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[Langston Holland]

IMO, the TH115 has been the all around portable sub champ since its introduction.* The vast majority of the shows I do result in several mentions of how impressed they were with the LF. Folks are not used to high fidelity at longer wavelengths. If there was a metric that could factor in all the variables** and weigh them according to what is important to sound companies such as mine, the TH115 would be unapproachable. Until now.

I was surprised at the subjective difference that 4.5dB and somewhat lower extension makes. The TH118 has a sensitivity bump around the kick and bass guitar fundamentals that probably contribute to the happy fear I experienced when standing in front of a pair of them at full tilt. The specs indicate that it takes approx. (3) TH115's to equal the output of (2) TH118's, and I found this to be true. The additional LF extension also makes them seem a bit louder than the measurements would suggest. I'm quite pleased that the fidelity and impact haven't been compromised and the overload characteristics have the same smoothness as the TH115. My guess is that the tapped horn provides an increasing level of air resistance to both sides of the woofer cone as Xmax is approached, thus it is hard to get these things to slap.

Summary: The TH118 is a great value, it costs more and requires more amplification than the TH115, but you'll end up needing fewer subs to achieve the same SPL. External dimensions are identical to the TH115 while only adding 8 lb. You'll get an additional 4.5dB output from only 2.5dB more amplifier power. I just ordered (.

Measurements:

The white trace is a pair of 4Ω TH118's, pink is a pair of 8Ω TH115's. These are raw measurements (no processing) taken at 30' in the ground plane in an open field. Electrical polarity was reversed and 8dB of gain was added to make the subs work properly with my particular systems. Smaart v5.4 was used with FFPO - been too busy with business to make the transition to v7 and Systune, though I've been studying both. The TH118 trace was lowered by 5dB to reduce its sensitivity to equal that of the TH115 and make comparisons easier. Notice that Ivan's statements about the two subs being phase compatible, thus able to be used together is dead-on correct. I already have (12) TH115's and this is a happy thing.



The blue trace is a pair of 4Ω TH118's, green is a pair of 8Ω TH115's. Now you'll notice the addition of 20Hz 4th order Butterworth high pass and 78Hz 4th order Linkwitz Riley low pass filters. Danley generally recommends 25Hz and 30Hz respectively for the high pass filters. My tests and experience show the max. power ratings are quite conservative and both subs can handle the lower cutoff and EQ boost you'll see later without lowering limiter thresholds. I've been using PL380's on the TH115's and a demo Powersoft K10 on the TH118. Neither amp is used up when driving the subs to full tilt.



Here is the TH115 pre and post EQ boost. You can see the specs of the filter used in a Dolby Lake processor to achieve this result. You can hear this.



Now the TH118 pre and post EQ boost. You can see the specs of two filters used in a Dolby Lake processor to achieve this result. You can hear this too. The 148Hz cut isn't necessary, but I generally deal with such things when they're within the first 12dB or so of the passband skirt - plus it looks nice on the graph.



Here are the post EQ traces for the TH118 (green) and TH115 (cyan). Remember the TH118 curve has been reduced by 5dB for comparison. Again, the phase traces show near perfect compatibility.




*  Disclaimer - I'm a Danley fan-boy and dealer.

** Fidelity, reliability, purchase cost, amplification cost, weight, size, ease of use both in moving it around and processing. Acceptability was an issue initially, but that hurdle seems to have been cleared at this point.

[Fernando Lopez]

"...The specs indicate that it takes approx. (3) TH115's to equal the output of (2) TH118's, and I found this to be true..."

Thank You for this info.

[Langston Holland]

If you re-read the post, I think you'll notice I have more than two TH115's.

In reference to learning about the TH115's in use, try the "Forum Search" function. Enter "TH115" and hit enter. That'll keep you busy for a while, provide far more feedback than I could ever give you and maintain a better S/N ratio around here.

[Michael 'Bink' Knowles]

Great review! I can almost feel the thump from here...

-Bink

[Reggie Kendrick]

Nice review (handclap)... makes me want another one  

[Ales Dravinec 'Alex']

Lang said :

The 148Hz cut isn't necessary, but I generally deal with such things when they're within the first 12dB or so of the passband skirt - plus it looks nice on the graph.

Excellently put, sir !
Not to mention that said is RIGHT to the point.

w/r

[Ivan Beaver]

Ales Dravinec 'Alex' wrote on Mon, 21 June 2010 08:01

Lang said : The 148Hz cut isn't necessary, but I generally deal with such things when they're within the first 12dB or so of the passband skirt - plus it looks nice on the graph. Excellently put, sir ! Not to mention that said is RIGHT to the point. w/r

I took an NSCA system alignment class years ago with John Murray as the instructor.  He talked about out of band eq, and keeping the slopes as a slope.

I had never thought of that before-and had just dealt with "in band" eq (between the crossover points).

Come to find out that those "bumps" do matter-and change how things act within the crossover band.

You don't need to "chase" them all the way down, but for the first 12-15dB-it is a good idea.  Everything just works better that way.

I don't "fill in the dips", but do "smack down the humps" as needed.

[John Chiara]

I find that out of band eq is also useful for "tuning" the tone of the subs....one way for DJ playback and others for different kinds of live music. It all about the musicality of the overall performance and how it "feels" to the listener.

[Art Welter]

Langston Holland wrote on Fri, 18 June 2010 16:50

I was surprised at the subjective difference that 4.5dB and somewhat lower extension makes.... The additional LF extension also makes them seem a bit louder than the measurements would suggest.

At 1000 Hz, +10 dB sounds twice as loud, while at 20 Hz +5 dB sounds twice as loud.

Your subjective impression would be in line with that observation,  since the  deviation in frequency response between the TH118 and the TH115 is around 6 dB at 20Hz, while the response above that stays within 3 dB or less.