Silver Flute woofers as Peerless B65-OA replacements

[one_green_monkey]

I have been searching for a good replacement for the Peerless B65-OA (SC165 mk IV) 831881 woofer, and have come to the conclusion that the Silver-Flute W17RC38S08 are probably the best match out there. This is in terms of comparable parameters with the recommended Peerless speakers which are non existent now and also should fit the plastic speaker mounts on the OA14s (flange ~Ø167mm).

Silver-Flute
W17RC38S08
Qts 0.31 / Fs 41.0 Hz / Vas 24.0 L / Sens 88.0 dB / Power 80 W rms / flange Ø max 167 mm

Peerless B65-OA (SC165 mk IV)
831881
Qts 0.35 / Fs 46.2 Hz / Vas 22.4 L / Sens 89.2 dB / Power 150 W rms / flange Ø max 165 mm

these can be found at both solen.ca (canada) and madisound.com (usa) and they also come if a magnetically shielded version if needed. <US$30 each.

has anyone had any experience using these in the Sonabs?

[mftech]

Hi,
I just came to the same conclusion that you...
I bought a pair of OD-11 for $20 last week, never heard of Sonab before.
I'm very impress by the concept and the overal design.'
As tweeter I used the Peerless 53NDT2608 for midbass
I used the SF 6.5 W17RC38S08 (shielded).
The sound is quite good but needs some tuning with the port.
I found that 1800Hz is may be a bit too low for the tweeter.
I included a picture, the description is in french but you will figure out easily.

[-distortion-]

One detail..
Carlsson people dont recommend spikes, use soft fee.



This will explain why, look especially at the middle of the page.
http://www.sonicdesign.se/sdfeet.html

And when you use other woofers and tweeters the speaker wont sound right, perhaps good but not right.

[mftech]

Thanks Distortion for the advice,
the spike was an excuse for having more space for the binding post.

I agree with you just replacing the driver doesn't make the speaker sound automatically good.
Sadly both the Peerlees woofer and tweeter are not available anymore at Solen (the canadian distributor)
Actually I will have to adjust the port and probably change the xver frequency for something higher than 1800 Hz.
My next step is to connect the OD-11 trough my DCX-2496 electronic xver and experiment with various cut-off frequency.

PS I'm looking to obtain another pair of OD-11.
But with no speaker

[one_green_monkey]

I have been running the Silver Flutes mentioned above for a few months now and am very happy with them. The sound from the Sonabs is great, i cant compare to original woofers but im very happy with the OA14s i have now. Luckily my original tweeters are in good order so didn't need to change those, only changed the crossover caps to newer ones which hopefully also impoved the overall sound.

Maybe one day when new replacement Sonab speakers once again become available ill look into changing to see what ive been missing out on, but at the moment im happy with the replacements.

BTW The Silver Flute W17RC38S08 drivers fit snugly into the enclosure around the flange max diameter, tight but snug with no cutting necessary.

Post back what you find mftech, using the replacement tweeter you used on your OA11s, especially the cross over frequency you found to work best with the driver combo you have now.

All the best

[joena]

How do i hook up a subwoofer to my new head unit? I'd like to buy a new head unit for my truck, and i'm looking at decks that are 50W by 4. Does this mean it can support 4 different speakers each running a max of 50 watts? If so, where does the subwoofer come in there? I'd like to replace the four stock speakers with new ones and add a subwoofer. How exactly would i do this?
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[jansch]

I agree that the Silverflute speaker is a perfect replacement for the Sonab 6,5 inch. I use it in OA2212 and OA14 and it sounds great!
In OA2212 I use the 4ohms version for the bass and the 8ohms version for the middle. I have done a lot of tests and measurements and compared this with Sonab speakers as well as with the “official” replacement speaker. The SilverFlute speakers measures and sounds best ....... and cheap! (USD 30,- plus shipping and taxes = 450SEK)
In OA2212 there is no need to change anything, the impedance curve shows a perfect match with the enclosure.

There are minor differences between the shielded SilverFlute and the standard version, I prefer the non shielded.

[dsmudger]

hi jansch, very interesting post there - I have some OA-116 with one of the earlier type of SC165, did a DIY foam replacement and they're ok but I haven't been all that happy with the sound (compared to other Sonabs I've heard) - do you think these Silver Flutes would also be a drop-in replacement for the bass and mid in the OA-116?

They're currently in stock at both Solen and Madisound, and 4x 30USD seems like an amount I could stand to risk on an experiment to try to get my Sonabs sounding better

Did you write up the measurements/listening impressions somewhere on a blog maybe, or can you link to any info on that?

Cheers!

[bjornfalth]

Hi,

I have done some A/B testing with renovated SC165 type 1, B65OA-II and Silver-Flute W17RC38S08 in two pairs of restored OA-14 cabinets with edge coated tweeters and new gaskets between baffels and cabinets, and would like to share my experiences.
First, let me just state that my findings relate to my listening room and my ears, and may no apply generally...
To me the renovated SC165 and the B65OA-II sound very much alike. I do however get a wider and lower sound stage from the B65's, which I prefer. The sound is also clearer from the B65's, probably from the lower distortion. There is also more low bass from the B65's and I think the balance between bass and midrange is better with the B65's. I tried them both with, and without the recommended 4.7uF cap across the original 10uF, but couldn't hear much difference. I ended up preferring to keep the 4.7uF in.
Now to the Silver Flutes. I had very high hopes for this unit. It looks very solidly built, heavy magnet, 38 mm coil, nice die cast chassis, rubber surround etc.
BUT - the sound that came out of the OA14 was very strange. Sound stage was narrow, hoovering far above the speakers, never really moving out into the room like with the B65OA or the SC165. The difference was so big that I though I must have done something wrong. Having checked and tested everyting multiple times, I can only conclude that the Silver Flutes are very different to both the Peerless units in the midrange. On the positive side the bass power was equal to the B65's, and stronger than from the SC165. I suspect that the Silver Flutes are either intended to work as bass units only or for listening to the midrange on axis. I finally installed my Silver Flutes in a pair of OD11, where they make a much better job than in the OA 14. Lot's of tight fast bass and a better sound stage. The OD11 beeing placed on the floor, my ears were then also placed closer to the axis than in the OA14. I think this helped. Next I will try to place them low in a book shelf facing forward instead of upward, placing my ears even more on axis.
I hope you can gain som knowledge from my experiments, but please don't let this stop you from experimenting. In another room things might be different...
Regards,
Björn

[jansch]

Don't use the SHIELDED SilverFlute version in Sonab speakers!