Replacement Subwoofer Drivers

[jinjuku]

I have a pair of PSB Alpha Subsonic 5 (not the 5i) subwoofers. I want to replace both drivers.

A few questions:

1. How important is it that I purchase drivers from PSB? They want $160 per driver. Seems a bit steep.

2. Can I use a 3rd party driver without too many worries?

3. Does anyone know (I have already emailed PSB) if their website has an information portal for legacy product?

4. If I have the spec's, will that be enough to match up a driver?

I am assuming that if I know the frequency response and tunning of the enclosure, the power handling of the unit, then I should be able to get away with a 3rd party driver w/o ruining the audio characteristics of the sub-woofer.

Thx in advance every one.

J

 

[annunaki]

I have a pair of PSB Alpha Subsonic 5 (not the 5i) subwoofers. I want to replace both drivers.

A few questions:

1. How important is it that I purchase drivers from PSB? They want $160 per driver. Seems a bit steep.

2. Can I use a 3rd party driver without too many worries?

3. Does anyone know (I have already emailed PSB) if their website has an information portal for legacy product?

4. If I have the spec's, will that be enough to match up a driver?

I am assuming that if I know the frequency response and tunning of the enclosure, the power handling of the unit, then I should be able to get away with a 3rd party driver w/o ruining the audio characteristics of the sub-woofer.

Thx in advance every one.

J

To achieve the same sound, the PSB drivers should be used. At $160, that is a bit pricey considering what one can get in a current modern day 10" for that price. Having seen that driver, I would be very hard pressed to pay $160.00 for it. They are nothing special.

What you will need to do is get the specifics on the amplifier (power output, recommended impedance, ect.) and the enclosure (volume, port diameter, length, & mounting hole diameter). Once you have that you can start looking for potential replacements by modeling them in the given enclosure with the power available. The one that models the best would be your pick.