Hi And thanks for reading this post.
I have been using HM130CO audax 5 inch drive units for the past few years now and have been very happy with their performance Now is the time to upgrade and i will appreciate any advice on good or better replacements.
I have compared the audax's against better spec drivers but have always preferred the fast lively sound the audax's are producing.
Can i have any advice on similar or higher performance drivers which retain that fast lively character.
I am using the audax's as mids only from 100hz-5khz
Thanks
I have been using HM130CO audax 5 inch drive units for the past few years now and have been very happy with their performance Now is the time to upgrade and i will appreciate any advice on good or better replacements.
I have compared the audax's against better spec drivers but have always preferred the fast lively sound the audax's are producing.
Can i have any advice on similar or higher performance drivers which retain that fast lively character.
I am using the audax's as mids only from 100hz-5khz
Thanks
You may find it hard to find a drive unit that suits your taste and existing loudspeaker system better! Those are good drive units with usefully high sensitivity for their size, and ideal for the specified bandwidth- although they will be getting significantly more directional at 5kHz.
Candidates for alternatives include various SEAS, Scan-speak and SB Acoustics units, along with many others, but it would be useful to know more about the rest of your speaker system and your budget. Do bear in mind that people will, reasonably enough, suggest their preferred units based on their experiences and system contexts. YMMV and probably will!
One other thing occurs- the source of your need to upgrade might not be the mid-range unit at all. There may be improvements or changes that could be made to the crossover, or a change of tweeter might be more beneficial. Although the HM130CO has bandwidth out to 5kHz you might find it's better to cross lower, if your tweeter will handle that.
Candidates for alternatives include various SEAS, Scan-speak and SB Acoustics units, along with many others, but it would be useful to know more about the rest of your speaker system and your budget. Do bear in mind that people will, reasonably enough, suggest their preferred units based on their experiences and system contexts. YMMV and probably will!
One other thing occurs- the source of your need to upgrade might not be the mid-range unit at all. There may be improvements or changes that could be made to the crossover, or a change of tweeter might be more beneficial. Although the HM130CO has bandwidth out to 5kHz you might find it's better to cross lower, if your tweeter will handle that.
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Hi!
For the rest of the system i am using a dune smart D1 as a source for music and movie playback stored on hard drives or flash drives, this then goes to an arcam avr600 reciever, then goes to a polk audio active sub set at 100hz crossover frequency and i also have 2 front speakers and 2 back speakers. These four speakers each have an audax HM130CO inside and a b&c tweeter. The enclosures are 0.4 cubic feet in volume and crossover at 5khz.
Should i just buy another audax HM130C0. Audax themselves went defunct and were taken over with a resultant noticeable drop in the quality of their products according to forum posters so am not too sure if i should stick with audax, not too sure if i will recieve anything like the made in france originals i have.
I did look into seas and some of the others you mentioned but was shocked by the prices. I mean i can see a paper cone, which probably cost a couple of bucks, followed by a magnet, which probably cost a couple of bucks, held together in a steel basket, which probably cost a couple of bucks, yet these people are demanding hundreds of dollars for the end product.
For the rest of the system i am using a dune smart D1 as a source for music and movie playback stored on hard drives or flash drives, this then goes to an arcam avr600 reciever, then goes to a polk audio active sub set at 100hz crossover frequency and i also have 2 front speakers and 2 back speakers. These four speakers each have an audax HM130CO inside and a b&c tweeter. The enclosures are 0.4 cubic feet in volume and crossover at 5khz.
Should i just buy another audax HM130C0. Audax themselves went defunct and were taken over with a resultant noticeable drop in the quality of their products according to forum posters so am not too sure if i should stick with audax, not too sure if i will recieve anything like the made in france originals i have.
I did look into seas and some of the others you mentioned but was shocked by the prices. I mean i can see a paper cone, which probably cost a couple of bucks, followed by a magnet, which probably cost a couple of bucks, held together in a steel basket, which probably cost a couple of bucks, yet these people are demanding hundreds of dollars for the end product.
Well, pricing of commercial products is a big can of worms, but bear in mind that material costs aren't really much of the cost of production, unless some very exotic stuff is being used. Premises, machinary, tooling, fabrication, inventory, skilled workers, assembly time, R&D, testing, packaging, distribution and the rest need to be factored in, and companies need to make a profit to continue to exist. Some of the 'boutique' pricing of more costly units does raise an eyebrow, but it's the same in most fields.
If you are basically happy with the HM130COs, stick with them- changing them all will be a hassle with uncertain benefits. Willys Hi-fi in the UK has NOS units, according to their website. I must say I haven't heard that units on sale now are inferior, but you've probably got more recent info than I have.
As I've suggested above, based on using these Audax units myself in a couple of designs, I think the crossover frequency and perhaps the tweeter choice are worth a look. Not only is directivity narrowing at 5k, but the diaphram is starting to get hashy too- take a look at the spec sheet. You would probably get a cleaner sound crossing over to the tweeter at 3k or so if possible. On the other hand you may be enjoying hearing a little bit of distortion to give a livelier sound- nothing wrong with that if you like it- and you'd be better off leaving things be.
Give Willys a shout and see what they say about the new stock/ NOS situation. Have fun!
If you are basically happy with the HM130COs, stick with them- changing them all will be a hassle with uncertain benefits. Willys Hi-fi in the UK has NOS units, according to their website. I must say I haven't heard that units on sale now are inferior, but you've probably got more recent info than I have.
As I've suggested above, based on using these Audax units myself in a couple of designs, I think the crossover frequency and perhaps the tweeter choice are worth a look. Not only is directivity narrowing at 5k, but the diaphram is starting to get hashy too- take a look at the spec sheet. You would probably get a cleaner sound crossing over to the tweeter at 3k or so if possible. On the other hand you may be enjoying hearing a little bit of distortion to give a livelier sound- nothing wrong with that if you like it- and you'd be better off leaving things be.
Give Willys a shout and see what they say about the new stock/ NOS situation. Have fun!
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I use the HM130C0 and these are actually pretty good drivers. IM distortion could be a tad better, but it's not bad. This is a very good driver for open baffle dipole midrange as well.
Thanks!
What do you think about nos stock, i mean the driver is going to be about 10 years old what happens to it over that time, does it deteriorate in any way. The magnet strength is going to die down and it probably depends how it is stored. Magnets do lose their strength over time
What do you think about nos stock, i mean the driver is going to be about 10 years old what happens to it over that time, does it deteriorate in any way. The magnet strength is going to die down and it probably depends how it is stored. Magnets do lose their strength over time
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