Coaxial drivers with horn for high frequency?

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ORNJ

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Joined 2011
#1
Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone knew if the horns that you see on the higher frequency portion of some coaxial drivers causes problems with the midwoofers response?

It seems to me that it would get in the way and cause some issues but I don't have any experience with coaxials.

RCF is one manufacturer in particular that I find very interesting because their graphs look pretty smooth.

However, if the horn is going to cause problems with the mid woofer I am just going to go for a different type of coaxial.

Thanks.
 
#2
6 in one, and half a dozen in the other. Sure there are drawbacks but there are drawbacks in every design of coaxial. Don't base your opinion on a theoretical problem. If that little horn were so bad, the manufacturers wouldn't build them like that. I have all four of the 'normal kind of coax drivers and can't tell you that one type is better than another.
 
#3
Thanks for the quick response Cal.

I am mainly concerned about the midrange getting muddled as these are going to be for home theater/music use in a dual purpose system.

The other driver that really has my interest peaked is 8HX200 by Failtal Pro which is a 8" driver.
 
#6
The problem of mids reflecting off the back of the HF horns has been addressed by using absorptive material on the horn back, as UREI did with their studio monitors using Altec 15" Coax drivers.

The larger the HF horn, the more mid diffraction occurs.

Using multiple drivers on the same horn, as Renkus Heinz does with their Co-Entrant horns, Yorkville with their Unity horns, and Danley does with the Synergy horns avoids this problem.
 
#8
I believe Great Plains Audio actually owns the old Altec technology.
On another note, Tannoy ducked the problem by using the woofer part of the cone as part of the tweeter waveguide/horn. Not perfect, but very accurate in the midrange.
 
#9
Yea, the dual concentric approach is what I was really looking at originally because of concerns about the horn.

I was under the belief that the dual concentric design like the tannoys would have better ineligibility....
 
#10
It's hard to generalize these types of drivers for what they do well.....and not so well. Some will report that the increased diffraction products makes them unlistenable when compared to your standard, well designed MT ( another generalization BTW). I'd take a listen first before moving fwd with a DIY design unless you just enjoy the thrill of accomplishment......as many of us DIYers do!

Personally, I like them in the nearfield, but once there's a distance, seperate drivers sum equally well with no diffraction common to coax/coincident drivers.
 
#11
Yea, i'm one of those that really enjoys the rush of having something work well that you made yourself.

My room is quite small and so I will be listening pretty close. The couch is only about 6ft away at most. I think maybe a little less.
 
#12
ORNJ said:
Yea, the dual concentric approach is what I was really looking at originally because of concerns about the horn.

I was under the belief that the dual concentric design like the tannoys would have better ineligibility....
Click to expand...

Beyma make co-axials that are very, very close to the '80s Tannoy K-series of DualConcentrics. Almost identical really including the common magnet for tweeter and woofer.

http://profesional.beyma.com/pdf/12KXE.pdf

http://profesional.beyma.com/pdf/15KXE.pdf

PS: They are all co-axials, it's just that Tannoy has the term dualconcentric trademarked.
 
#13
Ah, I was calling the Tannoy design Dual concentric cause it does not have the integrated horn.

I was also looking at the PHL 4070 but I cannot find any measurements of it. It also does not have a compression driver that comes with it.

Edit,

The Radian 5312 looks decen as well. Anyone have experience with them?
 
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#14
I've always thought the Beyma coaxials look good, though I think the 12XA30nd and the 15XA38nd are the better looking of their units. The only issue, I believe, is their crossovers are unreasonably expensive for what they are, and I haven't found any DIY alternatives posted.
 
#19
I think a 10" coaxial for home theater would be amazing. Especially for vocals. Just make sure the frequency response is flat and don't rely on any home theater EQ'ing to fix the problem. Frequency response irregularities are related to stored acoustical energy in the horn throat and cannot be EQ'd out. It's an acousitcal problem.
Just make sure the coaxial you select shows excellent frequency response, polar response, and distortion plots.
 
#20
Charles Darwin said:
I've only mentioned the KXEs because in construction they are very similar to classic Tannoys since they are using the same magnet for both woofer and treble sections.

Tannoy only started using separate magnets in '91.
Click to expand...

But the Mark Dodd era Tannoy Duals are much much better than the previous units.

Though using one magnet for both drivers isn't necessarily a bad thing. I believe all of the TAD and Pioneer EX "CST" drivers use a common (neo) magnet for the woofer and tweeter voicecoils, for instance. And they are exceptionally good.
 
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