The Peerless HDS Exclusive series 7" driver, model 830883.

The driver is courtesy of David T. Thanks Dave!

Impedance

Partial TS

Note these were done at relatively low drive levels, with modest break in. They are reasonably close to published spec.

Frequency response at 1".

The new Peerless is in black. The Dayton RS180 is in red and the Seas L18 is in aqua for comparison.

Linear distortion

Overall, looking at the data as a whole, the Peerless is the most linear. This is most noticable at 1.4k and above.

Nonlinear distortion

Spectral distortion

Comparisons to the RS180 first, the L18.

Note that, in both cases, the Peerless is in RED

From the above graphs, the Peerless has a bit higher nonlinear distortion overall than either the RS180 or the L18.

Single tone HD testing-

The first series of three graphs shows the Peerless driven with a single 40 Hz tone. In the first graph, the comparison is to an RS180. In the second graph, the comparison is to the L18. The third graph has nothing to do with the Peerless-it's just a comparison of the L18 and the RS180. I did not do this test in my prior comparison of the L18 vs the RS180.

The gridline intensity has bee muted so you can see the difference better.

As you can see from the above graphs, the Peerless, in red, has notably more distortion than either the RS180 or the L18.

This graph below is, as I said, just a bonus graph. It shows that, at high excursions, the RS180 is notably better in second order HD and otherwise quite equal.

Three tone, SL style

Tests at 80, 150, 400, and 800 Hz.

Pay attention!

At 80 Hz, there is only a single graph. At 150, 400, and 800 there are two graphs at these frequencies. The data is exactly the same, but the curves are flipped around. In praxis, the black curve overlays the other curves. If the black curve is higher, you won't see the red. But you don't know how much higher unless you flip the colors around. I hope that's clear. You have to spend a minute or two looking at each of the graph pairs to see what I mean.

At 80 Hz, the Peerless had more 2nd order distortion. Otherwise it's very close.

150 Hz pair

In the above graph, the Peerless is in black. You can see that there is a bit more distortion from the RS180 in the 4rth, 5th, and higher order distortion products. You can see that the Peerless has more second and third order distortion, but you can't tell how much without flipping the graphs.

The graphs are flipped below and you can see the excess second and third order products from the excess red.

400 Hz pair

Oddly enough, notably more second order distortion from the RS180, with a bit more distortion higher up from the Peerless.

800 Hz pair

Statistically indistinguishable at 800 hz.

Conclusion

The new Peerless HDS Exclusive series driver is a very well built, good looking (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though) driver with a number of strong points. It is very linear, as good as the L18, or perhaps better. It would be nice to have these on a baffle though. It's hard to make much of my measurements at much above 1-2k. It's midrange distortion numbers are on par with the RS180, and better than the L18.  If the Peerless on baffle FR looks anything like the published spec, it would make an excellent match for a second order alignment.  It does not seem to have the brute force excursion of either the RS180 or L18, though, as demonstrated by the spectral distortion and 40 Hz HD tests.