Access (Focal) 6A drivers anyone?

[Elbert]

Browsing through the Zalytron web page, I stumbled across a 6" midwoofer called Access 6A.

Does anybody have any experience with these? The frequency plot looked good, and some of the parameters were also interesting, in particular the extremely low moving mass of only 6,75 g!

Looking for some midranges with good transient response for 200-3000Hz duty for an active 3-way project.

They were on sale for 35$ which is almost suspiciously cheap!

Certainly a more tempting proposition than burning 100-150$ for some high-end units...

[BHTX]

Anyone? These do look interesting. Fs could be quite a bit higher though if using it strictly as a mid (not as a midwoofer), which is what I'd end up doing with them.

edit:
Anyone have a good photo of these drivers? I can't seem to find one anywhere.

[Elbert]

Well, I went off and ordered a pair anyway, I'll post some pics when i receive them!

L-bert

[BHTX]

That'd be great! Thanks.

[Elbert]

Waddayaknow, they're here allready!

Great service from Zalytron!

And as promised, pictures taken.

The drivers look very good in deed, not oozing exotica or exuberant perfectionism, but nothing to put the finger down on really.


Magnets are big and beefy, and the suspension seems highly compliant, so hopefully these drivers will meet my expectations of transient response nirvana!

The diaphragm and suspension looks and feels almost delicate ,so this is definitively no cheapo far eastern drivers (no offense intended to you guys from that corner of the world!!) with diaphragms stamped from heavy gauge shipping cardboard and wrung bicycle tires for suspension!

The coating is not of the sticky kind, which means I wont get furry midranges if I forget to vacuum clean.

And the label says "Made in France"...

In short, build wise, they look like very good value for money..

In a minute I'm gonna hook them up and see if they actually make any sound as well!

[Elbert]

Hmm.. why can I only add one picture per post??

[BHTX]

Yeah.. the one pic per post thing is a bit annoying sometimes. Thanks for posting those pics tho! Nice description too. Helps a lot.

Any idea about size of the voice coil? What about xmax? Could be one of those mids with 1mm or less, although I doubt it.. but they don't give a spec, if I remember correctly. I have to say, I don't think they appear to be quite what I had expected. Not really in a bad way. Just different. Although I wasn't really expecting foam. Not always really a bad thing though. Do the cones not seem as light as the specs from Zalytron indicate? You said that the suspension seems highly compliant, but then you said something about it having bicycle tires for suspension. Is it hard or soft? Does the cone move easily? Strangely, that foam actually looks kinda heavy. The largish motors aren't surprising I guess, given the low Qts of these drivers. Very interesting indeed..

Oh, and post back here and let me know what you do with them and how it works out! Of course, they might not be so cheap by then.. might not even be available by the time I'm ready to order. Or, maybe I should just go for it? Ah well, we'll see..

Thanks.

[marchel]

Sigh, If only Zal posted pics on their site, We would'nt have to go into such trouble.

And I hope Zalytron would redesign their site to make it easier for us to order from them.

[crazyhub]

Originally posted by Elbert
Waddayaknow, they're here allready!

Great service from Zalytron!

And as promised, pictures taken.

The drivers look very good in deed, not oozing exotica or exuberant perfectionism, but nothing to put the finger down on really.


Magnets are big and beefy, and the suspension seems highly compliant, so hopefully these drivers will meet my expectations of transient response nirvana!

The diaphragm and suspension looks and feels almost delicate ,so this is definitively no cheapo far eastern drivers (no offense intended to you guys from that corner of the world!!) with diaphragms stamped from heavy gauge shipping cardboard and wrung bicycle tires for suspension!

The coating is not of the sticky kind, which means I wont get furry midranges if I forget to vacuum clean.

And the label says "Made in France"...

In short, build wise, they look like very good value for money..

In a minute I'm gonna hook them up and see if they actually make any sound as well!

Seems to be top notch for the price...foam surround and high compliance: sound great!
If the surround appears yet untreated I would apply some anti-UV treatement.

[Elbert]

Well, hope the description is helpfull, must say i find it strange that Zalytron doesn't have more info an pic's of these drivers on their web-page, that would certainly draw better attention to what I find to be a most saleable product!

The surround is really light and delicate, wrung bicycle tires is exactly what it isn't! Sorry if I phrased my self a bit clumsily there...

As I said, very light and compliant surround and the diaphragm is probably as light as the 6 and something grams quoted. The diaphragm moves very easily as well. Combined with the beefy magnet, this should give interesting results! from the data posted on Zalytron, the coul height is 12,4mm and the gap is 6mm high, so that shoud give a linear Xmax of about +/-3 mm which I think should be quite ok for a midrange of this size and frequency range.

I would estimate the VC diameter to be 22-26mm 'ish in diameter.

The only issue i have is the basket, it gives a clear "ding" when you tapp it, not as dead as more robust baskets made from aluminium or magnesium. But this should be a minor thing to fix, just put some bitumene strips on.

Not quite sure what to think about foam surrounds...

Sure, the foam surrounds on the old SEAS 13" woofers I'm gonna use for the project were totally disintegrated and therefore replaced with new ones...

But ar new foam-surrounds as bad as the old ones? Should think that it was now common to ad some sort of UV inhibitor to the formulation?

But if not, some sort of UV proofing sounds like a good idea, but what to use??

Haven't exactly got the boxes ready and waiting for these drivers, it s a fairly long term project..

right now I'm gonna have to decide on the enclosure philosophy..

As I understand, a closed box (about 10L) will give the best transient response, whilst a vented enclosure (about 15 L) will reduce cone excursion and thereby distortion... hmmm...

suggestions are welcome!

By the way, they do sound nice....