Hybrid Audio Technologies Legatia SE - Manual (Page 35)

Legatia SE User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 35 of 73
Legatia L8SE Wide-Bandwidth Midrange/Midbass
History
The Legatia SE L8SE’s topology is an enhanced Special Edition version of the massively successful
‘original’ first-generation Legatia L8 transducer, as well as the “version 2” Legatia L8V2.
By Summer 2010, a beta prototype pair of Legatia L8SE’s had been refined after hundreds of hours
of testing and development; these highly-evolved drivers were tested in Scott Buwalda’s very own
competition vehicle, as well as by Jorge Juaristi, multiple Mexican USACi champion. Production
refinements were complete and the L8SE’s were delivered to an enthusiastic reception on October
26, 2010. Design tenets incorporated features inclusive and proprietary to the Legatia SE line, and
the L8SE became the reference 8.85-inch driver in Hybrid Audio’s product category known
collectively as the Legatia SE Series.
Approximately five months after launch, using the L8SE’s as a dedicated midbass driver in his own
sound quality competition car, Scott Buwalda set the highest recorded score of all time in organized
sound quality competition (996 points) at the IASCA
®
North American Championships on March 19-
20, 2011. This achievement has been memorialized by IASCA
®
in writing as the highest score on
record, and it has been noted by IASCA that the score achieved will likely remain the highest
combined sound quality and installation quality score of all time, in any format, in any part of the
world.
Attributes
The Legatia L8SE is a 225mm (8.85-inch) “large format” wide-bandwidth midbass/midrange driver to
compliment both two-way and three-way system designs, where a point-source midrange and/or
dedicated midbass driver is required. The following are the L8SE’s design attributes:
Basket
The basket of the L8SE is a shared design with the Stage V Legatia L8V2 for easy upgrade potential;
the L8SE and L8V2 are interchangeable in mounting topology. The L8SE differs from the first-version
L8 in that the basket geometry has been enhanced in the SE model, just in the same way the V2
model was enhanced, to a slightly larger outside diameter for greater clamping surface area (from
8.5-inch on the L8 to 8.85-inch on the L8SE and L8V2); the mounting holes for each driver remain
nearly identical however, with a difference of only 2mm (188mm verses 186mm). Provided enough
outside mounting diameter difference can be obtained, the L8SE will often fit into the first-generation
L8’s mounting hole.
The basket is a high-quality cast aluminum design, and contains a 225mm flange providing for the
mounting of the driver via four screw holes (the use of 5mm cap head screws is ideal). The overall
dimensions of the driver are very amenable for use in the car audio environment, and in locations
typical of the standard “8-inch” driver, or in custom locations at the discretion of the end-user,
boasting a depth of 94mm (3.7-inch). The basket features large openings behind the cone to
eliminate chuffing and other aerodynamic-based noises, as well as provides adequate communication
to the back of the cone for acoustic suspension and proper operation.