Current best 5" midrange driver?

It's a 3 way so it doesn't have to go very low. There's plenty of amp behind it so high efficiency isn't a priority. Transparency, low distortion and detail are the requirements. A slab flat frequency response isn't a huge requirement either.

I was going to use an SB15CAC30, which matches my criteria on paper, but apparently it isn't very transparent...

What's the flavour of the month?
 
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If you're keen on a a woofer midrange....
Purifi have a dedicated 4" midrange in the works, not sure if it's public or out yet.
Check out hifi compass for measurements and reviews, scan speak has their new elliptical driver which are bound to be excellent, seas have their latest with funky coatings, SB textreme should be high on your list too.
If you can't afford to buy them all and listen to them (who can?!) I would suggest purifi or satori textreme, whichever fits your budget best.
 
Yes, the ATC and Volt 3" domes are likely the best midranges around if you want dynamics and studio playback levels. They are insanely expensive and the Volt is unobtainium to diy people. You can't run them lower than 300-400 hz and they are massively humongous. I've mixed on many ATCs and Volts in my days and can say without a doubt they're the best dome midrange drivers I've heard. A very close contender is the Vifa/SS 3" dome, but it has some limitations that most people don't want to deal with.

For most of us, a reasonably priced cone mid is the logical choice, as there are so many good ones nowadays. My gripe with most of them however is limited power handling due to small VCs, resulting in too much power compression for my tastes. Lack of efficiency is also a common and makes the power compression even more of a problem. Considering all those factors, the NE149W is the best compromise for me, as it does most of everything I look for in a decent mid driver. The NE123 and NE180 are next in line.
 
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I was going to use an SB15CAC30, which matches my criteria on paper, but apparently it isn't very transparent...

For $90 the SB15CAC is very good. I use the larger SB17CAC35 and find it to be very transparant and neutral... very good detail. The Satori MW16TX, which I also use, is slightly more revealing and more natural sounding, but it is almost 3x the price. I would expect the MW13TX (5") to be similar.

I have never heard the Scanspeak Illuminator 12MU/8731T, but I would expect it to be quite nice. It certainly is spendy...

I don't know why you would want a 5" midrange.

One reason would be to cross to the woofer at 250 Hz or below. If you use a small cone such as the very excellent ScanSpeak 10F or the Eton 3-212, then you are sort of locked into a 300 Hz+ crossover. With the Volt 3" dome, you are locked into 400 Hz minimum, and more realistically, 500 hz.
 
Yeah, a smaller cone mid won't be able to cross as low as a larger one. Realistically a 5 inch mid will cope just fine at 200-250 hz and a 4 inch would be ok above 300 hz or so depending on slope, xmax and desired power handling.

The ATC and Volt 3" domes need closer to 400 hz and thats pushing it with anything less than a 3rd order HP. They have enough xmax to support it, but the primary resonance is still something needing to be dealt with if you want the most out of them running a passive xover. Active with a 4th order HP would be so much better.
 
I ordered FaitalPRO | LF Loudspeakers | 5PR160 (8Ω) and will get it next week.

It is more sensitive than the model Adason suggested and also handles more power, but it is quite a bit more expensive as well. Fortunately prices in Europe are much lower than in the US. I always used to be jealous of speaker prices in the US, but no longer so.

I will report back with some measurements next week, deo volente.