SEAS "textreme" launching soon

[Cavedriver]

Those are built by mr Øyvind Overn. I designed the xo for them, and also made a calibration at the owners home. They sound really great. The panels on the right side are removed. They live at Gilja, just outside Stavanger.

BTW, most "textreme" drivers out there seem to perform about on par with a traditional carbon diaphragm. I believe Seas' implementation uses a bit more material at the center of the cone, which may improve performance a bit. Since spread tow break so easily one can not easily make a cone shape with a 2 directional weave, but it should be possible with a 3 directional weave.

But I agree with those pointing out that textreme and many other materials are a hype. It is hard to see any advantages over a well designed pulp cone.

At the same time, diaphragm materials seem to totally make people forget about the really important stuff that goes on behind that cone. BTW, the Seas L16RNX003 does that part really good so I am looking forward to seeing the final result of this driver.

The tweeter... Not so interested. I bet it is easily outperformed by a well designed aluminium dome, and is left to just be a low end performer like silk domes. Adding alnico would really affect the price, but hardly the performance. The inner flux modulation would never reach the magnet ring at those frequencies anyway.

Any chance Mr Overn would share his T34B cone design, and of course, how well did it work?

 

[b_force]

After all this time, I finally got to make a simulation showing Force factor, current, position and frequency in the same diagram. I am going to develop it further with DC offset, but this is what I have at this point:

PS: THIS IS JUST FOR ILLUSTRATION, IT DOES NOT SHOW ANY OF THE DRIVERS IN THIS THREAD!

View attachment 1270465

That's a really nice way 👍

Freq axis is a bit strange atm, but I understand it's preliminary.

I have actually been working on some ways to measure these at home on an affordable way!

 

[Snickers-is]

Any chance Mr Overn would share his T34B cone design, and of course, how well did it work?

You mean the waveguide? I think it was designed and 3D printed by someone else. I am not sure who.

 

[racingpht]

I would be interested in a TPCD full range driver described in Voice coil. Is it a new FU10 with a TPCD cone? But prices are crazy for new drivers these days.

 

[racingpht]

For @Boden @Snickers-is and @b_force -
From hificompass measurements, he describes MW16TX IMD at -18dB as high, but MW19TX IMD at -25dB as amongst the best in the class.
But the BL plots on audioexpress reviews of both MW16 and MW19 show the asymmetric/tilted BL curve - so is the BL curve the main predictor of IMD, and what are the other factors that might make the MW19 'better' in this regard?

Edit: These are the links I'm looking at:
https://audioxpress.com/article/voi...-home-audio-tpcd-textreme-cone-midbass-driver
https://audioxpress.com/article/test-bench-sb-acoustics-satori-mw16tx-8-textreme-woofer
https://hificompass.com/en/reviews/satori-mw16tx-4
https://hificompass.com/en/reviews/satori-mw19tx-4

Your question about why MW19 is better than MW16 is kind of easy IMO-- while they share the same "flaws" in BL(x) curve, MW19 has longer linear throw, thus performs better.

If you check those BL(x) curves, at 6mm excursion, MW19 has about ~17% BL variation, while MW16 has ~36% -- double amount. That easily explained why they have 6db difference in IMD.

Also, both drivers are dominated by IMA2 -- Not a surprise.

 

[Snickers-is]

Wow, that diagram looks crazy. Shouldn't it look more like this?

 

[wilbur-x]

Seas DIY from Mr. Overn:
L16RNX3 + TCPD's and a integrated Hypex FA503 (rear panel). Drivers said to be chosen due the sound and nothing else.

 

[5th element]

I would be interested in a TPCD full range driver described in Voice coil. Is it a new FU10 with a TPCD cone? But prices are crazy for new drivers these days.

View attachment 1278235

What's funny about this set of comparisons, in the graphs, is that they haven't shown a properly optimised fibreglass cone. Something like a TG9FD which is smoother than any of the drivers compared.

 

[racingpht]

Yes and also true for Scan 10F.

Only one issue: even an optimized 6~7cm fiber glass cone don't extend beyond 16k or so. This hypothetical TPCD extends to 30khz, which could be something special for the size. I found that 10F measure very well but doesn't give me exciting sound subjectively. Probably too "damped".

TPCD theoretically has the potential to use less dampened material to achieve a flat response(but W16NX005 9khz peak was a bit disappointing), not dissimilar to what KEF meta material has achieved. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

 

[racingpht]

Seas DIY from Mr. Overn:
L16RNX3 + TCPD's and a integrated Hypex FA503 (rear panel). Drivers said to be chosen due the sound and nothing else.

Cardioid midrange? is it cardioid bass too?

 

[Snickers-is]

This one has only cardioid midrange. The midwoofers are closed. I think these are intended for use with sub bass towers as well.

 

[wilbur-x]

Thats right. Snickers tuned these. (12 x 10" Seas L26 RO4Y)

 

[tktran303]

How on earth do you take polar measurements with speakers that big?

 

[YSDR]

Horizontal polar is still easy. Vertical, who cares?

 

[wilbur-x]

The beauties playing: