18 Sound - ND3ST Compression Driver

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#82
ErnieM,

After your evaluation on titanium drivers, decided to try some myself. I had heard good things about B & C from other DIY projects, so tried a pair of DE780TN drivers.

Not as high end as the 18 Sound, but they proved to be smoother and richer sound than the Radian 745NEO. First noticed well recorded cymbals weren't just "splashes," but you could get a sense of the cymbal vibrating, if that makes sense.

Thanks again for your input, it helped me upgrade my system and enjoyment.
 
#84
@ Old School Sound

Glad you're enjoying your system. Definitely an ongoing journey.

@ grec13

I have not. I don't expect the ND940 to perform as well in the highs based on measurements I've seen. A 4" titanium dome will be well into breakup territory above 10Khz. It'll go lower though.

Good 1" drivers will match the sound quality but not the max spl or lower mid-range extension.

Only material that is better is beryllium. A 4" bery diaphragm is hard to beat in overall bandwidth and sound quality from one driver.

The carbon fiber diaphragms from Oberton and Eminence look interesting as well.

I've been playing with the 1" Oberton ND45 for the past couple of days. They definitely make top tier products.


@ peterpan555

I haven't heard it personally but all measurements I've seen look great. Same compromises apply. Big drivers go lower but struggle to maintain the same sound quality as smaller drivers. Depends on the application.
 
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#85
I ordered two ND3st, oh mama cost me a leg!
Now looking for horn.
Home environment, want to cross them at 750-800hz max.
Ernie, what you think about RCF HF96? Is it a good match?
Reading about exit angle and have some doubts)))
 
#87
XT1464, PR614, LTH142 are some of the better commercial horns available.

I would go with the pattern that best fits your tastes. Getting an exact match at the throat would probably require a custom horn. A horn from the same manufacturer might match...a lot of the times they don't.
 
#88
I am using the XT1464 personally. The advantage is that it sounds very non-horn-like and the LTH142 is most probably quite similar. If grec needs a horn with wider dispersion then these two might not suit him. The "rectangular" XR1496 is 90 x 60 deg with a size around 10"x10".

Regards

Charles
 
#90
Old School Sound said:
ErnieM,

Thanks for taking the time to compare the 745NEO and ND3ST - that's quite an impressive "test chair" you use! (I don't imagine you're using the extra large pipe wrench in the picture to attach the drivers to the horn.)

Last week I also emailed 18 Sound to ask a very subjective question regarding the difference between their aluminum and tungsten diaphragms for at-home listening. The reply was the tungsten is a little richer and warmer. Along with the clarity you mentioned, I'd think that could help add to details in the cymbals, higher guitar notes and reverb tails you heard.

Since I can still hear up to around 13K Hz - your 10K Hz reference was a very helpful comment - the ND3ST will get added to the to-do list. Thanks again.


phase_accurate,

Not sure what your particular application will be for the Faital 146, but my research on forums said that Faital's "R" version was better for near field listening. (My listening position is about 9' from the speaker and listening levels typically don't get above moderately loud these days.)

An email reply from Jason Longobardo at Faital said "your research is correct, the R version would be better in the near field monitor instance." No technical explanations, but it seems to be what most people were hearing.
Click to expand...

Which of their diaphragms use tungsten? 🙂
 
#94
Thank you guys.
Let me rephrase the question:
Which of the mentioned horns: XT1464, PR614 or LTH142 will better mutch the directivity of this enclosure?
 

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#99
Quite interested in any relevant updates from all who've tried these various CDs and horns. What has anyone settled on that seems best to them regarding either a CD and/or a horn? I am looking to build a 2-way with a 15" woofer but am quite open to the CD/horn combo, since there are so many (too many) options. Anything from a 1" faital hf10ak, to a dcx464, or a 1.4" faital hf1440, to a 1.4" radian/18sound, to an 800 dollar BE diaphragm model. My only constraint is finding a good commercially available horn, as I'm not building my own or spending thousands of dollars for some custom horn. The ME464 at around 700 dollars is as much as i would spend, and I'd be much happier getting something for under 200. But a 200 dollar or an 800 dollar CD, I'm open to anything yet value oriented. If I can get 95% of the performance for 1/3 the price, I would choose that. Crossing to a 15" means, ideally, I hope for as low a cross-over point as possible while retaining good sound quality and low distortion from the CD/Horn combo. And I still have hearing far in excess of 10khz, so I would like good and smooth top octave extension, not into heavy breakup or distortion. But this will be DSP crossed (so any slope can be used) and EQ'd, and I don't care if I need to add 10 or 20 decibels, all that matters is the final result being clean and smooth and low distortion. I would prefer more than 60 degrees horizontal but will settle for 60 I suppose, since other factors affecting sound quality are likely more important than width alone.
 
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