Giant Alpair

[markaudio]

Hi Guys,
ummmmmph......."Giant Alpair". Since my heart is pretty much planted in "full range", if resources and strong demand permit, I'd be happy to build an Alpair 14. This unit has been on the drawing board for sometime. There are 2 sets of prototype cones already made for this design. I expect to get the drivers passed 15-kHz @ around 93 to 94dB. In a dream world where money and time is no object, I'd love to extend my work into +10" driver sizes.

However, as some members have indicted, the market is overflowing with large cheap woofs, the current fashion for FAST systems and use of subs in audio applications keep the Alpair 14 on the drawing board.

The essential problem is the gradual lowering of cone technology currently employed in many drivers. Historically, the industry has largely gone down the "power" rout, cones have become relatively low-tech with increasing poor micro-resonant and dispersion properties. Essentially, the current climate for many speaker applications is "quantity over quality". Therefore producing a large Hi -Fidelity authentic single cone full-range or wide-band driver is commercially challenging. Development, tooling, materials and other manufacturing costs will put a future Alpair 14 in the "semi-expensive" end of the market. I have doubts that the driver would be sufficiently supported in the DIY community to make it commercially viable. I'd like very much to be proven wrong but in the current economic climate, I currently don't have the resource that can be risked on this project.

Cheers
Mark.

[nicoch58]

will be great ,as we can't have all ....a mid driver ,that can it 100hz to full up ,with 95db...just add a woofer under ,sub ,OB

Ps
with some qts for OB to work free or with a little help from cap at input of amp and good WAF ie small baffle
under the plate amp active ox in OB H baffle or Pass slot load
killer system ,simple, no box to diy....small tube or ss class A ...with the magic of open baffle