Please excuse me: the range should be 
you may like the SPH-102KEP
crazy good extension to 8 khz, very small breakup around 10khz, and cheap (50 euros), also it is a 4 inches so you don't have any directivity problem at 3khz, and i believe monacor is widely available anywhere in europa
if the bass extension is not sufficient, the SPH-135KEP do have almost the same extension, and go much lower, has better xmax, but is one inch bigger and costs a little more
i have the SPH-135KEP and the 165KEP. Both are very good drivers IMO
crazy good extension to 8 khz, very small breakup around 10khz, and cheap (50 euros), also it is a 4 inches so you don't have any directivity problem at 3khz, and i believe monacor is widely available anywhere in europa
if the bass extension is not sufficient, the SPH-135KEP do have almost the same extension, and go much lower, has better xmax, but is one inch bigger and costs a little more
i have the SPH-135KEP and the 165KEP. Both are very good drivers IMO
Creative Sound WR125S
http://www.creativesound.ca/pdf/WR125S.PDF
Creative Sound FR125S
http://www.creativesound.ca/pdf/WR125S.PDF
Creative Sound FR125S
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Try the Audio Technology (Skaaning) 4" Flex Unit. Expensive, but look at that response curve!
beppe61 said:
Directivity can be a good thing. In general you want to match the average directivity of your woofer to the tweeter.
My personal favorite of the month is the Vifa XG18. It's a 7" speaker that is -3db 30 degrees off axis at 3000hz, and -1db 30 degrees off axis at 1500hz. Since you're crossing two octaves above fs you don't need to compensate for the impedance peak. Unless you use a very wide baffle you will need baffle step compensation.
Dan
Dan
From another thread this is a first project I believe, with a budget. For a first project, the SPH-135KEP and the Creative Sound have the sort of benign frequency response that simplifies crossover design and allows lower order designs.
I am using the Skaaning/Audio Technology 4" midrange mentioned above in the current project. It is the best mid I have ever heard, and has it all; good behavior, clean, dynamic, transparent. It compares very favorably with electrostatics for transparency and transient capability, but also has cone dynamic range. I cannot speak to its overload characteristics, as I have never overloaded it, and do not care to try. It has caused several upgrades to my system, currently Bryston 4BST and Levinson 30 DAC. Plus an interconnect upgrade. It is still better than the associated components. It rewards and to some degree requires excellent crossover components, which tends to argue against it for a first project. And it is expensive. We tried Accutons (previous generation), and several other drivers in that class, and prefer the Skaaning.
I am using the Skaaning/Audio Technology 4" midrange mentioned above in the current project. It is the best mid I have ever heard, and has it all; good behavior, clean, dynamic, transparent. It compares very favorably with electrostatics for transparency and transient capability, but also has cone dynamic range. I cannot speak to its overload characteristics, as I have never overloaded it, and do not care to try. It has caused several upgrades to my system, currently Bryston 4BST and Levinson 30 DAC. Plus an interconnect upgrade. It is still better than the associated components. It rewards and to some degree requires excellent crossover components, which tends to argue against it for a first project. And it is expensive. We tried Accutons (previous generation), and several other drivers in that class, and prefer the Skaaning.
Skaaning Drivers
Mr. Skaaning and son have been making some of the finest drivers for two generations. Designs at Dynaudio, Scan Speak and now AudioTechnica can be traced to these gentlemen. They also designed the Revelator Tweeter still one of the best dome tweeters available after all these years.
I heartily recommend either their Flexunits and C-Quenze midrange drivers as some of the finest midranges available. Not inexpensive and reponsive to good electronics and crosover design, IMHO these drivers are among the very best.
http://www.audiotechnology.dk/iz.asp?id=4|a|132|||
I also recommend a visit to the Loudspeaker Design Guide website, a treasure trove of driver, crossover and cabinet data.
http://ldsg.snippets.org/index.php3
Mr. Skaaning and son have been making some of the finest drivers for two generations. Designs at Dynaudio, Scan Speak and now AudioTechnica can be traced to these gentlemen. They also designed the Revelator Tweeter still one of the best dome tweeters available after all these years.
