A very simple question

[oldbar]

I was wondering.
In a 3way is it okay to use a metal woofer and a paper midrange or would the timbre matching not be the same?
What about a paper or another example the SB acoustics norex cones woofer and metal midrange?

[Moondog55]

Pardon me but that isn't a simple question.
The simple answer is YES! Of course you can, you can DO anything you want to, but like all simple answers it may not be what you actually wanted to hear.

It will be very cross-over dependent, as most 3-ways are.
Now I hope some experts pitch in and correct me and give you the answer you need

Regards

[LineArray]

Hi,

there is no problem in combining drivers of different cone
material in itself. The rules for "matching" stay the same
as for both drivers having similar material.

Since metal cones tend to more dramatical breakup
modes when driven above their "pistonic" frequency range,
one should be sure to avoid that range for a given driver.

But there are some metal cones on the market which may
even serve in a 2-Way.

e.g. for a small one: Visaton AL 130

Good metal cones will not exhibit any "metallica" sound,
when used whithin their range. And at the lower end of the
midranger you cannot hear the cone material being
"paper or something else" either due to pistonic movement
of the cone.

Kind Regards

[chris661]

Following that, it would be advisable to use a steeper than average crossover, to avoid the driver even attempting those frequencies. I remember someone on here using a metal coned speaker, declaring that, while it was no use for a 2-way, it did well as a woofer, crossed over low.

[LineArray]

Have you got a certain Woofer in mind ?

And what midranger ?

[oldbar]

Originally Posted by LineArray

Have you got a certain Woofer in mind ?

And what midranger ?

Not really i was just curious as I have noticed that it has not been discussed anywhere so i thought i would ask.
I was also browsing through Ray Aldens book Speaker Building 201 and he talks about timbre matching etc and gives the impression that in 3ways the drivers should be made out of the same material.
He also talks about Bassbox pro and Xover pro and he seems to recommend it and I have noticed how when that is mentioned it seems to be rubbished as being totally useless.
So my question would be who is right especially when the book is highly recommended reading ?

[Paul W]

Nothing wrong with mixing cone materials, provided the combined acoustic response of the drivers plus crossovers track to target at least 30-50db down. In the case of metal drivers, that may mean adding a notch filter to tame the breakup.

Xover pro may be better than nothing but, IMO, LspCAD and SoundEasy are far superior.

[Loren42]

A lort of the bass drivers you see with unusual cone material like metal are used in autos and do not play well in the HiFi realm. There are exceptions.

When designing a 3-way there is more than cone material to consider. You need to consider the range of frequency and response, the polar responses, the driver efficiency, impedance, and a host of other things when designing the system.

There is a lot of balls to juggle at the same time, which is why they are so hard to do correctly.

I have BassBox Pro and X-Over Pro. They work fine, but they also require a lot of user intervention. They are not a program that just churns out a design for you. You still need to know what you are doing.

Alden's book is a good book, but it is only designed for the novice. There are more advanced books like Vance Dickanson's The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, which is intermediate. There are others that are even more in depth. A good foundation in mathematics is very important at these levels and beyond.

You are just scratching at the tip of the iceberg right now, but don't let that dissuade you.

[mondogenerator]

Originally Posted by LineArray

Hi,

there is no problem in combining drivers of different cone
material in itself.......But there are some metal cones on the market which may even serve in a 2-Way.

e.g. for a small one: Visaton AL 130

I like!!! .....the break up isnt nearly as severe as some metal cones can be, and was easily filtered out with a additional inductor to the 2nd over LP xover(in my design that is)

I found no problems of integration with the fabric dome tweeter G20SC at all, other than the 'normal' slight polar bulge that a dome tweeter causes. Thsi however isnt noticable, unless you like to sit at 90 degrees off axis