Bandor revisited

[Bill poster]

I had completely forgotten about this company - something jogged my memory so I had a look at their site.

http://www.bandor.com/pricelist_frame.htm

Looks like they have updated the 50mm unit with a neo magnet. The prices look very reasonable too, I don't think they have gone up for a while.
Never heard them - what do they sound like?

 

[norman bates]

I saw 7v comment over on the subwoofer forum (creator of the nonsuch 4, remember?), maybe he could chime in.

those were 2010 prices you linked to, probbably not the new neo prices now.

I've seen some not so pretty bandor graphs.

Norman

 

[mondogenerator]

yeah ive seen these too, although a while back. the 50mm were interesting, but im not sure if the lack of sensitivity is acceptable, I think even the smallest alpairs have slightly better. but the larger drivers seem ok....some VERY good at bass, but i think needing respectively HUGE boxes....I may be wrong...its been a while. Ill look at the link now lol, they still intrigue me I have to say

scratch that bit about sensitivity...they seem ok. Comparable to the markaudio...but i dont like the way 2 FR graphs look nice in the HF and the other 2 look awful.....never understood that

 

[mondogenerator]

They seem to sim ok..

Given that no Xmax spec is stated I assumed 1mm for winISD, whether thats accurate or not who knows...

 

[Zero D]

Doreen etc

Doreen the nice lady who runs Bandor, used to be married to Ted Jordan of Jordan Designs fame, where they both originally worked together producing the 50mm drivers & others. At some point they both went their seperate ways, in more ways than one. They must have agreed that they both had rights to continue making the drivers, as they have/did for many years since the split.

I have a pair of brand new 50mm Bandor's still boxed from several years ago, which were for a project that didn't get completed !

 

[Bill poster]

Is the little 50mm spiderless? Because they only recommend it in a sealed box.

 

[mondogenerator]

AHHH.... yes i think it is spiderless...bit of a mistake there, The EBP thing on winISD was leant toward vented so that what i generated. The 2 closed box curves are for the lower EBP models, since I thought they would sim best.

 

[Bill poster]

I wonder why the 50mm is a gold colour and the others are not. I think they are related to the Audience A3 - I might be completely wrong about that but thought I read it somewhere

 

[Zero D]

Spider

A bit more info for you.

Both my Bandor 50mm drivers have a spider, which from memory as they are stored at another location, is made from cambric, or similar.

They also have a multiple vented coil former

 

[norman bates]

do you really expect bass from a 2.5-3" driver ?

 

[martin clark]

Bass to move the furniture, no; but my recent experience with Bandor 50s in a sealed boxes showed that pitch differentiation and timbre down low can be remarkably good - much, much better than I expected, though obviously limited in loudness. Quality over quantity.

 

[Bill poster]

The power rating is pretty good for the size.

 

[chrisb]

Bass to move the furniture, no; but my recent experience with Bandor 50s in a sealed boxes showed that pitch differentiation and timbre down low can be remarkably good - much, much better than I expected, though obviously limited in loudness. Quality over quantity.

+1 -if it's the intimation of bass response you're looking for, there are actually more than a few modern drivers that do surprisingly well - the latest Mark Audio drivers Alpair 6M and even more so 6P, as well as CHP and EL70, and Fostex FF85WK

 

[Bill poster]

Looking at the website I think they are meant to be partnered with a sub or as part of a 2 way system. With that 50W(max) rating and a small sub it would make a nice compact system

 

[chrisb]

Looking at the website I think they are meant to be partnered with a sub or as part of a 2 way system. With that 50W(max) rating and a small sub it would make a nice compact system

as would many modern wide band drivers in this weight class when crossed over in the 100-120Hz region

 

[Bill poster]

as would many modern wide band drivers in this weight class when crossed over in the 100-120Hz region

couldnt agree more

 

[Bill poster]

I just called Doreen @ Bandor to enquire about availability of the 50mm units- what an amazing lady! The telephone number on the entry page is incorrect and she doesnt know how to change it - just incase anyone wants to contact Bandor the correct one is here New Page 4

 

[norman bates]

if I remember, 7v from 7th veil used the bandors, and Audience did also for their line arrays before they made their own uber expensive 3.5" driver with 6mm xmax.

 

[Bill poster]

Looked into Bandor a bit more. Intrigued that such a little driver can have 85dB/1w, 65 Fs, 50w (max) rating, so they still compare very well with anything produced today.
Because the 50mm units havent had much commercial use over the last 10 years its tricky to find much online. They plot very nicely on winisd and I can see why Doreen recommends the smaller enclosure as it gives a BSC rise, which is neat. Anyway, here are a couple of links of interest



Mini mini minimonitors! - pink fish media

[Review] Seventh Veil Speakers [Archive] - AudioSmile Forum

 

[mondogenerator]

the only thing i have against the 50mm Bandors is the FR graphs for certain impedance drivers. without looking at the site again and IIRC, its the 4 and 16 ohm that have a good HF response and that I at least would be happy running fullrange. I always thought it strange there was such a marked difference, and i guess this put me off trying the 'good' ones.