Music lives in the midrange

[a4eaudio]

Audio Technology is another good midrange.

[jimbones]

yes but they are only sold across the pond right?

[jimbones]

I would not describe the Curv cone drivers as thick and def not wooly sounding. They are light, agile, and extremely smooth.

I would recommend a well damped woven cone if this is what you are after. Carbon fiber, coated glass fiber, Curv, RohaCell, etc. Stay away from Kevlar, aluminum/metal, and stiff paper as they have attributes you dislike. Now, it could be such a thing that the breakup of the previous projects was not attenuated strongly enough to make you happy. Remember -25dB is minimum, -40dB is good, and -50dB is gone. If it's harsh program material, like hard rock/metal that is your preference, then a minor BBC dip from 1-3dB from 1-4k can work wonders. I'm usually the flat is best pusher, and even like a lot of hard music. Some people are just more sensitive than others.

Later,
Wolf

Wolf, Does that mean that the tweeter that you suggested (H1825) would not be a good candidate for me?

[Wolf]

I think the tweeter will be fine. Most of the sensitive range is midrange, and the 27TAC is a very clean and not harsh tweeter. I think you'll be fine...
Wolf

[jimbones]

what is the recommended XO freq and slope?

[Wolf]

The 27TAC has no ferrofluid, so an Fs comp via LCR is strongly recommended.
I also notched the ultrasonic spike and recommend that too. The parts will be small.

That said, I had a 1.8kHz xover via a 3rd order electrical filter. It is not stressed.

[donc]

scanspeak revelators have been praised as the best for years , they are pricey though .
donc

[JRT]

Hi everyone,

I have been asked to design a studio monitor using the ATC SM75-150S 3" dome midrange driver. Since this driver is so hard to get your hands one, and since it has near-legendary reputation as a mid, I thought I would submit of full review with measurements and subjective listening thoughts. You can download the full review in pdf form here: https://app.box.com/s/j1pwj8exbmioz350nu0n

Comments are welcome,
Jeff B.

Jeff, you are missed, and sadly you aren't here to bump your old thread.

In this current discussion of midrange drivers, Jeff Bagby's review of the ATC SM75-150S 3" dome midrange driver came to mind. The link to a pdf of the review is in the quoted post above.

[mattsk8]

I agree with above that if you can get a ATC dome, that's probably the winner.
A close 2nd for me is the Scanspeak Ellipticor, I have the 7".
3rd for midrange duty is the Satori MR16P
I'll also mention the SB Textreme, but that's based on a couple I've heard, I've never worked with one. But I enjoyed what I heard.

Edit: I also have to say the Revelator 18w and the 15w are great. I have a Revelator 18M that I'm going to do a build with soon, from what I've read it's pretty much just a more efficient version of the 18w, measure very similar.

But knowing what woofer, and what tweeter you're looking to use is helpful. The Satori and the Ellipticor give the most bandwidth, both will play fairly high for a bigger, fairly efficient driver. The Ellipticor is a woofer so that will go as low as you want, the Satori MR16P is a dedicated mid, I used that to about 350 Hz with no issues.

[Wolf]

How could I forget the PRV 5" NDY? Should at least be mentioned...

Wolf

[DeZZar]

SB Satori MW/MR16P - my current go to for midrange/midwoofer duties. I am keen to try the TX versions - on paper they do appear to be slightly smoother potentially making them easier to cross but have not had a chance to hear them yet.

I would have to say I hands down prefer paper cones in the midrange. I find Alu/Ceramic drivers can be accurate but I would liken the experience to walking into a restaurant that replaced all their incandescent lights to those energy efficient LED bulbs.....yeah I can see clearly and the room is lit up but....this is a restaurant, not a hospital.

[JamesTan]

I would suggest pairing the MW/MR16P with the TX tweeter, you get the best of both world. You retain that warm nature of the paper cone and get that super clear and detail high end. Personally I would cross low, around 1.45kHz to 1.6kH, to get the best out of that TX tweeter.

[mattsk8]

How could I forget the PRV 5" NDY? Should at least be mentioned...

Wolf

Never heard that, but a paper, neo, 5", 94 db efficient looks pretty awesome. Wish they didn't do the PRV on the dust cover though.

That 6" SB Audience looks pretty cool too. They have 2 different ones, both midranges. I'd love to play with those too.

How's about Acoustic Elegance? Their TD6M is pretty stellar. Didn't Jeff do a nice write up with high praise for that one?

[Wolf]

I'm going to dab black paint over it. It has a HUGE following over at DIYaudio. It has a full copper sleeve too.

I've not heard much about the SB Audience stuff, but looks viable.

I don't know if he did or not. I remember he had one, and was impressed, but availability was a mixed bag and therefore I don't know what shook from it.

[mattsk8]

Yes, pretty sure the drivers at Acoustic Elegance are made to order. I ordered 6 from them a few years back and they were made to order, that took about 4 months. Still haven't used them.

[JamesTan]

How could I forget the PRV 5" NDY? Should at least be mentioned...

Wolf

Not sure are you referring to the PRV Audio 5MR450-NDY, from the company's data, there seems to be a 5dB dip around the 1.6kHz region. How does that affect the sound and is there a way to handle that in the crossover design?

[Billet]

I don't think I would be able to hear that narrow of a dip. Shouldn't be an issue, IMHO.

[Wolf]

That is the driver I refer to. You'll find a lot of 5.25-6" drivers have a dip in this region. Typically, it is just left alone to be there.

Of note- there are several different data sheets for this driver.


And here is the data XRK measured for it:




I have a set yet to use...
Wolf

[donc]

i dont remember Jeff liking the AE TD6M , seems like there was a hard to work with dip or something ,others found the TD6M to have it also .he chose the Dayton PM180 over it on a design for me ,case by case could apply .the ATC dome he did like , its just hard to come by .seems like its available from the guys in Canada every once in a while .they have one that looks like the ATC but its made by Volt .its expensive as is the ATC ,not sure about performance .
donc

[Ugg10]

The Volt version has been used in the DIYAudio Open Source Monkey Coffin speaker so lots of info on that over on that forum.

[mattsk8]

Just did some searching and yeah, that has a huge dip at around 900 Hz, like 8 db. Guess that one is no bueno.

[fpitas]

Voices are mainly in the midrange, and it's great to have a good midrange driver; but if you use relatively lazy crossovers like LR2, the bass and treble drivers still contribute a lot of midrange.

[fpitas]

Yup. Having great drivers simply means you have no excuses lol

[jimbones]

fpitas you seem to use the term "lazy" as bad. I agree that slow slope XO like that there will be a lot of contribution from woof and tweet. I was just wondering if there are preferences. I typically go LR2.

[fpitas]

I didn't mean bad in any way. It's "lazy" in that the poles are low Q, so the curve doesn't change fast.

[jimbones]

So Ive got a huge amount of suggestions. Ive short listed them to 4: Wavecor WF120BD03 Seas H1304, HDS P830991, Eclipse W6520

[PWR RYD]

Don't rule out the Dayton PM180 drivers. They don't do bass but sound fantastic as a midrange IMHO.

While they are both very good drivers, and I have used both in projects, I don't think the P830991 or W6520 is any better than your 830883.