Breakthrough...or BS?

[InclinedPlane]

Here's a shocker from the Acoustic Visions website:

As good as the WR125 was there were people that wanted a true full range speaker that did not require a tweeter to cover the upper frequencies so CSS and Adire went back to the drawing board and created the FR125S. By adjusting the internal copper and soft parts they extended the frequency response to cover the entire upper frequencies and [now have a driver that plays +/- 3dB from 65 Hz to 20 kHz!]

Hasn't this always been the audio engineering holy grail? Are we to seriously believe that paragraph? If anyone can coroborate this, then I'm blown away - why the crap did I just spend $3k on AER MD2Bs anyway?

 

[Cal Weldon]

My take on it is that we lost a wee on the low end to get that top. It's seems to work. They've always had plenty of bass for such a small driver.

Welcome to the forums IP.

 

[ruerose]

I own and use the FR125's

Awesome driver. But they don't offer High volume or compression. Little beamy, but nothing a Baffle step can't fix.

In other words, they need still need a sub and active crossovers for anything but nearfield or the quietest of listening levels.

At high levels and air displacement, they chuff around the phase plug.

But if low volume and/or nearfeild "holographic" imaging is what you want, these babies sure deliver. Awesome bang for buck as well.


11L 49HZ BR (little to low a tuning IMO for this driver, but oh well, sounds great)

 

[MJK]

The AER drivers will be far superior to the FR or WR drivers. It is like comparing a Ferrari to a top of the line Honda. That is why you paid the money for the AER.

 

[doorman]

Not having heard the AER's, I can say that the FR125's sound good, plenty of bass, but I think you bought the "right one"!
Don

 

[Scottmoose]

I've heard the MK1 AERs -stunning sound. Almost as good as EX4s.

 

[InclinedPlane]

I knew this forum would serve me well and I hope in time I can help others. I'll bet this will take MUCH time haha. Yea I owned the Lowther EX2s briefly and found the terribly-ragged FR and cone resonances to be a painful listening experience. For $500 per driver I felt cheated. No, I didn't try them in horns but I doubt any horn could bring bass response up 20db to match the monster peak at 8khz. (111db). So it's AER because I can't afford REPS. I might toy around with Fostex some more - They are more listenable than Lowther but still have some cone resonance issues. I might try slitting the cone similar to the way the 'revelator' midranges are treated.
Gear: Nuforce Ref8s monos
Nuforce P8 Preamp
Music Hall CD 25.2 modded

 

[badman]

They're imperfect

As are all drivers. But if you like, I'll trade you my FR125s for your AERs I'll even throw in cabinets)

The FR125s are very good, but not transparent like an AER. They're terrific for the money though, and make perfect hi-fi computer speakers.

 

[Dumbass]

Hasn't this always been the audio engineering holy grail?

Hardly. Two dollar headphones do 65Hz to 20kHz +/- 3dB.

why the crap did I just spend $3k on AER MD2Bs anyway?

If all you require from a speaker is flat response, I don't know.