High Efficiency Speaker Asylum

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RE: High efficiency loudspeaker options

Posted by Cpwill on May 16, 2020 at 12:38:39:
Since you say you want to learn and experiment, for a lot less than your $10,000, you can truly experiment for a bit of time to see if single drivers suit your taste. May suggestion: buy a couple sheets of Baltic birch plywood and some lumber to prop them us at a 5-degree or less angle. Buy some hi-eff drivers, new or used, spendy or cheep. Cut holes in ply to fit the drivers and screw them it. Connect your speaker cables directly to the driver terminals. Listen, Listen and listen some more. And, don't forget to wash your hands.

Drivers:

206 series Fostex, new or used, low cost.
Beta 8 or 10 Corals, used only, more costly.
Tang Bang, dirt cheap.
PHY various, used only, costly
A series Lowthers, new or used, costly
DX series Lowthers, new or used, less costly.
AER, very costly.
Fertin Model 7, Excellent, used, very costly.
Trusonic, used, medium cost

You can also try larger co-axial drivers by Altec, EV, Jensen, Tru-sonic, Tannoy and others. You could listen for some time to 8 or 10 inch single drivers, then, enlarge the holes for 12" or 15" co-axials.

Now these will be butt-ugly so might not work for long if you have a live-in SO. There will be NO bass, but the point is to experiment and see if you like the basic sound of single drivers. Also, w/o the larger added woofers, you can place these closer to the wall behind if that is an issue. Eventually, you may want to add a helper tweeter or super-tweeter with a single cap, 1st order x-over. But, the magic is in the mid-range, so IMNHO, it is a valid experiment.

Lastly, If you like the result you have many options. Keep the drivers and build (or have built) a nicer open baffle. Add woofers and crossover if you want more bass. Add a super-tweeter if you want more top end extension. You could keep the drivers and build (or have built) other cabinets suitable for hi-eff, full or wide range drivers including folded TQWT, back-loaded horns, double BVRs, etc. Or go ahead and spend your $10K or more on some of the boutique brands that some others have mentioned. Don't get me wrong, some sound very good, but you should make sure it's the sound you are looking for before you empty your wallet.

Me? Fertin Model 7 field coils in a DIY folded TQWT and Coral Beta 8s in someone else's BLH cabs.

Enjoy the journey, have fun, listen, and wash your hands again.