Yep Wharfedale make their own drivers, completely or custom outsource for sure ,
1962:
Attachments
I'd imagine its a Wharfedale item, as part of the IAG group including Castle, Quad, Mission and others.
https://www.connect.de/bilder/42327362/landscapex1000-c2/image.jpg
https://www.connect.de/testbericht/standlautsprecher-wharfedale-opus-2-2-1054001.html
Look at what Madisound now carries -
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/midrange/volt-vm753e-3-dome-midrange-horn-loaded-8-ohm/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/midrange/volt-vm753-3-dome-midrange-horn-loaded-16-ohm/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/midrange/volt-vm527-2-dome-midrange-horn-loaded-8-ohm/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/midrange/volt-vm753e-3-dome-midrange-horn-loaded-8-ohm/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/midrange/volt-vm753-3-dome-midrange-horn-loaded-16-ohm/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/midrange/volt-vm527-2-dome-midrange-horn-loaded-8-ohm/
I would for sure use the Bliesmas over the Volt, don't see a point at that price. The original ATC at least has a lower resonance frequency and better sensitivity.
Yes, there is no comparison between the ATC and Volr domes when you look at the performance potential of the ATC in terms of sensitivity and xmax capabilities. The Bliesma mids will outperform the Volts by a big margine in terms of bandwidth and sensitivity, but the Volt 3" isn't as fragile as the Bliesma for sustained higher output levels.
I ran a set of party speakers with the 753s at 110+ dB levels at typical listening distances in medium size rooms often for several hours at a time doing dance parties. There was no perceived strain with the 753s running from 600 hz LR2 to 3.7k BW3 along with JBL 2206 and WGed Audax TW034 in ported cabs. These were my go to party/special event speakers for over 20 yrs and have never let me down. They filled any room full of people very evenly, sounding cleaner and smoother than most typical 2 way active LF + horn active speakers. The mids were predictably cleaner and much less fatiguing. The Volt domes can easily deal with 150W long term. Most other cone mids wouldn't cope with those power levels while remaining as composed. If I were to build another set of non CD equipped high output 3 ways, I'd pick the Volt mids any day over any other smaller cone mids or CD + WG based solutions.
I ran a set of party speakers with the 753s at 110+ dB levels at typical listening distances in medium size rooms often for several hours at a time doing dance parties. There was no perceived strain with the 753s running from 600 hz LR2 to 3.7k BW3 along with JBL 2206 and WGed Audax TW034 in ported cabs. These were my go to party/special event speakers for over 20 yrs and have never let me down. They filled any room full of people very evenly, sounding cleaner and smoother than most typical 2 way active LF + horn active speakers. The mids were predictably cleaner and much less fatiguing. The Volt domes can easily deal with 150W long term. Most other cone mids wouldn't cope with those power levels while remaining as composed. If I were to build another set of non CD equipped high output 3 ways, I'd pick the Volt mids any day over any other smaller cone mids or CD + WG based solutions.
In the measurements I posted here a while ago, the ATC had a modal resonance around 4.6kHz. While the mid has many performance aspects which make it easy to use, that places a limitation on how high someone might want to cross the mid to their high frequency drivers. The distortion on the lower end is a bit higher compared to some other mids.
Diminished returns….prohibitively expensive for both.…..and with the emergence of DSP ongoing, the savings of cone drivers along with the shaping potential will shrink the dome midrange market even further…….it’s on the edge of near extinction as it is now.
Therefore a lot of new designs are popping up with mid domes
A good 3" midrange can do plenty of things a cone driver simply is not able to do. The cone driver can do one thing better - playing low.
With the need of loud speakers for home cinema I would say the "boom" just started.
(In the studio sector the top monitors are build with 3" midranges for decades - and will be built that way in the next decades)
I have no Idea why the Bliesmas should be fragile at high output levels? That's not my experience!
It has 60% more Xmax as the ATC! (SM75-150)
3-5dB higher sensitivity as the Volt -> 1/2 to 1/3 of the power needed for the same SPL.
Similar resonance frequency as the Volt.
What bad experience did you have with the Bliesma that you call them fragile?
@IamJF When comparing the Bliesma with the Volt in terms of durability alone, the Volt has higher temperature voice coil materials and a much larger motor with alot of thermal mass to absorb and carry away heat. The windings are copper with a fiberglass / nomex former. This is good for long term power handling but hurts bandwidth.
The Bliesma uses a titanium VC former and copper clad aluminum windings that aren't as capable of enduring long term heat loads compared to the Volt. Titanium is a heat insulator and CCA windings don't handle thermal cycles as well. CCA will anneal over time and tends to fail sooner as well as needing special processes to solder. Their smaller neo motor will heat up faster and won't carry away the heat as well.
Bliesma chose to focus on bandwidth more than durability. For consumer use this isn't an issue, but for pro use at higher long term power levels, their design is more vulnerable to failure compared to a typical pro design using the heavier, higher temp materials.
I personally prefer the Bliesma over the Volts when considering acoustic performance alone. The Bliesma neo mid drivers won't endure high power use for as long as the heavier Volt mids will. I've used the Bliesma tweeters in higher power designs but HF with higher xover points doesn't require as much power, even for longer periods of time. The higher efficiency also helps here.
I will always prefer the Bliesma sound quality over the Volt mids, but for specific high power, long term use, the Volt is the logical choice when the design calls for a large mid dome. ATC is even better but not available to small scale builders like me. Thats the hard reality of it.
The Bliesma uses a titanium VC former and copper clad aluminum windings that aren't as capable of enduring long term heat loads compared to the Volt. Titanium is a heat insulator and CCA windings don't handle thermal cycles as well. CCA will anneal over time and tends to fail sooner as well as needing special processes to solder. Their smaller neo motor will heat up faster and won't carry away the heat as well.
Bliesma chose to focus on bandwidth more than durability. For consumer use this isn't an issue, but for pro use at higher long term power levels, their design is more vulnerable to failure compared to a typical pro design using the heavier, higher temp materials.
I personally prefer the Bliesma over the Volts when considering acoustic performance alone. The Bliesma neo mid drivers won't endure high power use for as long as the heavier Volt mids will. I've used the Bliesma tweeters in higher power designs but HF with higher xover points doesn't require as much power, even for longer periods of time. The higher efficiency also helps here.
I will always prefer the Bliesma sound quality over the Volt mids, but for specific high power, long term use, the Volt is the logical choice when the design calls for a large mid dome. ATC is even better but not available to small scale builders like me. Thats the hard reality of it.
@Radian You can use the other mids with lower xover points, but with lower output levels. The limits are mainly due to lack of excursion, not so much thermal power handling. ADS mids were also famous for being a bit fragile when pushed harder at their lower xover points. I replaced alot of mids and tweeters back in the day when these speakers were more popular. They did sound very good but wouldn't handle party level playback for hours at a time. Most mid domes are limited by excursion alone but can play lower, just at lower power levels. The effective radiating surface area is much smaller than a cone driver, so thats the obvious tradeoff.
Bliesma needs 1/3 of the power as Volt for the same SPL. You agree that they easily can take that?
I never measured any power compression with the Bliesma 3" and you know I do pretty hard tests with them, sweeps at 113dBSpl for example. Music with it's crest factor would be easy at that level.
And still I was far from a hot voice coil. We would see at least 2dB of power compression before the coil gives up - never found any of that.
I'm pretty sure they can survive even the hardest usecase instead of the Volt (sensitivity). Only the ATC can be crossed over lower.
