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Long throw 5 1/4 woofer??

I like very much my Totems Staff with a 5 1/4 woofer. The bass is very nice and deep (for a small woofer), however I wonder what do Totem Acoustic means by "long throw woofer". In their web site they do not list the x-max for this particular woofer. Any ideas about the x-max of this woofer?? Searching the web I found that the woofer is made in Poland (GDN 13/40/2) and in you tube there is a video where the woofer is feed some power so that its excursion is of about 3/8" one way!!! Can this little woofer handle safely an excursion of this magnitude?
tiofelon
ngjockey
1,042 posts
 
Excursion might move some air but getting anywhere near limits is guaranteed distortion. Makes it seem to sound louder though.
luvs2listen
63 posts
 
These days, companies use the term "long throw" for anything over 5mm one way. Typical cheap woofers will have Xmax of 3mm, even less. But it's not like 5mm is gargantuan or even uncommon. Most decent woofers available from SEAS, Peerless, Scanspeak, SB Acoustics, have Xmax values of at least 5mm on their drivers of that size.
http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-5-woofers/sb-acoustics-sb15mfc30-4-5-poly-cone-woofer/
It's great that small drivers can deliver decent bass levels and makes small monitors attractive, especially for someone who doesn't require concert level SPLs. But attempting to get 100dB at 40Hz from a single 5" woofer is just begging for massive amounts of distortion. High levels of bass energy are best left to drivers designed to produce it.
audiokinesis
2,737 posts
 
3/8" (roughly 9.5 mm) is indeed impressive x-max for a 5 1/2" midwoofer. It is harder to build that much excursion into a small-diameter suspension system than into a large-diameter one. In general there's a tradeoff relationship between long excursion and good top-end extension, but sometimes a dedicated designer can find a way to meet seemingly conflicting goals.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer/no affiliation with Totem
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