Speaking speaker

[Sound22Card]

Greetings,
Is it true that a driver in a TL speaker should have a much stiffer cone than usual? When deciding on a full-range driver, how can I discern which ones have it? Are there any new TL....DIY sites or 'sources of info' out there? I am looking to build a single (mono) speaker to playback a neutral, accurate waveform of spoken voice, between 60 Hz and 5,000 Hz.

 

[Sonce]

Is it true that a driver in a TL speaker should have a much stiffer cone than usual?

No.
Yes, in horn loudspeaker.

 

[Sound22Card]

I thought I read that somewhere........that the unsupported air acting on the back of the speaker allow it to move too much and that a stronger cone material would counteract that.

 

[planet10]

A FR driver that is too stiff likely has some peakiness up-top.

I have used drivers with “relatively” not-stiff cones in both TLs and horns and they work just fine.

dave

 

[Sound22Card]

Good to know, Dave.
I've been away from this hobby for awhile now........do two-way and three-way speakers usually have volume or adjustments between each driver? Is this available in high end speakers? Seems to me this would be very useful for adjusting to a room.

 

[planet10]

...do two-way and three-way speakers usually have volume or adjustments between each driver? Is this available in high end speakers?

Not usually accessible to the user, but certainly often in the XO.

dave

 

[GM]

I thought I read that somewhere........that the unsupported air acting on the back of the speaker allow it to move too much and that a stronger cone material would counteract that.

As a good general rule, the stiffer the diaphragm, the stiffer the suspension [lower Vas], ergo the stiffer the cab's air mass spring ideally needs to be [lower net Vb] to counteract it and vice versa, so based solely on this criteria, all drivers can be sealed, reflex TL/compression horn loaded, only its 'compression' chamber's [Vb] changes to maintain the correct system Qt [sysQ].

The exception of course is OB/IB where the driver's compliance is the sysQ.

GM

 

[Soldermizer]

I can't contribute anything here, most of my speakers end up being unspeakable

 

[midrange]

When I listen judging speakers I find that the spoken voice is very revealing of colourations and peaks in response. I would advise choosing a drive unit that has a fairly linear response and a non resonant box.