Favorite Drivers at every price point and WHY?

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#63
Celef, The KEF Uni-Q driver was available to purchase (raw driver) several years ago; I'm not sure if that is still true. I think the size was only 6 inch though. I heard a KEF system with these years ago, it sounded very clean and natural; something I would consider owning if I didn't do my own DIY. I know nothing about any current coax drivers for sale for DIY; maybe others here can chime in...

Some of the Pro drivers are coax but my guess would be they wouldn't be true HiFi but that is ONLY a guess!
 
#66
just to share i was fiddling with an old pair of Vitavox DU120's and wishing they where Radian's there's quite a few old school coax's that turn my crank with the right x-over behind them but some of the new stuff leaves them in the dust....
 
#68
I have played a little with sb16 coax and seas t18 coax and eminence 12cx with apt50 and celestion 1446 cd, to my ears the sb16 sounds best, they measures badest but they comes alive the greatest, it would be nice to scale this up i think! b&c has some nice looking 12” coax drivers but i have not yet been braved to order a pair, i really would like to see some 3rd party measurements first
 
#70
I have a set of B&C 12" coax (don't recall the part number). They don't measure so good, but they sound nice. One of the keys in using them (and probably most larger coax drivers) is to resist the urge to use them down low. They really behave best when crossed over above 100Hz or higher. This keeps the cone excursion low so the "waveguide" for the CD isn't moving much. I use DSP to EQ them into submission, so I don't care too much about the lumpy raw response.
 
#73
@celef > to my ears the sb16 sounds best, they measures badest but they comes alive the greatest...

Now if only...someone could make a machine that quantifies the "Peter Frampton" effect in speaker drivers.

I know, "just use your ears", but that's a little inconvenient when browsing an on line catalogue. Crutchfield's "Speaker Compare" attempts to give an FR character experience, but I dont think it can convey the PF effect.

edit: used the term "I know" a second time, didnt look right following the first instance.
 
#74
I have the feeling such a thread, people should say about the frequency range they use their beloved driver !



An absolute beginner at reading all those threads will never understand what the best for the monney or what the absolut best in its size or frequency range... !


So, ok ! We need a ninja team to capture Atkinson, Gravsen, Zaph, Dickason and ask them !
 
#75
OK, some updates. I really do like passives better than actives but you REALLY have to have a VERY firm grip on what to do and why. Having said that; I have on my Sony SACD player now something I have listened to since early college days (1974 to 1977). This is Stanley Clarke, debut album. The SACD is feeding the Yamaha integrated but all it is doing now is acting as a switch to determine inputs and outputs. The output goes to the old original Crown feeding the twin 9 inch Vifa NE225's closed box. It is also feeding the new Crown with 300 to 6000 Hz and EQ. I am driving my trusty MA Pluvia P7PHD's in a twin box; vented, tuning about 37 Hz....blah blah blah...I just heard some very low level information I never heard before! I had the original LP in college, etc...something to be said for digital and DSP and active after all. Given every choice available to me in my listening space; I still think I prefer the best passive X/O's overall...more later...
 
#76
Still too early to tell for sure. I think the Crown amps do a very good job with HiFi in this price range. But the new DSP and active electronics are not nearly as accurate or realistic sounding as the very passives I have on hand...
 
#77
While waiting on the TexTremes; I have plenty of time to learn the new Crown capabilities. I will experiment and see if I can get my Pluvias to sound almost "EXACTLY" like they do when using all passive X/O. That's why I chose this amp after all, VERY flexible in X/O, EQ, etc...

I think I will play with 1st order HP and LP both without any EQ; see what that gets me.

Diyiggy has a very good point; of course there are many variables that come into play. I guess the most curious just need to start asking very specific questions about how it is we are using our drivers and we can go from there...
 
#78
Curious about 12" size, often PA, but seems a nice trade-off for home use (sometimes with help of sub driver)

Faital 12PR320 ? Never listened one myself ? Some claim about Eton drivers there but disto specs are not so good.

Why are there not too much designs with such for say 50 hz to 300 hz purposes, then above, the best mids often talked here : Revelators, Satoris, put your fav. here, etc ?

Bad crossover cuts choice than a 300 hz ? Mismatch size between drivers ? Vas ? Bafle Step problems ?

I know there are some good Revelator in that size, but wow that's way too much pricey.
 
#79
Still learning to adjust the Crown filters. I am getting better sounding results with 1st order HP and LP both, now 600 Hz and 3000 Hz. I can apply shelving and EQ in addition; very handy. I am closer to getting what I had with all passives.

So this leads me back to what I said earlier; I like first order when I can get away with it; that is why I always experiment. I also like to avoid Zobels and other things like notch filters when I can get away with it. It is not always possible to keep it so simple; I will be the first to admit it.

Again; back to what Diyiggy was saying about how do we use our drivers?
 
#80
One trick I wanted to share for some of the newer people. If you use two 8 Ohm woofers in parallel then one mid or two mids in series and cross about 300 to 600; the baffle step is built in already. Some of my best sounding 3-ways were done in this manner; if you look at the reasons we use baffle step, room sizes, frequency ranges of musical instruments, etc.; it becomes more clear. OBVIOUSLY, you need to understand the sensitivities, the box types and dozens of other variables but two 6 to 10 inch, 8 Ohm woofers in parallel make for a very good bottom end on a 3-way; even in a budget system.
 
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