All other things being equal (which they are not), excursion would halve for any given SPL so if you were running the drivers close to xmax and distortion goes up, adding another driver to half excursion should improve quality due to lower distortion.
But the above is an exception case.
so... you are enabling your speaker to play louder (if you don't have enough amp watts), but possibly putting more stress on the tweeter, if it was already crossed low / shallow. Quality could decrease by increasing tweeter distortion here.
So - not so simple!
One thing you wont do is increase bass extension. More of the same driver = more SPL, not increased extension (lower frequency response).
But the above is an exception case.
so... you are enabling your speaker to play louder (if you don't have enough amp watts), but possibly putting more stress on the tweeter, if it was already crossed low / shallow. Quality could decrease by increasing tweeter distortion here.
So - not so simple!
One thing you wont do is increase bass extension. More of the same driver = more SPL, not increased extension (lower frequency response).
There isn't enough information. What exactly is the current setup and will you go active?would sound quality increase if one turned a 2-way speaker to a 3-way?hmmm, maybe i should put it this way; would sound quality increase if one turned a 2.5-way loudspeaker to a 3-way speaker?
Years ago, I had two ways, 8" woofer and 1" tweeter, to which I added a 5" midrange and also converted it to active. The subjective improvement was fantastic, which I put down to removing mid duties from the woofer and allowing a higher crossover point for the tweeter. Going active also helped substantially.
Adding a bass below the mid-bass indeed reduces the excursion. But it's not 'half' because that depends on the frequency you're crossing them over. If the mid-bass usually plays 50-2k and you cross it over at 250Hz, the excursion will be reduced to roughly 1/10. If you cross it over at 80Hz, it's probably down to 1/4 of the excursion up to hardly any less because a ported enclosure would have reduced the excursion below that frequency already.
That's true, that can happen. You can check beforehand though (xo frequencies, power rating of the driivers or simple voice coil diameter comparisons) and you can turn it down if the distortion rises.
That isn't true, at least not in the way you're saying it. Yes, most bigger drivers got higher spl but they actually do go usually also deeper. That depends on the driver and the enclosure. Bigger drivers need bigger enclosures, so just putting an additional driver into the same enclosure won't help you, the volume will be way to small in the most cases.
The spl is also a problem if the tweeter and/or mid-bass are quieter than the added driver. The added filter parts can also change the sound in the midrange, at a low crossover point it's often needed to compensate the impedance peak of the bass-mid driver and because of the big parts/values needed, it can get expensive very fast. And more parts in the crossover can impact the SQ too, especally in the FR of the bass-mid driver.
Usually it's better to use the (sub-)woofer with an active crossover since amps and active crossovers or dsps are pretty cheap these days and the passive solution can become easily much more expensive. If you are satisfied with the sound (except the bass), I'd use the speakers/crossover unchanged and only go part-active.
The active subwoofer solution (can be realized in the same enclosure too) got a lot of advantages, you can easily change the crossover, adjust the level of the bass (passive hardly doable without big loss in SQ) at any time which means you have complete freedom in driver choice and is much easier to set up instead of developing the crossover completely new because you don't need to care about the impedance peaks etc.
This is only an experiment, say one has a two way loudspeaker of high quality, if one added a second identical midwoofer an now turned the loudspeaker into a 3-way, will there be any major improvements in sound quality over the 2-way? Will the midrange performance be any better? Will bass performance be any better?
Not really.
The advantages of a 2.5 way vs. 3 way with the same drivers is higher efficiency, and deeper bass, with higher output. You'd loose most of that, with no perceptible benefit, except increased impedance in the bass.
As I've written elsewhere, the 2.5 way design is a pretty good solution for modest systems because of these factors.
Best,
E
The advantages of a 2.5 way vs. 3 way with the same drivers is higher efficiency, and deeper bass, with higher output. You'd loose most of that, with no perceptible benefit, except increased impedance in the bass.
As I've written elsewhere, the 2.5 way design is a pretty good solution for modest systems because of these factors.
Best,
E
There are indeed major improvements. The 'mid' driver of such a 3-way doesn't have to make that big excursions, so the resolution is better at high volume. Or the other way around, the speaker can go louder undistorted. It will sound a lot more relaxed there and the stage/room impression will be more precise. Ofcourse, if the bass driver is already at its maximum excursion, it will still pose the limiting factor though. You don't get any advantages in the bass though.
that was what i thought, to free up the midrange driver from bass frequencies would be a good thing, but i was not sure.
but bass response should be increased too, since the driver is low passed there should be less overall distortion, no?
so a 3-way is better then a mtm too, unless you really need the vertical symmetry?
but bass response should be increased too, since the driver is low passed there should be less overall distortion, no?
so a 3-way is better then a mtm too, unless you really need the vertical symmetry?
Yes, that's right. The midrange will gain much more stability and precision, it is a big step forward. The midrange driver needs its own enclosure though and it should be a sealed one.
No, that does not change noticable. That's because in the bass the human ear is not very sensitive and the bass drivers excursion hardly increase by the midrange anyway, the mids excursion is usually only a few tenth of a mm or, if you cross it over very low, maybe half a mm on hifi use.
Yes and no. See, if you use a MTM configuration, both drivers work in the bass, which gives you much more dynamic and it's ofcourse louder too (6dB, which is a lot). So the distortion in the bass will be lower with MTM, but the midrange distorts less. And it's ofcourse a completely new crossover you need.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.