The first generation of Type-X-12″ subwoofer from Alpine, were reviewed in 2005, our reviewers say things like, “Alpine has done an incredible job in creating a wonderful sounding subwoofer”. That was not enough for the engineers, however, and you. had to make it even better. Alpine improves the Type-X woofer in ’08.’s Externally it difficult to distinguish changes in all apart from the obvious difference in the color of the two-piece, cast-aluminum now has a matte black. But deep in the technical side of things and the true story unfolds.
One of the primary objectives in the reinvention of the SWX 12 was to improve efficiency. Initiate this meant addressing the issue of weight, starting with the three-layer membrane. Tipping his cap to its original use, the new generation of a parabolic-shaped SWX cone with a carbon fiber front and a layer of Kevlar-reinforced paper layer on the back. The big difference, however, the core material in this sandwich that has changed from an aluminum honeycomb structure Rohacell in essence, a foamed acrylic polymer. This strong material is extremely light and thus reduces the moving mass of the driver and thus improve the overall efficiency. Rohacell also benefits the cone by further binding surface with the other layers (compared to the aluminum honeycomb), improving the stiffness. Additional reinforcements coming from Alpine Transmission Assembly, an 8-armed injection-molded polycarbonate and fiber structure, bonding and suppport deliveries to the back of the cone and a collar at its base, which connects the coil.
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The second step was improving efficiency, the engine components address. While the new structure still uses a three magnet stack, most of the metal components have been changed to fit the larger 80mm (2.83″), six-layer dual voice coil (VC). Size is not the only thing with the changing VC. Interestingly, three of the six winding layers inside living VC former while the other three wrap-around outside the traditional way. If we divide the layers helps to in this way in the conservation cool VC operating temperatures by doubling the wire surface in contact with the surrounding air. The design also doubles the surface area in contact with the “Twin = Wall” aluminum former, the latter help wick heat. This is particularly important because the VC is now made of aluminum wire (instead of copper, as in the previous generation), the less tolerant of heat than copper. While your first inclination may be to the decision in question, it actually benefits the driver by reducing the mass of the moving parts. These design elements also allow the driver to its impressive power handling numbers maintained than 1,000 watts RMS and 3,000 watts peak power specified.
The increase in VC size also changes in the metal components of the engine structure is required. The most important is the redesign of the Compound Radius Curve (CRC) pole piece. The pole piece, the magnetic return to the center of the VC in general (and in case of SWX-1243D) contains the vent you see on the back of the driver. At the top of the mast, the redesigned CRC helps smooth the flow of air and concentrate it through the copper shorting ring and heat sink. More importantly, controls the shape of the CRC of the river fringe field dispersion of the magnetic flux in the magnetic field. By changing its design was Alpine able to reach the magnetic flux thus extend better than the magnetic X-max on the mechanical X-max. This means that the VC will always remain within the magnetic gap, lower distortion at high output levels. It also increases the efficiency of the engine, and efficiency you will get better response and more power.
These improvements should go a long way in the perfromance of this driver, so let’s get to the good stuff.
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Getting Ready
I usually prefer to test the subwoofer housing recommeneded listed in the manual, but Alpine was to say in advance that the best performance would be in a larger than recommended sealed enclosure nice starting 1.5 ft3 (to be achieved, the manual recommends 0.65 to 1 , 25 ft3). Per this recommendation, I built a housing made of 3/4″ MDF with a 1.5″ front panel and minimal Polyfill inside. I have to reach the thoughtful VC configruation jumper in the correct slots to a 2-ohm load and secure with the 12-gauge speaker wire to the gold-plated brass terminals (isolated from an injection-molded) with the supplied allen wrench of the set screw. The C-shaped rubber seal over the basket of the mounting flange is provided in front of him stretched housing. Once screwed in a smooth rubber cover cosmetic press fits on top of the seal hides the screws completely.
The enclsoure was placed in the rear cabin of my F150 and adjusted to the optimum position. For this test, I installed a 2,200-watt ZAPCO C2K 9.0. After a small adjustment, the crossover was set to 70Hz at 12dB to achieve the best transition with my system Midbass.
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