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Ideal wideband driver size?

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Posted on October 8, 2016 at 16:36:26
PaulF70
Audiophile

Posts: 1422
Location: Midwest
Joined: June 30, 2006
 What are opinions on this topic?

My findings: 5-6" drivers can sound great. 8" drivers bring almost everything the smaller ones do and add better midrange dynamics (very important). Bigger drivers - ech. The 10" Zu is a POS. Every 12" widebander I've heard (Bastanis, PHY) has sounded very weird - both slow (especially PHY) and will extremely noticeable colorations.

(At what frequency is a 12" driver ceasing pistonic movement? 1 Khz perhaps?)

 

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FWIW, I've long opined that 8" is a sweet spot, posted on October 8, 2016 at 16:55:28
mhardy6647
Audiophile

Posts: 16018
Location: New England
Joined: October 12, 1999
Contributor
  Since: October 23, 2016
 Big enough to generate some LF, small enough as not to be too directional.


In both cases, we're speaking in RELATIVE terms, here :-)

DSC_3770

DSC_3316
all the best,
mrh

 

Agreed., posted on October 8, 2016 at 19:58:17
Paul Joppa
Industry Professional

Posts: 7296
Location: Seattle, WA
Joined: April 23, 2001
 The original 1925 Rice/Kellogg was about 8" diameter. There's not been much change in the human hearing range or the physics of sound, so that choice is still valid.

 

RE: Ideal wideband driver size?, posted on October 9, 2016 at 07:34:39
datman
Audiophile

Posts: 458
Location: South Central
Joined: May 27, 2002
Contributor
  Since: September 12, 2002
 I am running a pair of Audio Nirvana Classic 15 alnico in custom 5.6 cubic foot cabinets. These are not deficient in anything. Actually, they produce so much bass that I installed a Dspeaker 2.0 to tame a 15 db resonance at 65 hz. They sound considerably better than my previous Lowther Alerions.

 

RE: Ideal wideband driver size?, posted on October 9, 2016 at 07:59:02
TRUFI
Audiophile

Posts: 622
Location: So. California
Joined: March 16, 2002
 I recall Bell Labs did a study many years ago and an 8" speaker was considered the ideal size for music reproduction.

 

RE: Ideal wideband driver size?, posted on October 9, 2016 at 12:10:08
PaulF70
Audiophile

Posts: 1422
Location: Midwest
Joined: June 30, 2006
 VERY interesting! Especially consider the general pedigree of Bell's work in acoustics.

Well, heck, I think they're right.

 

RE: FWIW, I've long opined that 8" is a sweet spot, posted on October 10, 2016 at 08:43:40
Mick Wolfe
Audiophile

Posts: 3365
Location: AZ
Joined: October 10, 1999
Contributor
  Since: September 4, 2000
 Kinda reminds me of the Decware Caintuck Betsy my friend is currently auditioning. He's heard a lot of speakers over the years and he's more than a bit blown away by how good this little 8" OB sounds.

 

AN 15's ?, posted on October 10, 2016 at 10:05:29
bare
Audiophile

Posts: 1879
Joined: April 14, 2009
 Heard that claim Before.
Do an 15's owners get complimentary Kool Aid? :-)
Have you tried Heard their 8's though?.
IMO those are Much nicer sounding drivers.
Arguably (not much arguing actually) their Best Speakers.

 

RE: AN 15's ?, posted on October 10, 2016 at 18:41:36
PaulF70
Audiophile

Posts: 1422
Location: Midwest
Joined: June 30, 2006
 Why the Random Capitalization of Random Nouns and Adjectives? Is this Poetry?

 

If its (only) Nouns, perhaps its pseudo-Deutsch (nt), posted on October 17, 2016 at 16:49:08
mhardy6647
Audiophile

Posts: 16018
Location: New England
Joined: October 12, 1999
Contributor
  Since: October 23, 2016
 keine Texte.
all the best,
mrh

 

RE: Ideal wideband driver size?, posted on November 20, 2016 at 14:41:37
PaulF70
Audiophile

Posts: 1422
Location: Midwest
Joined: June 30, 2006
 A 15" driver can't produce anything about 1 Khz (at the very most) via pistonic motion, and these have no whizzer. So, everything from ~800 Hz on up is cone-breakup, or what?

I'm not insinuating they don't sound good - I'm honestly wondering. Even an 8" driver without a whizzer struggles with any kind of real treble.

 

RE: Ideal wideband driver size?, posted on November 20, 2016 at 15:15:30
datman
Audiophile

Posts: 458
Location: South Central
Joined: May 27, 2002
Contributor
  Since: September 12, 2002
 I also have a pair of Lowther Alerians with DX65 drivers. You would think the Lowthers would go higher. They don't. I do not know how David Dicks does it but these are the most satisfying speakers I have had.

There is DEFINITELY no shortage of high end. Do they go to 20k, no. But they go do high enough to give full range sound. The unbelievable coherence of a single driver system is also a lagniappe.

 

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