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I have a few 8″ Dayton woofers that I have never really tested for their bass. All the while, I tried them in 2-way designs and ended up disappointed. They were neither here not there. For this exercise, I’ll start off with the aluminum cone DA215-8. What attracted me to this woofer is the Qts of 0.37 and the Mms of 30.3g. I am a fan of Qts in the 0.3x range, preferably below 0.35 and I like the Mms to be low. The DA215 with an aluminum cone of 30.3g is not too heavy considering she’s an 8″. Whether she will deliver the bass I want is left to be seen. Specs only tell you so much. The only way is to listen to the driver. I initially loaded the DA215 onto a 20 liters bass reflex but the bass was unbearable. Bloated. I then replaced the box with a 24 liters bass reflex tuned to 36Hz (below). It was an improvement.
Since the DA215-8 is an 8Ω woofer, I retained the 10.0mH iron core inductor that I used. Early listening indicated that I need not change this inductor. The DA215-8 and the HiVi C3N-III integrated well.
When I first heard the DA215-8 in this 24 liters bass reflex, it bothered me. Even though her bass is better than in a 20 liters box, the attack was not as fast as the HiVi M8N-1B. Worse still, the bass was “hard”. She sounded like there was a peak at about 50Hz. It reminded me of badly designed bandpass subs that are common in cars. If this doesn’t work, I may have to increase the box volume and tune for an even lower Q. But this is with the DA215 not broken-in yet. I left her playing music for a few days, hoping that once broken-in, she’ll sound better. True enough, after 3 days, that “hardness” disappeared, replaced by a bass extension that wasn’t there before. It was only after this that I started to listen to her bass carefully. When doing comparative auditions, it is important to keep everything the same. In this case, the change is the woofer only. The power amplifier, pre-amp and source remains the same. This does not apply to woofers only. Same goes for power amplifiers and the rest. Once you change more than one equipment, your reference point is gone. With my mind still fresh from listening to the HiVi M8N-1B, I proceeded to audition the DA215-8. I played the same tracks as in the M8N-1B. Magic Fingers (Bela Fleck) didn’t excite me. While the fundamental bass notes are there, they somehow sound different. This holds true for the entire album. The attack is nothing outstanding – actually “slow”. Worse than that, the texture in the bass is missing. It sounds like everything is glossed over. In Toxic and Baby One More Time (Britney Spears), the texture is missing too. These are the details in the bass, the fine bass between the main bass notes. Looking at it from another angle, it can be described as the lack of resolution. The bass in Alegria (Chris Spheeris) ended up “blurry”. This is surprising because in this recording, the bass is not complex. Yet, the definition is not there.
I was about to write off this DA215-8. I had such high expectations of her. It just so happens that I had some other things to attend to so I left her playing music for the next few days. On Jan 22, I woke up to an entirely new DA215-8. Gone are the issues I listed above. She sounded like a high-end driver. Her attack improved tremendously. She is “fast”. The bass timing is now in line with the mid and highs, not a split second behind. More than that, her clarity and texture are a few levels higher than before. In Stop, Look and Listen (Donna Summer), the textures at the end of the bass notes are clearly audible. Another track I like is Woman. The bass has the effect of drawing you in. Quite hynoptic.
To be honest, I never expected the DA215-8 to be this good. This is the kind of bass performance I seek. At $50, she is a bargain. When compared to high-end drivers like the Seas U22REX, she holds her ground. The Seas U22REX is still in a league of her own but she cost $190 At almost three quarter less, it’s not difficult to see the Dayton DA215-8 offers the best cost-performance ratio. I highly recommend this Dayton for builders that are looking for good sound but are not prepared to spend on high-end drivers. Lastly, a reminder. It takes about 7 days to break-in the DA215-8. Unless otherwise stated, all measurements were made in Full Space (4pi). Mic at 36 ins, tweeter axis. Impulse Window=5ms. No smoothing applied. |
January 24, 2024HIFI DRIVERS, Projects
