Some speaker driver measurements...

Possibly; the impedance curve is usually a giveaway for that.

If I'm honest, I'm not sold on the Orion crossover, partly for that reason. My friend Stefan built a pair; I helped him run a room with them at a DIY show a few years back, and first reaction based on both listening to them & measuring was that there was something not right. Fortunately for us, we'd got a miniDSP as a backup & ended up rejigging the filter on the fly; ended up at 1.2KHz IIRC, which the Millennium can handle if you aren't really cranking it, which we weren't. Not that it's got the best distortion performance itself, but it does have decent Xmax & it tends to at least stay consistent, which for whatever my take is worth [not much, I accept] I tend to find less of an issue than more abrupt spikes / shifts. As they say -name your poison. 😉
 
This is interesting.

Some time ago I measured some Seas Excel W22EX001 drivers with cosine shaped tone bursts. These drivers have a strong membrane resonance at about 4.8kHz. They reproduced the toneburst quite perfectly up to 1kHz, and ok at 1.25 kHz. Instead, the 1.6kHz bursts looked markedly distorted at the end, while the 2kHz burst was looking like a misery. I now guess now that it possibly was the the effect of the ringing H3.

Because of this finding, I crossed the W22 at around 800Hz to a W12. I wonder in this respect how the Linkwitz Orion acoustically behaved between 1kHz and 2kHz because of theirs crossing at 1440Hz which in this light obviously scratches at the uppermost limit for the W22, and seems rather low for the T25CF002. If he scratched the limits, then Linkwitz did well know what he did, he use shaped tone bursts to assess his drivers, and it's his website which inspired me to do so.

If these thoughts were consistent, then any Bass or Midrange driver which shows a peaking membrane resonance/breakup might be carefully measured for it's highest feasible xover frequency. Shaped tone burst seem to be quite well suited for this task, supplementing harmonic distortion measurements.
I would say that people have more awareness now of the problems (perhaps, "limitations" is a better word) with the Orion, than when they did before the LX series came out.
 
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A review of the new BlieSMa M142T-6 7" TeXtreme dome midrange:
https://hificompass.com/en/reviews/bliesma-m142t-6-7-textreme-dome-midrange
A quote from your review:
"Both the M142P-6 and M142T-6 have a distinctive sound character, most likely due to their convex dome diaphragm shape and wider radiation pattern. I found that, compared to speakers with cone diaphragms, they sounded lighter and more relaxed, more spacious, less clamped (less pointy) in the upper mids, and less tied to the speaker itself. "

I was left wondering did this effect of being more spacious, relaxed and lighter also affect the smaller counterparts, M74 lineup?
(Compared to speakers with cone diaphragms)
I'm wondering what is the basic difference between m74T and m142T, besides that you cannot cross as low with M74T, or as high with m142T..

Also: Nevermind if it's too far away for you to remember anymore..
 
I think Linkwitz's Orion could have had better performance if it had a tweeter like the new BlieSMa T34S-4 in those days. At least it could have the MT crossover point even lower🙂
Do you think Mr Linkwitz (RIP) missed that ? The crossover point is 6kHz, I don't think it makes a big difference. If you read carefully Linkwitz notes, he can't make a lower crossover point because the MU10RB has some phase problems below, problems of diffraction ? We are on the open baffle world with some behaviours very different of box baffle.
But the main improvement could be the MU10RB a very good driver on open baffle, not the cleanest but very adapted for open baffle.
 
The reference was to Orion, not LX521. The former used an 8" magnesium Seas crossed at 1.5kHz LR4 to a Seas Millenium. Both drivers are pushed past ideal to reach that point. The Bliesma 34 wasn't around then. It can go lower with less distortion, so if it had been available...
 
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Oups ! 😳 I was thinking LX521 not Orion, reading too fast .... Sorry !!! Yes a T34S-4 is a better choice. I use the new SEAS 8" magnesium (W22NX001) with a TW29TXN 1500Hz LR4. I also think the T25 is also an aesthetic choice on the Orion.
But I would not mix this old 8" driver with a T34S, I would use the new 8" with a lower profil of distortion. Better to mix drivers with same level of technology in same era ?
I tried to use old SEAS tweeters with new SEAS woofers, the result is not very convincing to my ears. Perhaps this is why the manufacturers make a range of drivers, not only for marketing but to have homogeneous range of performance and sound. Mixing drivers is a difficult art ?
 
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