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Stryke Audio is a small dealer/distributor with many items of great interest to the
DIY community. Stryke offers (or will be offering - some items have been announced
and although preorders are being taken, deliveries have not yet begun) three lines
of proprietary subwoofer drivers, along with various other drivers and a subwoofer
plate amplifier (see Section 19).
Most significantly, one of Stryke's subwoofer lines were built by
Lambda, which no longer sells the DIY market through
distributors such as Stryke. The Lambda-built drivers include the seven models in
the SAL line. These include variants in
10", 12", and 15" diameters. These were Lambda's premium designs using the voice
coil vents as shown in the discussion of motors in
Section 1 and which may be seen in the rear views of
these drivers. The advanced Lambda motors are used in all SAL models. To date,
Lambda has never built a woofer which hasn't been highly recommended. All Lambda
built drivers are therefore provisionally recommended.
10" view
10" rear view
12" view
12" rear view
15" view
Note: Although Stryke continues to
service and sell Lambda-sourced drivers, you should carefully note the caveat in
the Lambda comments in this section!
In addition to the Lambda built lines, Stryke offers the following recommended
drivers:
- The HE15 is an ulta-high
excursion 15" subwoofer built for Stryke by TC Sounds. Featuring dual
spiders, an aluminum cone, and 22.85 mm Xmax, this is one of the
most sonically (and visually impressive drivers available to the DIY market.
The only catch is that, because of the cost, Stryke only orders these in
batches from time to time, so availability is limited. If there aren't any in
stock, you will have to wait for the next preorder period.
front view
side view
rear view
response
- The SAE1204 is an economically
priced dual voice coil 12" woofer, originally designed by Lambda, but built
by Eminence. Note also that the SAE1204 is also available from Apex Jr.
12" view
15" view
- The SA071 7" mid/bass. Using a
woven fiberglass cone, the SA071 exhibits two response anomalies: 1) a dip at
1 kHz caused by diffraction off the surround (whether it shows up in the
published FR or not, virtually all 6.5" drivers with an outward roll surround
have this problem to some degree); and 2) a nasty breakup peak centered
around 5 kHz. The dip is easily cured with a minor modification detailed
at the Stryke
web site. The breakup mode requires a
properly designed crossover to tame. After taming these, the SA071 is
essentially flat out to 3 kHz. Certainly worth the effort for a $20
driver. view
unmodified response
modified response
This is an exceptional product line, even more remarkable for a small web-based
vendor. Putting these in perspective, the SAE series might be compared to sport
sedans - competent and affordable. From that same perspective, the SB
models would be Le Mans GT racers, and the SAL series would be Formula 1
racers.
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