often results in a subwoofer which can only function as a low frequency noise maker.

Our drivers are designed for low moving mass and high flux density. To further reduce inductance and distortion, we added a FEA (finite element analysis) designed short circuit ring effective above 30 Hz for.

Power, excursion and performance

We've avoided the temptation to aim for extreme power handling and excursion in favour of a more cost effective and musical solution. Where more output is desired than one of our drivers can deliver, we suggest one of our multiple driver options. Higher power handling and excursion have many sonic penalties and mitigating their effects involves numerous expensive compromises.

Compared to our 12" drivers, these achieve 2 db greater efficiency and 4 db greater transient output. For bass frequencies, a 6 db increase in output sounds twice as loud.

Driver features

  • Rigid cone - black anodized aluminum cone
  • FEA designed shorting ring - reduces 2nd order distortion
  • High linear excursion - 1.2" peak to peak (15mm one-way) xmax
  • High mechanical excursion - 1.8" peak to peak (xmech) to reduce risk of bottoming
  • Low moving mass - for low inertia operation
  • Woven lead wires - prevents rattling during high excursion
  • Gold spring loaded terminals for easy solderless cable connection

Thiele Small Parameters

Model DS1502 DS1510
Enclosure size 3 cu ft sealed 3 cu ft sealed
  4 cu ft vented 4 cu ft vented
fs 18.84Hz 18.90Hz
BL 15.8 16.2
VAS 290L 300L
Mms 240g 260g
Qms 3.737 3.543
Qes 0.391 0.373
Qts 0.354 0.337
Sd 809 cm2 809 cm2
Re 3.00 ohms 3.00 ohms
Le 2.5 mH 2.5 mH
Cone finish Black Black
basket Black Black
Driver cutout 14-1/16" 14-1/16"
Diameter (outer) 15-5/16" 15-5/16"
Driver depth 8" 9"
Driver basket lip depth 3/8" 3/8"
Magnet depth 1.68" (0.84" dual stack) 2" (1" dual stack)
Power handling 500W RMS 800W RMS

Mounting

We supply foam gasket tape to ensure a good seal when the driver is mounted to an enclosure. We suggest putting the tape on the enclosure rather than on the driver basket.