Advice on which quality driver to pair with a 300B low Wattage amp

Jump to Latest
#41
I occasionally use mine with a dayton audio ps180 in a small transmission line but alternatively I have b and w 706 s2 2-ways that have their pluses, like a bit more bass, but I like what I think is the imaging of the fullranges better. the amp is somewhat inspired (with parts available I had) by a design from Matt (@Suncalc)of cascadetubes.com he did for a member from diyaudioprojects forum. there’s a long thread on it. If I were to do it again I expect I would try one of the BLH designs being diy’d these days.
 
  • Like
Reactions: simsalabim
#43
simsalabim said:
those would really be way to large for my small room, but they do look great i have to say.
Click to expand...

If room is very counted, this can work too...

1746607030516.png


1746607058814.png


1746607136562.png


Compact, bookshelf-use, good tone, but low efficiency : that's the price to pay... These are now owned by friend, who uses it as secondary units with SE R120 triode amps.

But I guess that intermediary solutions can be found... For example the Frugel Horn comes to my mind - that I still not experimented... Here, I let member @planet10 speak about that interesting enclosure, of rather simple design to build, which is declined in several formats, for several models of speakers - inclunding some you are looking for, @simsalabim.

T
 
  • Like
Reactions: simsalabim
#45
How close to your speakers will you be sitting and how loud do you want to listen? Electronic and classical music can contain low bass. Low bass + high efficiency = big box. Complex music like classic orchestral are not full range drivers forte from my somewhat limited experience. Have you considered a WAW(woofer assisted wideband)? Something like this https://www.markaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/MA200M-CHN50-MTM.png or this https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/10f-8424-rs225-8-fast-waw-ref-monitor.273524/ as two examples.
 
#47
simsalabim said:
Thanks for your reaction.

I am open to all high quality sounding drivers for my build.
I don’t expect ravine deep bass.
However, it should be a balanced sound, not tipping over to high mids and treble.
I have looked around on ebay and saw various brands and models, only thing is, with those drivers sometimes more then 60 years old, how about rubber rings, cloth and membrane quality? after so many years there is expected to be wear and decline of materials?
Click to expand...

I looked briefly on eBay and didn't see my favorates but will send you a PM with a few suggestions/ideas. Vintage 1950-early-60s speakers mostly had paper accordian surround not rotted foam. Of course condition is everything, so there would be some risk. If you searched the forum for "alnico" By: wchang there are (too) many examples of how I used them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: simsalabim
#53
jimbro said:
How close to your speakers will you be sitting and how loud do you want to listen? Electronic and classical music can contain low bass. Low bass + high efficiency = big box. Complex music like classic orchestral are not full range drivers forte from my somewhat limited experience. Have you considered a WAW(woofer assisted wideband)? Something like this https://www.markaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/MA200M-CHN50-MTM.png or this https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/10f-8424-rs225-8-fast-waw-ref-monitor.273524/ as two examples.
Click to expand...

in this instance i will be sitting fairly close approx 2.5 meter and the room is quite small.
I don’t listen loudly.
I listen to classical, electronic, jazz
 
#55
I would go with Ma200. Issue is many high sensitivity drivers need severe eq correction and or taming inductor. With eq for instance you must avoid freq boosting especially with few watts. You end up with a driver correction that decrease sensitivity of many dB.

Hence, a driver in the 90db ballpark with the most linear frequency response will perform better for you.
I hit the fire myself with some of the mentioned fullrange drivers
Ma200 will need a very very small correction to sound musical and linear. Imho
 
#56
I heard a lot of good things about Sonido drivers.

https://www.sonido.hu/termekek.php?lang=en

Jeffrey 01

Thread 'Sonido fullrange driver thoughts?'

Hello everyone. I am helping a friend with a fullrange project. He wanted some Voxativ drivers but, saw the price and just to much money. We stumbled upon a company called Sonido fullrange driver's. Looks really nice. Not to many reviews but the gallery has a lot of customers using these driver's. Also they are not to much money compared to other fullrange driver's. I did e mail the owner very nice and very helpful. I like that. So what are your thoughts and have you heard or know of anyone that has used or heard these fullrange driver's? Thanks jm
 
#57
Hi there,

if you really focus on high sesnsivity you should consider something like this one

B

Post in thread 'Front loaded Horn - how does that work with whizzer cones?'

I heard these at the recent Southwest Audio Fest. Semrad Audio. I wasn't sure what to expect, but wow. They amazed in many ways playing Blue Note jazz records primarily. I asked for some classical and they also impressed on piano. I had my son with me with hearing up to 19 Khz and he didn't detect bothersome colorations or problematic high frequencies. I had brought him to the Zsu audio room and he (as he should have) found them terribly colored. He also felt the Borresen speakers had excessive highs, this consistent with measurements that I have seen. The horns are a JMLC curve...
  • Like

foto is missing, here:

Screenshot 2025-05-24 162729.png

difficult to built, but the large front horn helps a lot for high sensivity

hope it helps, Stefano

P.S.: large front horn / back loaded horn combination enclosure with a Sonido 8 inch fullrange driver in the field coil version and your tube amplifier, could really work
 
Last edited:
#59
Hi there,

if you take a look at the requency response of a lot of 8 inch full range chassis sensivity is much lower in the lower mid-range band and here the front horn helps a lot

take a look at the Hobby HiFi 05/2015 8 inch fullrange chassis shootout, a lot of serious measurements with comments to explain the graphs that can be confusing sometimes

hope it helps, Stefano
 
  • Like
Reactions: Horneydude
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom