Best full range driver?

[markusA]

I'm very happy with my current ml tqwt's but I can't play really loud due to obvious power limits.

Maybe there's a new speaker project in the near future?
So, I'm toying with the idea of using a full range driver down to somewhere in the bass range and a big woofer for the bass.

Which full range driver would you say is the best?
My current spakers use Jordan JX92s.

[Inductor]

You are using a 4", 88dB driver (80/85dBs).
http://documents.jordan-usa.com/JX92S.pdf
(And from watching you guys there are better drivers, I'm no expert). So there are a few interesting one's depending also from where (country) you are buying.
The "one" people talk, Audio Nirvana Speakers
Audio Nirvana Super Cast 10" (New)
5" 28W - TB W5-1611SA - 90dB
http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/1208_03/w5-1611sa.htm
This has more ~10dB than the one you using,
8" 30W - TB W8-1772 - 95dB
http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/1230_04/w8-1772.htm
Enclosure to Tangband W8-1772
Last, one that is very well recognize in Europe,
8" 40W Visaton - B 200 6 OHM
Visaton - Lautsprecher und Zubehör, Loudspeakers and Accessories
C-Horn now built

I think these are some of the best options available without going for exotics like,
The_Lotus_Group_Oyaide_Acrolink
Exciting new line of fullrange drivers from Feastrex

"The cost-no-object version is based on the Lowther DX4", and others...
http://store.hifiauthority.com/olsherkits.html
Cloning the BassZilla Platinum

Also with small drivers, Fostex FF85K, as from this thread,
2 or 3 way speaker for bi-amping

[Scottmoose]

No such thing as 'best.' All varies depending on requirements, so 'best' means nothing until these are specified.

However, I will take the opportunity to ask one question re Feastex (who sell $69,000 drivers, and yes, I did type that correctly). Let us imagine a senario where a close friend informs you he's about to blow seventy grand on a pair of full range drivers, about which the company who makes them provides precisely zero information. Assuming he isn't a multi-millionaire, what would you do? You would hit the fool of course. You would hit him, and hold him down until the madness passes.

[tuyen]

Best full range driver I have heard is the feastrex d5e type III while I was visiting Hal Teramoto in Japan (last week).

Hopefully a pair of D5nf (their entry model 5" driver) are coming to me soon. Damn impressive!

[ScottG]

Originally Posted by Scottmoose

Let us imagine a senario where a close friend informs you he's about to blow seventy grand on a pair of full range drivers, about which the company who makes them provides precisely zero information. Assuming he isn't a multi-millionaire, what would you do? You would hit the fool of course. You would hit him, and hold him down until the madness passes.

If you factor-in spouses.. you can apply the same reasoning to anything that costs as much as a mid-priced appliance or some in-expensive jewelry. Yeah, you can "catch hell" for a pair of "base" pm6a Lowthers.

[ScottG]

Originally Posted by markusG

I'm very happy with my current ml tqwt's but I can't play really loud due to obvious power limits.

Put a "high-pass" on the Jordans (..with a "sub" or integrated bass driver). Then you can play them much louder.

[InclinedPlane]

Originally Posted by Scottmoose

No such thing as 'best.' All varies depending on requirements, so 'best' means nothing until these are specified.

And this is the heart of the matter, folks. For me, the best full range driver is the one with the least upper midrange breakup. So for me, a $150 a pair set of drivers ended up walking all over other drivers costing more than 2K Euro a set.
I don't want the $70k Feastrex drivers. I can tell just by looking at those ultra-thin cones that they will not please me.

For the next guy, the best fullrange driver will have completely different characteristics.

[welborne]

Hi all,

I have to agree with Scottmoose. There is no such thing as being the "best". Audio stuff is all a bag of compromises and at the end of the day it all depends on which attributes you value the most. Bascially compromises shopping.

do you want to use it in a box? or Open baffle? and in OB (that is what i am using), do you roll off bottom and augment it with a big and good quality woofer such as my 18" or you want to use one fullrange on a big baffle for the entire audible frequency range? etc etc.

Back to the Feastrex. I have had the chance to live with a few of the models for months (i don't own them and I won't buy them). IMHO they may be nice or even superb in some areas. Definitely they are beautifully made but I am not sure about the "nicely" made bit. They are not bad, but I personally do not think they are worth the price tag they are fetching.

This is the only "expensive" speaker drivers on this planet that has literally no technical information released by the manufacturer. The entire sales talk is based around that it is the "fastest" drivers ever made. But then how "fast" is fast? and how much faster is it comparing to others? What about the frequency response measurement? Are the Feastrex line of drivers that unusual in other more important aspects that reasonably correct tonal balance can be overlooked? I don't have answers just yet.

I listened to Mark's Alpair 12 about 2 weeks ago at his office. I personally think they are pretty impressive stuff. They were in a Pencil 12 box made of japanese solid birch. Very nice, ultra resolving and shocking bass. I just wish they could be more sensitive so that i could use them with a 2-watt DHT. Surely if I want i can still find "faults" here and there (that's why you keep seeing manufacturers pulling out version 1, 2, 3 ...etc), but the same applies to almost all other fullrange I have heard, and more often than not, the "faults" that we are thinking perhaps are nothing more than a reflection of personal taste. All drivers are flawed in one way or others, so it does not make sense to me to spend $$$$$$$$ on a fullrange because I can guarantee you that even with that $$$$$$$ you will not get "full" range sound.

[planet10]

Originally Posted by welborne

I have to agree with Scottmoose. There is no such thing as being the "best". Audio stuff is all a bag of compromises and at the end of the day it all depends on which attributes you value the most. Bascially compromises shopping.

I figure we are, at best, maybe 10% of the way to what is possible. It is a tribute to our brains that we can garner so much pleasure from even less than that.

Given this it is possible to create equally valid systems that are completely different. ie pick your poison.

No such thing as best. No such thing as even close.

dave

[chris661]

I'd say picking a driver size is a big issue. A too-small driver will have better high frequencies off axis, at the expense of playing loud bass. A large speaker can do the bass, but it needs a tweeter to get the last octave, or you'll have to sit infuriatingly still in order to stay in the tiny sweet spot.
Most would agree that a 5" driver is about best, but even so, you'll never be completely satisfied with the bass, or the relatively narrow dispersion.
To conclude - I doubt there ever will be a perfect speaker. We'll get somewhere near, as we always do, then say "close enough", then go off to try something new.

Chris