The dome midrange thread

ATC rate their SCM50ASLPro as having a "Horizontal Dispersion: ±80°, Coherent". I guess there is a method to their madness of using a small dome on a wide baffle to control directivity.
I believe the "coherent" term describes what I referred to in my last answer as a monotonically decreasing sound power output response - that is where distinct nulls from phase cancellation are evident.
It is also worth mentioning that wide baffles (or soffit mounted loudspeakers at the extreme) consistently generate the best audible results. The constant push for narrow baffles to try and deliver 4pi radiation is a formidable challenge that wide baffles circumvent (albeit when well implemented, since wide baffles can also be badly implemented too). The incentive for narrow baffles appears to be promoted by factors such as domestic acceptability and costs, rather than for audio performance.
 
To be clear, I'm wondering what the acoustic response is, after the electrical filters are applied.
In the days when only analogue active filters were available, high order crossover filters were employed largely without compensation for the inherent driver roll-offs. Employing such 'dominant' roll-offs circumvented accommodating issues of less well-controllable driver manufacturing tolerances - of which 75mm dome damping at HF is a good example. Lower order passive crossovers don't generally permit such an approach.
Also to note is that active LR4 (or other) phase matched crossovers commonly employ first-order all pass sections too, as detailed in another of SL's JAES papers. These were used to align the main radiating lobes of the different drivers at some nominal listening position.
 
You cross to a 1" membrane which shows super wide radiation at 3,5kHz! That's not a speaker I would build ...
Neither would I. But remember also that the larger monitors employed a 34mm dome which softened the transition somewhat. The loudspeakers were also intended for use in relatively acoustically dead environments too, not reflective domestic situations where any such compromises can be more pronounced.
 
To be clear, I'm wondering what the acoustic response is, after the electrical filters are applied.

I couldn't find it in the documentation.
Well, out of curiosity, I modelled the on-axis response of the Volt VM752 with the OSMC baffle and crossover in Basta. (It's not an easy crossover to enter!) It's just a model, but I'm rather impressed:

Screenshot (12).png
 
  • Like
Reactions: IamJF and stv
ATC withdrew their 75mm dome from public sales when they employed non-conducting pole pieces in their own loudspeakers. To give some idea of the reduction in distortion that is apparent in their drivers today, you can employ current drive in the older drivers to much the same effect over the mid frequency range. The audible improvement is marked (and is so in the vast majority of moving coil drivers I have ever encountered).
is there a beginners guide to employing this current drive method that your talking about sound really interesting
 
is there a beginners guide to employing this current drive method that your talking about sound really interesting
There is plenty of information on this forum - even some that I contributed several years ago. Further discussion of magnetic non-linearities and coil current dependent distortion is perhaps best left to those threads. But I will say that many people get hung up on current drive re its reduction in displacement dependent non-linearities at low frequencies. I would advise ignoring this and listening instead to the improvement in the mid-range.
 
https://hificompass.com/en/speakers/measurements/bliesma/bliesma-m74a-6
Off axis beaming starts at 2kHz, crossover at 3kHz already means you would need a waveguide for the tweeter.
I helped a fellow forum member with a waveguide to match a T25B and an M74B at 3K. He had tried an augerpro elliptical waveguide and it created too much tweeter directivity lower down and did not match the M74B very well. To get a good match the waveguide ended up only being 5mm deep. This was for a rectangular baffle for dual 8" woofers, central placement of all drivers.
Hopefully evolution yes: their initial design has(d) centrally placed mid- and HF domes
There is no problem with the Bliesma mid dome itself being in the middle of the baffle on a design like that, if there is the right amount of vertical baffle. Naked tweeters are quite different and rarely work well with that placement. If the tweeter needs to be offset then the mid has to go with it otherwise you get some pretty twisted lobes forming.