Looking to the best full range driver/cab

[djn]

I've listening to a friends full range speakers lately and the sound so good I'm thinking of downsizing from my tri-amped humongous system to a full range system. With the money I can get out of my system components, I can afford to spend some money on building really good full range.

Any suggestions?

 

[scottjoplin]

What are your friend's speakers?

 

[djn]

They are Mark Audio but I don't know the model. They really sound good but the bass is a little shy for me.

 

[scottjoplin]

They are very popular and you'll find plenty of support here, I've not heard them, I have Jordan Eikonas and I like them very much. I use bass support (U-frame subs) and it makes a world of difference.

 

[xrk971]

There are a lot of good fullrange designs. Best is sort of up to you to decide and on what criteria. Flat response with frequency, or lively dynamics with subtle mid range emphasis, etc. If it sounds best to you, that’s what’s important. Having said that, it has been shown by studies that a neutral flat frequency response plays most musical genres equally well.

Some very good neutral flat response full range drivers include the TC9FD, 10F, B80, 3FE25, TG9FD, SB65WBAC25-4, FR58EX, FR88, RS100, and many more.

Combine these with a woofer and a low crossover around 300Hz to 600Hz and you have a great sounding system that can’t be beat for realism of small ensembles or girl/guitar stuff.

My main speaker for 4 years now has been the 10F/RS225 combo. I have built a lot of speakers and this one stands the test of time.

More info in my thread: 10F/8424 & RS225-8 FAST / WAW Ref Monitor

Not as neutral but very engaging and musical is the 0.53x Karlsonator. Using dual 3FE25 or dual TC9FD works great:

Mini Karlsonator (0.53X) with Dual TC9FD's

 

[scottjoplin]

Combine these with a woofer and a low crossover around 300Hz to 600Hz and you have a great sounding system that can’t be beat for realism of small ensembles or girl/guitar stuff.

I don't find my speakers so restricted

 

[waxx]

I use an Mark Audio Alpair 10M gen3/Scanspeak 26W-8534G00 combo in a waw setup and this plays everything good. I listen a lot to dub and reggae, but also jazz and classical and (oldskool) hiphop, and this speakersetup does it also good. But rock or small combo music also sounds good trough it.

And best is very subjective. It depends on the room you use to listen music, how loud you want it, your budget, the amp you have and the space you have for speaker cabinets so we need a more specific question to be able to answer your question.

 

[djn]

I've looked at all these drivers and on paper they look good. I run 4 subwoofers now and I may pair that down to 2 subs so the drivers don't need to go down really low. All my subs can run up to 300hz and still sound great.

when I look at the smaller drivers I wonder if they can get loud. I don't listen to music really loud most of the time but there are times when I want to rock out. Enlighten me: can a three inch driver rock out?

 

[nigelwright7557]

I am a fan of the Fane full range drivers.
Fane 12-250TC and Fane 15-300TC
I have a pair of 12's in a sealed box and love the sound.
No crossovers to mess with.

 

[waxx]

a 3inch maybe not, but a 5 or 6 inch can get rather loud. The one i have (a Mark Audio 10M gen3) gets 102dB full open, wich is very loud in a living room enviroment. When you gave neighbours, they will already start complaining long before that because that is even above the volume limit of clubs in my country. I think most people listen to music in the 60-90dB range, and for home parties maybe 95-100dB...

 

[djn]

Just out of curiosity I did the online hearing test and I am now at 12khz when I stop hearing. That is down from 15khz two years ago. I hate getting old.

 

[djn]

a 3inch maybe not, but a 5 or 6 inch can get rather loud. The one i have (a Mark Audio 10M gen3) gets 102dB full open, wich is very loud in a living room enviroment. When you gave neighbours, they will already start complaining long before that because that is even above the volume limit of clubs in my country. I think most people listen to music in the 60-90dB range, and for home parties maybe 95-100dB...

A friend of mine has a pair of SoundLab 945 electrostats driven by two 750wpc monoblocks and he was shocked when I set up my mic and showed him that the ear splitting volume he set them at was only 93db. Those only took about 3 watts to get to that level.

 

[djn]

I found these for sale for $375 shipped. What do you all think of them. Tang Band W8-1808.

 

[waxx]

I found these for sale for $375 shipped. What do you all think of them. Tang Band W8-1808.

Those are very good ones. They are discussed a lot down here so if you need id’s, use the search function

 

[scottjoplin]

You could even try those on an open baffle

 

[twocents]

I found these for sale for $375 shipped. What do you all think of them. Tang Band W8-1808.

I see they are used here: YouTube

 

[djn]

not sure about OB. Qts is only .44 so I couldn't push them very hard. I like sealed better than vented and the data shows they are at F3 of 87hz in a 1 cu ft cab. Supported by 4 or 2 subs, that would work well.

 

[scottjoplin]

That's not an issue if you are using subs Tang Band W8-1808 open baffle impressions

 

[TimbreAudio]

+1 for mark audio, if you have subs the 7cm (Alpair 7 / 7ms / Pluvia 7.2HD) are all great and can reach super tweeter highs.

 

[11opas]

Jordan Eikonas over subs. My favorite set up to date!