Neo3-Off BG vs GR vs Sounderlink

[OllBoll]

I just got the 2x Sounderlink Neo3PDR from aliexpress and decided to measure some:

The drivers measured are:

2x Sounderlink Neo3PDR
1x BG Neo3PDR
2x GR Neo3 (no felt on sides, so more similar to Neo3W)

The setup is at 50 cm distance with SPL calibrated with an an SPL meter to -6 dB to be equivilent to 0 dB @ 1m. The drivers were measured in free air nude in dipole mode.

ALL drivers were driven with 1 2khz LR2 highpass. No individual EQ was applied for any driver.

All in all the Sounderlinks measure really well, they are more efficient than the BG and have comparable distortion but in my sample of 2 the consistency is garbage. If you run an active setup with DSP and one channel for each and you measure and apply EQ for each speaker individually then they seem perfectly usable.

The GR Neo3s are extremely efficient, but I did not expect them to have that much distortion. I was suprised hence why I hooked up my other tweeter. And even when reduced by -3 dB to 0.7W it still distorts more at the same SPL. One difference though is that I did solder the terminals on the GR but quick, carefully and with 1mm wire.

 

[RogerGustavsson]

It is well known that even the BG-drivers have quite a bit of spread between samples, especially the Neo 8. The European distributor selected them earlier and when the new batches showed up a couple of years ago, this became far to much work. They quit importing them. Now we are faced with many copies of the original BGs.

 

[silent mike]

Thanks for your investigation & reporting, OllBoll. Much appreciated!

 

[OllBoll]

As I want to build a dipole and the Neo3PDR doesn't perform well in this application as the off axis is "too good" so it creates an anomaly at about 8 khz I wanted to try the GR Neo3. As it doesn't perform well I went forward and bought a pair of Neo3W and tested those too:

This time I applied EQ to match the BG and the GR tweeters to fit 1600 hz LR4 with 95 dB @ 1m.

Both BG drivers use the same EQ, and the consistency seems to be great.

 

[ScottG]

Very nice! Thank you!

Note: Radian now has some available as well with waveguides (..same designer that did it for BG). Slightly different designs, and I've no idea about QC.

Ribbon - Radian Audio

 

[OllBoll]

Very nice! Thank you!

Note: Radian now has some available as well with waveguides (..same designer that did it for BG). Slightly different designs, and I've no idea about QC.

Ribbon - Radian Audio

Interesting, I've ordered a LT2 to test. I'm planning to build a CBT dipole array so LT2s would be about half the price of Neo3s, will be interesting to see how it measures.

 

[jmpsmash]

Interesting, I've ordered a LT2 to test. I'm planning to build a CBT dipole array so LT2s would be about half the price of Neo3s, will be interesting to see how it measures.

I am interested in your finding once you have them.

 

[ScottG]

-yup, me as well! (..I'm expecting worse performance on the low-end below about 1.8 kHz with horn, but hopefully better above that up to 7 kHz or so. Without horn.. eh, lets just hope it's still worth it considering the cost savings for a given design.)

 

[OllBoll]

I am interested in your finding once you have them.

It'll probably take a while though, the only distributor I found (TLHP) doesn't have them in stock and the average lead time is 54 days...

I did find a really easy way to pop off the Neo3W back cover though. Since the back cover is plastic where the frame is metal and rigid I just placed it in a bench vise such that the vise only holds the plastic back cover. Then I just tightened it slightly which caused the plastic cover to bow outwards and pop open the middle glued seam and severly weaken the seam on the other edges. Then I let go with the vise and just took a plier and pulled it off.

As far as I know the LT2 also has a plastic cover so I'll try the same method.

 

[jmpsmash]

I got 2x BG Neo3PDR and they don't look as smooth as yours.

 

[jmpsmash]

It'll probably take a while though, the only distributor I found (TLHP) doesn't have them in stock and the average lead time is 54 days...

Looks like Radian is in California. I ordered a couple to try out and report back. Hopefully they have them in stock and ship soon. Will try your method to pop off the back.

I will try to reproduce your power settings and do comparison. Although it won't be apples to apples with yours due to the room differences, esp these are dipoles.

I can compare them with my BG ones.

 

[jmpsmash]

Just received it. There is quite a difference in size.

Will measure tonight.

 

[jmpsmash]

Ok. I got some measurements and comparison between my 2x BG Neo3PDR and 3x Radian LT2

Firstly, the three LT2, with the rearcap still intact. I have not decided whether to remove them at this point so I don't void the warranty. Comparison is thus not apples to apples.

2 of them are fairly close to each other FR-wise. The 3rd one is just bad, defectively bad.

 

[jmpsmash]

I put aside the bad LT2 copy and focus on the 2 closer matched ones.

Here are the FR comparison of the LT2 (with back intact) with the Neo3PDR (with back removed)

 

[jmpsmash]

And finally the distortion measurement.

The comparison, again, is not apples to apples. the FR don't quite line up, and the LT2 has a rear cap.

But given the current data. I am not sure if I want to do that and void the warranty.

 

[ScottG]

-I'd say it probably depends on how you want to use them.

IF you need to go lower in freq. than 4-5 kHz, then the LT is "out" (given that you haven't even removed the back).

With an array the lower freq. distortion should drop significantly with a LOT of drivers (for a given input level).

The higher 2nd order (and resulting THD) at higher freq.s is "par for the course" with most smaller planars.

 

[OllBoll]

Ok. I got some measurements and comparison between my 2x BG Neo3PDR and 3x Radian LT2

Firstly, the three LT2, with the rearcap still intact. I have not decided whether to remove them at this point so I don't void the warranty. Comparison is thus not apples to apples.

2 of them are fairly close to each other FR-wise. The 3rd one is just bad, defectively bad.

Interesting. Have you contacted Radian about the defective unit? Would be interesting to know if they are willing to replace them.

 

[jmpsmash]

Interesting. Have you contacted Radian about the defective unit? Would be interesting to know if they are willing to replace them.

Not yet. I will have to return it. No reason to keep it.

 

[jmpsmash]

I got a few Sounderlink Neo3 to play around with. Much more impress with the FR as well as consistency.

 

[OllBoll]

Interesting, I got the LT2 in the mail and have made some measurements: