Driver construction quality

[siming.guo]

Hi. I'm looking into buying some drivers. I'm still a student, so my budget is around $50-$100/driver. I don't want to get ripped off by someone selling poor quality drivers. What are some things to look for regarding construction quality? I've heard some things mentioned, such as cone material, basket quality, etc, but they didn't actually say what exactly to look for. Could someone help me out? Thanks.

[bastek]

You don't go out looking for drivers. You have to decide on the design first, than the Brand and model# of drivers, and last, price checking and shopping. Unknown drivers must be measured and tested.

[sreten]

Hmmm.......

Do not try and choose drivers based on perceived quality and
endless poring over (can be meaningless) paper specifications.

High value designs (i.e. you can spend a lot more and do a lot worse) :

http://www.rjbaudio.com/Audiofiles/FRDtools.html
http://www.geocities.com/woove99/Spkrbldg/
http://www.zaphaudio.com/
http://www.rjbaudio.com/projects.html
http://htguide.com/forum/forumdisplay.php4?f=39

Depending on what you want, small + active subwoofer is flexible,
portable and surprisingly high quality but not suitable for parties,
to larger and louder floorstanders you should find something above.

/sreten.

[Willitwork]

Originally posted by siming.guo
Hi. I'm looking into buying some drivers. I'm still a student, so my budget is around $50-$100/driver. I don't want to get ripped off by someone selling poor quality drivers.

Since you live in Canada if you deal with Solen you won't get ripped off because they don't sell any poor quality drivers.

http://www.solen.ca/v1/driver.htm

They have the same brands as Madisound and then some. In fact Madisound shops there.

If you want very high quality that will fit your budget some of Hi-Vi Research's drivers (especially mid-bass drivers) are among the best on the market yet cost a fraction of what other drivers of similar quality go for. For reference Totem uses them, among other audiophile brands. In fact those drivers have replaced Dynaudio drivers in most of the designs that were using them. Solen sells Hi-Vi drivers.

Silver Flute is another interesting bargain, they are used in many pricey high-end commercial speakers yet are very affordable by themselves. Avoid their ribbon tweeters though (or any ribbon tweeter for that matter), successful integration of those tweeters is apparently difficult and requires great skill and experience. But their other drivers are very good and well built.

[Geek]

www.planet10-hifi.com in BC can supply you with drivers and box plans within your budget

[tinitus]

Interesting kit

http://www.diycable.com/main/default...234023f6cfbc2a