Audience A3 Full Range Driver

[Steve Henry]

Has anyone used or heard this speaker in any design?
http://www.audience-av.com/parts/specificatons/A3StatsGraph.pdf

[Taterworks]

Everything else looks legit, especially the XBL^2 motor (the Wiggins/Hyre legacy lives on), but I'm not sure I want my driver to produce audible 'desperation' in the top end... :p

$170...ouch, my wallet...

[Steve Henry]

LOL !! Yeah - I hope their sound quality is better than their proofreading.

[robert]

Those are pretty neat - anyone have a $ quote on them? Would definitely produce a serious Bose / AV in a box killer :)

Robert

[Wolf]

Those are pretty neat - anyone have a $ quote on them? Would definitely produce a serious Bose / AV in a box killer :)

Robert

http://www.e-speakers.com/products/specialreserve/audiencea3.html

http://www.e-speakers.com/images/Audience-A3-small.jpg

$170!!!! EACH!!!! For a 3"!!!!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek:

Later,
Wolf

[HareBrained]

I suppose there will be people who would buy this but there are so many better values out there, I know it wouldn't be me.

I've been hangin' over at the DIYAudio Full Range forum and recently built a dual-chamber bass reflex enclosure for a set of Mark Audio CHR70 (a pair of which are 35% the cost of the A3) and I'm incredibly impressed by this full range driver. And every review indicates the Mark Audio Alpair drivers are even better. If you're considering the A3, research the Mark Audios.

Another alternative is the "eNabled" Fostex drivers from planet10-hifi.com in a "Fonken" enclosure. These are constantly mentioned as jaw-dropping.

[robert]

Never mind :) For those ducats, you could build a 5.1 Scan Speak system! I'll stick with the pile of B3's I have from the sale :p

Cheers / Robert

[billfitzmaurice]

With Sd of 32 cm2 even a 12mm xmax gives only 38cc Vd, so don't count on much useful output below 100 Hz. And the xmech of 15mm allows only 3mm of overshoot before bottoming out the coil, so durability is an issue. In an array enough of them would overcome the Vd issue, but for that to be viable the decimal point in the price needs to slide over to the left one digit.

[envisionelec]

Note that Xmax is incorrectly defined on the PE copy whereas the data sheet says "pk-pk". So, its Xmax is actually 6mm. $170 is a total ripoff.

[audiodetective]

Hi everyone, I have to agree with billfitzmaurice here. After discussing these drivers with someone who recently tested them this is what they found. The TS parameters make sense and appear legit except the Xmax. Not to mention their description regarding flat frequency response from 40hz-20khz. I am not going to get all sassy and start poking fun here but physics is physics. And I am quite certain many of us have seen companies painting pretty pictures about their products and selling the hype, hell, that is what this industry is practically based on.

So here are the facts:

A typical overhung designed speaker = 10% distortion at Xmax;that is voice coil length-gap height /2 at this excursion BL is around 80% meaning that the A3's True Xmax is +/- 3.6 mm at 10 % THD.
Also, if you design a speaker using these drivers and want to be able to use decent power lets say 30-50 watts. If you trying to get a flat response your going to be somewhere down around 140-200hz. So as far as I am concerned there is no way to use this driver in any type of design without a sub, at which point you then have quite a few choices of drivers available that within these operating parameters will perform as well. As for some of the others saying these drivers are a total rip off, I do not think that is fair as the A3 is seriously over built; which reminds me of a very true saying I have heard many times. A hundred dollar solution to a one dollar problem, but in the end remember "Beauty is in the I of the beholder"
Enjoy the adventure...

[denton]

ClairAudient markets several full-range systems using only A3 drivers. They vary as far as how many drivers are used and whether all drivers face "forward" or whether half face "the other way". ;) They claim to use no crossover. This would be a an obvious design to DIY. Perhaps someone with superior cabinet skills will buy say 8 A3's and build a pair of speakers with 4 drivers in a "unipole" configuration each.