What's the best 8" fullrange that you've heard?

I've only heard the Alpair 12P and an old Fostex 8" (don't remember the model). The Alpair is really a 6.5" but qualifies in the same class due to good efficiency. I wonder how these compare to the more expensive stuff like Seas Exotic, Feastrex, Lowther, etc.
 
For me, it's a tie between the Lowther field coil driver (I believe it's a PM6A retro-fitted) and the Feastrex D9NF (which is nominally 9").

I have a pair of AER 8" and they are very similar to Lowthers, and were a vast improvement over the Fostex 206E's they replaced. But whereas the Fostex "just worked," the AER's are (like Lowthers) fussier and you'll spend months taming them.

The 8" Betsy's also "just worked," which was great, but then I upgraded to the Visaton B200 and same story -- I spent months fussing with them and it was just annoying and I should have stayed with the Betsy's.

Before you buy an 8" driver, you might consider that some smaller, cheaper Fostex sound fantastic in the upper midrange and treble. I'm using the 4" FE103En's now, and I'm much happier (it's a sat-sub system which outperforms a few of the 8" systems in many ways).

It will be a long, long time before I buy another 8" driver :)
 
Which cabinet for the Alpair 12P and how did you find it?

I have a personal enclosure maker with a CNC machine.

rjbond3rd, thank you for the response. I will look into those drivers. I know a 4" has great clarity, but I like 8" fullrange because of the efficiency (my favorite amp uses the 45 tube, so only 2W power), however there is a bass and treble boost from the amp that compensates for what a typical 8" is lacking. It synergizes perfectly with the Alpair 12P (which sounds lifeless on an SS amp).
 
I have a personal enclosure maker with a CNC machine.

Sorry cotdt, maybe I put my question in a confusing way. :)

I meant that in which cabinet are you using the A12P, and how are you finding the sound?

I've heard the FE206EN in a BLH cabinet and found it having some of the characteristic Fostex sound i.e. forward presentation; For an 8" driver I was surprised by the top. I've also heard the FE166EN (6.5"), but to me the FE206EN seems to have a richer presentation overall. Probably slightly peaky in the mids but the divers were still relatively new when I heard them - maybe some more hours would help.

I have a pair of MA Alp 12 metal drivers and they are pretty good. A pair of Alp 12P are still undergoing break-in, and as of now they sound more mellow compared to the Fostex I've listened too.

BTW, just for reference I gave the Voxativ Ampeggio (Voxativ Loudspeakers) a listen at a shop in Singapore. The sound was pretty good (dynamic, live sounding), maybe slightly mid-forward for my taste but that could have been the source/material also. The bass was solid and they could play plenty loud.
 
In my experience AER and Voxativ.

Now recently I bought the A12P after listening to them in the Superpensil. They were remarkable. Just before that in the same room an expensive Lowther was playing in the TP1 cabinets. The Lowther was nice, but without doing precise A-B comparisons I didn't have the impression that the A12P was significantly less good!
 
frugal-phile™
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I hav enot heard an 8" yet that i would choose over any number of smaller drivers.

I've not heard any of the pricey ones thou. Ones i have played with include FE206s (included eSR), B200, TB W8s, Betsy, Omnes, Alpair 12 & 12p, various vintage 8s (some of the lesser know Corals are pretty decent). many of those tweked up.

I do have here B200s (this time not on an OB), FF225 & SEAS 8" (the cheap one) that i need to play with.

dave
 
Yeah, I'm surprised the Asians haven't, considering that over a decade ago Nick [Lambda Acoustics] found that the OEM still had all the molds, etc. to make the diaphragms, but wanted something like $100 each in lots of 10 k IIRC, way too much for a small company, but not a worldwide provider.

Hmm, it's pretty much done by 10 kHz, so would need a super tweeter today, but when it was designed, ~11 kHz/F10 was the 'bleeding edge' of reproduction capability.

GM
 

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Yeah, I'm surprised the Asians haven't, considering that over a decade ago Nick [Lambda Acoustics] found that the OEM still had all the molds, etc. to make the diaphragms, but wanted something like $100 each in lots of 10 k IIRC, way too much for a small company, but not a worldwide provider.

Hmm, it's pretty much done by 10 kHz, so would need a super tweeter today, but when it was designed, ~11 kHz/F10 was the 'bleeding edge' of reproduction capability.

GM



yeah, note the date in bottom right corner - 65yrs ago kids, why that's older than (some of) us
 
On the basis of a brief listen to the E model a while back, +1.

755C/E aren't even close to the 755A. Don't have the HF extension or definition of the A, but they are good near full-range midranges. A bit boring as standalones and need tweeters to my ear.

Real 755As have a superb balance, seem to have more subjective HF than measured and produce bass in the proper proportion to the HF. It is still just about my favorite speaker, although a bitch to set up right. Easy to make it sound awful.

Who knows what that LM 755EX is...it seems to deviate quite a bit from 755A specs. 8 ohm instead of 4 ohm, efficiency is a bit down, fs is far lower than a real 755A according to the factory website (68 vs 95hz). and the biggie... field coil vs massive Alnico donut magnet.

It might be a good speaker but it is probably best viewed as its own thing rather than anything to do with a WE 755A except looks from the front.

Attempts were made in Japan to make repro 755As and replacement cones but nobody ever pulled it off to the satisfaction of people who know what real 755As can do.

I am a big fan of 755As but they just cost too much to take seriously unless you have stoopid piles of loose cash laying around--or if you get lucky and find some in the wild.

I just spent a few days hanging out with the top 755A experts in the world, Mukai and Doi of Western Sound Inc (Mr. Doi is resident WE expert at Stereo Sound and Tube Kingdom)...I put some of their comments on my blog at junkboxjukebox.com in posts about the 755A.
 
Wharfedale Super 8/FS/AL for me. When compared to Fostex FE208Sigma (haven't tried any other 'greats') these surely better them: highs without shrillness, open mids and way better lows. Convinced me finally that there's a connection between voice coil in full range drivers being one inch or smaller and faithful reproduction of mids/highs...
 

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