The making of: The Two Towers (a 25 driver Full Range line array)

Usually things get exaggerated or magnified when used in a line...

The 10F (8414G10) is better behaved in the top end, but slightly worse (in distortion) than the TC9 on the bottom end. Quite an upgrade in price level though. It seems it's the new TG9 of Scan Speak, while the others like the 10F 8424G00 are meant to be mid-ranges. As seen by it's closed area below the spider.

I could seriously consider going with the 10F. As this kind of is my all out attempt at an ultimate full range line array...
 
Usually things get exaggerated or magnified when used in a line...

The 10F (8414G10) is better behaved in the top end, but slightly worse (in distortion) than the TC9 on the bottom end. Quite an upgrade in price level though. It seems it's the new TG9 of Scan Speak, while the others like the 10F 8424G00 are meant to be mid-ranges. As seen by it's closed area below the spider.

I could seriously consider going with the 10F. As this kind of is my all out attempt at an ultimate full range line array...
that would be a crazy price to pay when you need 50 of them
trouble is there is nothing near as good as TC9 in same price range

then there are issues of fitting on your baffle

Seems the TC9s were reliable until left in garage long term. I would replace them, then hope not to have to store them again. Perhaps drivers from fresh lot will do better...
 
Hello Ronald,


You should get in touch with the supplier. This looks like a matter of inherent driver failure, not a matter of driver abuse. This has nothing to do with burnt vc's or so..
Any buyer is entitled to a decently functioning product, not one that simply falls apart after a certain period of regular use.
 
Would it be possible to "secure" the TC9FD against the issues it seems it is prone to?

Not an easy job. The connection of lead wires to voice coil is hidden under the dust-cap.

trouble is there is nothing near as good as TC9 in same price range/size

That sure is true...

Seems the TC9s were reliable until left in garage long term. I would replace them, then hope not to have to store them again. Perhaps drivers from fresh lot will do better...

I won't disagree with that...

I should've done a test 1 vs 4 to see if that 4kHz distortion peak stayed the same, got smaller, or bigger!

Did they respond well to EQ?
 
Hello Ronald,


You should get in touch with the supplier. This looks like a matter of inherent driver failure, not a matter of driver abuse. This has nothing to do with burnt vc's or so..
Any buyer is entitled to a decently functioning product, not one that simply falls apart after a certain period of regular use.

I don't know how valid such a claim would be after 9.5 years have passed, even though I expected them to last way longer. In the thread on a couple of drivers models from Scan Speak, they weren't quick to do anything about it. But it can't hurt to try.
 
If I would ever go for the Scan Speak 10F it would be partly driver by curiosity.
I've always been satisfied with the TC9 and have never doubted it's performance.

If we look at distortion profiles, the TC9 does quite well even at higher volume. This made it a save bet as choice for this application.

The 10F seems like a more expensive sibling, but clearly it is Scan Speak's replacement for al kind of specialized uses that they used to have with the TC9/TG9 pair when they still owned Peerless/Vifa.
What I do see is that the distortion profile is different in the 10f when compared to the TC9.
While the TC9 certainly is clean, the 10F features H2 clearly above H3 'everywhere' while in the TC9 they are closer together and even alternate which one is the higher of the 2 profiles.
The frequency curve seems a bit flatter too on the 10F. Leaning even more towards textbook behavior.

Which one is the better use of materials is a really tough one due to the price differences. ;)
 
After having had time to think about this, I feel as though the failures are not "that bad". As you said, it's been almost 10 years - and these are cheap drivers (in the monetary sense of the word). The question remains; how problematic will it prove to get replacements in the future, and will those replacement be interchangeable with the batches we have?