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There is another option!

Posted by John Marks (M) on April 9, 2022 at 10:59:39

In Reply to: Are 3-way speakers better than 2-way, with piano recordings ? posted by peppy m. on April 6, 2022 at 17:24:18:

I don't have the time to get into a long 'splainer, but...

The "Middle Path" between a 2-way design and a 3-way design is a "2.5-way" design.

Now, I can be as cynical as the next guy... well, actually, seeing as I spent 20 year as a trial lawyer and back in the day I helped Alan Dershowitz get Claus von Bülow's Attempted-Murder conviction set aside, I think I will be on the Olympic podium when they hand out the Cynicism Medals...

anyway, one could be tempted to think that the first person who designed a 2.5-way loudspeaker might have done so at least in part because buying a larger quantity of one woofer-mid resulted in a larger quantity discount then buying half as many of one midrange and one woofer driver.

Despite that, the 2.5-way alignment has a few things going for it, primarily (1) better acoustical coupling to the room than a 2-way, and (2) the fact that the two low-frequency drivers have radiation patterns that are more similar than different.

A 2.5 implementation is basically a 2-way that would work rather well on its own, with an additional woofer that has a lower High-Frequency Cut-Off Point than the driver that is above.

So, the Tweeter is at the top, crossing over to a woofer that (usually) has a LF acoustical roll-off, and which either "runs wild" into the treble, or has a HF roll-off circuit in the crossover to integrate the upper end of the woofer-mid's output with the tweeter's roll-in.

So, there is basically a 2-way crossover, plus an extra woofer.

And, between the extra woofer and the woofer-mid, which are connected in parallel, there is an inductor between the woofers to provide additional HF roll-off for the lower woofer, which helps its efficiency in the bass.

The first 2.5-way I had extensive experience with was the original Wilson Benesch ACT One, which had a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter and two 7-inch woofers... although I dimly recall that the woofer surrounds might have been different.

If you wanted to try a 2.5-way loudspeaker at a rather amazingly low price, you could try Meniscus Audio's "Speedster TMM" kit. Buy the kit, paying for crossover assembly, and then have Lee Taylor make the loudspeaker cabinets for you and do the final assembly and testing.

If you splurge on the crossovers and the cabinet veneers, the pair might run you $2500 to $3000. If you got the cabinets in plain MDF (no veneering), you might be able to get it all done for a little under $2000 the pair.

Best of luck,

john

PS: I have used the Fountek NeoCD3.0 in a 2-way design--it is a wonderful driver. And while I have not used the Tang Band 1720, I have used the Tang Band 1320, and that is a rather amazing driver for the money.

Or, for a little more money, you could use the Bold North Audio BNA 4001 carbon-fiber 4-inch woofer, which has a rather amazing Force Factor, as well as amazing midrange and treble extension. That would require a crossover redesign, though.

• https://meniscusaudio.com/product/speedster-tmm-loudspeaker-   (Open in New Window)

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