sundownz

Thanks; glad you enjoy the woofers ! We actually did two surround mods in recent history... first we just added stitching then we changed the 10/12/15 surround to a bit higher roll. Any of them can be used together, though, as there was no significant impact on the CMS. I have done all sorts of small tweaks to the SA-10/12/15s over time but they can all be used together with minimal variance.

Okay here it is : I am really pleased with these little guys

I have some things in store for the SA-10/12/15 that I am testing... earliest next year, though! It's been VERY difficult to come up with improvements on the design without significant increases in production costs.

I just installed the pair in my car (TWO SUBS) in 0.5 ft^3 sealed and took a nice listen... I am really quite impressed. Brandon, Thomas, and I all agreed that per box volume you will be pretty hard pressed to get this combination of output, bottom end, and sound quality. I need to get a little video... it was shaking my visors, rear view mirror, etc... obviously nothing insane but the output did surprise all of us. Currently on my 200.4 bridged @ 1 ohm (turned way down) -- I wired it this way as I plan to test the new 1500D v.3 in my car soon as well as the new 125.4 on the fronts. The only 8" out there that I know of that will out-perform these sealed is a JL Audio 8W7 (which is a GREAT woofer... my favorite JL product period)... but it does call for a MUCH bigger box to do it (0.875 ft^3). The JL has more x-max (19mm vs 14.5mm on ours) and models out with a lower F3 point but at the expense of about 3x the cost and over 2" more mounting depth. If you put three SD-2 8s in the same 0.875 ft^2 as one 8W7 you would come out about the same price and end up with more output -- just depends on what you can fit as far as face area for woofers.

Dropped my crossover to 50 Hz @ 24 dB -- I was stacking ~80 on the amp and ~60 on the HU before... dropped HU crossover completely and dropped amp to 50 Hz. WOW what a difference in mid-bass... love it ! I may drop my tweeter to -3dB after more listening as it's mounted so high in the door -- will try to get RTA first.

We had a good time as well Josh; great work on the panels too Let us know when you'd like to come back again! Hope you and your Dad have a safe trip.

One of the bonuses of the NeoPro line = low weight... figure 5 lbs or so each max for the Neopros.

Yes they are.

Typically we will refer anyone to a local dealer; if you do not have one in your area we have online dealers. Based on 3rd part measured objective Klippel data -- the CMS and Le linearity are inferior, it has less maximum x-mech capacity, and it costs more. BL performance is similar. Some people may *like* the way it sounds more -- I am referring only to objectively measurable causes of distortion. I also had Klippel based thermal data collected on both -- despite the difference in coil size the thermal performance is nearly identical in terms of delta T (change in temperature) compared to input power over time in a 25 minute test. Klippel uses full bandwidth frequency input. On my in-house 60 Hz thermal test the SA-8 v.2 out-performs many other 2.5" coil drivers -- but I have not ran the 2508 on that yet as I don't particularly want to blow a $300+ 8" woofer as the ones I have are SuperCharged. For a visual comparison :

The low-end extension really depends on how hard you run them. At rated levels I wouldn't see any issue crossing over at 60 Hz -- that is how they are set up in my car. If you expect to run significant power on them and don't want distortion I'd up that to 80 Hz or so. I'm not a huge "vid" guy for a midrange set designed around SQ -- so I don't really have anything like that yet... perhaps if I give someone a demo I can film their reaction

Fiberglassing requires alot more patience than what I have -- I'm really glad to have someone doing so much work on the van due to my extremely limited schedule! I imagine a majority of the work will be done by Sundown customers, Team members, etc. We'll be sure to note all of those who helped with that van; especially that do this type of work on a business level as well so their work is appreciated when the vehicle is shown.

We have Josh Fernandez and his Father up here doing some work to the rear door mids and highs setup. We came into contact with Josh through this article : Sixteen and DRIVEN | Driven Lifestyle Magazine We were pretty impressed with him and his work so we came up with an idea to have him come visit and put in some work on the van! They have been hard at work all week and I expect it to turn out very well : There are more progress pictures on Josh's phone that we will add once a full build log is made -- but I wanted to update to show we haven't left it totally sitting un-touched

I am building a set of like these on Z v.3 motors with the NS v.3 spider stiffness / the Z v.3 tall roll surround (re-building customer 15s into 10s) : * Dust cap isn't glued yet; just chilling out for now but that is how it will look. * Yellow NS v.3 spider * The terminal tabs are bent just right so the leads won't hit the cone or the adapter. Also put a small piece of tape across the adapter as an insulator just in case they do happen to get bent for some reason. As these are one of a total of five of these ever made and only a total of ~40 or so planned I don't have anything fancy for an insulator and just use a bit of tape (I have also yet to see the leads get bent down as they are oriented very carefully). A few people asked me about it so I am explaining in detail

