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It is ridiculous to mate a $170 Satori woofer with a $10 HiVi C3N-III full-range driver but I am only doing this out of convenience. My intention is to evaluate the bass quality of the Satori. At that price, I expect her to match the performance of the Seas U18RNX. I loaded the Satori with one of my test boxes, a 13 liters bass reflex with a 2″ diameter rear port. Length is 5″. The simulated bass response is below.
Due to the existing port length, it resulted in a 2dB peak at 75Hz. For the time being, I’ll leave it at that as I’m eager to listen to the Satori. This evaluation is done purely by ear. Some readers may take issue with this subjective approach but unless someone can show me how bass sounds like in measurements, this is the only way I know. As for those that say all bass sound the same, this is not the place for them.
I started off with the 5.6mH that I used with the Dayton GF180-4 but it didn’t sound right, like there was a hole between the Satori and the C3N. I then replaced it with a smaller 3.0mH inductor which fared better. However after a few days, I just couldn’t live with it any longer because I could hear the Satori bleeding into the midrange. I eventually replaced it with a 4.0mH iron core inductor. That value seems to work well, so it stayed there throughout my evaluation.
When I first heard the Satori, I was shocked by how ordinary she sounded. Her bass is no different from woofers costing $40 to $50. I asked myself, can she be that bad. This driver cost more than 3 times that of average woofers. Unless she has some magic, her cost is not justifiable. Perseverance I refused to accept that the Satori is a marketing con-job. No businesses can survive with that kind of business model. I was determined to give her a good breaking-in, hoping that she will sound extraordinary after that. I had the Satori playing music the whole day in my lab. After 5 days, I noticed a change in the bass. There’s more weight in the bass notes now, similar to that of a bandpass subwoofer. The attack has improved slightly but it is still a far cry from the Seas U18RNX.
By the 10th day of breaking-in, the Satori finally showed her true colors. Gone is that hardness in the bass. Best of all, her attack has improved tremendously. Now, the Satori can keep pace with the mids of the C3N-III. This is vitally important because you get the most natural sounding music when the timing of the bass is in step with the rest. Apart from the attack, the bass has texture that was non-existent before. These are the two aspects that I look for in bass. Basically, what I want in bass is clarity, articulation and dynamics. How low the bass goes is not my priority. I do not aim for 30Hz (-3dB). That belongs to Home Theater.
That depends on the listener. If you are a connoisseur in music, yes she is. The Satori is up there with the best. I would say on par with the Seas U18RNX. However, they do sound different. The Satori is slightly “slower” than the Seas but the bass notes are “meatier”. She sounds a bit like the vintage Scanspeak, only better. Which one to choose is up to your taste. Both are equally good.
I’m enjoying the Satori so much I’m reluctant to swap her for another woofer. This is one bass I can definitely live with. Obviously, using a high-end woofer like this Satori with a $10 full-range is a bit of a joke but I see potential here. What keeps popping up in my mind is a mini line source comprising of four units of C3N-III. Hopefully, the power handling with this line source will match the Satori. Currently, when I pump up the music, the C3N-III starts to distort. Apart from the higher power handling, I expect the mini line source to have a better projection similar to horns. Where it surpasses horns is the mini line source goes down to 100Hz~200Hz. When using horns, a 2″ compression driver is only good down to 700Hz. That will likely be my next project, a mini line source with a Satori for bass. If my idea works, I can then expand on using more expensive full-range drivers. Unless otherwise stated, all measurements were made in Full Space (4pi). Mic at 36 ins, tweeter axis. Impulse Window=5ms. No smoothing applied. |
December 27, 2023HIFI DRIVERS, Projects
