3-5 inch driver for HT use....input needed.

[steviedon]

Ok, this maybe a next to impossible request, but I've been scouring the net in pursuit of a smallish full range driver to use in my HT(mains, center, and rears). And yes, I have searched.
To have the increased dynamics needed for movie sound the driver obviously needs to have a bit more x-max than the typical super sensitive paper coned fair from fostex. I know there are the jx92s.....that is out just because I think there are other drivers that do 95% sonically @ 30% of the cost. I'm really wanting to stay with a sealed configuration for them due to the WAF. I've looked @ the MA drivers as well, but can they pull it off in a small sealed cab? The room is 28x15 and a pair of volvotreter 38hz tapped horns will come in at around 80hz. Does such a driver exist that may meet my needs?
I've been eying this driver Tang Band W5-1611SA 5" Full Range Driver | Parts-Express.com as it has intrigued me for a while and PE has just started carrying them....thoughts. BTW PE just rolled out 5 new TB full range drivers that are all very interesting, check it out. I'm open to all suggestions the only requirement being good response in a modest sealed cab, and not wanting to spend a grip either. Thanks in advance.

[Godzilla]

IMO you can't go wrong with TB drivers. Many work very well in simple sealed boxes.

http://www.zillaaudio.com/tb-1320-bamboo.htm

Mine are ported but the bamboo driver works well sealed too. I have not heard the driver you have your eyes on but it looks like it will work great. I may buy that driver one day... when i find a good excuse to own yet another full range driver.

Godzilla

[Scottmoose]

I'm not a particular fan of TB's drive units, but the 1611 is a solid performer. You might also want to look at the slightly smaller Mark Audio CHR70

[doug20]

how can any small driver handle the dynamics in HT? None of them can do any sort of SPL.

That is a huge room and its foolish to even thing small drivers (even 3 together) can work. Maybe in a Tapped midbass horn?

Anyone with a custom HT room will tell you that >= 8" woofers are really needed from 80Hz up past 400Hz. I like 12" or 15"....You have 28 feet, are you only sitting 5 feet back?

Do not screw your nice HUGE HT room by thinking small drivers will work. You will also have a huge mismatch with those volvotreter 38hz tapped horns. This also leads me to my next question what do you have for bass from 15Hz to 38Hz??

[steviedon]

To clarify sir 1) this is not a custom HT room, it's my living room, seating position about 15ft from tube 2) as I stated before, the wife has more bearing on it than I, thus I compromise 3) it is even more foolish of you to state that 8,12, or 15 woofers are a requirement for a satisfying HT experience. I've heard more than a few 10-50k media rooms (my Dad was a high-end trim/finish cabinetmaker) that utilize no more than megabuck bookshelf speakers and subs 4) the 38hz horns are tuned to 38hz, that is not where they cutoff. A larger 12 or 15 inch sub will fill the last octave in the near future and most importantly 5) if you have a driver suggestion or a thumbs up to anything mentioned above....offer it up. If not, please do not attempt to tell me how foolish or ludicrous my goals are. Good day Zilla and Scott....thanks for being relevant.

[borispm]

Stevie, have you tried the Aurasound NS3-193-8A? Very small, high power handling and wonderful X-max. To extend the top octave, add a cheap small tweeter with a cap and L-pad and it's alright, and if you can't hear things above 16kHz, forget the tweeter. It is good enough for that. Add a 10" Peerless sub with 300W plate amp and you're done! You can buy all these from Madisxxxd and this saves some shipping as well.

[planet10]

My room is actually bigger than yours. 23x35 with a vault that goes up to 17 ft. My stereo doubles as HT, and only runs 2.1.

My preference is for drivers in the 4-5" size. I have no issues with any number of the boxes i have satisfying my HT needs. Frugel-Horn Mk3, Maeshowe, dMar-Ken7 (& dMar-Ken70), Mar-Kel70, Mar-Ken10, FonkenPrime, even the Jim Griffin 14 litre reflex (but you are right, better performance for a fraction of the price can be had). The smaller milliSize boxes don't get as much time in the system and their more limited bass response means they aren't quite as effortless in HT aps (althou the look on people's faces when you fire up the uFonken tends to have you wondering).

With the restriction of small, sealed, then that narrows things down -- within my direct experience envelope that would be the CHR-70 in 5-7 litres sealed. With a full 5.1 or 5.2 system i see no issues. If you find it isn't enuff, one of the many double driver designs could be used for L-R mains.

There is a microTower appendix document which has some suggestions for just such designs to complement microTowers (or halfTowers) in an HT system (Mark Audio Box Library -- under the ML-TLs)

For a quality bump, the Alpair7 is a straight sub for the CHR in the microTower series (but doesn't go as low in the sealed boxes) -- just watch that the larger bezel actually fits the box.

dave

PS: I'm generally not a big TB fan, but that 5" looks nice -- reminds me of the 3" neo-prototypes i managed to score. The Tale of Two Tangbands

[MPM]

Have you considered a short line array of the tangband? Personally I like the way small multiple drivers look and they are relatively inexpensive.

[Scottmoose]

It's certainly an interesting option. However, you do need to be careful with short arrays as the limited vertical dispersion can come into play -not an issue for full-height arrays for obvious reasons, but it can cause problems when the length is reduced.

[steviedon]

More relevant info: Power will be supplied by an Onkyo tx-sr607. From what I understand it has a very intuitive room eq with mic, and has the ability to bi-amp the front channels instead of running 7.1, so dual driver fronts will be easy.
Thanks and keep the suggestions comin.