Pro vs hifi drivers - pros and cons?

[Andre Visser]

Originally Posted by 45

If the audiophile community has nearly zero impact on the whole market do you think I should be optimistic?

We can just hope the next craze would be super SQ music. There are some recording studios that do care.

[cbdb]

Hope for the best but until then I stick with my vinyls.

Sure limits your choices (unless your stuck in nostalic old recordings) For me, the most exciting music is the new stuff. And its the music thats a lot more important than the SQ. I will listen to crapy recordings on MP3 on earbuds if thats all I have and its good music.

[45]

Originally Posted by cbdb

Sure limits your choices (unless your stuck in nostalic old recordings) For me, the most exciting music is the new stuff. And its the music thats a lot more important than the SQ.

I have any kind of source. Analog and digital.

Originally Posted by cbdb

I will listen to crapy recordings on MP3 on earbuds if thats all I have and its good music.

Sure. I am not questioning personal preferences.

[SY]

I've pulled a bunch of OT personal posts. Any further stuff in this vein will result in Sin Bin time.

[gedlee]

Originally Posted by fury

Hi Earl,
Is this an open invitation?
I'd love to have a play with some compression drivers and high efficiency drivers.
-Danny

Yes, it is, but since I am not interested in being a dealer, here is what I do. I will beat the price that I find on the internet (not an exhaustive search) by at least 10%, and then I will charge for shipping. But I will not quote prices and shipping costs. You either trust that you are getting the best deal from me or not, its up to you. There are lots of people who have bought drivers from me and none has complained.

[J.R.Freeman]

Originally Posted by thoriated

Excerpted from FA Everest, 'Master Handbook of Acoustics':

...


So, it seems that extension beyond 22khz is definitely an advantage for a high quality audio source; perhaps not so important at much higher frequencies with the caveat that the transient response of the rolloff not be underdamped.

Wow, very interesting! Thank you for that, Thoriated. Would that 1 kHz tone resulting from the interaction of the two ultrasonic tones be called a 'beat' frequency? I remember seeing something similar in school but it has been some time. Anyway, interesting stuff - I always thought ultrasonic stuff was out of the realm of interest but it looks like I was wrong.

Jim

[J.R.Freeman]

Back on topic then, here is a question:

Say I wanted to use a nice 10" professional mid-woofer in a home audio system, to fill a large room with high dynamic-range, moderate SPL's. Let's say my mid-woofer has an average characteristic sensitivity of 98 dB.

What are my options then for covering the HF section? The cleanest top-ends I have heard, so far, have all been from direct radiating dome tweeters. The compression drivers I have heard, so far, have all played through horns, and have had a detectable horn-character (that I didn't care for). There are some 94 dB (and even greater) hi-fi tweeters out there, but I doubt they would keep up thermally.

Can compression drivers match high-end home-audio dome tweeters for linearity and distortion content, and HF extension? Could the dome tweeters be used in an array to offset their characteristic SPL deficiency?


Jim

[HiFiNutNut]

High SPL dome tweeters are very difficult to find.

I have a pair of Dynaudio T330D with a sensitivity of 93-94dB and a capability of 1000W transient. Therefore, I partnered them with twin SS18W8531G00 (94dB) midrange. But Dynaudio don't sell individule drivers any more. You would be extremely lucky to find another pair of T330D. I heard that people asked for over USD$1,000.

Next would be Peerless HDS tweeter of 93dB. I think some of the Scanspeak tweeters would do 92dB. However, they don't appear to have the high power capability of the T330D.

So compression drivers in waveguide may be attractive. However, I have no experience with them. I may try them one day. I am not sure if they can be as easy to work with as dome tweeters in flat frequency response, XO, etc.

[gedlee]

Originally Posted by J.R.Freeman

Can compression drivers match high-end home-audio dome tweeters for linearity and distortion content, and HF extension?
Jim

Hi Jim

Well those two aspects are not really important, but the fact is that a good compression driver on a good waveguide has far better sound quality than a dome tweeter. There is a lot of evidence o this fact. Just read the reviews on mt web site. Dome tweeters CANNOT be constant directivity and this is far more importnat than "linearity and distortion content" and as far as thermal compression goes its no contest. IMO the compression driver on a waveguide wins hands down.

[gedlee]

Originally Posted by HiFiNutNut

So compression drivers in waveguide may be attractive. However, I have no experience with them. I may try them one day. I am not sure if they can be as easy to work with as dome tweeters in flat frequency response, XO, etc.

Again, no contest, compression drivers on waveguides are very difficult to build and set up properly. This is the reason for their low acceptance in DIY, NOT that they aren't the better choice. Dome tweeters are the easy road to a no-brainer, easy to build acceptable perormance system. But they can't compete with a compression driver on a waveguide is these factors are taken out of the equation.