My New Audio Nirvana Drivers

[tubemax]

Originally Posted by GM

Why do you think the Enabling process is a complex mass of dots/dashes in concentric rings?

GM

Hi, this my complex version of enabling a woofer for open-baffle desktop use... :-)

Max

[tsiros]

tubemax

what marker did you use? is it permament? alcohol free? What estimated milligram/mm^2 is it? did you measure the drop in Fs of the drivers?

[awkwardbydesign]

Originally Posted by Melon Head

Ok. I suppose I have past the point of no return now. I will consider the L Cao and Sonido depending on cost
The Dumb O Tron will be finishec eventually, but all work halted when I got these new speakers. I have been spending all my free time listening to music now and playing with these speakers.

I have been considering the L.Cao 8" for myself, as wideband midrange drivers. As I can't afford to keep trying different drivers, I am relying on folks like yourself to buy and try them. Please buy some so I can learn from your experience.

[norman bates]

Looking here, the rise past 1khz is quite high, 5 or 7db even. Then mix in a 1' wide box with no baffle step. Seems most 8" rise 1-4khz.

But I am impressed that an eq circuit is present. Add baffle step and nice.

New 8" full range speaker from L CAO

My only concern would be a tiny bit of highs bouncing around by the dust cap. But way better than a whizzer. But a whizzer would help off axis response from 2-4khz. Nelson Liked it.

If I was in the market for an 8", I'd go for it.

Norman

[buzzforb]

THis comment a couple of days ago took them off the radar for me.

Originally Posted by Nelson Pass

Recently I got around to trying the L Cao with the Alnico magnets. I was
surprised to find that the response curve was quite a bit different, and the
drivers were accompanied by an LRC designed to notch the midrange
response. Listening to them without the network gave a rather dull
presentation, and with the network I still found the top end pretty soft.

It's a mystery as to why they should be so different, but at this point if you
are considering them you might want to think about a tweeter above 5 KHz.

He is comparing them to the first pair he got which used standard magnets.

[GM]

Originally Posted by Melon Head

He said at 1W he could hear a loud cracking noise.
Normal listening levels are usually in the order of 1/8 of a Watt. That's max dynamic Watts. As a guess normal listening levels at 5kHz might be around 1/32 W
Hence the reason why it is not heard during music playback.
If it was me I would not put up with that. I would ask for replacement drivers.

Only when gated, though with no experience with such measurements, no clue why this would matter. Note his measurements. There's also the possibility that the 'crack' is new spider related [which the whizzer/diaphragm junction would amplify], but even at 1 W/m/5 kHz the excursion would be < the driver’s 1 mm linear excursion.

Regardless, the bottom line for me is that based on what's been presented combined with the driver's published data, IME the drivers aren't defective, just typical whizzer enhanced ones and tsiros will have better luck dealing with whizzer related resonances down low than only up high assuming he's not hearing a signal chain related noise.

GM

[Octavia]

As Michael said the drivers he tested were brand new. With my own AN12's there was very noticeable improvements at the 200-300 hour mark. Before that point I did find the speakers to sound more strained at upper volume levels. Somewhere along that 200 - 300 hour period everything improved and the upper volume levels which I very much enjoy started to capture some of the realism of the real event. This was very noticeable with live concert grand piano recordings and vocals. I do not think this is merely a matter of me getting used to them as I move daily from my home to office with different but equally high caliber systems. Anyway the point is that whether the cracking noise was related to whizzer or spider or who knows what, the break in time really does improve the performance. I would think the same will be true for the AN15's so Melon you may be in for a real treat after the 200 hour mark so keep us posted.

[norman bates]

I noticed my neighbors bass guitar speakers. Some were burned in, some wern't. The burned in cones almost had a fuzz on them, you could see it. I assume that would be some of the paper fibers being "scratched" out ? So only what is left is more flexible ?

Norman

[tsiros]

are you sure the fuzz wasn't dust or just aging? I don't think physical appearance changes with driver burn-in?

[Melon Head]

Originally Posted by buzzforb

THis comment a couple of days ago took them off the radar for me.


He is comparing them to the first pair he got which used standard magnets.

Thanks Buzz. You saved me some money. I won't need to test these out after all.