Any budgetish mid drivers for an OB app?

[aarond]

I'm just thinking outloud here...

With a nod to Jim Holtz's Statements and the open back mid concept I was wondering about the possibility of a 3-line array that also used OB mids but crossed over to a sealed woofer for the lower end, say around 350 Hz (as a guideline since that's what the Statements use). I'm sure a lot of smaller mid/woofers would do the trick but seeing as how a lot of them would be neeeded cost is a major consideration.

I know that this would be a rather complicated setup but it does seem to make an OB line array a lot more feasible since the baffle would not need to be nearly as wide as an OB 2-way with the mids operating below approx. 100 Hz. One could still achieve the OB effect for the most part and it seemed to be a fair compromise w/ the Statements.

I know there are other things to consider but at this stage I am kind of at a loss for good candidates for the mid driver. The 4" used in the statements is a helluva a performer but pretty pricey.

Thanks,
Aaron

[Max_Andrews]

I believe this one shall be of interest: <A HREF="http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=264-850">http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=264-850</A>

[Max_Andrews]

"budget leader of the group"
<A HREF="http://www.zaphaudio.com/5.5test/">http://www.zaphaudio.com/5.5test/</A>

[aarond]

Any particular reason? Price is reasonable. Is there a smaller version of this driver? I was never able to follow if TB had different lines of drivers and if so what the equivalent models are. It seems like there are just lots of more or less random drivers w/ a few very good performers scattered about.

Thanks,
Aaron

> I believe this one shall be of interest:
> <A HREF="http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=264-850">http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=264-850</A>

[aarond]

I was posting a respone as you were also "respondiing to yourself". Zaph's work is pretty good advice to use. I still wonder if there is a similar performing smaller driver.

Aaron

> Any particular reason? Price is reasonable.
> Is there a smaller version of this driver? I
> was never able to follow if TB had different
> lines of drivers and if so what the
> equivalent models are. It seems like there
> are just lots of more or less random drivers
> w/ a few very good performers scattered
> about.

> Thanks,
> Aaron

[Max_Andrews]

[aarond]

Nothing wrong w/ it, I was just curious about other options for curiousities sake and maybe to see if there was something smaller. The TB is one idea I wouldn't have com up w/ on my own.

Aaron

[dlr]

> "budget leader of the group"
> <A HREF="http://www.zaphaudio.com/5.5test/">http://www.zaphaudio.com/5.5test/</A>

I was going to point out my mistrust of the T-B curves, but zaph's measurement of the SPL response looks good. The T-B impedance shows a couple of really bad glitches that have to be related to resonances in the passband and that normally correlates to a glitch in the FR, not shown. But zaph's impedance curve shows nothing bad in the impedance, so I'm puzzled as to why T-B doesn't show a smoother response for it.

dlr

[blair]

I'm goint to possibly catch a bunch "Technical limitations" posts for this, but I don't really think it matters as much in an open baffle unless you are trying to do dipole bass. In the midrange frequencies, it is less of a Q issue. About a year and a half ago, I had the wild hair to do an open baffle, and it got several of the Dallas DIY guys to do several different designs with several different midbass drivers. I used buyout Peerless similar to the ones Madisound still has on sale. They sound great. A good friend of mine used a Seas P17 IIRC, and it is a great speaeker, and now a friend of mine is using a full range Fostex driver for an open baffle configuration. Also, look at Paul Carmondy's new Aethers. If you build a U frame and drop the rolloff frequency to 2-300 hz, I really don't think it matters that much.

If I crank my system up to the point of discomfort, I can still barely feel the midrange drivers moving. You may have to play around with the crossover a bit, but IMO any decent driver will work with this application.

Blair

[Pete Schumacher ®]

> I'm goint to possibly catch a bunch
> "Technical limitations" posts for
> this, but I don't really think it matters as
> much in an open baffle unless you are trying
> to do dipole bass. In the midrange
> frequencies, it is less of a Q issue. About
> a year and a half ago, I had the wild hair
> to do an open baffle, and it got several of
> the Dallas DIY guys to do several different
> designs with several different midbass
> drivers. I used buyout Peerless similar to
> the ones Madisound still has on sale. They
> sound great. A good friend of mine used a
> Seas P17 IIRC, and it is a great speaeker,
> and now a friend of mine is using a full
> range Fostex driver for an open baffle
> configuration. Also, look at Paul Carmondy's
> new Aethers. If you build a U frame and drop
> the rolloff frequency to 2-300 hz, I really
> don't think it matters that much.

> If I crank my system up to the point of
> discomfort, I can still barely feel the
> midrange drivers moving. You may have to
> play around with the crossover a bit, but
> IMO any decent driver will work with this
> application.

> Blair

When you cross above 200Hz with the surface area of a 6" woofer, there won't be much movement needed to generate lots of SPL.

And in the case of his OB array, why not a bunch of the HI-VI B3N? Their performance is quite good, extended response for versatile crossover points, and small for tight packing.

[blair]

Agreed, and you are kinda reading my mind. I was thinking a nice plank of walnut with that 3" buyout HiVi. Stained even darker, that would be a slick lookiing array of small drivers.

Blair

[jkrutke]

TB's curves crack me up a little bit. The SPL vertical scale is compressed to the point that everything is ruler flat while the vertical scale on the impedance is zoomed in so much that every little wiggle looks like a mountain.

In regards to the W5-704, I tested about 8 of those over the years and they all measured the same including the recent D version. Pretty good consistency and it is indeed a nice high value mid woofer. I hope the price doesn't go up anymore though, I've seen it inch upwards over the years. I've got 4 in my stock waiting for me to do something with them.

> I was going to point out my mistrust of the
> T-B curves, but zaph's measurement of the
> SPL response looks good. The T-B impedance
> shows a couple of really bad glitches that
> have to be related to resonances in the
> passband and that normally correlates to a
> glitch in the FR, not shown. But zaph's
> impedance curve shows nothing bad in the
> impedance, so I'm puzzled as to why T-B
> doesn't show a smoother response for it.

> dlr



(Originally posted by: jkrutke)

[Andy_G]

the P13WG on sale at Mad is hard to go past !!!

[Andy_G]

> the P13WG on sale at Mad is hard to go past
> !!!

The C11's are still there too, worth looking at.

[Andy_G]

I would have bought a whole heap of those Peerless 830341's ages ago.