on sensitivity that when substituting typical pro driver sensitivities for normal sensitivity drivers, you will find that my tentative conclusion generally holds true.
eg.
pro driver having 96 to 100dB/W @ 1m
will on average need ~ 10dB less power for the same audibility than a typical non pro driver having sensitivity of 86 to 90dB/W @ 1m.
That's not madness.
looking at a 95db big 18" woofer with 260gr mms, big 4" voice coil, and 15mm Xmax P-P 
I think it will like a bit more than a small flea tube amp
FaitalPRO | LF Loudspeakers | 18HW1070
I think it will like a bit more than a small flea tube amp
FaitalPRO | LF Loudspeakers | 18HW1070
looking at a 95db big 18" woofer with 260gr mms, big 4" voice coil, and 15mm Xmax P-P
I think it will like a bit more than a small flea tube amp
Use four of 'em wired series/parallel.
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I've just bought a pair of 6.5'' that feature some 91.5 dB sensitivity.
So they are in the mid league. The brand who makes them is present
in the Car and the Pro sector from many years. My new 6.5 ( just fired them yesterday !! )have a phase plug , a biiiig magnet ( sorry ! ) a copper pole piece, Kapton former
and are the latest edition . Very aerodinamic on the back with just three barrels. What I'm saying is that the skills acquired in many fields plus RD and a bit of marketing may create some very nice objects.
Nice? It sounds wonderfuuul !
So they are in the mid league. The brand who makes them is present
in the Car and the Pro sector from many years. My new 6.5 ( just fired them yesterday !! )have a phase plug , a biiiig magnet ( sorry ! ) a copper pole piece, Kapton former
and are the latest edition . Very aerodinamic on the back with just three barrels. What I'm saying is that the skills acquired in many fields plus RD and a bit of marketing may create some very nice objects.
Nice? It sounds wonderfuuul !
Yeah, but the pro driver will require a much larger cabinet to get that sensitivity in the LF. Doesn't seem like a particularly fair comparison to me, that's all.
I've built only a couple sets of speakers in my day, but my favorites were built with surplus Electro Voice drivers. They had a 15" woofers and classic EV horn mids and tweeters.
The cabinet was huge, but I didn't care. I was in high school and built them in my parent's basement. Everybody loved them except my father and my buddy's ham radio father (who taught me electronics since I was 9 years old).
I didn't know much about speaker building (I was following an old speaker design cookbook), but I did understand efficiency and crossovers.
Did they have super flat frequency response? No. Did they have good polar dispersion at higher frequencies? No. But they did have a wide frequency response with deep, tight bass, and they did not compress the dynamic range like the vast majority of popular speakers (then and now), and they played as loud as you could stand (louder!) with just a few watts. They even played loud and clear when driven by the portable stereo my parents bought me to discourage me from my frankenstein audio/ electronics lab in the basement (didn't work). This all in one stereo from Pioneer was the weakest, crappiest sound system possible, and was nicknamed the "distortomax." Of course everybody was comparing it to my home built hi-fi, which could be heard a half mile away with the windows closed.
Don't be discouraged from using pro drivers in your designs. You just have to be aware of the caveats.
The cabinet was huge, but I didn't care. I was in high school and built them in my parent's basement. Everybody loved them except my father and my buddy's ham radio father (who taught me electronics since I was 9 years old).
I didn't know much about speaker building (I was following an old speaker design cookbook), but I did understand efficiency and crossovers.
Did they have super flat frequency response? No. Did they have good polar dispersion at higher frequencies? No. But they did have a wide frequency response with deep, tight bass, and they did not compress the dynamic range like the vast majority of popular speakers (then and now), and they played as loud as you could stand (louder!) with just a few watts. They even played loud and clear when driven by the portable stereo my parents bought me to discourage me from my frankenstein audio/ electronics lab in the basement (didn't work). This all in one stereo from Pioneer was the weakest, crappiest sound system possible, and was nicknamed the "distortomax." Of course everybody was comparing it to my home built hi-fi, which could be heard a half mile away with the windows closed
. Don't be discouraged from using pro drivers in your designs. You just have to be aware of the caveats.
My EmKens (Planet 10's PA design) sound great at 'intimate' or at 'let the whole village listen' levels.
Sure they have some flaws - but which 'speaker don't?
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At high levels, you tend to ignore frequency response errors. At concert levels, you can't even hear it because the ear has gone nonlinear.
The real difference is that the home HiFi driver is better optimized for the typical home use case which is a very small listening area where you don't need such a large sound level and where the size of the cabinet really matters. The pro gear is designed to work in a larger venue where a much higher volume level is required and cabinet size does not matter as much.
But you still might want a pro type driver at home if maybe you (1) have a very low powered amplifier, perhaps a Class A tube amp and (2) you don't have to worry about the WAF of a huge and ugly pro type cabinet.
I think the real reason live music sounds better then any stereo system is because a band will use one set of speakers and one amplifier for each instrument. Each player gets to choose his own equipment and there is not "mastering" step, you get a bigger dynamic range.
I have a $70 speaker for my guitar. It sounds better then any $10,000 stereo can, well, assuming I could play decently it would. But really it sounds more like a Fender Stratocaster then any recording and it's a $70 speaker
The reason it sounds better is NOT because it is a "pro" driver. It is the lack of any recording and playback process. The pro gear sounds much better not because it is better but because it is usually heard LIVE.
The frequency response flattens out around 120 dB (the 3.5k sensitivity hump diminishes and the bass response "improves") because the nerves have reached their saturation point. Increases in acoustic level do not produce a corresponding increase in response. At that point, you can't really distinguish one sound from another - it just sounds loud (and painful if you haven't deadened your sensitivity through repeated exposure).
Actually, based on the standard curves, it actually gets more "linear"...
Maybe, but perhaps the perception process "knows" the ear is non-linear.
Let's think about a grand piano. No electronics, you are hearing it live. A large concert size piano can produce sound at a level that OSHA requires hearing protection if you were to be exposed to it for long periods.
No kidding. You can get up to 130dB SPL at 20cm over the strings. But of course anyone can hear the slightest detail if you have ever been lucky enough to hear some one play at very close range. Yes the ears are over loaded but still you hear well.
With an electric guitar, maybe way loud into overload but I can still hear if the strings are new or not but changed in a while or sound of fingers on plain or wound strings.
What we have to remember is that hearing is filter by a perception layer before we are aware of the sound and it will amplify sounds we think are "important".
Back to pro drivers. When you NEED their characteristics that are better then home HiFi drivers when you don't they are a waste. Class-A tube amps are a good example of when a pro-driver can help home HiFi but if you have a 400+ watts solid state amp you don't have a need for 100 dB/W drivers
There is nothing more dis-appointing than running a live signal to some nice mystery drivers only to find yourself cocking your head to hear it. "Is it working?"( Is it 16 Ohm?) and you sorely realize it one of those silly 84 Db piece-O-crap drivers & then you return it to the bin......Yeah, I'm not Watt-Rich.
__________________________________________________Rick.............
__________________________________________________Rick.............
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