anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?

RE: anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?, posted on January 18, 2017 at 14:36:21
Alpha Al Industry Professional Posts: 2958 Location: N. Carolina Joined: February 16, 2004 Contributor Since: December 3, 2015	Never used these, although they looks identical to the University ID30. I installed tons of those back in the 70's for paging applications. Four of them would cover a high school stadium.

RE: anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?, posted on January 18, 2017 at 16:53:17
freddyi Audiophile Posts: 3852 Joined: December 6, 2001	although I assume its a Chinese clone, I might bite Karlson Evangelist

RE: anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?, posted on January 19, 2017 at 05:00:23

tomservo
Manufacturer

Posts: 8193
Joined: July 4, 2002

Get several extras, often this kind of driver (cheap / foreign) has a big variability from unit to unit.
When i was looking at them, the variation was a show stopper, i can't measure every one to select ones that are similar.

Save time, get a "known good" driver, the BMS 4550 and B@C de250 are both very good, in fact most of what both of those companies make are quite good and are very similar unit to unit.

Hey did that series filter work out to flatten your response?

RE: anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?, posted on January 19, 2017 at 06:31:50
Alpha Al Industry Professional Posts: 2958 Location: N. Carolina Joined: February 16, 2004 Contributor Since: December 3, 2015	Are replacement diaphragms available? That is something I would consider, although you are unlikely to blow it in a hi-fi system. Using it for live sound is another story.

RE: anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?, posted on January 19, 2017 at 07:11:43
freddyi Audiophile Posts: 3852 Joined: December 6, 2001	the K-horn filter seemed toned right-on , took down things a few dB - but the speaker still sounded horrible - i think part is the resonance of my room walls. Good thing I'm playing with mono - maybe the MCM ID knockoff mid would be smooth enough for a 350-400 xover. Karlson Evangelist

is the goal cheap, good, cheap & good, or... ?, posted on January 19, 2017 at 07:38:25

mhardy6647
Audiophile

Posts: 16015
Location: New England
Joined: October 12, 1999
Contributor
Since: October 23, 2016

I am always looking for good/cheap/interesting alternative drivers :-/

In terms of cheap, good ol' Pyle has a panoply of cheap compression drivers.
In terms of good... well... who knows?

FWIW, I do have one pair of the cheap-ish Pyle PDB512 2/3 bolt treble drivers (I do believe I mentioned this before; I am too lazy to go back & check!).
Pyle PDB512 at PE

They seemed OK when I tried them on 511B horns -- I haven't tried them on better sounding horns, but I DO intend to!

These were about the same price as the ones Freddyi's asking about, and might (?) be a little more civilized and might (???) be a little more extended in response in both directions -- maybe (????) even flatter in response than what in essence is a purpose-built PA driver.

Just a thought :-)

PS I do agree that unit-to-unit variability is a pretty common 'feature' of the cheap drivers (not just compression drivers)!

PPS One thing I can say about the above-mentioned Pyle (ahem) drivers from my relatively short tests -- the sensitivity quoted in their specs seems to be, shall we say, a tad optimistic.

Yes, a wee tad.

;-)

all the best,
mrh

Pyles of drivers from PE :-)

RE: is the goal cheap, good, cheap & good, or... ?, posted on January 19, 2017 at 11:30:58
freddyi Audiophile Posts: 3852 Joined: December 6, 2001	some years back, I bought 4 - Pyle compression drivers, two 1" two of whatever was larger, none worked - got burnt. Threw them out. That was probably just bad luck but tainted my view. Karlson Evangelist

not too surprising actually -- it's not a premier brand, posted on January 19, 2017 at 12:36:54
mhardy6647 Audiophile Posts: 16015 Location: New England Joined: October 12, 1999 Contributor Since: October 23, 2016	That's an understatement, actually. The two I bought were (are) OK -- just sayin'. all the best, mrh

RE: anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?, posted on January 19, 2017 at 21:15:09
zobsky Audiophile Posts: 569 Location: dallas, tx Joined: June 11, 2005	I finally threw mine into the trash a couple of years ago. With 16 ohm impedance, it wasn't nominally efficient . I didn't have any horn that could go low enough to use its low Fs and it didn't go high enough on a circular waveguide or K-tube (maybe 2-3 KHz max). Also, my pair was mismatched from day 1 :)

RE: not too surprising actually -- it's not a premier brand, posted on January 19, 2017 at 22:08:41
freddyi Audiophile Posts: 3852 Joined: December 6, 2001	It would have been OK if I had purchased from Partsexpress, who has good service on duds = expensive lesson - I'm not sure if PE had the larger format driver at the time. I think I bought those larger exit drivers for some never used Altec 1.4" format horns. Karlson Evangelist

RE: anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?, posted on January 19, 2017 at 22:17:22

freddyi
Audiophile

Posts: 3852
Joined: December 6, 2001

thanks - the picture looks like China did a good job on the cosmetics - if not the mechanics of the thing. Partsexpress offers a phenolic driver with transformer with data on their 20" re-entrant horn - not sure if it would make it to 2K5 or not

Karlson Evangelist

RPH20 20" round horn pair

RE: anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?, posted on January 20, 2017 at 22:12:16
Coner Audiophile Posts: 3703 Location: S.W. Washington state, USA Joined: November 17, 2001	Plot is terrible....falls bad way before 4K even. Stay away!. If I needed low response, I'd stick with the Atlas one used on the K-horns.

High Efficiency Speaker Asylum

anyone experienced with MCM's $24 compression driver ?

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