A couple of years ago I got a pair of Elac Unifi 2.0 RB52 speakers... they are a smallish 3 way with a coax tweeter and midrange.
So, as you can see, they still make coaxial speakers.
The imaging is really good, as you'd expect, and since the midrange is not asked to go deep, the integration of the coaxial drivers is excellent.
I do wish Andrew Jones had taken the idea a bit higher up market at Elac, but I think the Mobile Fidelity Source Point 8 and 10 are his upmarket versions. I am really interested in them...
https://mofi.com/shop/mofi-electronics/mofi-electronics-sourcepoint-10-bookshelf-speakers-pair/
https://mofi.com/shop/mofi-electronics/mofi-electronics-sourcepoint-8-bookshelf-speakers-pair/
I'm really curious how the Sourcepoint speakers will compare with my little Audio Notes.
From far away, say 12 feet, a smallish speaker can integrate its drivers really well, tweeter and woofer. But a true coax, like the Elect, does this trick in the near field as well.
However, I must note that stuff like my Acoustic Energy AE1s, on their sides, tweeters to the outside, from 3 feet away (near field) on a shelf above, and the sides, of my wide monitor, throw a huge integrated and deep soundfield. So there is more than just the "coax" nature going on here.
So, as you can see, they still make coaxial speakers.
The imaging is really good, as you'd expect, and since the midrange is not asked to go deep, the integration of the coaxial drivers is excellent.
I do wish Andrew Jones had taken the idea a bit higher up market at Elac, but I think the Mobile Fidelity Source Point 8 and 10 are his upmarket versions. I am really interested in them...
https://mofi.com/shop/mofi-electronics/mofi-electronics-sourcepoint-10-bookshelf-speakers-pair/
https://mofi.com/shop/mofi-electronics/mofi-electronics-sourcepoint-8-bookshelf-speakers-pair/
I'm really curious how the Sourcepoint speakers will compare with my little Audio Notes.
From far away, say 12 feet, a smallish speaker can integrate its drivers really well, tweeter and woofer. But a true coax, like the Elect, does this trick in the near field as well.
However, I must note that stuff like my Acoustic Energy AE1s, on their sides, tweeters to the outside, from 3 feet away (near field) on a shelf above, and the sides, of my wide monitor, throw a huge integrated and deep soundfield. So there is more than just the "coax" nature going on here.
Those small coax threeway's are in my view a very good compromise. I liked the Kali on same principle i've heard despite it looking subpar build quality.
It works even better with larger coax drivers but size can quickly become an issue for the low way to track the mid/high capability.
I kinda dream of a Tannoy 3833GG with a pair of matching 15" or 18" sub/low. A kind of 'super' Dreadnough. To bad it won't happen. 🙂
It works even better with larger coax drivers but size can quickly become an issue for the low way to track the mid/high capability.
I kinda dream of a Tannoy 3833GG with a pair of matching 15" or 18" sub/low. A kind of 'super' Dreadnough. To bad it won't happen. 🙂
BTW, the PSB in walls used as side and rear surrounds in my home theater, mounted on the ceiling, are coxials and the tweeter can be moved about -about 15 deg from straight forward- so that it aims to the listening spot. They work extremely well.
Then you got the old standard... the Jensen tri-axials... for mounting on the rear deck of big american sedans, or just propped against the back window of the Camaro. 😛😛
Then you got the old standard... the Jensen tri-axials... for mounting on the rear deck of big american sedans, or just propped against the back window of the Camaro. 😛😛
Unfortunately the way most automotive coax are built doesn't convey attention to detail. I've heard a few half way "decent" examples, but the majority aren't anything to label higher end. The only hifi worthy 6×9 coax I've heard was the older infinity kappa line with the carbon fiber comp cones and emit tweeters. I had a pair of these in my 71 Ford Galaxy hardtop with some 12" woofers in free air behind the rear seat, run by an orion hcca and a small McIntosh 30W/Ch.
Unfortunately very few coax exist in the common marketplace which actually sound good. The stigma of cheap automotive speakers is always there and most serious audio nerds don't even give them a serious look.
I've built a few compact 2 way monitors with the Seas coax drivers. Those can sound very good if care is taken to tame the crazy tweeter FR. The clear cone 7" Seas coax is the best example IMO. Its a bit more flexible in crossover than the others due to the smoother FR of the poly cone. The tweeter is the weakest link, but can be made to behave with the right crossover. These make excellent compact nearfield monitors.
