high-output midrange and tweeter

[xplod1236]

can someone recommend a midrange and a tweeter that will play at 115+db? I will be tri-amping, so they can be different sensitivities.

[BillFitzmaurice]

With 100 watts input you need drivers that have 95/dB/1 watt sensitivities to reach 115 dB. Without horn loading you can get that in the midrange with a pro-sound 8, but horn loading would likely be the only option for the HF.

[Greg B]

The morel MDT37 should just barely make it, and it sounds pretty good for a soft dome. You don't say what your budget or application is. Since you will need to cross around 1500hz for best results with an 8" pro mid IMO, a good compression driver for the HF is what I would use.

GB

[Stuart Easson]

Check out the eminence coaxial beta drivers, the HF horn is in the centre of the mid-bass, the woofers available range from 8" to 15", sens ranging from 93 - >100db/watt.

I've built kits from Adire using the 8 & 10" eminence drivers and with x-over they are ~93 and ~95 db/w respectively. I have no means to measure the max SPL from my kits, but the midrange output of the 8 or 10 will be limited by power not excursion, and that is 250w, ie >115db should be easily achievable.

The he10 and he8 kits from adire are very cool, everything but the cabinet and they play loud and sound great. Adire use the he10 kit as the mid and tweet for their hurricane small club cab, if you needed a reference for the x-over etc.

Good luck

Stuart

[454Casull]

Budget?

Also, what crossover points will you be using?

[xplod1236]

These will be for home use, mostly for listening to music. I already have 2 12 inch audiobahn subwoofers, so I need something to finish off the high-end. I don't want to spend too much money on this. The XO points will depend on the drivers that I use.

[454Casull]

Well, the maximum SPL will be lowest at the crossover frequency (i.e. where the driver starts to play). After you know the lowest frequency that the driver is required to reproduce, it's a simple matter to convert SPL to displacement, which is calculated by the effective piston area of the driver multiplied by the peak excursion (peak linear excursion, rather, since you probably don't want distorted transients). Then, given the required displacement, all you have to do is look for a driver that can sweep that much air.

EDIT: If you make the output more directional by using a horn or a waveguide, you get even more output.

EDIT2: I'm also assuming you want 115dB+ at 1 meter?

[angel]

You'll probably never see 115dB tweeter output unless the rest of the system is clipping. Remember that at 20KHz, the power content is down by more than 20dB, even in some pretty extreme Japanese music, ref Nelson Pass. At 10kHz, you'll be at -12dB, and at 5kHz, you'll be at -3dB to -6dB, IIRC.

If you want a low crossover point, go for a compression driver. If not, you might want to consider the Vifa XT25 (rather cheap). Also, even with a rather low crossover point, the Stage Accompany ribbon takes a beating (137dB peak @ 1KHz IIRC), but that's well beyond the budget I'd imagine you've got for this.

You never stated how much money you're looking to spend here. "Not much" can range from USD 10 to USD 10K, depending on the person.. If it's inside your budget range, have a look at the extended midranges from PHL or JBL.

(As an aside, if anyone knows the off-axis response of the PHL drivers, I'd appreciate hearing about it. I've mailed them about this before, but they never responded. Matching the directionality of the midrange with the directionality of the tweeter at crossover is critical.)

[454Casull]

How about you just let us know what frequency the woofer is crossing over at?

[Bricolo]

can someone explain me why in "pro audio", 8" 10" or even bigger drivers are used for the midrange, where 5" are normally used in high fidelity?