Wow... anyway... The original prototype was very nice, I drew up some modifications to it, we had that mostly done but had to re-work the machining a bit to ensure it goes together smoothly with the magnet ID shorting ring locking into both plates. Depending on scheduling with the baskets the NS v.3 may coincide directly with them; if not we will offer some in 15s and 18s initially on current frames with STRONG suggestions to brace the motor due to the weight. Initially I was reluctant to offer them at all on current frames but it is taking a bit of time to get the new ones ironed out with the patents and whatnot and the total weight isn't really THAT bad with all of the machining on the back and top plates. I would not be comfortable selling 12s with current frames or making 10s at all for any reason with current frames... 10s will still be tricky to mount on the new frames but will at least be functional other than that. With all that being said... it will take about ~90 days after the prototype arrival to get them. Until I get the final prototype there is no specific ETA.

I've already started production; I am just making sure all the details of packaging and whatnot are ironed out before taking any orders. Production time start to in the USA is about 90 days so that puts them in September. I made a tiny motor modification on production as well by extended the pole out further to get a few more tenths of a millimeter of x-max. Other than that and the nicer back plate finish with our logo etched in production will be basically the same thing that I have in my car.

Right now some work is being done on the back doors. We've been taking it a bit easy due to time constraints trying to get a new building, etc... but looks like steel will get ordered soon for the cage.

Yes you would state in the note what you are ordering. Two SA-8 v.2 will work better than an SA-10 -- especially with a 1500D for power. You will have a hard time accidentally damaging two SA-8 v.2 on that power.

I believe we sold out in January.

My ETA was off; that container did not have my Z v.3 motors on it due to an issue with the Nickel plating facility (big fire). We had to delay them and switch to a chrome plate on the motors; they will be here end of June.

I am only working on 6.5" at this time.

I essentially have what 90% of people that buy the set will have -- a basic install, with some minimal dampener, typically in factory spots. As you can see -- no crazy install tricks... but the result is still great sound When I get a moment we'll also do an in-car RTA of it just like this as well.

Here are some photos of putting them in : * The door is already very solid so that is a plus for sure! Crossover is installed on the door itself as well. * Added some Audio-Technix dampener on all the large flat spots and also behind the mid. Also installed the wooden adapter ring for the mid to the door. * Some dampener directly behind the mid. * Made a raid guard out of a few pieces of dampener and some aluminum tape -- this will keep large amount of direct water off the mid. Ambient moisture is really not a concern for the treated paper cone but we don't want water dumping down on it. * Mid fully installed. The tweeter is right in the factory location -- nothing special to show there! I am super pleased with the performance in this price bracket

I got the set installed yesterday with the final mids in my VW Golf -- sounds fantastic. Much less fatigue than the prior prototype set -- I had it up to my max listening level all the way back from the shop (15 mins or so) with very minimal listening fatigue. I am very pleased with how the set is working out. Both the mid and tweeter are much smoother than the prior set... the prior set sounded good but I found it fatiguing at high levels over long periods of time. The prior set being what I was working on April of 2011 (which I don't think I posted pictures of)... that set used a woven fiberglass cone and a bit different tweeter design. I did post a shallow set that was very similar which we put in Nick's CRX; but I had a "standard" depth set in my VW. Little more on my setup... I run them in stock locations with a handful of Audio Technix dampening material on the door (it's already solid unlike most doors so no holes to seal up). I'll get some photos up when I get back to work too... I have an SAX-200.4 on the comp set and my 3x SA-8 v.2 woofers -- so PLENTY of juice on tap. With a correctly configured HPF I do not see any problems running a nice, powerful amp on them like I am doing -- but our official rating will be much more conservative as it has to be flexible enough for inexperienced users. As of now I have zero EQ work done and I am very pleased; but I do plan to run an RTA and see how the response looks and maybe apply a bit of EQ if I see any major trouble spots due to the vehicle itself (the set itself is super flat out-of-car). In summary... I am pretty much 100% happy with the performance at the price these are coming in at. I anticipate the price being right at $199 from a dealer even with the mid upgrades we did (so I hit my under $200 target) -- at this price range I think they will be hard to beat if you are looking for a set with a very smooth response with low fatigue.

Thanks! I am very proud of the SA-8 v.2 and I'm always glad to hear about people using them.

Yes.