Which one Mark Audio are Best

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HEllo all .

Which one drivers Mark Audio are best ?

Alpair 7 paper or metal, Alpair 10 metal or paper , or new Alpair 11MS.

All for fullrange work.

Santiago
 

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Définie application, size of enclosure preferred, size of room, expectations at either low end reach or high frequencies spread, or both (ps. not going to happen)

And then be prepared to get all kinds of answers from all kinds of people, because everyone has their preferred driver, just like they have their preferred food.

Mine is squid, by the way. Cook it anyway you want, I love it.
That's about as relevant as possible. :)
 
Like said, all Mark Audio are in the same league, and differences are small. It's all depending on the implementation (wich speaker box, single driver or in combination of a tweeter or subwoofer, what is your goal, ...)

I prefer the 10M Gen3 driver in a WAW config with an subwoofer tuned low and with a 1st order crossover at 150-200Hz, so that is what i build. But others prefer something else with this. Some want no sub or CR and use all kind of horns with this drivers (see Planet10's site for inspiration). Some prefer the 12P, others want the 7P. But at the end they are great drivers, and very hard to beat for their pricerange.

The newer drivers should be in the same league, but slightly different, but i got no experience with it.
 
From all I have read and heard. Most seem to favour the metal cones over paper. Not all, but most. They don't sound at all metallic and some oddly think the paper ones have a more metal colouring of the sound. I think the paper ones are often tuned more for the asian market?

I love the 7.3. But it's now out of production. 10's are bigger, can go a bit louder, push more air, but lack that small super fast driver sparkle.

It may be worth looking at box designs, as these can range from small to massive.

But if I had to choose one to build a new box, not knowing anything about your room, music taste or budget, I would probably go with the new biggest ones. 11ms.
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
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...and some oddly think the paper ones have a more metal colouring of the sound.

I have said that many times ref the A7.3 & the A7p. Those 2 do not have the same relationship/sonic signature as the other paper/metal pairs )ie A6.2m/p, A10.3/p

I love the 7.3. But it's now out of production. 10's are bigger, can go a bit louder, push more air, but lack that small super fast driver sparkle.

Me too. A7.3eN (or A7 MAOP) are my personal favorites. Mostly for the greater DDR. I tend to prefer listeningg to the paper A10 or A6, but the metals are very good and probably a bit more accurate. Any can be used as a midTweeter, where one can end up with a few compromises loudspeaker.

The new ms genertion has a lot of potential. The A5.2eN is superb, the A11ms (haven’t EnABLed one yet) sounds fantastic (not the DDR of A10.3eN but that will, i strongly suspect, be fixed by EnABLing them. That makes for high expectations of the A7ms. On paper it looks better than the A11ms, goes as low in a BR (just won’t move as much air). In particular the shape of the cone and single suspesion coule well make them a staggeringly good midTweeter.

dave
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
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...even a front loaded one, can only provide an efficiency boost over a desired passband, which is usually relatively limited...

Usually 3 or at most 3 octaves. When front loading a FR driver (usually as. amidTweeter) the HFs need to be boosted sufficiently that when the low end of the drivers ranges efficiency is increased by the horn the top end can keep up. Or a whole lot of EQ with its downsides.

dave
 
OK , and somebody try some mark audio driver in a front loaded horn ?

Somebody know how would be the freq response ?

This is a waveguide [WG] designed to 'focus' its polar response over a narrower arc in both planes, not a compression horn designed to 'squeeze' it to high gain over a narrow BW; big difference.

Put an MA or similar in a compression horn and its power handling would be severely limited to keep from deforming the diaphragm and/or suspension, so basically useless.

GM
 
Best tone , best frequency response , best details , etc..
You Know..

Unfortunately I don't know, because 'best' does not have a technical definition. It is a subjective term that means completely different things to different people. For example:

-There is no single definition for 'tone' let alone 'best tone' so you need to say how you personally define it and what you value. Tonality in a drive unit is the product of its on / off axis frequency response in whatever enclosure it happens to be used with, its distortion, impedance and energy storage characteristics.

-There is no single definition for 'best frequency response' since this will vary depending on your particular requirements. On paper a flat or slightly declining response is nominally favoured but this ignores real-world usage where off-axis behaviour and a host of other practical characteristics have a significant impact upon what we actually hear, so it's over-simplistic to reduce it purely to a single trend. In other words, you need to say what response you are trying to achieve.

-'Detail' have no technical definition for drive units. Subjectively this is dependent upon on and off axis frequency response, distortion performance and energy storage, and the perception varies with these, with implementation and individual perception and preference, so again, there isn't a single answer and it depends what you are trying to achieve. For instance, harmonic distortion is a much poorer guide to performance than is widely assumed (see Toole et al), but that does not mean it can be simply ignored, and some broad trends do hold if levels are high enough. 3rd and higher order products can have the effect of subjectively sharpening the sound, but location and degree are all factors, and it should be remembered that this is to a point artificial.

It's possible to give you an idea of which (if any) may suit your requirements, but you'll need to think about the above a bit more and try to provide some more information we can use to point you in the right direction.

As GM says, the MA drivers (like most wideband units) are fine for wavegudes or back-loaded horns with a moderate compression ratio; however they can't be used in high compression ratio / compression horns as you'll deform the diaphragm since they weren't designed for this type of use. That's where (primarily) dedicated compression drivers come into their own.
 
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frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Best. A word with a whole lot of wiggle room. Given that even the “best” loudspeakers have significant compromises. So many that one can have 2 completely different loudspeakers that sound very different but yet are equally valid approaches.

The target audience — you (and your room and kit) — play a huge role in terms of which set of compromises makes the most sense to your ear/brain.

I can tell you which MA drivers i prefer. Top of that list so far is Alpair 7.3eN or A7 MAOP. Next, not far behind are the 2 A10s (EnABLed of course), A6.2, A5.2. No particular order with those, each has its own sets of balances, the metals probably being more accurate, but the papers having their own assets.Again, application and target use are of high importance. The A12pw is a tremendos midBass. The A11ms/A7ms are waiting in the wings. I have heard the A11ms (i have 24 A7ms awaiting processing), and stock it does somethings better than A10.3eN, some not. I expect its deficincies in comparison to dissapear once EnABLed. A7ms looks better on paper than its larger brother. The Pluvia 7HD is supposed to be a rejiggered A7.3 which, if it holds up, will be a tremendous bargain.

dave
 
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