Opinions on B&C, Selenium & Peavey

[iceman1575]

Anyone had any personal experience with any of the above companies' 18" subwoofers? I'm trying to find a set for my sound business, and can't choose. Has anyone had personal experiences with these 18's, specifically the B&C 18PS76, Selenium 18WS600, or Low Rider 18" subwoofer? I've kinda listed out the pros/cons to each. I'm leaning more towards the B&C's, higher SPL and under $800 for 4. They will be used for a bit of everything, mostly hip hop/pop music, with some rock/techno/trance/country/etc. with a pair of Yamaha 12's & Peavey 15's for mid/high bins.

B&C 18PS76

Pros: 99dB 1W/1m SPL rating, 7mm Xmax, $788 for 4

Cons: 600w RMS rating, Few reviews

Selenium 18WS600

Pros: $179.99 per unit price (compared to $207/$208 for the other two), 98db 1W/1m SPL

Cons: 3.8mm Xmax, 600w RMS rating

Peavey Low Rider 18"

Pros: 9.6mm Xmax, 800w RMS rating, Plenty of good reviews

Cons: 97.3dB 1W/1m SPL rating

Again, this is NOT a VS thread, just asking if there are any personal reviews & see if anyone has experience.

[STEvil]

would go B&C or Peavy. Look up which one has the bigger voice coil and stronger looking cone i'd say.

[iceman1575]

would go B&C or Peavy. Look up which one has the bigger voice coil and stronger looking cone i'd say.

Peavey has the larger (4" coil) and slightly higher power rating. My two main choices are either:

B&C in an 1850 horn enclosure from Speakerplans.com

or

Low Rider in either a ported enclosure or the 186 horn plan from the same site.

Either way, each pair will be getting 2400 watts (with compression/limiting to prevent distortion) so I will have plenty of power. I think the B&C's can take it, and have a higher SPL, but don't know if the Low Riders would take the power a lot better.

[STEvil]

My guess is the Peavy might be a better way to go, B&C is more home-audio oriented I think? Not sure though.

[MickyMcD]

B&C - Used by a great many manufacturers. Most B&C drivers are of great quality, sound good and are well constructed. They have a fantastic reputation in the OEM market.

Used by - Meyer, D&B, HK (I think they used them in the Cohedra?), Eastern Acoustic Works, iBO, Tasso (lulz, even that couldn't save them)

Just be careful regarding the vintage, I cannot remember the exact timeframe though I believe it to be within 1998-2002 B&C had ferrite magnet failures in which the ferrite would fail through the magnet splitting halfway through the core.

Peavey - The Low Rider woofers are great woofers regarding length of life and their uncanny ability to forgive you for abusing the shit out of them, but unfortunately they sound it. To get anything resembling true low end out of a Peavey branded enclosure, you must be prepared to hack away with a PEQ and sacrifice sound pressure. That being said, the QW range uses the Low Rider woofers, and they are a suprisingly good box. I would honestly call them a 4/5 star subwoofer, happily use them alongside more expensive offerings. A sentiment echoed by some on Prosoundweb.com A search on PSW will give you some good information regarding the Low Rider.

Used by - Peavey

Selenium - I have no information or experience with Selenium drivers.

I would recommend the B&C drivers for a more satisfactory listening experience. May I ask what you have for amplification, and why you do not wish to use factory built models?

Cheers,

Mick

[iceman1575]

B&C - Used by a great many manufacturers. Most B&C drivers are of great quality, sound good and are well constructed. They have a fantastic reputation in the OEM market.

Used by - Meyer, D&B, HK (I think they used them in the Cohedra?), Eastern Acoustic Works, iBO, Tasso (lulz, even that couldn't save them)

Just be careful regarding the vintage, I cannot remember the exact timeframe though I believe it to be within 1998-2002 B&C had ferrite magnet failures in which the ferrite would fail through the magnet splitting halfway through the core.

Peavey - The Low Rider woofers are great woofers regarding length of life and their uncanny ability to forgive you for abusing the shit out of them, but unfortunately they sound it. To get anything resembling true low end out of a Peavey branded enclosure, you must be prepared to hack away with a PEQ and sacrifice sound pressure. That being said, the QW range uses the Low Rider woofers, and they are a suprisingly good box. I would honestly call them a 4/5 star subwoofer, happily use them alongside more expensive offerings. A sentiment echoed by some on Prosoundweb.com A search on PSW will give you some good information regarding the Low Rider.

Used by - Peavey

Selenium - I have no information or experience with Selenium drivers.

I would recommend the B&C drivers for a more satisfactory listening experience. May I ask what you have for amplification, and why you do not wish to use factory built models?

Cheers,

Mick

I'll be using (for the time being) EP2500's bridge mono (2 subs per amp) until I can upgrade to a more reliable amp (even though I haven't had a problem with my EP2500 I have now in the past couple years of use. Also, I'm on a budget, so if I can build a box that does good for cheaper than pre-built, I don't mind. I'll be getting 4 of either the B&C's or the Peavey's. The B&C's, from what I see, will work in either vented or horn-loaded boxes, the Peavey's vented only. It will be used for mostly hip hop and dance music, with two 12's and two 15's for mid/high speakers.

[Afugy]

I will also recommend B&C.

As for the magnet splitting the vintage is more like 1998 to 2006 maybe even newer(I've seen allot of them), if you still have a warranty they well replace the driver if you bug them.

[MickyMcD]

Afugy,

I was not aware that the B&C failures occured for so long? That is concerning at best.

Cheers,

Mick

[Afugy]

It has for the most part only been in the D&B B2s, and really may not be that far back. I have not seen any of the older style fail like that. Its all been in the ribbed style 18"s. I've had a feeling that is was the way they sat in the B2 and how they would get flip onto their sides. I have NOT had any problems with the 18"s in the J Sub or the Q sub, and have only ever had a dust cap fall off of one out of a C4 sub(a 13 year old C4 sub).

[MickyMcD]

I have seen shifted magnets in Meyer loudspeakers as well, though the model escapes me at the moment. It is excellent to know you had 13 years out of ANY C4 element. Some guys really push C4's much harder than they need to be. Poor things.

Cheers,

Mick