The fancy SB coax is hard to implement with a reasonably straight forward crossover. It needs alot of work to linearize and still has issues in the upper mids like most smaller coax.
The Kappalite 3012CX with the Faital HF108 are still one of the best deals for a pro coax suitable for hifi. The downside is once again the crossover and acoustic center alignment. Its the main issue with most pro coax that have the CD behind the woofer magnet.
Unfortunately very few coax exist in the common marketplace which actually sound good. The stigma of cheap automotive speakers is always there and most serious audio nerds don't even give them a serious look.
I've built a few compact 2 way monitors with the Seas coax drivers. Those can sound very good if care is taken to tame the crazy tweeter FR. The clear cone 7" Seas coax is the best example IMO. Its a bit more flexible in crossover than the others due to the smoother FR of the poly cone. The tweeter is the weakest link, but can be made to behave with the right crossover. These make excellent compact nearfield monitors.
The fancy SB coax is hard to implement with a reasonably straight forward crossover. It needs alot of work to linearize and still has issues in the upper mids like most smaller coax.
The Kappalite 3012CX with the Faital HF108 are still one of the best deals for a pro coax suitable for hifi. The downside is once again the crossover and acoustic center alignment. Its the main issue with most pro coax that have the CD behind the woofer magnet.
Gave thumbs up 👍 to another coaxial build:
Post in thread 'TB new line of Coax drivers' https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/tb-new-line-of-coax-drivers.324159/post-7955511
Post in thread 'TB new line of Coax drivers' https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/tb-new-line-of-coax-drivers.324159/post-7955511
I'll try coax when I can get a driver with KEF performance at a reasonable cost. It's crazy to me that companies keep pumping out lack luster coax drivers and that it's practically a better option to just buy some cheap KEF's and take the driver out.
Maybe I missed the opportunity not going the trash KEF for drivers way but I never saw a direct shootout between TB and KEF, also the cheap KEF speakers don't carry the flagship drivers. Trashing LS50 would be 2x the cost. TB gave me very clean fast strong bass down to 50 Hz, I am not sure if anything but a flagship KEF can do it. Probably even the flagship KEF cannot, based on some feedbacks that people were able to improve LS50 performance by high passing them at 100 Hz. Apparently LS50 requires a subwoofer, has a significant quality deterioration when allowed to play even at 90 Hz.
Coax's should be three ways anyway. Do not at all care about their bass performance since they shouldn't be doing bass anyway.
Fair. My case is computer desktop speakers (follow the link), so adding a sub under the table or going 22" tall is out of consideration. With the constraints, I did better than KEF by price and by going down to 50 Hz. Going full size your way is definitely better, I won't even try to compare.
From this post, the FR I've got with 2-way coaxial with some equalization. However, as @tonyEE and @wafflesomd suggested above, I would be more successful with 3-way design and in the hindsight I totally agree. Even at nearfield, if the distance between drivers is smaller than the wavelength they are crossed at, the imaging should be not the issue. This simple observation was unknown to me at the time I started this project, as I never did any speaker building before.
They used to make some pretty good coax speakers once upon a time... note -in the included picture- how the tweeter, in its own horn, doesn't get affected by the cone of the woofer moving in and out ( something that affects greatly the dispersion of the tweeter's waveform, which is why the MoFi Source Point speaker have such large cones... to minimize cone excursion )..
The Altec Lansing 604... maybe a big woofer with very lone cone excursion and a small horn ( for a horn ) loaded tweeter might work?
Mind you, by posting this I don't recommend ASR, but this is actually interesting... as some manufacturers over the years have created "multi way" coax/triax purely by mechanical means... with a single coil driving the entire assembly...
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...re-3-way-single-cone-how-can-this-work.60663/
The Altec Lansing 604... maybe a big woofer with very lone cone excursion and a small horn ( for a horn ) loaded tweeter might work?
Mind you, by posting this I don't recommend ASR, but this is actually interesting... as some manufacturers over the years have created "multi way" coax/triax purely by mechanical means... with a single coil driving the entire assembly...
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...re-3-way-single-cone-how-can-this-work.60663/
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