Beyond the Ariel

[planet10]

Originally posted by moray james
scooting me a PM I have a question for you. Thanks Moray James.

Originally posted by Lynn Olson
Huh. The admin has disabled private messaging, so why don't you visit Nutshell Hi-Fi and scroll down past the News section. You'll see the contact information there. Look forward to the message!

PM means private message = private email... you have to enable that in your user control panel )user cp button on the top right of the page -- IIRC the Edit options tab). By default it is turned off... when it is turned on you will see an email button right next to your www buttons...

dave

[SunRa]

A more "classical" approach would be the 18Sound 8NMB420, with near-flawless FR and quite respectable T/S normalized efficiency of 95.6 dB/metre. Considering that I'm looking at de facto bi-amplification of the midbass and bass drivers anyway, that could remove the unpleasant necessity of a passive highpass filter at 200 ~ 250 Hz for the 8NMB420.

Hello Lynn,

What do you think about this 10" TAD ? It is a pro driver, new design for monitor use, alnico motor, fair SPL.

There are here some more drivers to consider, like the two 12" midrange drivers optimised for 200-3000Hz operation, or the 15" drivers for bass. All are alnico motors and I guess small distorsions it's another atribute at least how they are marketing it...

I'd love to get more involved in this thread but being a student (and exams knocking) in a domain with little relevance for audio design doesn't leave me much time. I have an ideea for an OB following your remarks about the torus shape but the actually computer I have it's to slow for the 3D software I am usually using for modeling these. Maybe I'll try a hand-made sketch and post it.

planet10,
what are you using for those 3d drawings of yours? It's Linux based cause I don't know it...

[simon dart]

I know Lynne has ultimate performance in mind but Moray James has a good idea with the install Tannoy drivers. Perhaps you could be onto something there for a Poor Mans Version. I had a look at them all: the 8" looks the best of the bunch:

http://www.tannoy.com/media/CMS801-DC-data-file.pdf

The 5" looks pretty rough though, the 6.5" better. It requires someone with a loaded wallet to take a leap of faith and to tell us all about them though!

Simon

[dmason]

Metal is a cone material we should all avoid if possible. The raw Tannoy drivers are very expensive, even the little 6.5 wideband ceiling speaker is ~$200.

Eminence has a HempTone (tm) 10, and 12" which look okay in the published FR plot, and I would imagine have similar breakup characteristics, or lack of, to the Tone Tubby stuff. Mud mags both.
www.usspeaker.com

I think the price premium for the combination of HempTone and Alnico is easily justified with the Tone Tubby. I am more interested in the 10, which demonstrated the ability to output almost unbelievable HF range, when wrenched with active contouring. I like the 10, ALOT. There will be forthcoming an 8 inch wideband, 94db HempTone with hemp dustcap, designed to 8.5KHz, if that helps at all. Release is "soon." Seen it, not heard it.

[Aengus]

SunRa said

planet10, what are you using for those 3d drawings of yours? It's Linux based cause I don't know it...

Hi

Not to answer for Dave, but in case he doesn't see this for a while, I believe he is using Google Sketchup (which does run under Windows).

Regards.

Aengus

[SunRa]

Thanks Aengus, I'll give it a try!


Well, no one has any inputs about the TAD? I believe that if the coaxial way proves to be a dead end, a design with a 10-12" midrange and a time aligned tweeter (compresion driver, waveguide tweeter, professional ribbon etc.) should perform pretty well.

[chrisb]

Originally posted by Aengus
SunRa said



Hi

Not to answer for Dave, but in case he doesn't see this for a while, I believe he is using Google Sketchup (which does run under Windows).

Regards.

Aengus

correct, although I think he imports original 2D sketches from Vectorworks

[chrisb]

Originally posted by moray james

Thought I would mention that Tannoy do sell (at much reduced cost a lot of drivers through thier pro and or install branch. They have a new 4 inch true dual concentric that can be had in an inwall frame for about $150.00 each.

is this the one?

http://www.tannoy.com/default.asp?id=8791

[Variac]

I think the TAD's have to be included in candidates for this project. They are a premmium speaker..And pricey. But I couldn't find much info, including curves, about those models. Still, response to 3000, that's a great start.

The list most interesting to me is:
Hemp acoustics co-ax
Hemp conventional speakers; Hemp Acoustics, tone tubbies, Eminence
Eighteen Sound
TAD

Regarding the Heil AMT drivers, One thing to keep in mind is that I believe that they are bipoles not dipoles. Sound to the front and back is in phase. They might not mate well with a conventional driver in an open baffle because of this..I don't know. It also is a question whether the current models actually can be open to the rear..

[moray james]

Chrisb yes the IW4 DC goes reasonably deep plays loud is clean smooth and has excellent dispersion qualities. Cheap too.
Dmason... I don't think that $200.00 is an awfull lot for a Tannoy Dual Concentric 6.5 inch driver. That's a two way unit that has a big VC on the cone and a real comp driver with a horn and it works. These have real bandwidth (including power handling) and lots of top end which play way louder than any similar priced full range driver that will need modification as well as a tweeter to get the job done. Seems reasonable to me.
Which full range drivers below $200.00 would you consider as options? The FE206E comes to mind but I think needs some work and the FE207E needs a tweeter. Perhaps an Enabled 167 or 166 might get the job done but again they will need some work. If a short list of possible drivers can be put together then some sort of game plan can evolve. Regards Moray James.