(Click image to enlarge)

This is a nice, medium power 12″ woofer that is unfortunately pretty heavily overrated by it’s manufacturer, but…  If you have accurate information on it, you might find it’s just what you are looking for.  Just ignore the acronym!  Here’s the lowdown:

Features:

4 ohm impedance.
40 oz. (approx.) magnet.
Vented / extended one-piece pole piece / back plate.
Mid-size rubber roll.
Wet look / treated (weather resistant from the front) paper cone & dust cap.*
Flat spider.
1 1/2″ voice coil diameter.
Polyimide voice coil former.
Foam Gasket.
Soft PVC magnet boot.
Efficient design – good for smaller amps or even high power head units.*
80 watts RMS power handling, 150 watts maximum recommended RMS amplifier power.
PR Audio adds our strain relief / lead wire treatment & optimizes lead wire position.
Good for larger sealed boxes, etc.* 
3-year mfgr. warranty.

* Please see ”Application Notes” below.

T-S Data (Our measurements):

Fs =  32.92Hz
Qms = 3.642
Qes = 1.022
Qts =  0.7977
Vas =  145.03 Liters
Cms =  3.867E-04 M/N
Re =  3.82 Ohms
BL =   6.837 N/A*
Sd = 0.05167 Sq. Meters
Mms = 0.06044 Kg
Ref Efficiency =  0.4868 %
Predicted Output =  89.073 dB/1W/1M
Predicted Sensitivity =   89.28 dB/2.00v/1M**
Predicted Sensitivity =   92.28 dB/2.83v/1M**
Xmax = ~5 mm (???)
Xmech =  22 mm p-p  (It will go to 25-26 mm, but we think sustained / continuous operation at this level might damage the speaker, and it is beginning to get noisy / distorted at 25 mm.)
Le = 0.507 mH

*Direct BL crosscheck =  6.868 N/A.

**LMS curve shows 300Hz output @  ~92.5 dB/2.83v/1M and
   sloping slightly downward; output @ 550 Hz is down to 91.1dB,
   before it rises to approx. 96 dB from 700-1500Hz.  It peaks
   somewhat raggedly above 1700 Hz, and then rolls off for good above
   3500 Hz.)

Measurement conditions:

Broken in 12+ hours, Rest 12+ hours.
Temperature =  24.3° C,   Humidity = 78%

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Price:

Ignore the manufacture’s fantasy*:  “Suggested Retail $299.98 Pair, Manufacturer’s Unilateral Pricing Policy Strictly Enforced”.  Our price is $60/pr, with our lead treatment & individual QC of each unit included!

*These can easily be purchased for well under $100/pair from their largest authorized distributor.  (If you doubt this, go check the Internet.)  Of course, purchased elsewhere, they are less PR Audio’s TLC!

For additional ordering information please click here.

 

Their (mfgr’s) specs:

 
                                        (Click image to enlarge.)

 

Other observations:

The voice coil is actually 1 1/2″ diameter.

The cone is wet look paper.  (Ditto for the dustcap.)  We don’t know what a “poly zirconium” cone is supposed to be.

We did not test a unit to destruction, but we did run some continuous test tones, and estimate long term (8-hour industry std.) thermal power handling to be around 80 watts.  (At some point, we’ll put one in a cabinet and run it hard for a while, on “subwoofer” music material, off one channel of a Hafler DH-220, and see how quickly it heats up!)

Neither we nor anyone we asked has any idea what a “Parabolic RFL voice coil” is.

Typical 60 oz. magnets are about 6 1/8″ O.D. x .83″ thick.  The AABASS12 magnet is 5 1/2″ O.D. x 0.8″ thick — probably a 35-42 oz. magnet, depending on its inside diameter.

The roll looks like a normal mid-size rubber roll to us, which is actually just right, for this speaker. 

Mid-Q design?  Well, if you call  a Qts of almost 0.8 “Mid-Q”…  We’d call it a highish-Q design, but such do have their uses (see below.)

Flat, progressive spider roll design?  Well, it’s flat. 

CEA cooling technology?  CEA is an industry power testing standard, not a “technology” or type of design.

Vented and extended pole piece:  Yes, it is nicely vented.  (We’d be curious to know what the pole extension actually is, though — we haven’t torn one of these down, as no PR Audio customer has had one fail, yet.)

Low carbon plates?  Low carbon steel top plates and t-yokes are std. in most speakers.  In fact,  the t-yoke has to be fairly low carbon / soft steel, or it’d be hard to form.

“Weather resistant design” / “Approved for car audio and marine use”?  The mfgr. is exaggerating somewhat, we think.  These should be ok in a car or a well-sheltered outdoor location where they would not actually get rained on, splashed on, etc.   We DO NOT recommend this woofer for salt water marine usage at all, and we recommend fresh water marine usage only as described above.

Application notes:

For $60/pr, these are actually a nice 12″ woofer, if the specs work out for you.  As noted above, they should be ok in a car or a well-sheltered outdoor location where they would not get rained on, splashed on, etc.  (We just wish the manufacturer did not exaggerate the info. on these!)

These should work rather well in moderate power, large sealed boxes, or infinite baffle uses.  Transmission line enclosures with high damping might be another usage.  Eq’d dipoles, using several per side, would be yet another intriguing possibility.  The price certainly fits into such a scenario.  These are also a good upgrade for many small magnet 12″ home speakers, if the 4 ohm impedance will work with your amp, and any existing crossover.  (Contact us for an inexpensive woofer crossover recommendation if there is no woofer crossover already in the cabinet.)

More pics:  (click to enlarge)