For me, I'm always looking for a driver to cover a particular bandwidth with flat mag and phase, after EQ.
So i look to the low and high ends of the response and see what output is available.
The ends are always lower in output than in the middle of the response, but they set the net usable sensitivity because the excess output needs to be equalized down to the level at the ends.
Some folks may interject here and say the ends can be equalized up.
Which is true, but it does come at the expense of total available output.
So EQing the ends up can often work for home at lower levels.
Just doesn't work for me cause I'm a clean headroom junkie....it's one of the few things i can hear beyond mag and phase that really seems to matter.
Looking at the response of the HF1440, it's about 100dB at 500Hz and say 10-13kHz. I figure the hump in response, up to maybe 112dB @ 2.5k is pretty much unusable and needs to be EQ'ed out. (The rolloff above 13k doesn't bother me...old ears
So i'd reckon the guy to have a usable sensitivity of about 100dB.
That's better than it seems i think, especially for a single diaphragm CD.
Usable, level response sensitivity, is always lower than specs.
For me, I'm always looking for a driver to cover a particular bandwidth with flat mag and phase, after EQ.
So i look to the low and high ends of the response and see what output is available.
The ends are always lower in output than in the middle of the response, but they set the net usable sensitivity because the excess output needs to be equalized down to the level at the ends.
Some folks may interject here and say the ends can be equalized up.
Which is true, but it does come at the expense of total available output.
So EQing the ends up can often work for home at lower levels.
Just doesn't work for me cause I'm a clean headroom junkie....it's one of the few things i can hear beyond mag and phase that really seems to matter.
Looking at the response of the HF1440, it's about 100dB at 500Hz and say 10-13kHz. I figure the hump in response, up to maybe 112dB @ 2.5k is pretty much unusable and needs to be EQ'ed out. (The rolloff above 13k doesn't bother me...old ears
So i'd reckon the guy to have a usable sensitivity of about 100dB.
That's better than it seems i think, especially for a single diaphragm CD.
Usable, level response sensitivity, is always lower than specs.
View attachment 868102
Mark, evidently the Faital won't match the output of your BMS and B&C coaxials (by a margin) and it may not be the ideal driver for a MEH/Synergy, but I expect the Faital to have the edge regarding 'fidelity'. If only, because of the lack of a crossover.
Those Faital diag - the non titanium ones- look smooth linear. SOme forums like Melaudia however prefers nthe treated titanium of 18 th Sounds despite very less linear cause they think it's more close to the TADs they are found of on this french forum.
If a cut-off around 700/800 hz for not too much a wild horn - i.e. less than 60 cm width -circa 24"- my hope is this driver in the right horn can live with a simple passive xover : 2nd order and r//c correction for that hump in the midlle!
Could be cool cause no needs to throw up our best dac or lp sources
Arai clones are expensive vs polymers or aluminium but I'm not sure also the directivity guide near the throat in the Tad TH horns cloned is so much beneficial with nowadays good drivers as the Faita or the 146... At least I don't know on a technical point of view but surmise it !
With DSP EQ maybe the 146 is good enough but with passive XO the 1440 is what I'm lurking at.
If a cut-off around 700/800 hz for not too much a wild horn - i.e. less than 60 cm width -circa 24"- my hope is this driver in the right horn can live with a simple passive xover : 2nd order and r//c correction for that hump in the midlle!
Could be cool cause no needs to throw up our best dac or lp sources
Arai clones are expensive vs polymers or aluminium but I'm not sure also the directivity guide near the throat in the Tad TH horns cloned is so much beneficial with nowadays good drivers as the Faita or the 146... At least I don't know on a technical point of view but surmise it !
With DSP EQ maybe the 146 is good enough but with passive XO the 1440 is what I'm lurking at.
Oh, pls don't think I'm knocking it over sensitivity/output.
I think it looks very interesting for many applications, especially as you point out, without needing a xover.
Plus, even the BMS and B&C, under my way of judging output, fall significantly below spec.
As luck/timing would have it, yesterday i measured sensitivity of both of them outdoors on synergy7 build. (2.83v brought to 1 meter)
BMS HF 104.4dB VHF 104.9
B&C HF 106.7dB VHF 105.9 (the wind had picked up for these, they may be a little high)
Here's the response and impulse in theTD-4001 in the Usher horn, 25cm distance, without crossover. From off-axis the zig-zag goes away as the high end peak of the Tad get's attenuated.
