Hehehe....

Post by **joerg** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:02 pm

Now i´ll be ready to move some serious air in a short bit.

Post by **kg1961** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:09 pm

OMG that's what you got....

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:23 pm

Hmmm, I always thought Cerwin Vega was a UK company but that says made in USA right on it... I need to brush up on my audio history!

NewOldStock · Post by **NewOldStock** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:39 pm

OMFG!

SWEET!!!!!

I always loved those strokers!

KUB3 · Post by **KUB3** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:43 pm

If I had a van I'd be tempted to get these too

Damo95 · Post by **Damo95** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:02 pm

Mmmm... stroker...

Post by **ttocs** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:25 pm

I think that has to be one of the sexiest subs ever made with the metal nipple.

Misfire · Post by **Misfire** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:55 pm

ttocs wrote:I think that has to be one of the sexiest subs ever made with the metal nipple.

I could not have said it better!

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:27 am

Damn, I do need one also... 18" D2....

Post by **Eric D** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:09 am

Every time someone posts anything about Strokers I bitch about it, but I never give any explanation.

Of all the subwoofers ever made, these are in the top ten of my most hated. When I see anyone post something about them like it is a good thing it just makes me cringe.

1) They use a sand cast basket, not die cast. Sand casting is when you pack sand around a form, remove the form and pour your aluminum into it. Die casting is when you have a steel mold you directly pour the aluminum into (with a mold release agent of course). Sand casting is very inaccurate compared to die casting, and its use on these speakers backfired. If you talk with any Cerwin dealer from back in the day of these, they will tell you these speakers had the highest return rate and the least reliability. Impurities from the sand made it into the aluminum so these baskets would crack. They also were not as consistently accurate to assemble a speaker on in a production environment, so further flaws from bad alignment were built right into each one.

2) The spider on the top of the speaker looks cool, but is not a good thing. Speakers are supposed to move air. To move air you need the most cone area you can. When you put the spider on the top, you cut a huge area out of the cone. The center of the spider does not move, the outside does. So you have varying linear movement of the spider from the outside to the inside point. This is effectively 50% less air volume movement over the area of the spider. The JL W7 is just the opposite of this design. By extending the surround out over the frame JL maximized cone area, where the Stroker minimizes it.

3) The multi roll surround is bad as well. Plenty of research has gone into surround design. The common ones are small roll, fat roll, and this accordion type. The fat roll surround has the least amount if distortion, even when used with speakers which really don't need it like entry level ones which don't move all that far. I have personally tested different surround types myself when I worked for Rockford Acoustic Designs. The accordion type is the worst.

There is a reason why this design died back in the day and very few have ever copied it (the Earthquake BALLS line comes to mind, but only survived a generation or two). While working for Rockford I came across prototypes of similar speakers buried on shelves in the lab. They never made it to production because they did not perform.

The Cerwin Vega Stroker is one of the least performing, highest distortion, and lowest reliability subwoofers ever produced. It looks sweet, but only belongs in a display case, not a stereo system.

mudder · Post by **mudder** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:00 am

Joerg buy something like this.
A Ground Zero GZNW15, sounds great and loud.

Misfire · Post by **Misfire** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:17 am

Now that is a good looking speaker!

Post by **kg1961** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:50 am

Eric very valid points . but i have never used one and only seen one years ago (pawn shop)
why do people want them or like them some much? looks can't be everything for a sub
anyone else can let me know

NewOldStock · Post by **NewOldStock** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:17 pm

I agree with every point Eric made - but I would still run one... they are from a specific time in my life and therefore very nostalgic.

They look sweet as hell and I remember being young and seeing walled vans full of those dang things (though never hearing them) and because of the unique design, I just knew I wanted one. Same with the Cyclone...

growing up in Portland didnt help... seeing the PG demo rides and whatnot... damnit PG!

bretti_kivi · Post by **bretti_kivi** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:30 pm

only seen one years ago (porn shop)

^^ edited for correctness

Post by **Eric D** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:30 pm

For you guys who like these subs due to the time in your life thing, I could not agree more. I too remember seeing walls of Strokers in lifted F150s, or in vans and blazers. I too wanted one very badly. The hype on them was big, and I think Cerwin Vega gave out a lot of them to competitors to push their brand, which really is a brilliant idea.

