TAD pt-r9 and mid-range

[vo_guy]

I noticed that Nelson said he worked with the TAD pt-r9 and I can't resist any longer - the lust has got to me. I have to have them. I'm in Australia, so you can imagine the cost by the time they get here.

My problem is getting something to fill in below the 5 0r 6 k crossover for the PT. I've got SS 8530', 8640's and a couple of SS tweeters (9700, 9800)

Any suggestions on what would be a suitable "underfill" for the TADs?

Help would be appreciated, so I get to fully utilise these babies.

TIA

Barry

[Selfmade]

Use the ATC75-150S dome-midrange (800 - 4500 Hz; 94 dB/Wm)
it is one off the best sounding midrange I know.

regards

Günter

[vo_guy]

Thanks Gunter,

A friend of mine has 4 of those little babies, but I'm a bit concerned because TAD recommend no lower than 5k as a crossover point for the PT-R9's.

Any advice to the contrary will be appreciated, because he still has 2 which he hasn't used, which I might be able to buy from him

[Brett]

Originally posted by vo_guy
I noticed that Nelson said he worked with the TAD pt-r9 and I can't resist any longer - the lust has got to me. I have to have them. I'm in Australia, so you can imagine the cost by the time they get here.

My problem is getting something to fill in below the 5 0r 6 k crossover for the PT. I've got SS 8530', 8640's and a couple of SS tweeters (9700, 9800)

Any suggestions on what would be a suitable "underfill" for the TADs?

Help would be appreciated, so I get to fully utilise these babies.

TIA

Barry

Hi Barry,

I'll be curious to hear your results with these drivers. They look excellent, as they damn well should for the $A3k - $A3k5 they're going to cost you. Personally I'd like to try some 4001's in my horns, but the cost is excessive.

Anyhow, may I suggest you fax TAD and get a full datasheet including the polar responses etc. The same with any other driver you're looking at to use below them. My hunch is they'll be wide dispersion (120*?), and picking a driver for below them will not neccessarily be easy. A polar pattern that sweeps in and out with frequency is a sure recipe for some strange room interactions and poor soundstaging.

My suggestion would be to look at the PHL's as midranges and midbass. They're designed by ex Audax staff, and have high efficiency. Some are available from e-speakers.com to get an idea of prices.

Good luck.

[Selfmade]

I had a PHL 2460 Bass/midrange chasis. It sounded wonderfull up to 2,5 kHz. For higher frequences it is not usefull. I use the ATC with a Raven R2. When I tested the XO, I first listened to the ATC without a lowpass. It sounded good. I think with an 12 dB XO at 5 kHz it will be fine.

regards

Günter

[Nelson Pass]

Unfortunately there is not a currently-available cone product
from TAD that fills this space. You have to consider one of
the compression drivers, such as the 2001 or 4001. In my
opinion, the TAD horns are extremely good, but they are horns, and you do have to compensate the physical alignment; the
horn recesses the compression driver's surface enough to
make a substantial delay.

There is rumor of a wildly expensive TAD midrange cone
driver (not the 12 inch carbon) which is not available, and
I have been unable to obtain a pair. In the meantime,
consider some of the cones that purport to go to 5K or
so with 97+ dB. PHL and Audax are good candidates.

[angel]

If these drivers have wide dispersion, I would consider the Fostex FW127. (45Hz-10kHz, 87dB/W/m, 17W continous, Qts 0.35, Qms 6.07, Qes 0.37, Vas 7.73L, Xmax 1.85mm)

They have a very wide and smooth frequency response, and have almost the same off-axis response (down by a few dB, same curve) even at 60 degrees.

Their sensitivity rolls off in a nice, controlled manner at high frequencies, with -3dB at about 7kHz, and -6dB at about 9kHz. Hence, you could probably operate it without a lowpass at all, and just use a 2nd order high-pass at 7-9kHz for the tweeter.

Choice of woofer should be simple enough. Alternately, you could go for the FW187, and make a two-way design.

If you want to have midrange domes, you might want to consider some Visaton drivers, such as the DSM50FFL (titanium dome) and G50FFL (fabric dome), both of which have acceptable dispersion at 5kHz, and both of which are 'high end'. These might be somewhat 'quicker' than the Fostex drivers, but I wouldn't know, as I've seen no comparisons.

If the drivers are not wide dispersion, then you might consider the Seas Excel M15CH001 (pp cone) or somesuch.

Using some serious woofers (e.g. scan-speak, seas excel or peerless) and a pair of wide-band ribbons (e.g. 28" Bohlender-Graebner 150Hz-20kHz) and the TAD in a WMTMW configuration should give some seriously impressive performance, I guess. (Since you're already paying tons for the tweeters, a measly USD 400 per ribbon, and USD 200 per woofer, shouldn't faze you..)