Still full range because the driven driver is still a full range with no cross over. The PR serves the same function as a port or a horn to augment bass. It is not electrically driven so technically not a driver. A speaker is a collection of the driver and enclosure. It is a matter of semantics I guess. A driver that is not connected to an amp but in acoustical contact with a driven driver is a passive radiator and can be tuned with a resistor shorting the voice coil to change damping. It is electrically 'active' but still 'passive' wit regards to whether or not driven by amp.
They could be tricky to implement but a number of high end systems are now using them and getting good reviews. Check out the Golden Ear Triton Two, GoldenEar Technology | A Passion for Sonic Perfection I've never built a system using a PR cone but want to give it a try before the grim reaper ends my speaker building career. Vance Dickason has produced some interesting alignments in his books.
Hi Greg,
You wouldn't remember who "that person" was, would you?
I certainly remember there was a lot of buzz about Dan Wiggins manufacturing a 15 inch PR to go with the "Shiva" subwoofer driver (originally named the "Official Bass List Subwoofer Driver"!).
Those were fun times!
Best Regards,
Terry
Hey dude! Long time no hear!
Yeah, it was a lively, diverse crowd!
Sadly, no. Was it you?
They did, I have a pair along with a pair of the original basslist Shiva. I built a mini-contrabass for a friend and got it back when he moved out of state several years later. They've been in storage in their original shipping boxes long enough now to wonder if they're still any good.
GM
The one I remember was an oval and was very nonlinear, so two back-to-back was required.
GM
X, the Pioneer ones have a proper surround etal and look just like a flat driver. If I wasn't in Hawaii with an iPad, I'd take the time to look them up but I keep getting caught using stolen WiFi so my time is limited and I'm not good on a regular computer let alone one of these things.
Aloha.
Aloha.
Hey Cal,
Great to hear that you have such a hard life while I am stuck here in 29 deg weather.
Have fun and tell Hanh I said hello.
Cheers,
X
On the old "Bass List" I seem to remember that a fair number of guys had used old woofers, without magnets, for passive radiators. As Greg has mentioned, the compliance was sometimes a bit stiff. I remember that some cut slits in the spider to increase compliance or even removed them altogether as Greg did.
Quite often someone would come up with a "new and exciting idea" only to find that Greg had already been there and tried that. He was a real pioneer in many ways, although he's far too modest to ever mention it.
Best Regards,
TerryO
I wish! I mostly was just replicating stuff I'd seen, read or heard about since the real pioneers of audio had already done it and why there's been so few truly new inventions in sound system design.
Without the help of gaining access to Altec's tech bulletins early on and an EE that had apprenticed at Bell Labs in the early 1930s to 'dumb down' all the math, underlying theory plus some additional horn theory from a chance meeting with the late Prof. Leach when he arrived at GT, I've little doubt that my speaker designing knowledge would have peaked at cloning others designs until I retired and joined the 'world wide web'.
GM
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Cal, I believe they did\.
It's stange, but I just got back from a "Brunch and Bull" Session with some Audio Buddies from our DIY Club. One of the guys gave me 2 pairs of new oval 10 X 5 1/4 inch PRs to play with. These are actual ovals rather than a "racetrack" shape with straight sides.
More fun a comin'
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