Hi there!
Following (interresting drivers) - my FHXL(Alpair10.2) may need a tuneup to keep track with my OB Betsy/Eminence....
Best
Olav
Following (interresting drivers) - my FHXL(Alpair10.2) may need a tuneup to keep track with my OB Betsy/Eminence....
Best
Olav
I wonder if the Babbs' patent has run out or still active for DC Gold? Its spider-less ball bearing guided VC allows super limp surrounds and at least for the late Lorelei driver, a 1"/25.4 mm Xmax, allowing a small driver to truly be 'full-range' for all but the infra bass.
GM
If this is the one you're thinking of, expired according to Google Patents (so I might be a bit cautious in assuming it actually is 😉 ) : US6721435B2 - Acoustic loudspeaker with energy absorbing bearing and voice coil, and selective sound dampening and dispersion
- Google Patents
- Google Patents
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Very interested to see some specs/frequency response plots on these drivers. Lots of little design ideas in the works and I've been looking for some wide dispersion, very wide bandwidth drivers.
Alpair 7 and 10 almost fit the bill. Maybe these will be the ticket!
Alpair 7 and 10 almost fit the bill. Maybe these will be the ticket!
Not sure but wasn't Mark still with Ted when the JX6 was made? It was spiderless. Maybe this is the largest developed so far?
Yes, I know there's no ferrofluid, but if you had little 'silicone' bumpers on the coil former, proud of the windings but shy of the exterior gap wall, wouldn't that work?
Yes, I know there's no ferrofluid, but if you had little 'silicone' bumpers on the coil former, proud of the windings but shy of the exterior gap wall, wouldn't that work?
He was, in fact Mark often tells the story of developing that driver for Ted and how Ted insisted it needed ferro fluid and Mark insisted it didn't. Turns out you don't need it after all.
J6T turned into the original Alpair 5. It was spiderless, but used ferrorfluid to magnetically centre the voice coil.
dave
Can you please elaborate on the elements of the allow or process that allows the claim of "Aerospace grade" and how this is stiffer than say, "aircraft grade" or "military grade" aluminum?
There was another guy working with Ted who I believe had some engineering input with the smaller cone drivers. I think his name was Patrick Handscombe, this was around 1989. He showed me some small modified Jordans with a pole piece, which he was v proud of. Pretty sure they were spiderless, guessing Mark also worked on those. Patrick had a Jordan based speaker brand called Electrofluidics, using 1st order filters and a cabinet construction very ahead of its time. The new Sota range have similarities in concept.
I can't really elaborate on the specific alloy used as I don't know, I suspect that is a secret. However I take the term 'aerospace' to cover all of the advanced aircraft industry. In my chats with Mark we have talked about testing he's done at an aerospace lab in the UK in the past, beyond that I don't know any technical detail. Obvioisly Mark hasn't invented his own new alloy, he's clever but not a metallurgist. Like most engineers you test lots of different available materials from a large industry that has similar design goals. In this instance you need something extremely light that can be made ridiculously thin, they need that too.
At last! It is no surprise that Mark is the one who made that driver, I have heard a custom spiderless driver and the difference with a conventional one was startling... The spider was just a spring that was always out of tune with the surround, no matter how fine it was. I will for sure buy a pair, question now is the smaller or the bigger.
This will be the ultimate magnifying glass for differences in amps and cables 🙂
Thanks, Mark!
This will be the ultimate magnifying glass for differences in amps and cables 🙂
Thanks, Mark!
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Yes, thank you. I don't have them in front of me so I took a stab at the model number.
Bill - I think Mark's brief association with Ted was decades after 1989, and very short-lived, so it's highly unlikely he had anything to do with the drivers you mentioned Patrick showing / discussing with you. .
Well that's v interesting. I might try and get back in touch with Patrick and clear up my vague memory of these drivers, I was only a teenager at the time.
With regards to the upcoming drivers, what difference or "upgrade" does it have over the Alpair 5.2, which is also a spiderless driver as well as already available for quite some time now?
Mainly it's introducing the goodies to the larger drivers, it's also introducing an even shallower profile.