Yep the Faital behaves very good even 0deg. The resonance(s) are well damped and despite the lossy ring (it's softer material than BMS's polyester) the hf extension seems to be nice.
Big format plastic membrane 1-way comp driver does not get much better than this? But will the resolution be (almost) the same as with beryllium, it is to be heard, cannot make any judgements yet. Even if it sacrifices 5-10% of the clarity of the Be I'm willing to accept it IF it sounds nice and mellow with ink black backgrounds and good separation of voices in the mids, like a very sweet sounding mid band.
Big format plastic membrane 1-way comp driver does not get much better than this? But will the resolution be (almost) the same as with beryllium, it is to be heard, cannot make any judgements yet. Even if it sacrifices 5-10% of the clarity of the Be I'm willing to accept it IF it sounds nice and mellow with ink black backgrounds and good separation of voices in the mids, like a very sweet sounding mid band.
Do you EQ with active or passive setup ?
I again looked at some Faitals today and have pain to pull the trigger about one model in an home hifi context and 2 ways wished !
HF10AK, HF146R; H1400 and the one of this thread the HF1440
While alays seens in Faital horns so hard to make a choice ! But even the 1" HF10AK which is around 110 db but adverted at 1.3 k hz minium could live ince 800 hz in Hifi home context -max dynamics instant peaks around 120 db optimistic with the best reccordings-
I again looked at some Faitals today and have pain to pull the trigger about one model in an home hifi context and 2 ways wished !
HF10AK, HF146R; H1400 and the one of this thread the HF1440
While alays seens in Faital horns so hard to make a choice ! But even the 1" HF10AK which is around 110 db but adverted at 1.3 k hz minium could live ince 800 hz in Hifi home context -max dynamics instant peaks around 120 db optimistic with the best reccordings-
Subjective (or immeasurable??) impressions are not always well received by (pseudo-) scientists
It's very obvious that you pay attention to both.
I (too) believe materials can possess a typical 'signature' and I also share your preferences.
The Ketone Polymer should have the edge regarding mellow- and sweetness.
I wonder how the HF1440 reproduces metal string instruments, like a harpsichord.
Simple passive, single-amp compatible system is always the goal/dream nowadays, driven with simplistic nNFB SE/PP tubes.
Subjective (or immeasurable??) impressions are not always well received by (pseudo-) scientists
It's very obvious that you pay attention to both.
I (too) believe materials can possess a typical 'signature' and I also share your preferences.
The Ketone Polymer should have the edge regarding mellow- and sweetness.
I wonder how the HF1440 reproduces metal string instruments, like a harpsichord.
The truth is in the listening
I have listened to many kinds of music including classical pieces with harpsichord and cannot detect any plasticness or slight hollowness typically associated with plastic membrane drivers, at least without a horn. The high harmonics of metal string instruments are quite nice sounding, quite like naturally relaxed but accurate sound. The horn will transform/amplify everything like a gain stage (and adds it's own things) and puts more strain on the driver and membrane, and arguably the sound source's sound signature will be more revealed/-ing when attached to a horn.
I should put a TAD next to Faital and listen to them both full range without a horn
I've recently got a speaker a local company made me. It has a HF1440 driver in a XR1464C horn crossed at 1kHz over to 4x ScanSpeak 15WU midwoofers. All driven by a Hypex FA253 plate.
Having not heard TAD or other Be compression drivers, I will say that this is the closest I've heard a compression driver come to a good dome tweeter. Especially in terms of top octave performance. I can't seem to detect any material coloration to the sound and generally the transition from the 15WU's is seemless without any discontinuities in the timbre.
The speaker has an apparent point source radiation and is able to achieve an impulse-coherent driver blend over a large area. I'm sure this contributes to the sound character as well.
Having not heard TAD or other Be compression drivers, I will say that this is the closest I've heard a compression driver come to a good dome tweeter. Especially in terms of top octave performance. I can't seem to detect any material coloration to the sound and generally the transition from the 15WU's is seemless without any discontinuities in the timbre.
The speaker has an apparent point source radiation and is able to achieve an impulse-coherent driver blend over a large area. I'm sure this contributes to the sound character as well.
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