Pro vs hifi drivers - pros and cons?

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Originally posted by tinitus
I wouldnt rate AE woofers as pro woofers

But I did see some pictures that they're used in outdoor concert.

[Shaun]

Originally posted by Robh3606
What makes you think everyone here has a measurement set-up?? I would not be the least bit surprised if some guys do it by ear. Geez the first speakers I ever built were done using a RTA. It took a while for me to get up the cash to get a decent test set-up. Funny thing was when I measured what I had built using the RTA it wasn't all that bad and the bottom line was they sounded good as well.

Hehe. Reminds of my first "proper" speaker project (i.e., measured and designed with Speaker Workshop). I took great care to equalise a strange bump in the woofer's response. Some time later I learnt about baffle step/edge diffraction....

[nickmckinney]

Originally posted by fb



I've just ordered some TD15M apollo, and a TD18H - how safe is it to run these to Xsus?

One of my testing parameters was to try to break the suspension at full xmax, these are designed to be abused. They will audibly tell you when you have hit the suspension limit, and unless you add still another notch on the volume control it shouldn't hurt the driver.

Originally posted by tinitus
I wouldnt rate AE woofers as pro woofers

Maybe pro studio woofers, in line with ATC, Altec etc

You could rate them as pro woofers in regards to the long term heat power handling. The main difference with pro drivers is the ability to play at loud levels with compressed music for hours upon hours without the coil burning up.

[tinitus]

Sure
TD18H I would say is a pure PRO woofer
But not IB15 or the Dipoles

RCF have woofers with 3000watt rating, which seem to push the limits
Seems like the unofficial "new standard" for big woofers is 1000watt rating, minimum

But ofcourse using multiple woofers will change a lot
Danley even makes subs with small cheap Tangband woofers

[doug20]

Glad to see you've given in to the dark side and endorsed measurements. As you know from my errrr... discussions with Thy, I'm a big believer too.

Dennis, you and Brandon beat me to a pulp over the past couple of years

Thy did get my feet wet though by convincing me to dive head first and Im still happy with those results.

Now Im hooked and learning daily. Finished the loudspeaker design book but it will take a couple more reads to get it all to sink in.....Im sure by my 10th DIY build it will all actually click.

But the guys have a point that you need to take measurements with a grain of salt. I firmly believe that everything can be measured but the 'art' comes in knowing what is important to measure and how to go about doing it. Should you emphasize on-axis flatness or emphasize what happens off axis? What's a good off-axis target curve? Should you gate your measurements so you're measuring the direct sound from the speaker or should you do them ungated so you include the room's contribution? If you measure distortion, is the 5th harmonic more important than the 2nd harmonic? How much weight should you give to all the different measurements as some correlate better with good sound than others. Etc., etc....

You should be filling in those questions with answers to help a dumb guy out

[woofman59]

In my earlier post, I didn't mean to discount measurements. Certainly the measurements and numbers are critically important. I merely meant that they are not everything, that we also need to use our ears for guides as well.

As to using professional drivers, I don't think there is any valid reason why many of them can't be used for home hi-fi. I saw someone mention earlier about using the Eminence 6" professional midrange and the Eminence APT50 horn tweeter. I like the idea and may eventually try them for my home setup. Haven't decided on which woofer yet..............I'll have to look at the numbers on a few of the affordable ones.

[thadman]

Originally posted by Andre Visser
Doug20, if you want to get scientific, you are talking to the wrong guy.

By accurate and detailed, I'm refering to the ability of a driver to reproduce the sound of an instrument to sound as close as possible to the real instrument.

To my logic, basically a lighter cone and voicecoil should be able to follow the audio signal, especially the transients, more accurately. (Up to a point of course.)

F=force, M=mass, A=Acceleration (directly related to sound pressure level)

F=M*A, therefore A=F/M

A higher mass driver simply requires more force than a lower mass driver to achieve the desired acceleration (SPL). It doesn't necessarily have a poorer transient response.

Inductance is a much better quantifier for impulse response than mass

[augerpro]

SPL is an acceleration?

[thadman]

Originally posted by augerpro
SPL is an acceleration?

I believe it is directly related to acceleration. For example, a 50hz tone and a 10khz tone reproduced at the same level (assuming equal surface area between drivers) will possess the same acceleration, but very different velocities.

[Andre Visser]

Originally posted by thadman
A higher mass driver simply requires more force than a lower mass driver to achieve the desired acceleration (SPL). It doesn't necessarily have a poorer transient response.

Inductance is a much better quantifier for impulse response than mass

Thadman, how do you create more force?

I like your signature.