Peavey Black Widow Low Rider Subwoofer SpeakerThe new Low Rider 18" driver is a milestone in high-power subwoofer design. An incredible 1,600 Watt program rating and extra-long cone excursion add up to amazing new levels of clean, deep bass. The Low Rider 18 is an superior choice for the bottom end of any high powered sound system, from DJ rigs to the largest professional touring shows.
The Low Rider 18 utilizes a new cone that is a variation on the existing Kevlar®-impregnated cones used on all Black Widow speakers. The new cone is stronger and tougher and uses an innovative asymmetrical-M surround for superior excursion and motion control.
High quality spring terminals accepting large gauge wire are attached to large diameter, high current tinsel leads with silver solder to withstand high current, high temperatures and long excursion.
The massive new voice coil uses polyimide-insulated copper ribbon wire, edge-wound and bonded onto an incredibly durable and heat resistant polyimide composite former. The coil’s winding length of 1.150" is an amazing 80% longer than Peavey’s standard 18" Black Widow coil. The long coil has much more surface area to dissipate heat, and its increased length drives the cone to far higher excursion. The coil is overcoated with a tough thermoset epoxy for added durability, abrasion resistance and heat dissipation.
The coil wires are solderless diffusion welded to high-conductivity OFHC copper ribbon leads, which are embedded inside the former assembly and soldered to the tinsel leads with high temperature silver solder. The solder joint is then coated with a special thermally-conductive silicone adhesive for encapsulation and heat dissipation.
The voice coil assembly is bonded to the Kevlar cone and new, incredibly tough plastiseal-coated Nomex progressive-roll spider using a thermoset epoxy originally developed for attaching nose cones on ICBM missiles – truly an aerospace-grade adhesive. The spider and surround are bonded to the frame with a high strength toughened-cyanoacrylate adhesive, which is also used to bond the dust cap to the cone.
The magnet structure is all-new, and was designed using extensive Finite Element computer modeling. The back plate/pole piece is cold-forged from a single massive billet of ultra-low carbon steel, includes Peavey’s patented Focused Field Geometry, and is undercut to allow greater coil travel. The pole is extended beyond the front plate to improve magnetic linearity and coil cooling, and the front plate is a full 10 mm thick to match the long voice coil and provide a better path for heat and magnetic energy. The result is fully 50% more total magnetic gap energy than can be found in the standard Black Widow Super
Structure magnet assembly.
A patent-applied-for vent plate adds additional cooling for the voice coil. This heat-conductive, ported and finned aluminum ring delivers cool air pumped by the spider directly to the voice coil to keep operating temperatures under control. The improved cooling increases power handling and reliability, and reduces power compression.
The cast aluminum frame is tough and rigid, with the strength needed to hold the cone and magnet in perfect alignment. The deep dish design and large spider clearance make high excursion and high output possible.
These dynamic new drivers also utilize the user-friendly Black Widow replaceable basket assemblies with Rubatex®
gaskets.
The result of all these specially designed components is a loudspeaker that is truly amazing. The extremely high power handling and available 1.4" of cone travel combine for astonishing low frequency output, while the possibility of small enclosures adds a new dimension in
compact, high output sound reinforcement systems.