Old ULD 15 Sub

stonking

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Gents. 1991 15" velodyne sub for £200.00. Would this be a good buy? Would I need to replace the cone etc, because they must have a certain life. Not sure what to do here.

Regards
 
That's not an easy question to answer. It was supposedly a super sub in it's day but that day was 14 years ago and if the sub has had a hard life that driver and servo mechanism could be on it's last legs.

If £200 is your maximum budget I can't think of anything else that will give you those performance levels for the price but there is an element of risk involved.

If you can afford to lose the money I might be inclined to buy it and run it until it busts then chuck it in a skip
 
Ian, I would say £250+ is actually my budget but if I am getting a good deal with this sub I am happy to pay £200. What is the life expectancy of a reasonably driven sub? I do think 14 years is pushing it. With new technology is a 14 year old 15" sub the same as a new 12" sub now. Any advice / views would be appreciated.
 
Initial gut feel was that 200 notes felt a lot of money for a 14 yr old sub, however haveing a look here...
http://www.velodyne.com/velodyne/support/obsoleteprod.aspx?sid=998q383c

...it looks like Velodyne's suggested current equiv is the DD-15 which is a £1K+ sub I think. Hence if it's in good nick then it may be a cost effective way to get real grunt....PJ
 
stonking said:
With new technology is a 14 year old 15" sub the same as a new 12" sub now. Any advice / views would be appreciated.

Subwoofer technology has moved on in leaps and bounds and don't forget that 1991 also predates the explosion in subwoofer sales caused by the impact of DVD which had the effect of drastically increasing subwoofer sales and consequently bringing down prices.

I don't doubt that a modern 12" sub will be much more advanced than your 14 year old Velo but even a second hand Velodyne HGS-15 will be costing you considerably more than £200 second hand and I can't think of anything comparable at that price - but it does come with attached risks.

An interesting comparison would be a modern SVS PB-10 pitted against the classic Velo but even that comes in at £400 and is probably also larger than the Velo if that's a consideration.

If it's any help the Paradigm Servo 15 must also originally hail from that era as it was certainly around in 1994 when I bought my first REL sub and they are still going strong today.
 
No. What should I look out for when I do, sort of flappy bass? I must admit to being very tempted but for about the same money I could get a CHT10.
 
If you can listen to it, it should sound exactly like any other subwoofer. No distortion or strange noises.

I would agree with the others, it could be a good deal but there is a risk. I guess the basic question is can you afford to take the risk.

Dont forget bigger and expensive is not always better. I had several home demos of various subwoofers with a budget of about £500. For my system in my room the £250'ish Rel beat the more expensive ones. I am not saying the Rel is the best unit around but a lot depends on your system and your room
 

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