I suppose so!
As a kid I did use some full rangers from Radio Shack and the treble sacrificed with bassy music. I ended up using the full range for the woofers and then adding tweets.
It would seem the way to go, especially if one could do the crossover either DSP or active. This would widen the amount of useful drivers and shrink the cabinets on many of them
Personally, I feel an FR driver is a superb midrange for a 3-way. It needs assistance at both ends to shine. And you can probably get away without a subwoofer if you take extra care with the enclosure like doing a horn or TL. But a good tweeter will still be missed.
Now that you are mentioning it (sorry if this hijacks the post some)
Are there projects that do exactly what you are talking about?
A full range with both a woofer and tweeter crossed as far out as possible?
That would be an interesting listen for sure
The fullrange on it's own is a good point source and fullrange lovers certainly don't want a tweeter that sacrifies that. A subwoofer can be used, (altough many don't like that neighter) in a so called W(oofer) A(ssisted) W(ideband) configuration with the crossover very low (100-400Hz), but certainly not a tweeter that mess up that point souce sound. Those dedicated fullrange driver speakers often can't go very loud (above 100dB) altough due to the nature of the driver.
But of course you can use fullrange drivers as mid-drivers in a 3 way config if you like that. They often have better specs than a dedicated mid-driver. Idem with using bigger ones as midbass in a 2 way. It has been done, and it can give good results for a multiway setup. And for that the dayton's may fit the job, but not as dedicated fullrange drivers i think.
I've done one with a L.Cao F6/FA6 (not decided which to finally keep in the system), and SB20PFC. Just waiting for my tweeters to get out of quarantine Monday before I add those in the system. I decided on the Dayton mobile ribbon tweeters. The system is crossed at 300Hz on the low end, and the FRs taper off naturally around 5k, seems a good place to bring in the ribbons.
Oddly enough when I built with the FA8 earlier, I never felt the need for a tweeter, but the 6" drivers do seem to need one. I would have expected the reverse to be true.
Whichever I end up keeping in these speakers, I will eventually build out the other one with the Hivi F8 and some other ribbons on the top, maybe next year. There are some Audiopur available at low cost locally, and cheap ribbons seem to do okay when crossed over ~2x recommended frequency.
Oddly enough when I built with the FA8 earlier, I never felt the need for a tweeter, but the 6" drivers do seem to need one. I would have expected the reverse to be true.
Whichever I end up keeping in these speakers, I will eventually build out the other one with the Hivi F8 and some other ribbons on the top, maybe next year. There are some Audiopur available at low cost locally, and cheap ribbons seem to do okay when crossed over ~2x recommended frequency.
I guess I am a full-range user and respecter (is there a word?) but not a full-range lover, at least not the kind of FR lover you refer to. I've lived for a few years with an outstanding FR driver in a single-driver setup (the Jordan JX92S) and I know that I missed a good tweeter as much as good bass. I can live with the weaker bass of the JX92S for many kinds of music, but I missed the cleanness and wide dispersion of a good old dome tweeter for all kinds of music.
And in the process, I fell in love with the sound of the JX92S. The mids, the voices, the dialogues in movies, are to die for.
To each his own.
I’ll 2nd the 3F22.
I have not heard others but the 8” point source in a quick listen showed lots of promise.
'
dave
I have not heard others but the 8” point source in a quick listen showed lots of promise.
dave
What wazz said. With a FR adding a woofer it is relatively easy to achieve quarter wavelength spacing so the drivers are essentially coincident. With the short wavelengths a tweeter reproduces this is next to impossible (even coaxes have to have careful time adjustment of the tweeter's position in space), so while it is possible (but rarely achieved) to get the tweeter in the right place, but for only one spot in space. This makes for wildly varying frequency response as you move your head. This does not bother some, but…
dave
hi tcpip - regarding the LaVoce 6.5: midrange for US$60
LaVoce MAF061.50 6-1/2" Professional Midrange Driver 8 Ohm
LaVoce MAF061.50 6-1/2" Professional Midrange Driver 8 Ohm
I have these and they are good but the W5-2143 by Tang Band is better; it has a more natural frequency balance. I also have the paper versions of the Mark Audio which are pretty decent, if a bit reticent in the top end.
I’ll say it again. My vote for the best all around full range that sounds great, high sensitivity, well made, looks good, reasonably priced, smooth sounding midrange, good high frequency reach, and good real bass... is the W5-2143. Everyone should have one in their toolbox of fullrange drivers.
It’s actually amazing that it’s only $61. Used to cost a little less - maybe demand is up?
It’s actually amazing that it’s only $61. Used to cost a little less - maybe demand is up?
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Wasn’t able to find a local seller for the TB W5 2143 but a rough sim attached looks admirable compared to my ps180 in a 90cm 34L tapered TL.
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Nobody pimping the Unity/Synergy, especially for the issues mentioned in #48? Granted, as picky as a Unity is for midranges, it is unlikely that the named drivers will work optimally 🙂