I heartily recommend either their Flexunits and C-Quenze midrange drivers as some of the finest midranges available. Not inexpensive and reponsive to good electronics and crosover design, IMHO these drivers are among the very best.
http://www.audiotechnology.dk/iz.asp?id=4|a|132|||
I also recommend a visit to the Loudspeaker Design Guide website, a treasure trove of driver, crossover and cabinet data.
http://ldsg.snippets.org/index.php3
How about this B&C 6" pro driver?
http://www.bcspeakers.com/index.php...escrizione=2&prodotto=1&id_descrizione_prod=3
You don't need big xmax, and the 96 dB efficiency will give good dynamics and low power compression.
Made in Italy, too
http://www.bcspeakers.com/index.php...escrizione=2&prodotto=1&id_descrizione_prod=3
You don't need big xmax, and the 96 dB efficiency will give good dynamics and low power compression.
Made in Italy, too
serengetiplains said:
This driver looks fantastic if you can afford it.
However the response graph only shows on axis response. My guess is that it probably has a good off axis response but without a measurement that is nothing more than a guess.
Beppe61,
it seems that you are particularly concerned about off axis response so if I was you I would want to see a graph including off axis response before commiting to a purchase.
As far as using a cone mid is concerned if you want to run your mid down to 150Hz you will need to use a reasonably sized driver. A 4 inch is probably as small as I would go otherwise you will pushing it at the low frequency end.
Consider the following 2 drivers. (the skanning is likely to have very similar directivity)
Peerles V-line (once Vifa) PL11MH09-08 http://www.tymphany.com/datasheet/printview.php?id=157
Peerless 4" 830872 http://www.tymphany.com/datasheet/printview.php?id=10
The attached graphs show on axis, 30deg and 60deg off axis. I stretched the scales so that they are directly comparable.
Note that dispersion in both is quite good at 3kHz.
Also remember that your tweeter will be producing half the sound at the cross over frequency so the drop in off axis response of your final speaker will be much lower than you might imagine.
Attachments
owdi said:
I agree with Owdi's assessment of the XG18, particularly if your range of use is 150-3000. While it's not that expensive of a driver, paying more most likely will not get you anything better. I've used many of these.
It would be a mistake to think that paying more gets you a better driver. There is almost no link between price and performance.
In general, one 4 inch driver will have very similar dispersion characteristics as another, assuming standard construction. (No whizzer cones for example.) The effect is primarily governed by the diameter of the cone and the wave length at a given frequency.
Imaging is governed by several factors. Driver and to some lesser degree crossover component matching, room/furniture reflections, placement, and source of course. I don't listen much for imaging, as I do not hear pinpoint imaging at live performances. And I don't design for it as such, but find that speakers that do all other things well will image well as well.
And super dispersion is not your friend in the normal home listening environment. More reflections from the side from walls, furniture, floor, etc. will give more strength to the delayed signals. The combination of direct and delayed at your listening point will be more raggedness in frequency response, and of course time "smearing", as one meter is 3 ms of delay. Columnar speaker designs restrict dispersion, and can image very well.
Imaging is governed by several factors. Driver and to some lesser degree crossover component matching, room/furniture reflections, placement, and source of course. I don't listen much for imaging, as I do not hear pinpoint imaging at live performances. And I don't design for it as such, but find that speakers that do all other things well will image well as well.
And super dispersion is not your friend in the normal home listening environment. More reflections from the side from walls, furniture, floor, etc. will give more strength to the delayed signals. The combination of direct and delayed at your listening point will be more raggedness in frequency response, and of course time "smearing", as one meter is 3 ms of delay. Columnar speaker designs restrict dispersion, and can image very well.
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