Help finding right driver

[omnivore]

I have a pair of ribbon tweeters that I want to cross at around 3000 with a first order, and am looking for a driver with a 88 to 90 sensitivity that can go that high with the best low end I can find. Would love some help.

[kbgl]

Originally Posted by omnivore

I have a pair of ribbon tweeters that I want to cross at around 3000 with a first order, and am looking for a driver with a 88 to 90 sensitivity that can go that high with the best low end I can find. Would love some help.

Just poked around a little. This one might be worth considering. Haven't heard it myself, or crunched the numbers on bass response.
http://www.parts-express.com/pdf/296-400s.pdf

[sdclc126]

Are you going to be using a subwoofer too? You're asking a lot of your woofer.

[GDO]

If you swear by first order, what are you doing with ribbons?
If you swear by ribbons, why messing with first orders?

[omnivore]

Thanks. Aurum Cantus is not only a good match but is also in the perfect price/quality range that I was looking for. Should have thought of it, as they make ribbons themselves that tend to require higher crossovers (at least at my price point).

As to a sub. These are going to be smaller speakers for my workshop (sculptor). My main speakers, for serious listening, are a pair of hand made drivers built by the head engineer at Boston Acoustic in the late 90's. Met him at a bar in Boston and we made two pair out of solid oak. They are a MMT config with a slanted baffle. 5 1/4 M's and a 3/4" silk dome. He built the 5 1/4's by hand. He even wound the voice coils. They have magnets the size of my head! We got to test them in the BA lab and select the basket from their high end line. He hired me to make the box look good. After that i kinda got interested in speakers as you might imagine.

That was a little off target, but I have been wanting to tell that story to someone who would appreciate it for some time. thought you two might.

Again, thanks for the help.

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by GDO

If you swear by first order, what are you doing with ribbons?

or use a driver that will do 5khz

I would definately consider a 2.5way

[GDO]

or use a driver that will do 5khz

OK, let's find a 2or 3 inch driver...

[omnivore]

I don't swear by anything, frankly. I know s**t compared to you guys. I just happen to have a pair of $100ish/each ribbons laying around and thought it was time to put them to use. I like the idea of as small a crossover as possible (the smaller i make it, the more I can spend on the components (foil vs standard air core, for example)) but I don't really have the experience to know what kind of a difference any of that will make. I have heard a set of speakers in a MTM and then in an MMT and can say definitely that i don't personally like MTM, but beyond that i have very little listening experience.

Tinitus, the driver suggested above has usable up to 7000hz. Perfect.

[GDO]

I like the idea of as small a crossover as possible

I don't either, and least with ribbons. Whatever they are, consider 3rd or 4th order slopes.

[Borus]

Omnivore
Ribbons are genially vary fragile when used to lower frequencies they are designed to reach up high and they do that well. 3KHz Wavelengh is 4.52in try to imagine that small piece of foil moving that far. They don't really work that way but you can see how much stress it will have on it. A first order crossover is not going to filter enough energy away from the ribbon for it to survive. I have arced ribbons in the passed it's no fun. The seem to sound their best just before they fail. Even at 6khz I would go at least 12db/O
The mid/bass you're looking at has that dip right at 4KHz I would try to use that as a xover point but that puts you up at 3rd or 4th order to save the ribbon. Or you could filter the mid/bass to control that dip and the bump at 1600Hz's bring the whole top end down to meet the ribbon but that just gets into a large crossover and you don't want that. To use the ribbons I would look for a nice mid dome that can easily reach the 7KHz's your looking for.