If I had one today I would mount it in a stand showing off the front and back as a conversation piece. It would never make it into my vehicle. As for that Ground Zero, yep, now we are talking. Big cone, big surround, major air movement, and low distortion.

Post by **ttocs** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 3:52 pm

I remember hearing a pair of 18s in a camaro, and my ears are still ringing from it to this day.

Post by **Eric D** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:09 pm

I heard a pair of Rockford Power 12s (the one with a chrome back plate) in a camaro and my ears are still ringing, so whats your point?

mistawikid · Post by **mistawikid** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:39 pm

anything in a Camaro bouncing off the back glass will bump! I can't remember the crappy speakers I heard knocking in one A LONG LONG TIME AGO...... But Cerwin Vega definetely look cool; unique as hell and EVERYONE knows 'em when they see it! Not to mention 18's are awesome! I cant tell you the last time I seen one in a car?? You should make the install look wikid as hell though so if it doesn't knock you can still show it off! :)

Post by **ttocs** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:21 pm

nothin, no point made, just useless babble ignore me as usual.........

mudder · Post by **mudder** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:06 am

Eric D wrote:If I had one today I would mount it in a stand showing off the front and back as a conversation piece. It would never make it into my vehicle. As for that Ground Zero, yep, now we are talking. Big cone, big surround, major air movement, and low distortion.

And he plays great.

KUB3 · Post by **KUB3** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:41 am

As a side note, I recently watched a program showing how Ferrari made their engines from the ground up. Every detail was hand crafted including the alloy blocks being sand cast. Then they went onto the machining process and hand assembly of every component. Final result was a £65k ($105) just for the engine. That was only their middle range unit too. The Enzo and F1 engines cost a lot more. It should be repeated on Discovery, or a similar channel.

oldschoolfan · Post by **oldschoolfan** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 8:28 am

Sand casting is fine for an engine block as all of the critical surfaces will be machined to exacting tolerances. Those castings just give the machinist something to start with really. GM has been doing "lost foam" casting for awhile and those engines are a riot to look at. The cylinder heads and blocks look like they are made of styrofoam.

Sorry for continuing off topic.

KUB3 · Post by **KUB3** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 8:39 am

Are these frames not machined where they join the motor assembly then?

Post by **Jacampb2** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:36 am

I disagree Eric. I have had each variety of the OS strokers over the years, and they are on my top ten list of the best sounding subs out there.

First off all, the basket has to be machined for the motor assembly. Not many casting process can come from the form and go straight into use. I wouldn't doubt that there were bad runs, there is with any product that gets mass produced.

The spider, well, there is cone under the spider, leaving ~3" diameter of the VC former in the middle. I'm sure the spider causes some acoustical damping, but I don't think you can call the cone area underneath it non existent either. I suspect that front spider has very little impact on the output of the sub at all. The strokers have some of the highest efficiency numbers found in high power car audio subs.

As for the surround, I can't really argue that, I always thought it was a little odd, but remember that there were very few long excursion drivers when these were built, and very, very few subs with large roll surrounds. The accordion surround has been used for what, 100 years, on PA drivers? Does that make it old tech, or proven tech? I don't know, but it works.

I have 4 12D2 strokers in my collection right now. I ran three of them in my Jetta while I waited for a 3rd RSDc12 to come up for sale at a decent price. I ran them for about 4 months, they are phenomenally loud, and they sound excellent. They are the only ported car audio sub that I have heard that sounds as good or better than a sealed sub. I replaced them with the RSDc12s, same amp, same box (box was actually built to RSDc specs with those being the final sub choice as soon as I got a hold of a third) and not only were the RSDcs not anywhere near the same output, but they also sound muddy as shit, you know, the good ol' ported sub sound. The RSDcs do have more output down low, but the the Strokers have them trumped on SQ.

Good snag Jeorg, I hope you enjoy it!

Later,
Jason

Hehehe....

Hehehe....

itwm