New "Large Advent" upgrade woofers

[Guest]

Hello all,

We finally have the first run of our new Large Advent upgrade woofers in. This is a custom scratch built woofer designed to mimic the overall sound of the original LA woofers, while improving efficiency, power handling, and low bass performance. We used a larger magnet structure with a bumped and vented back plate, as well as an extended pole piece for improved linearity. The spider is larger, more durable, and provides better control/ less distortion at low frequencies and long excursions. The voice coil former is Kapton instead of brass, this along with better adhesives boosts power handling from 75w RMS to 125w RMS and cuts a good 10g off the cone assembly weight, netting a 2dB efficiency gain over the 1st and 2nd generation OEM woofers, and 1dB over the later 3rd generation [25th Anniversary] woofers. Net result of these improvements is cleaner, more dynamic low bass reproduction, and better overall efficiency for those of you with limited amplifier power. For those with power to spare, you can push these woofers considerably harder before distortion sets in.

Cost is basically the same as the old stock replacements [$80 ea] we had available up to a few months ago, and this includes the required adapter plate to make them fit the odd size LA cutout. Due to cost constraints we had to build them on a standard frame, reproducing the odd LA frame shape/size would have cost $20,000 in tooling just for the frame. The adapter plates are CNC machined out of a special 1/4" thick engineering grade PVC sheet material. It is very non-resonant and stronger than MDF or Masonite of the same thickness. If you want to make your own adapter plates or filler rings the woofers alone are $75 each. Making filler rings out of 3/4" thick MDF is the optimal solution and provides the most rigid mounting, we just couldn't find a manufacturer who'd make them at a sane price. FYI: we're eating the cost of the adapter plates. It costs us about $9 ea to have them made, plus a few more $$ for the extra mounting hardware.

The Advent service people are buying the woofers/adapters we designed to use until they have their own reproductions available. Good news is that the "factory" repro's they will eventually have will be built on custom frames and not require an adapter. Bad news is they are being made in Taiwan [by the lowest bidder] so the quality will not be nearly as good as the old original US made parts, much less our new upgrade woofers. I can't give specific numbers, lets just say that the Taiwanese woofers cost roughly 60% less than our US made woofers to produce, but will sell for the same price by the time shipping costs and import taxes are added on.

Stephen Tidwell, Owner

Layne Audio

www.speakersupply.com

Email: speakerdoctor@hotmail.com