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In Reply to: Speaker design philosophy posted by Bold Eagle on February 21, 2007 at 06:18:33:
There seems to be a debate over which of the extremes you describe are better and most of today's DIY community seem to favor the low distortion drivers that need taming outside of the passband in addition to the main filter components in the crossover. Thus the need for good measurements and simulations to get the filter and drivers married correctly to make the total system. I have no problem with that if that's what one wants.For me, there's no debate about what I want. I'm well known for using low order series filters and a prerequisite for them to work is that the woofer have no breakup outside of the passband and the tweeter must be able to handle the shallow rolloff of the filter. Period. I like to keep my filtering as simple as possible so I use tamer woofers and more robust tweeters, even with the higher distortion numbers that go with them. I have no doubt that most of the distortions that are measured are likely not even audible in real life, with most drivers, in most systems, and in most listening rooms. Others will argue ANY distortion, no matter how measureable, is a no-no.
I would much rather have a "less than absolutley perfect" driver that sounds good with minimal filtering and "taming" than one I've got to hit nine ways to Sunday to get the nasties out. Plus, I'm not hung up on the Holy Grail of perfectly flat response and the absolute lowest distortion numbers, obviously. I just want to listen to music and not speakers.
There's a lot of naval gazing going on in that part of the hobby these days, IMO.
Follow Ups:
On the opposite end of the spectrum are the single driver people. Although some use a helper super tweeter and even a subwoofer the general theory is keep the crossover away from the frequncies where the ear is most sensitive.I noticed that Peerless now makes a fairly widrange 8" woofer model 830884 with shorting rings that looks quite good on paper (execpt for the 89db@1w/1m efficencey which is just OK). I've read a post on the speaker asylum that it can work with 6db crossovers with the right tweeter (buy you'd probably want a Zobel). What do you think? (See link below.)
Dave
It has cone breakup at 3 K, so with 6 dB electric XO should be crossed at 1 K or below. For 2 way, the right tweeter should go down to about 250 Hz.I believe 6.5" is the largest woofer that can be used in 2 way with low order XO. They generally have cone breakup at 4.5-5 K.
The link to the posts I read is below. It sems the user did have a problem with the 3K breakup and others suggested some solutions.Some of the inmates on the High Efficency Asulum use a notch filters but that adds complication and I never heard an impimented for this.
There are smaller versions but of course, you lose some efficency. I could always go to a higher sloped filter. It was the shorting rings that appealed to me.
Dave
- http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=speakers&n=230700&highlight=Peerless&r=&session= (Open in New Window)
Ken,Driver distortion is as much about the motor design as it is the cone. Using a 6.5" driver at high levels requires a very linear suspension and magnetic structure to compensate for the extra stroke it must have. A good 10" will have a lot less stroke at the same level, and lower distortion from the motor as a result.
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