Old but great driver
I have 6 of it's little brother, the 18W-8545 - works great as a mid woofer between 70 and 400hz in a closed box
Yes, the both 8555 and 8545 are great speakers [emoji846]Old but great driver
They are on this page, among other Scanspeak reviews by Hobby HiFi.
Audio Components - Scan-Speak driver reviews
The 26W4867 was also measured in this test (in French but Google translator is your friend
) with other 10in competiters, IMD measurements included. Grand Comparatif de 10 pouces Partie 1 - JustDIYIt !
Between 100hz and 1khz, that driver seem to be one of the least distorded there is.
Funny that the low-end is well surpassed by the (now unavailable) Usher knock-off.
SS 26W4867T00 Al 10".
That was an interesting read
(Grand Comparatif de 10 pouces Partie 1 - JustDIYIt !)
Turns out that the 26W4867T00 has a very nice control of its H3 distortion and group delay (transients) which makes this driver a prime candidate. Knowing that Satori is ranked higher than MFC and NRX and the fact that in terms of detail retrieval the Revelator wins over Satori. But we stepped up a few levels in terms of cost compared to MFC and NRX, on the other hand, you get what you pay for. I still consider MFC and NRX to be great drivers, outperforming the Discovery series.
With the test in mind, I wanted to compare the Revelator in a typical sealed enclosure vs Aperiodic. For this simulation I used VituixCAD.
A friendly reminder:
The French review is spot on for the 112 liter cabinet and a good target for the sealed cab is 80L (a Qtc of ca 0.65). This alignment is slightly less ideal producing a tiny hump between 50-100Hz, which is dramatically worsen in the Qtc 0.707 enclosure.
But watch what happens when we move over to APL (Aperiodic Load). The 20Hz point is the same as the Qtc 0.5 but we gain 4.5dB bellow 20Hz, Group delay down to 5ms at 20Hz (APL) and Zmax is down to 17.5 respectively 15.2 Ohm for both APL cabinets. We lose only 2dB between 20-100Hz moving from a sealed to APL.
(See attached image)
Why ? ... Air suspension has less of an effect, the enclosure impedance is drastically reduced, returning more control to the motor.
So, we can comfortably use either a 80 liter sealed, or 60-80 liter APL. Also, the APL speaker is an easier load on the amplifier, a nice bonus.
That was an interesting read
(Grand Comparatif de 10 pouces Partie 1 - JustDIYIt !)
Turns out that the 26W4867T00 has a very nice control of its H3 distortion and group delay (transients) which makes this driver a prime candidate. Knowing that Satori is ranked higher than MFC and NRX and the fact that in terms of detail retrieval the Revelator wins over Satori. But we stepped up a few levels in terms of cost compared to MFC and NRX, on the other hand, you get what you pay for. I still consider MFC and NRX to be great drivers, outperforming the Discovery series.
With the test in mind, I wanted to compare the Revelator in a typical sealed enclosure vs Aperiodic. For this simulation I used VituixCAD.
A friendly reminder:
A well engineered and built sealed enclosure should be Ql 7-15 while an aperiodic is Ql 1-3.
The French review is spot on for the 112 liter cabinet and a good target for the sealed cab is 80L (a Qtc of ca 0.65). This alignment is slightly less ideal producing a tiny hump between 50-100Hz, which is dramatically worsen in the Qtc 0.707 enclosure.
But watch what happens when we move over to APL (Aperiodic Load). The 20Hz point is the same as the Qtc 0.5 but we gain 4.5dB bellow 20Hz, Group delay down to 5ms at 20Hz (APL) and Zmax is down to 17.5 respectively 15.2 Ohm for both APL cabinets. We lose only 2dB between 20-100Hz moving from a sealed to APL.
(See attached image)
Why ? ... Air suspension has less of an effect, the enclosure impedance is drastically reduced, returning more control to the motor.
So, we can comfortably use either a 80 liter sealed, or 60-80 liter APL. Also, the APL speaker is an easier load on the amplifier, a nice bonus.
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The Hailey 2.2 is one of those times where a commercial loudspeaker is actually an excellent example of a loudspeaker to base your design on. I'm not surprised they sounded good.
For all the rage about the purifi woofer I would only use it if I needed a driver that we going to have significant excursion requirements. The drivers party trick is basically it's very low IMD distortion in the midrange when throwing out loads of bass.
Sure it has great midrange performance too, low distortion and no typical cone edge resonance dip in the frequency response (for a soft cone), but it's very low sensitivity and very expensive. I'd sooner use the SB17 NAC as a midrange only. The midrange from the SEAS Excel W15CY001 is still one of my favourites I'm sure the NAC will sound similarly transparent.
For all the rage about the purifi woofer I would only use it if I needed a driver that we going to have significant excursion requirements. The drivers party trick is basically it's very low IMD distortion in the midrange when throwing out loads of bass.
Sure it has great midrange performance too, low distortion and no typical cone edge resonance dip in the frequency response (for a soft cone), but it's very low sensitivity and very expensive. I'd sooner use the SB17 NAC as a midrange only. The midrange from the SEAS Excel W15CY001 is still one of my favourites I'm sure the NAC will sound similarly transparent.
I was actually a bit surprised myself. As I mentioned, what stood out was the diffraction, very coherent as you moved in all directions. Well balanced, relaxed yet detailed and for what it is worth "musical"
I went on their website after reading your post, and past all the marketing drivel, I found some really cool stuff. The hybrid fabric/metal dome, for example, and the machined cones with integral ribs. I wonder why Seas didn't do it first, since they also used machined cones.
I've held the mid cone in my hands, high quality machining. They use the Illuminator motor but does not have the cone breakup issue the Illuminator has. I could not hear any issues when I auditioned it.
I was actually a bit surprised myself. As I mentioned, what stood out was the diffraction, very coherent as you moved in all directions. Well balanced, relaxed yet detailed and for what it is worth "musical"
Strange with a w/t crossover at 65Hz. Should be a lot higher to give some body to the midbass and to cancel floorbounce you would think. Clearly they have different goals.
Absolutely. It did not have heaps of low end, as you say, clearly not their goal. I will use the 10" at least to 150Hz.Strange with a w/t crossover at 65Hz. Should be a lot higher to give some body to the midbass and to cancel floorbounce you would think. Clearly they have different goals.
- EDIT -
YGA is, according to my opinion, analytic or revealing without being fatiguing. In other words: "Revealing the music". I don't work for the company nor am I affiliated. But when a product is good, I will vouch for it. The only thing I sort of lacked was a bit more details in the tweeter region. It is after all a softdome. IT was very pleasing to listen to, very musical. But personally I'd like a bit more. That is the only negative I have to say.
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Thanks! An excellent read. I enjoyed seeing an objective comparison of the different dome types mounted on the same motor.